Gym Cracks By Jim September 26, 2004 THEY LIKE BIKES No matter the occasion, Europeans often opt for two wheels rather than four By Jim (Babe) Berryman MissingNebraska.com I spent 18-months in Europe compliments of the U.S. Army. I have made another six-seven trips back to Europe since my army stint. I've already written about the punctual and efficient rail transportation system on the European continent, since returning home in August from the Scandinavian countries. Another important component of the European transportation system is the bicycle. Europeans use the bicycle as a major mode of transportation. Bicycles are everywhere. People do ride them great distances to work and for social outings. I can recall a few years ago at a suburban Amsterdam train station, seeing hundreds of bicycles positioned in racks outside this station. Also in this area were a few small cars, but not one SUV or luxury car. Seeing hundreds, maybe thousands, of bicycles outside train stations is not unusual throughout Europe. On the past trip during our stay in Stockholm, I would arise early and walk a few blocks to a McDonald's Restaurant where I would order my morning coffee. I would then position myself at an outside table and watch the city awaken. By 6:30 a.m., the street in front of McDonald's would be crawling with people on all kinds of bicycles. Bicycles certainly outnumbered the cars and trucks passing by my viewpoint. People of all ages and in all kinds of attire were traversing this street. There were students, young people on their way to work, professional (including middle-age women garbed in slacks and a few in dresses with well-coiffured hair), and blue-collar workers with lunch pails attached to their bicycles. My favorite was a man dressed impeccably in a suit, shined-shoes, hat and using an umbrella to shield the mist from his attire as he pedaled down the street. A middle-age woman with a guitar strapped to her bicycle stopped a short distance from me as she checked the straps holding her instrument to the bicycle. Then there was the young mother with two youngsters in a carriage being towed by their mother on a bicycle. I feel many Europeans would be appalled to learn how little bicycles are used in the states. It's almost impossible to notice how few overweight people there are in the Scandinavian countries. I'm sure there has to be some correlation between bicycling and being in shape. I go to the Scandinavian countries for two weeks and what do I remember the most vividly--bicyclers. Only a dork from Nebraska! Post/Read Feedback PREVIOUS GYM CRACKS: Click Here