It seems that the Dutch, among the worlds most bike friendly inhabitants, are born with a bicycle between their legs.
Countless two-wheelers in more or less advanced state of ruin, have succeeded my first one, a sturdy grey colored fixed gear, which was too big for my 4 year old body, as I was soon to find out, collecting my first road rash.
Nobody wore a helmet in those days, let alone training wheels.
Since then I have had numerous encounters with fate, pushing my luck biking in big cities not particularly known for their bike-friendliness (Milan, Paris) only to find myself living in Nyack, NY a little village on the Hudson a stone throw away from New York and better known as the home of the "Runcible spoon" obligatory turnaround point for hordes of MAMILS biking from the city and showing of their latest bike gadget whilst boasting about making more mileage then your average jetliner.
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Spin those wheels, clockwise from top left; famous dutch illustrator Fiep Westendorp's illustration for Big Ben rain wear, Robert Wagt little girl riding her bike, the Tour de France as seen by german illustrator Wolf Erlbruch, New Yorker cover by Frank Viva, Rogelio Naranjo, french photographer and illustrator Jean-Paul Goude's take on the Olympics for ELLE, a yarn bombed bicycle by Guerilla crochet, dutch illustrator Joost Swarte poster for "rencontres Chaland 2010", poster for Vittorio de Sica's 1948 classic movie "bicycle thieves/ladri di bicicletta".
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