In the City of Bikes by Pete Jordan: book review

In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist (2013) is set in the Netherlands capital city, Amsterdam, from 2002-2012.

The 35-year-old author intended to visit Amsterdam for a semester to study urban planning. But he decides to stay longer because he loves it so much – and his wife Amy Joy joins him. To explore the city together, they get on their bikes.

From the 1890s, Amsterdam began its biking tradition. This is a delight to the author, a self-confessed cyclist-watcher. In between sight-seeing and cyclist-seeing, the author provides readers with insights into the rise and rise of cycling in Amsterdam. He also has advice for cycling safely and how to prevent your bike from being stolen, how to prevent it from falling into the canal, and how not to bang into a pole in the middle of the bike path.

There are many comparisons between cycling in America, the author’s home country, and cycling in the Netherlands. And he did his own research on cycling in Amsterdam – of all people cycling with an umbrella 61% are female; and of all bikes decorated with plastic flowers, 91% were pedalled by females.

From Vincent Van Gogh’s murder to the increasing population, the author recounts the rules, restrictions, codes, and people’s cycling routines.

This book is not a concise, tight well-written novel; it’s a long-winded, rambling story-telling account of the author’s time in Amsterdam, with a history of how it became a city of bikes. But it is entertaining and fun.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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