Suzan van der Helm
Brent ToderianA global study reveals that Dutch residents are the most physically active on earth, getting 12.8 hours of exercise each week. The key—designing activity into daily life. The average #Dutch person cycles about 1,098 kilometers per year.
jcmortreux@BrentToderian such an obviously huge benefit to society! Those are staggeringly positive metrics of physical activity which ppl don’t even need to realize they do 👍
Scott Steensma@BrentToderian amazing. It shows how beneficial good cycling infrastructure can be.
AnomnomnomalyI used to live in a place in the UK called Milton Keynes.
It's got hundreds of miles of cycle paths called 'redways' all over the city. You can get anywhere across the city without using a road at all.
Got an electric assist bike end of June, did over 400 miles around the city before moving to the countryside end of Sept.
Went from 5-6 miles a week on a bike if lucky, to 40-50 miles a week.
@anomnomnomaly @BrentToderian that's awesome. Giving people safe and convenient cycle paths makes such a difference! You were getting some serious mileage there. I don't know about you, but I find my cycle commute quite relaxing, once I'm away from dangerous roads.
@ScottSteensma @BrentToderian
#
We had a lovely long 6 weeks of glorious weather... Well, a heatwave with the highest temps ever recorded in this country.
But I was getting out around between 9-11am and taking fluids with me. Before the hottest part of the day.
Found a relatively flat ride (Just 2 short hills each way) that was a 12 mile round trip and used about 28% battery, so I could get 36 miles out of a charge with at least 10-12% battery remaining.
@anomnomnomaly @BrentToderian not bad! That's a pretty solid distance on one charge.
Once I'd had the bike for a while and conditioned the battery... and after the heatwave ended.... I found that the heat/cold can drastically affect the amount of charge.
With temps dropping to around 20-23ºC at the end of August and into Sept. I actually managed to get 43 miles out of the battery. By turning it off along a few sections where it was a tiny incline downwards.
The bike is heavy, with all the extras, weighs in at about 26kg. My last one was 13Kg
@anomnomnomaly @BrentToderian I'd heard that heat could be a factor. Its interesting to see how much of one it is. You'd have to be careful here - summers can be pretty nasty in parts, and you wouldn't want to run out of juice and have to get a hefty bike like that up a hill in 40 degrees. Of course it's best not to be out in that weather at all if you can avoid it!
Stahlbrandt@BrentToderian hyper dense city scapes with lots of urban planning makes a difference. What are other hyper dense places like eg Singapore doing in this regard? Large countries with lots of space where ppl live scattered around are less likely to find motivation to go biking on the dust roads.
f*cking b*tch club@BrentToderian I’m surprised the number of km’s ridden isn’t higher. I don’t ride every day, I only started tracking it about 6 months ago, & I rode 520 miles in 2022 (836 km).
But I follow (on IG) an inspirational group of riders https://bikeswillsavetheworld.com/, who sometimes ride 100 miles “just for fun”. They stress riding with friends, so I think forming bike clubs would help here in the US.
I think east coast US bike infrastructure will improve dramatically in the next 5 yrs.
Anniek@grammasaurus @BrentToderian the average Dutch person doesn’t get their miles by biking ‘just for fun’ (there are ofcourse people who also bike as a hobby/sport) but by every day short drives (commuting, to the train station, shops, friends, gym etcetera). So the average Dutch person would bike often but short distances.
Mark Hughes@BrentToderian Holland is dead flat. Maybe the advent of electric bikes will help those of us where it is not dead flat?
It'll do that all right.
Mine has 4 assist modes... for most rides, I use eco mode... flat rides will get me up to 40 miles out of a charge 8ah battery)... that drops if you use higher modes.
Turbo mode is highest assist... and I can tackle steep inclines, in 8th gear at a speed of 10-12mph without breaking a sweat.
But I try to limit myself to using level 2 mode and dropping gears to preserve battery and increase exercise level.
Jo / Jojo 
@BrentToderian Coming top in a comparison of 29 developed nations ≠ "[top/best/most/whatever] on earth" and the "solution" you're presenting isn't actually represented by the study you link, it's just something you decided you *think* is the solution...? That's not scientific at all, that's agenda-pushing. Pretty harmless in this context, but still... do better
ETA: "If you *think* infrastructure is the answer, just say that. But don't misrepresent a study to make that point as if it were fact
ETA: "If you *think* infrastructure is the answer, just say that. But don't misrepresent a study to make that point as if it were fact
Jaap de Vries@BrentToderian @helenedebruine That makes 21 km cycling per week, say 1.4 hours. So only a small part of exercise.
Dazzat60@BrentToderian I'm an Australian who has lived in the Netherlands for 11 years and I can say we do a lot of bike riding here. You want shopping, leave the car at home and bike or walk. Big American gas guzzlers are not common her as they are totally impractical and pretty much useless here for the most part.
Andrew Grant@BrentToderian it is flat,
Huub Mons 
@BrentToderian I'm dutch, and cycle probably 2.000 km a year. Nowadays I'm using an electric bike to travel to work (8 km).
I have changed my job twice just to be able to bike to my work. I really like to be back home in half an hour cycling 🙂
Rohit Mali@BrentToderian yes we have to improve Daily productivity
costrike@BrentToderian Build it for bikes and they shall ride.
RacerX@BrentToderian also the tallest people on earth, due to per capita wealth and pre-natal care available.
brucy@BrentToderian More generally, it's a fact we've legislated or capitalized away most ways for people to get activity in.
Rense Corten@BrentToderian note that this includes "just" 29 countries, and with over a third European, I'm not so sure that's a random sample. So I don't think this can be generalized to the global population...
LoJo In YEG@BrentToderian The healthiest I've ever been was when I was biking/walking to work, groceries, and other shorter trips as much as possible. I was able to do that in a winter city (Edmonton) and as a single mom w/ a preschooler. A lung infection (pleurisy) derailed this practice, and it became untenable to get back to afterwards (no bike parking at new job, expanded family, etc.), though others have found ways around such obstacles. It would be great to get back to, but bike parking is key, IMO!
I loved to cycle, but grew out of it when I started to drive.
Got a bike again in my late 20's and used it occasionally. But relied on the car.
Health eventually meant I couldn't cycle much at all... 6 miles and I was a wreck, legs to jelly, exhausted attempting hills.
Bought electric assist bike end of June.
Have ridden about 600 miles since.
Longest ride, 22 miles with many hills.
Found my enjoyment of it again, and my leg muscles are thanking me.
@BrentToderian My guess the Dutch have national health care and Dutch doctors prescribe more than pills pills pills. And how do Dutch doctors treat fibromyalgia?