Even on a drizzly Tuesday afternoon, the Silversant café with its farmhouse shutters is a popular meeting point for retirees who want to walk or cycle in the Amsterdamse Bos. On the terrace, standing next to a blue Veentrapper, is bicycle volunteer Yvonne Jacob (70), a tall, slim woman in skinny jeans, you would give her barely sixty. Maybe from all the cycling? Before her retirement, Jacob pedaled thirty kilometers up and down to the University of Amsterdam where she worked as an administrative assistant. She now rides a duo bike with guests two to three days a week.
Yesterday morning she took clients from the De Luwte care center on the sturdy tricycle, relatively young people, “about sixty years old”, with Alzheimer’s. “When I talk to them I hardly notice that they have dementia. Until they repeat their story.” Which is not necessarily a punishment: “When you get older, you have a lot to say.”
She gained special experiences on the bicycle. For example, Ali from Zeeland taught her everything about the flood disaster. A South American woman who lost a child sometimes wants to stop at the church to light a candle. And Jacob cycles with a man with Alzheimer’s who cannot talk: “But when I sang ‘To the side, to the side, to the side’ at a dog walking area, he suddenly joined in. Now we sing together.”
Today Jacob is cycling with her friend Gerdien de Vries (60). De Vries: “I have foot problems. In Amsterdam there is anarchy on the narrow cycle paths and if I suddenly have to stop I am unable to do so, it is too stressful for my foot.”
The Fietsmaatjes operate in 38 locations in the Netherlands. In Amstelveen alone, this involves a network of around a hundred volunteers, bicycle mechanics, IT specialists, fundraisers and cycling buddies like Jacob. “In principle, anyone who cannot cycle or cannot cycle well is welcome.” Loneliness can also be a reason. “And we encourage family and friends to become volunteers. For example, I persuaded the brother of a niece with Parkinson’s disease to go cycling with her.”
After Jacob has checked the Buienalarm, the ladies board the Veentrapper. A little rain doesn’t matter, they cycle all year round. Jacob, who knows many routes through the Amstelland, steers, and De Vries pedals along. They wave goodbye to passers-by and to two other ladies on a tandem bicycle. Jacob: “We like to look at nature. It is beautiful to see the forest change.” De Vries: “We sit on the bike like a happy egg.”
Afterwards they eat a beef sausage sandwich at Silversant. Jacob: “For me, the goal is to cycle a beautiful route and have contact with someone. My partner is a cyclist, who mainly wants to go as fast as possible.” But if necessary, she goes the extra mile: “Yesterday, a woman with dementia from the day care center asked if I could go faster. We went through the woods like a bolt.”
A version of this article also appeared in the October 14, 2023 newspaper.