Friday, February 25, 2011

Transporting Stuff Dutch Style

Post Blizzard transport of a pair of skis that needed repairs, the regular panniers and basket full, and a rug on the back rack.
 
     When people ask me about my bike, they often sense that it’s different from other bikes, but can’t quite put their finger on how. Many people ask “Is that an electric bike?” simply because it has an enclosed chain guard. Where do they see a motor?
    But there is a difference. My Workcycles bike is built to transport things, not just myself. The back rack hold lots of weight, as I know well, since my husband often gives me rides on the back rack of his bicycle, which is also a Workcycle. I’ve even gotten a lift from Dottie of the LGRAB blog on her Oma. You can see that in her post, Double Dutch.
     When my husband and I visited Amsterdam in June 2010, we saw everything imaginable being carried by bicycle.
    We passed one woman outside a store trying to figure out how to attach a pair of chairs to her bike. Another time, as we sat at an outdoor cafe, we watched in amazement, belgian waffles paused in middair, as a man rode by with an outboard motor strapped across the front of his bike! 
    When we acquired our own dutch bikes, it was easier to haul things around on them than we imagined.

Notice Gypsy's tongue hanging out.
 
    Gypsy gets carted all over in her trailer and loves every minute of it. She often goes to doggie daycare by bike and loves every minute of that as you can see in my post, Doggie Daycare by Bike. Dogs are like that.
    But surely the most innovative transportation experience was when my husband strapped his recumbent bicycle to the Oma when he had to take it in to the bike store for service. Now that's Dutch style!

The recumbent is strapped to our Burley trailer.

    We end up using our bikes for so many purposes, including grocery shopping, that we find that we hardly use our car. Does anyone else carry loads of stuff around on their bicycle? It certainly makes life much more of an everyday adventure and I mean that in the best way.

A rug taken to work so that the bike won't drip salty snow on the carpet.

6 comments:

Sue said...

That is amazing to me that the Oma can carry all that stuff. I'm not one to carry a lot of stuff on my bike, probably due to my lack of balancing skills. I do love seeing Gypsy going for a ride in that trailer. I think my Buddy (the Pug) would love that as well :)

J.Tuttle said...

SM - I bet your Buddy would love it too. Ultimate wind on the face!

Louise said...

I love the photo with you in the goggles! You should hold a caption contest for that photo...

J.Tuttle said...

Louise - Did you mean the photo of my husband in this post or the doggie daycare photo?

Tabitha said...

Wow! That's some impressive hauling you guys do. :)

By the way, you've got a blog award waiting for you here... :)

http://tabithaolson.blogspot.com/2011/03/beautiful-blogger-award.html

J.Tuttle said...

Tabitha- Thank you for such a lovely award! I'll put it up on my sidebar with pride!