Há umas semanas atrás, coloquei aqui uma espécie de guia para o mau tempo. Bem, não era bem um guia, mais uma provocação. No seguimento da mesma, aqui fica este video, da autoria de Mark Wagenbur, um holandês que tem prestado um serviço excelente ao resto do mundo, mostrando em video, a cultura da bicicleta na Holanda. Este video, filmado numa manhã de chuva em Utreque, mostra-nos que mesmo quando chove por lá, apenas colocam as suas capas de chuva e fazem-se à estrada. É comum na Holanda, ver gente a pedalar e de guarda chuva aberto na mão. Pelos vistos lá, a chuva não é (mais uma) desculpa.

The Dutch say: ‘You are not made of sugar, you won’t melt in the rain!’. When you cycle for utility reasons the weather is of lesser importance. If you go to work by bike, you go there when the sun shines but of course also when it rains.

Weather conditions do not really change the number of cyclists in the Netherlands. The Dutch simply put on a rain coat, a “rain suit”, or they get out their umbrellas. Riding a bike while holding up an umbrella is perfectly normal in the Netherlands. And a lot of people feel they will simply dry up quickly enough again.

These pictures were taken on a cold and rainy April morning in Utrecht. The intersection is undergoing major reconstructions and building is taking place all around it. That is why it is not up to modern Dutch standards with its bad temporary road surface and ugly temporary concrete divisions. Ugly but safe enough. What makes the intersection really safe are the separate cycle traffic lights with separate green phases for cyclists.

Utrecht is the 4th largest city in the Netherlands with a population 300,000 and 33% of all trips in the city are made on a bicycle.