Trek’s Dutch style bike: The Cocoa
There are a lot of sterotypes about the Dutch.
They wear wooden shoes while walking around their windmills.
Everyone has blonde hair and blue eyes.
Dutch babies are born six feet tall with tulips in hand.
They spend their weekends enjoying mar… coffee shops.
And all Dutch, young and old, love bicycles.
After having spent years living in the Netherlands the only Dutch stereotype I find unquestionably true is the last one: the Dutch love bicycles.
Bicycle riding is so ingrained into the culture that in the Dutch language many idioms reference bicycles. So, in honor of one of my favorite bicycles Village Cycle Center carries, the Cocoa (Trek’s Dutch style bicycle), I offer you a free Dutch lesson in bicycle idioms. Enjoy, and please find ways to slip these into your next bike shop conversation.
- Het is net als fietsen, eenmaal geleerd vergeet je het nooit meer.
- It’s like biking, once you’ve learned how to, you never forget.
- De fiets aan de haak hangen.
- Hang the bike on the hook. (to quit)
- Ik ben fietsen.
- I’m biking. (I am gonna go now)
- Op die fiets.
- On the Bike. (oh so that’s how.)
- Wat heb ik nou aan mijn fiets hangen!?
- What’s that hanging off my bike (WTF!!??)
Carol Bontekoe riding a Dutch bike in Lemmer, Friesland.
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