Bicycle Day in Lviv
Door: webmaster
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Tilia
18 September 2011 | Oekraïne, Kiev
Today Lviv was crowded with cyclists. Men, women, girls, boys and very small boys all celebrated a united bicycle ride through the city's new 23 km of cycle lanes. At least, that’s how the ride was promoted. Besides some actual cycling paths and white stripes indicating crossing-points for cyclists, there was hardly anything special. Ok, the asphalt was quite good normally. But, this is not going to be a complaining piece of text of a spoiled Dutch with three (old…)bikes.
There were two rides actually – one at 11h (the 23 km ride) and a Girls’ Ride at 14h. The first ride was nice in terms of distance and exposure to the Lvivians due to the big crowd that gathered. The second ride was nice in terms of interesting women to be seen on bikes: sporty, sexy, theatrical, normal, international;) Interesting observations amongst others is that the first ride mainly attracted men in sportive outfits. There we only a handful of women. During the girls’ ride there were men taking pictures, none of them accepted the invitation to dress-up as women and join the ride! Then also, it seemed that many of the girls (there was only one older lady!) do not yet know well how to ride the bike in a place like Lviv. Even though this ride was much less crowded than the first one (and after lengthy explanaitions we were even split-up in small groups), accidents were more prone to happen because with every little thing they braked strongly or quickly stepped-off their bikes. But, all together it was great to see and I hope this cycling movement will grow stronger. Especially women have a step to make in that regard! Cycling should become part of people’s daily life to go to work, school and as sports.
Many institutes are working towards this goal as well and this is enormously interesting to see. Cyclist / activists’ groups such as the above mentioned ones form part of this movement (they do not only expose themselves, but also take part in lobbying for better lanes), the city council re-plans its inner-city structure and access for traffic but also sets-up projects for schools, (international) NGO’s such as the German GIZ (formerly GTZ) co-share in this process with expertise and financial support, (international) investments provide the market with good cycling material (a role for the Dutch!), national information fora such as Velobike in Kyiv 2012 are organised. So, this can only mean that more people will be able to use the bike in a comfortable way without disturbing the other traffic or pedestrians (this now sometimes happens due to bad facilities for cyclists and lack of experience). A good way forward! I hope it also means that, no matter how nice it is to look at well-dressed women, there is no need anymore to organize a special women’s ride – next time women and men can cycle together. Twice as much fun, twice as much impact!
There were two rides actually – one at 11h (the 23 km ride) and a Girls’ Ride at 14h. The first ride was nice in terms of distance and exposure to the Lvivians due to the big crowd that gathered. The second ride was nice in terms of interesting women to be seen on bikes: sporty, sexy, theatrical, normal, international;) Interesting observations amongst others is that the first ride mainly attracted men in sportive outfits. There we only a handful of women. During the girls’ ride there were men taking pictures, none of them accepted the invitation to dress-up as women and join the ride! Then also, it seemed that many of the girls (there was only one older lady!) do not yet know well how to ride the bike in a place like Lviv. Even though this ride was much less crowded than the first one (and after lengthy explanaitions we were even split-up in small groups), accidents were more prone to happen because with every little thing they braked strongly or quickly stepped-off their bikes. But, all together it was great to see and I hope this cycling movement will grow stronger. Especially women have a step to make in that regard! Cycling should become part of people’s daily life to go to work, school and as sports.
Many institutes are working towards this goal as well and this is enormously interesting to see. Cyclist / activists’ groups such as the above mentioned ones form part of this movement (they do not only expose themselves, but also take part in lobbying for better lanes), the city council re-plans its inner-city structure and access for traffic but also sets-up projects for schools, (international) NGO’s such as the German GIZ (formerly GTZ) co-share in this process with expertise and financial support, (international) investments provide the market with good cycling material (a role for the Dutch!), national information fora such as Velobike in Kyiv 2012 are organised. So, this can only mean that more people will be able to use the bike in a comfortable way without disturbing the other traffic or pedestrians (this now sometimes happens due to bad facilities for cyclists and lack of experience). A good way forward! I hope it also means that, no matter how nice it is to look at well-dressed women, there is no need anymore to organize a special women’s ride – next time women and men can cycle together. Twice as much fun, twice as much impact!
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19 September 2011 - 04:37
Sita:
Hi Tilia. Great initiative! From reading your account of this event, it seems there is interest in cycling, even if the women will have some catching up to do. Besides educating the cyclists, the other traffic users, especially cars, must learn with them. Car drivers still feel they are the kings of the road and often have little regard for the much more vulnerable cyclists.
I read your stories with interest.
Cheerio, Sita -
19 September 2011 - 05:06
Jessica:
Nice story, cool photos! You seemed to be a bit underdressed..;-) -
21 September 2011 - 19:43
The Guys InThePhoto:
Hi there from Ukraine :P
Nice pictures, and it was really 'cozzy' in the end ;) -
22 September 2011 - 09:17
Tilia Maas Geesteranus:
Hi Guys in the Photo! Hi from Ukraine as well;) Nice to hear from you, but a pity I don't know who you are... At least, not from behind my desk. In the first or second picture? Next time with a ride, let me know who you are! pa-pa -
23 September 2011 - 10:38
The Guys InThePhoto:
Hehe, I thought you might not even remember))
The first one. You've said it's "cozy", around all those snug fitted bicycles, when the group photo had been taken)
pa-pa :P -
23 September 2011 - 10:54
Tilia Maas Geesteranus:
So haha, we're getting an interesting story here! I replaced one of the pictures, with a picture that focuses more on the people I stood with, very cozy indeed;) Are you there? (you say 'the first one', from the right you mean?)
I'm (a little) sick in bed right now, so I could go on all day with this who-is-who game;) -
08 Januari 2012 - 12:01
Hans Olink:
Beste Tilia, ik heb met interesse je verslag gelezen. Ik ben journalist, redacteur van het VPRO-programma OVT, was afgelopen jaar in Lviv en bereid een programma over Lviv voor, in historisch perspectief. Ik vraag me af of jij me zou kunnen ondersteunen.
Zou je contact met mij willen opnemen?
Hartelijks, Hans Olink
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