A tale of two-wheeled cities
By Andrew Bain | smh.com.au | 05 April
On a recent visit home to Australia, Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans lamented cycling conditions on our roads, comparing them unfavourably with the cycling utopia of Europe.
"People in Europe have narrower roads and they have more traffic but they have better awareness and just a better attitude," he said. But even in Europe there are degrees of bike friendliness and towns where bicycles aren't just tolerated but rule the road. The following is a selection of Europe's most bike-friendly towns.
Groningen, the Netherlands
The Netherlands is cycling central and it's Amsterdam that likes to claim it is the bike capital of Europe, with about 40 per cent of all journeys in the city undertaken on bikes. But that's nothing compared with the northern city of Groningen, the Netherlands' sixth-largest city.
Here it's said that 57 per cent of journeys are pedalled ones - the highest rate in the West. Once declared the world's best cycling city by US magazine Bicycling, Groningen's bike status is no accident. As well as separate bike paths beside most big roads, the city has instituted a traffic plan that divides the city centre into four sections. Motor vehicles cannot cross between these sections and are required to drive out and around the city if they want to travel even short distances. Bikes are free to travel between the sections as they wish.
For visitors, Groningen wears its bike welcome on its sleeve. Several hotels provide free use of pink "hotel bikes" to guests, while there are a variety of city bicycle tours, including a guided art route to various artworks in the city. Forget parking woes as well: the railway station has about 3000 bike parks, while a nuclear bomb shelter under city hall has been converted into a bike garage.
Munster, Germany
Another city that can match Amsterdam's level of bike use is Munster in western Germany, where it's said that 40 per cent of all journeys are made on bikes. That's little wonder, given the infrastructure. The area surrounding Munster has been called the Munsterland Cycle Park, providing its residents and visitors access to about 4000 kilometres of bicycle paths, all arranged in honeycomb fashion to allow easy loops in and out of the city.
The most famous of the trails through the Munsterland Cycle Park is the flat and mostly sealed 100 Castle Route, looping around the region for 1400 kilometres, passing more than 100 castles and palaces. Route-finding need not be problem because on this and other routes in the park cyclists can hire a pocket PC that uses satellite navigation to direct them and deliver information about attractions en route.
Even inside the city, bikes are king. There are traffic lights solely for bicycles; cyclists can ride in either direction in one-way streets; there's an underground bike park at the railway station with space for 3300 bikes; and the tree-lined Promenade, which follows the course of the former town walls, is open only to cycles and pedestrians. It is said that on a fine day, more than 1000 bikes can be found on the Promenade at a time.
Fittingly, Munster is at the junction of two of Europe's long-distance Eurovelo cycling routes: the Capitals Route from Galway to Moscow, and the Pilgrims Route from Trondheim to Santiago de Compostela.
Trondheim, Norway
Norwegian cyclists ought to be well used to hill climbs but the good people of Trondheim think that's no reason to inflict any more on them. Since 1993, cyclists travelling through Bakklandet, a steep stretch of road between the city centre and the university, have been able to clip into Trampe, a bike lift that carries machine and rider 130 metres up the hillside.
Credited with increasing bike use in the city - the grind from the city centre uphill to the suburbs was off-putting for many - the lift is used on average more than 50 times a day, carting cyclists up the 20 per cent gradient.
This unique form of bike transport is operated by a key card, and visitors who want to try it can borrow cards free from Sykkelbua, a bike store near the lift's base.
Best of all, from the top you can then whoosh back down to the city to sample some of Trondheim's other bike-friendly features, such as smoothed bike paths through cobblestone areas.
If you've come without wheels, you can borrow one of the bikes available for use from 10 bicycle racks around the city.
For a glimpse of Trampe at work, see www.trampe.no/english/videos.php.
Ferrara, Italy
Anyone who's driven on Italy's roads may wonder if a city here has the capacity to be kind to cyclists but there's always Ferrara, where bikes live la dolce vita. Known as the City of Bicycles, its central area is closed to all traffic except bikes, though the city's commitment to cycling is truly in the cracks.
Cyclists have the run of the pancake-flat city (and smooth bike paths through cobblestone streets); authorities supply bike pumps chained to the roadside of various streets; there are buses equipped to transport cyclists; the mayor and councillors are supplied with a mayoral bike; and even telephone booths are designed to accommodate cyclists with their bikes.
Visitors are encouraged to join the bicycle love-in by swapping their cars for hire bikes during their stay. In doing so, they pick up a Bicicard, which gives them free entry to museums and discounts at restaurants and hotels.
Odense, Denmark
If you can picture European nations as a peloton of bikes, Denmark would be part of the breakaway with the Netherlands. Copenhagen is among the world's most bike-friendly capital cities and the network of cross-country cycling paths, which includes 12 national cycle trails, is first class.
The country's commitment to cycling is most evident in the Fyn city of Odense, which in 1999 was officially crowned Denmark's National Cycle City. During the four years of this cycling program, bike use was encouraged to the extent that about 250,000 extra bike journeys were made each day in the city. Despite the growth in numbers, road awareness was raised to the level that accidents involving bikes fell by 20 per cent and, it is said, the life expectancy of Odense men rose by about five months.
Continuing campaigns and encouragement have kept Odense at the forefront of cycling innovation. For every three kilometres of road in the city, there is one kilometre of bike path. Cyclist-specific traffic lights sense approaching bikes and switch to green to reduce journey times for cyclists, and cycling route planners can be downloaded to mobile phones. Small wonder that bike use in the city has grown by almost 50 per cent since the turn of the century.
For cycle tourers, route six of the national cycle trail network also passes through Odense.
Great cycling trails of Europe
Danube Trail, Germany and Austria
Europe's most popular cycling route links Passau and Vienna, following the Danube downstream for about 350 kilometres. Mostly flat, the trail can also be extended to the Danube's headwaters or downstream to Budapest. UTracks has an eight-day, self-guided ride between Passau and Vienna. See www.utracks.com. Suitable for beginners and families.
Alpe d'Huez, France
The Tour de France's most famous ascent is a 14-kilometre climb that wraps itself around 21 hairpin bends and averages an 8 per cent gradient. Lance Armstrong's best time was about 38 minutes, if you're up for the challenge. Cycles Et Sports in Le Bourg-d'Oisans, at the foot of the climb, hires road bikes. See www.cyclesetsports.com. Suitable for more advanced riders with good levels of fitness.
Scottish coast-to-coast
Mountain biking at its best, this route covers more than 400 kilometres from the North Sea to the Atlantic through the Scottish Highlands. It's rough and rewarding, so you won't cover large distances each day but you will see wild Scotland at its best. Wilderness Scotland has an eight-day coast-to-coast ride. See www.wildernessscotland.com. Suitable for more advanced riders with good technical ability.
Via Claudia Augusta, Germany, Austria and Italy
Ride from the Adriatic to the Danube along the course of the original Roman road through the Alps. The 700-kilometre route alternates between bike paths and roads and there are shuttle services over the two passes if your legs fail you. See www.viaclaudia.org. Suitable for moderate-level riders.
First published by Smh.com.au on April 05 2008
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