Column | Make a challenging course of every obstacle on public roads

You can’t actually cycle there, say the yellow plates, but I am disobedient. I don’t get off.

From the walkant a path topped with rubber mats leads me from the bank. Angle to the left, a bit down. Then on the right, immediately right again, and a little further down. You have to steer well between the gates, the path is narrow. On the left, immediately right again, a very small piece down and now I am at water height. The bridge here becomes wider, I can make a wide bend to the left and there I swallow over the pontoons on the Zwolle-IJsselkanaal.

Now the piece follows up, to the other walkant. That is the most difficult piece. Switch back, angle to the left. The path here is narrow again. Switching back again, right, and immediately right again. Further up, left, a few meters straight on, and to the left again. Now the most difficult bend follows, a real U-Turn. It requires a lot of skills not to put your foot on the ground when turning this super fast bend. Almost from a standstill I push hard on the pedals to sail again, further up, left and then left again. That was it. Water crossed. Temporary bridge.

The lock has been working on the Sluis in the Zwolle-IJsselkanaal for a while. The road is closed for cars. Initially I also thought for cyclists, so I always drove until someone told me that a bridge had been laid in the canal. And a nice one too. It was true. I had never seen one like that. The bicycle bridge is most reminiscent of a cyclocross course. The tight turns, between the gates. Little down, a bit up.

I’m not the only one who doesn’t get off. Nobody actually does that. Only the lady with her cargo bike that the tight turns really can’t cycle. I see her across the street at the U-Turn, she has to stab Hannest back and forth, with her long bike and then the turn around. « Difficult for you, » I nod while I pass her. She laughs. « Gives nothing! » In the faces of all the people I come across, who take the same course from the other bank, I see Beauty in the eyes. Concentration. Look at the next bend.

The one sends a bit wobbly between the gates, the other with a lot of guts. The girl with the school bag has red cheeks. The neat gentleman with his suitcase on the back of gray when he passes me. There is no one who doesn’t make it a game, from those turns, of steering and balancing. In front of me, a man takes the post in the U-turn like an accomplished cyclist, with a Vaartje he swings himself through the impossible bend. He chuckles, and secretly looks over his shoulder if I saw it.

The youth plays less and less outside, cycling skills is running back with seven -mile boots. Adults move far too little, and they are so stressed and serious. We think about campaigns, about expensive solutions to do something about it. But it can be that simple. Turn every obstacle a challenging course, and everyone becomes as happy and playful as a child.

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