Gyula Deak grew up with a love of cycling and, after moving to Amsterdam from Dubai, travels everywhere on two wheels.
He runs his own design studio and magazine and has rediscovered his sense of adventure since moving to the Netherlands.
The 30-year-old Hungarian got his driving licence “when I turned 18 and, after that, all I wanted was a car”. But spending hours on end in traffic put him off and he was soon back on his bike.
In 2008, he bought a bicycle to ride between his home in Umm Sequim and his office at the World Trade Centre. But crossing busy three and four-lane roads soon put him off and he was back in his car.
He made a second attempt to commute by bicyle in 2010, when he moved home and offices.
“I got back on the bike but I soon had to stop again. The constant construction, heat and increasing traffic in that area once again made it difficult to ride.”
But life is completely different in Amsterdam and, although he works from home, his bicycle is his main mode of transport.
“Almost everyone is a cyclist here,” he said. “There are millions of bikes on the roads and it is bizarre to see all this bike traffic after living in Dubai for nine years. You have to be very careful and obey the road rules, as if you were in a car.”
He feels much safer as a cyclist in Amsterdam, which has separate traffic lights for cyclists and separate lanes on roundabouts.
“The bike roads are actual roads, not just lanes painted on the existing tarmac,” he said.
nhanif@thenational.ae