DEN BOSCH, Netherlands \u2014 How else would you get to a golf tournament in the Netherlands?<\/p>\n
The Solheim Cup<\/a> between the United States and Europe at the Bernardus Golf course in rural North Brabant province is encouraging the thousands of fans lining the fairways to arrive the Dutch way \u2014 on two wheels using pedal power.<\/p>\n Janet Metcalfe, a 58-year-old retiree from Cheshire in England, was happy to saddle up for a 30-minute ride from her hotel in nearby Vught to the course.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s just been a typically Dutch thing,\u201d she said after parking her bike in the rows of racks provided for fans. \u201cAbsolutely brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n She was impressed by the other road users in the Netherlands where cycling and giving way to bikes is ingrained in the national DNA.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing British, we don’t trust that the traffic will stop but it does, every single time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Riding to the course is an easy way to avoid waiting for a crowded shuttle bus. The last edition of the tournament, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, was hit by transport issues<\/a> that saw half-empty stands on the first morning of the event.<\/p>\n More bikes than people<\/p>\n The Netherlands is renowned as a paradise for cyclists.<\/p>\n According to the national statistics office, the nation of 18 million people and 23 million bikes has some 153,000 kilometers (95,000 miles) of \u201cpaths and roads where cyclists are welcome\u201d including dedicated bike paths and roads with cycle lanes.<\/p>\n Those include the bucolic 9-kilometer (5 1\/2-mile) ride from the railway station in Den Bosch to Bernardus through farmers’ fields where cattle graze in scenes reminiscent of a Paulus Potter Golden Age painting<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chris Thompson, 82, from Dorset in England, is a seasoned bike rider, who had no trouble with the morning ride.<\/p>\n \u201cPiece of cake,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is superbly organized. You would have to be silly to make mistakes\u201d with the well-signposted route.<\/p>\n The only problems? Finding your ride among the thousands of bikes in the parking area as the crowds head for home and maybe a bit of tenderness for cycling novices.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a few sore points,\u201d said Metcalfe.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n