In May 2022 my wife Teresa and I set off for a cycling adventure in northern Europe. We knew it might be a good destination. We booked a bike and barge tour in southern Holland (this will be the subject of a future post) and also spent time cycling in the cities of Amsterdam and Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Within days we knew we were riding the best bike paths in the world!

That is a mighty grand claim to make, but others have said the same, and I echo their praise. For those of you thinking of going one day, I am going to share my observations here in a series of articles this summer.

In Holland, no matter where you want to go, there is likely an off-road bike path to get you there. And you can get there safely, on smooth, well-marked paved paths, with an abundance of signs and maps. And maintenance of these paths is excellent, with hardly a bump or crack anywhere!

Cobblestones are a different matter: there are plenty of paths with them in the city, but here again, they are in great shape. In the narrow old sections of town, routes are shared with cars or pedestrian paths. On wider streets, designated lanes exist—lots of them. Bikes get priority and everyone knows to look out for them. Even on one-way streets, cyclists are often allowed to ride the other way.

I can give almost as much praise to Copenhagen. Though paths are not as well defined and signage is not as clear as in Holland, this city is still certainly a worthy cyclist destination. (We did not have a chance to ride the Danish countryside.)

In both countries, we saw bicycles everywhere. Bikes piled against walls, bikes chained to poles, miles of bike racks and huge garages full of bikes. Cycling is king in these lands!

Dutch Cycling Psyche

Why does this extensive Dutch network of paths exist? One guess is because the country is FLAT, with no sizable hills (beyond the height of dikes). This makes cycling easy for everyone. Distances are short and winters are brief and milder than in Canada, though, to be fair, there is still plenty of seasonal rain and wind to contend with.

Most Dutch people ride a bike as a utility vehicle, not as a recreational pastime. These bicycles are made to commute, go to work or school, carry your kids, get groceries, make deliveries—in short, to do almost anything. And it’s a great way to get from A to B for many eco, monetary, and health reasons.

Increased bicycle use means reduced car use. Fewer cars on the road is a benifit when you truly need to drive. I noted there seems to be less traffic congestion in Holland than in Canada. 

Not all cycling is for commuting or chores. On a Sunday morning in Rotterdam, we saw bike clubs out for a spin in club jerseys on race bikes. So they do ride bikes just for fun, too. 

The odd thing was those groups wear helmets. Otherwise, no one does. Perhaps the public perception is they are not going fast enough to need one? Well, I perceived city cycling traffic during rush hour as an overwhelming, chaotic opportunity for mishaps. So we wore ours, and no one cared.

Another observation is when it rains, Dutch riders are as unprepared for wet weather as we seem to be back home. Students scurrying home from school, moms with kids, workers hastily trying to make it back to the office—none of them prepared with rain jackets or pants. We had brought some; you should, too.

Trail Design

What always works well in trail design is establishing a standard system of making a path, marking it with paint, and posting directional signage that is logical and placed where you expect directions to be.  And Holland does all of this well, everywhere!

Actually, there are signs that tell cyclists they must use their own path and NOT use the road. This lets cars move along faster. Even mopeds have to use bike paths sometimes to get out of the way. And most of the time in the cities there is a separate third pedestrian only path. Does this not seem like a more harmonious means of getting everyone moving?

There are often three separate traffic lights at an intersection: one each for bicycles, motor traffic, and pedestrians. It’s amazing how they wired and synchronized this all up. And it works!

In much of Holland, the asphalt on bike paths is coloured pink, there is often a concrete barrier and/or raised curb to ride on, and plenty of painted road markings show the way. Denmark, not so much—my wife found the city paths in Copenhagen not so obvious for a tourist—but it’s still much better than Canada.

Different Bike Designs 

Perhaps because of the lack of hills, locals use a different design from North American bikes. You sit more upright, there’s no crossbar or shocks, and there are only a few gears: perhaps 1 -3 to 7 gears in the rear wheel hub that help for climbing medium grades.

What almost every bike does have are fenders, chainguard, lights, a larger saddle, a carrier rack, and a key lock to stop the back wheel. Their bikes are a basic design, built to last, easy to repair (as a mechanic told me), and seemingly indestructible.

But after putting in 300+ km on these bikes, I was longing for my own trusty steed back home. Yup, they can keep them. I found the handling not nimble, and while the upright position in the saddle might be more relaxed, it is not the best for pedal power. And in a headwind, I was not at all streamlined. 

These bikes are also made with a lot of iron. They’re so heavy you would die doing hills anywhere else in the world. Many now are eBikes, which helps with the weight issue.

Renting a Bicycle

We were supplied bikes for our bike and barge tour of Holland; more on that in my next article…

If you don’t bring your own wheels, there are many ways to rent one. In Amsterdam, we rented from our hotel, where their stock was awful. It took three tries to find a decent bicycle and that one only half worked. My thoughts are that when cycling in a new, foreign city, I don’t need mishaps to derail my holiday—thank you, no.

In Copenhagen, we figured we’d be smart and rent from a bike shop. But it was a national holiday. Bike shops were closed. 

We decided to try the online bike rental companies with rental bicycles scattered in racks all over town. They’re a common sight in any large European city. But on this sunny, beautiful weekend, everyone else in Copenhagen also thought it was a fine day for a spin. Finding two rental bikes was challenging. 

We installed the phone app for Donkey Republic, whose orange bikes we had seen parked on curbs and medians. Once we had set up an account, we looked over their location map and saw dots appearing and disappearing within a minute. Yikes! These rentals were going that fast.

We changed our plans, deciding to walk to a fort outside of the city core and hoping two bikes there would become available later in the day. Thankfully that worked out and we did not have to walk back another extra 10 km.

About online bike rentals, and for that matter using public transit. This modern age has made things easier and also more complicated. I would suggest before you even leave Ontario to find the services you might need, download the required phone apps, and set up your accounts with a password, confirmation, and credit card number… rather than doing all this during your holidays, which sucks. Also, to make it all work, expect to run data any day you plan to rent a bike or ride public transit. 

A step up in renting is an eBike. These are very popular if you want to ride in style with little effort, but naturally the hourly rate for these deluxe machines is higher, than for standard pedal power. 

It should be mentioned that in other cities we visited (Stockholm, Helsinki) variations of an electric scooter were available to rent. What we did not see much of on our trip, thankfully, were gas mopeds.

Consider riding bike trails beyond Ontario and see the world!

There are a lot of great bike-friendly destinations to explore, but I can’t think of two better countries than Holland and Denmark. In countries with such established bike-minded infrastructure, it’s a carefree joy to ride there, plus the scenery, food and people make the experience altogether so wonderful.

You Must GO – Dan Roitner

I also wrote about my week of touring southern Holland while sleeping every night on a riverboat. – My Bike & Barge tour of Holland

Plan Your Cycling Routes with Travel Guides

I have used travel guides for most of my life as a valuable resource to help me find destinations of interest. They have reduced my research efforts and saved me travel time by pointing me in the right direction. Here is why you should invest in a few good books.
I have listed a few favourites here.

Guide books reveal local hidden gems, or distant epic rides just waiting for us adventurous types to discover. They prompt our curiosity to explore and investigate further, beyond the pages of the book. And if they’re written well, they instil a desire to experience this new place, to go there, and soon.

Some travel guides are broad in scope, covering North America or world destinations. Others focus on local areas or topics like bicycle routes, scenic roads, nature parks, waterfalls, historic buildings, train history, ghost towns…the interests seem endless.

Whatever turns you on, there is likely a book about it. And you might be able to string together a cycling circuit for when you visit your places of interest.

Why Buy, When Info is Free?

The internet is certainly an important research tool to get current (we hope) information on destination costs, operating hours, directions, and seasonal changes.  Some say, “Why buy a guide when you can get everything free on the web?” Sure, go ahead, if you have more time than money. 

Getting a head start with a guide literally gets you there sooner with less digging around to find loose ends. It depends on how you value your free time. The authors of these books have already done most of the homework for you. Flipping through a guide, scanning the maps and photos, will tell you swiftly what to bookmark.

It also answers your main question—Where are the top destinations I am interested in? — quicker.

Level of Detail

Some travel books are factual, mapping out routes and/or suggesting loops, while others just talk about interesting destinations. 

Or they are just an easy read with pretty pictures—an escape in the middle of winter for the armchair adventure cyclists who don’t intend ever to recreate the trip within the pages. These coffee- table books are full of the best, craziest, most far-flung cycling trips. Most have simple maps, if any, and offer impressions and clues, not detailed info, for those who might actually want to go there.

Other travel destination books guide you to varying degrees. Publishers set a certain level of detail and style in the way they present this information. It depends on what suits you and if they can answer all your questions. (Well, most of them, as no guidebook is complete.) 

A travel guide can get very specific, literally telling you the road to ride and how far before the next turn, describing and mapping every inch of the way in daily stages. This can be comforting to some, but perhaps excessive for others who like to wander and explore.

For certain travellers with grand expectations, these books never have enough. They want every minute detail laid out and made effortless, something only a bicycle touring company could take care of, at a price. And for some, this is a better worry-free way to trek, in style, than a cheap self-guided book.

Be sure you buy a suitable guide to meet your needs and that there is enough substance in the pages.

What to Look for in a Guide Book:

• Do the maps have enough detail?
• Are there concise directions to get there and do the circuit?
• Are there enough photos? Does the book tell you what there is to see and suggest points of interest, lookouts, etc.?
• Are the reviews and commentary descriptive enough to answer your questions?
• Is there a helpful list of tips and suggestions – when to go, how to get there, what to bring, typical costs, recommended places to eat or stay at, bike rental and repair shops?
• Are there enough references to other resources to follow up on (websites, phone numbers, other books)?

Guides come in many shapes and formats. Some strictly stay on the bookshelf; others are smaller and more portable; some have eBook formats for your tablet or phone. The benefits of a hardcopy book: it needs no electricity to run, it’s quick to flip through, and it’s easy to scribble notes in.

Some would think the information in a guidebook would get dated. And yes, some of it does – prices, operating times, and services change, but much of the content is evergreen. A road or trail seldom changes or disappears. Most tourist destinations remain or expand. A natural landform will always be there, a historic building (hopefully) as well. 

I have amassed over the decades an assorted collection of reference books to give me ideas as I dream and scheme about future outings. Years ago I first bought a used copy of the Canadian Book of the Road and then I found Back Roads and Getaway Places and then others. They all still have relevant, timeless info to sort through for my next road trip.

I have made a new Store page with some of my favourite recommended titles. Naturally, my own two books are there, along with other noteworthy travel guides for Ontario. I added some more distant locations for those of us with big dreams and a yearning to travel afar (especially after being stuck at home for so long).

Find your favourite titles and start making BIG plans. You can cover a lot of ground on two wheels.

Dan Roitner