Green Options

Topping yet another bicycle list, Amsterdam is #1 here because of the great bicycle photos to follow along with the fact that 40% of traffic is bicycle traffic in Amsterdam and the city is full of bicycle facilities, including a 10,000-bicycle parking garage at its train station.

Amsterdam may not have as high a percentage of bicycle commuters as its Dutch neighbor to the north, Groningen, or as much bike-crazy counter-culture as Portland (Oregon), or the largest bicycle sharing program in the world like in Paris, or naked bicycle rides like in Barcelona and Portland, but compared to these and other world cities I think it is pretty well established now that it and Copenhagen are in a tight competition for the top position. Amsterdam tops this list because of the great photos to follow.

The photos here show love and kisses on bikes, tons of bike parking, creative family bikes, flower bikes, and various cargo bikes, among other things.

Everyone rides a bike in the Netherlands, even Santa Clause (or Sinterklaas). Riding a bike doesn’t take away from women’s fashion at all either, but adds to it here. Biking is a part of normal life — perhaps that is why the Dutch are so calm.

The first car I fell in love with was a ‘69 Mustang I saw at a car show almost too long ago to remember. It was red, it was clean, and it made the most delicious, delirious, devious sound when the owner cranked the 289 motor over. As much as I wanted to own a Mustang after that, I live in an area that is saturated with the classic pony car, so I went with its more obscure cousin, the Mercury Cougar. But with gas prices on the rise once again, not everybody can afford (or wants) to feed a gas guzzling V8 just to cruise down their local strip and meet up with their buddies. So then, is it heresy to take an American symbol of power and excess, remove the horsepower heart, and replace it with an electric motor? I don’t think so, and neither do the guys and gals at Duke’s Garage, who took a ‘65 droptop ’stang and put not one, but two electric motors in this ultra-classic.