“I like to carry it with me wherever I live,” said Gousios. He estimates he traveled around 1,000 km while living in Berlin and has logged more than 2,500 km since he moved to the Netherlands.
Gousios describes his two-wheeler as a typical mountain bike with street tires. When asked why he chose it he said it had a good, lightweight skeleton with great upgrade possibilities and a cheap price. Although the original price he paid was €400 Gousios says he has put about €600 more into the bike in upgrades. In fact, since he bought it he says he has upgraded most of the mechanical parts of the bike. “I always do the upgrades myself, I like to mess with grease and gears,” he said.
Although now the bike is mainly used for daily commutes to TU Delft, Gousios does have some more memorable moments on it. He recalls a humorous ride home at 3am in Berlin after four or five cocktails, getting soaked by the rain on a 60 km ride around Mount Hymettus in Athens, and riding to his army post dressed in his uniform. “And there was my first ride from Delft to Den Haag where I went through ootdorp and Ypenburg before deciding to follow the signs,” said Gousios.
Two facts surprise Gousios about cycling in the Netherlands. “Old people like to ride,” he stated. “And bicycle driver behaviour here reminds me of car driver behaviour in Athens,” he continued. “They are both aggressive and fight to occupy available space. I guess this happens everywhere where you have a high concentration of people driving the same kind of vehicle.”
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