Dogs – Dogs and Bikes

Dogs and Bikes of Amsterdam

January 11, 2025 Dogsandbikes.com

Late last year, we spent some time in Amsterdam, a city where people bicycle everywhere in style. They carry children large and small, dogs in baskets, and they don’t wear helmets. This must be what it’s like to live in a country where bicyclists aren’t afraid of getting smooshed by cars.

In this country, ride at your own risk…and, honestly, a helmet alone won’t save you. You need Dave’s Robotic Riding Exoskeleton ^TM.

Does this not look fun? The child in the picture below appears to be fearlessly enjoying the ride, while mom gets a little exercise doing her errands. I don’t recommend doing this on any American city street. Mom would probably get a ticket, if not an arrest for endangering the life of a child…

Dogs and bikes

Provincetown Pup in a Backpack

August 3, 2021August 3, 2021 Dogsandbikes.com

This guy is cozily tucked in and enjoying the sights around P’town.

Dogs and bikes

Dog in the grass

June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 Dogsandbikes.com

Occasionally, a Springer Spaniel shows up and stands in the tall grasses.

Dogs and bikes

Dog in a backpack

March 9, 2018 Dogsandbikes.com

Dogs and bikes

Dog Walking in Zion National Park

September 24, 2017 Dogsandbikes.com

Dogs and bikes

Best use of a milkcrate

August 27, 2017 Dogsandbikes.com

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Dogs and bikes

Prince Antoine’s moment

August 2, 2016August 2, 2016 Dogsandbikes.com

It was a good day for the guy in the hoodie. He rode with Prince Antoine northbound in Riverside Park around 81st or 82nd Street hoping, just hoping, that they’d be seen and photographed and posted to this blog. It would make them famous. They passed a guy – who they didn’t notice – with a camera who’d gotten off his bike to try to get a good shot of a Red-tailed hawk. That was me. I couldn’t get a clear view of the hawk, but I did get the guy and the dog and the bike. Four years later, the time is right and Dogs and Bikes posts the iconic shot. Four years hoodie guy and Prince Antoine have waited. May all of their dreams come true.

Dogs and bikes

Along the West Side Highway

July 21, 2016 Dogsandbikes.com

A few years ago, I had been on a longish ride from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to the George Washington Bridge, down to Battery Park and back to where I started. I had my camera with me but despite the perfect weather had not seen a single dog in a basket all day. I was somewhere in the 50s, block-wise, and passed this young woman and dog going the opposite direction. I did a u-turn, passed them and waited for them to ride by, which they did.

The car passing in the background ruins the shot, however, we live in a car world and if you think about it, cars ruin everything except road trips on winding country roads. And fooling around in the back seat.

Anyway, we moved from New York a few years ago and I don’t see dogs in baskets anymore. You need that critical mass of millions of people crammed onto an island to have a chance of catching dogs in baskets. Sure, you’ll see one now and again, but do you have your camera with you at that moment? In NYC, there’s a better than 50-50 chance of seeing a dog in a basket on a weekend ride or a walk along the loop in Central Park.

On our infrequent trips back to the city, I’m there, camera in hand, looking for that freewheeling pup. Meanwhile, I post stories on another blog and if you like stories, many set in New York, here’s the link.