First, a closer look at the two programmes: with Trap & Tram, during the month of August you can rent a bike and buy a tram ticket for just €16. Simply pick up the bike in any one of the participating dealers along the seaside, bike until you've had your fill, then return the bike at another participating seaside dealership before taking the tram back to where you started. The programme is in its first trial phase this summer, but it has been years in the making. Even with the development of the Flemish Coast Route, a bike path which forms part of the North Sea Cycle Route, and the Kusttram, the De Lijn tram which runs along the coast from De Panne to Knokke, it has been clear for some time that in sight of cycling's ever increasing popularity, the infrastructure hasn't always been up to snuff.
As Ine Plovie, a Project Manager with Westtoer, the company responsible for implementing Trap & Tram, told me, "Normally you can take your bike on the tram, but in the summer they are too full, and so most bikes are refused. Trap & Tram was developed so tourists could explore a larger part of the Flemish coast without worrying whether they can take the tram back with their bike or get back to the rental point on time. With Trap & Tram they can leave their bike at the farthest point and still get back with the Kusttram."
The programme is still in its early phases, with a second trial period planned for next year (from April to September), but things seem to be going well given the late start and limited publicity. "So far we rented about 100 bikes in a period of 20 days," Plovie said. "A slow start has the advantage that we are able to test the system and that we can recognise small practical problems. Right now the promotion is only in Dutch, so we still have a lot of potential to grow." Hopefully, along with the summer sunshine, cyclists will keep taking them up on the offer.
In Brussels, people have certainly been taking advantage of another new initiative, recognizable by the network of blue and yellow rental bikes scattered around the city: Villo! This is perhaps not such a new initiative, you may think, as some may remember a previous programme called Cyclocity, which has passed on much of its infrastructure to Villo!. Whereas Cyclocity had only 250 bikes spread across stations in the centre of Brussels, Villo! has up to 2,500 bikes throughout 16 of Brussels' 19 communes. This makes for a total of 180 stations - or one station every 450 metres in the busiest areas.
Users can subscribe on an annual, daily, or weekly basis, and no matter what the subscription, the first 30 minutes (enough time to cross most of Brussels depending on the hills) are free. The next 30 minutes cost only €0.50. This makes Villo! not only more widespread than its predecessor, but cheaper and, with its new fleet of lighter-weight bikes, a far more pleasant riding experience. The programme was launched in May, but already the citizens are responding. In the first two months of operation, there were 3,000 one-year subscriptions to the Villo! network, and 6,000 short-term subscriptions: that's four times the amount of subscribers to Cyclocity.
Brussels is quickly following in the line of Flanders by making cycling a major policy priority. And this is to say nothing of the other areas of bicycle promotion. There are, for instance, trekkershutten, small huts scattered around Flanders, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg which can be rented by long-distance cyclists. In Belgium this is an initiative of Toerisme Vlaanderen (Flanders' Tourist Board), offering rustic wooden cabins that can sleep four people all along the routes for just €37 per hut per night.
And then there is the Fietsknooppunten Netwerk (a network of intersecting bicycle routes) as well - those small green numbered signs that seem to pop up every few metres along every Flemish country road and which have become a model for bike path organisations in other European countries. Then there's the LF Cycle Routes (Landelijke Fietsroutes), the easiest way to arrange a multi-day bike trip anywhere in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
This is, of course, just a summary of the recreational cycling available to us mere mortals. When you really start to scratch the surface, Flanders is also a haven for international competitive cycling. It is home to the famous Eddy Merckx, and more recently Tom Boonen and Axel Merckx, as well as the Tour of Flanders, one of the most famous cycling races in the world.
It all begs that question again: What is it with Flanders and Cycling? For an American such as myself, Flanders seems a bicycle Mecca. Going home on holidays, I am often surprised by how difficult it can be to ride even a few blocks in a small town without being forced onto the sidewalks, or how little space there can be to lock a bike when going into a store. The sense of the bicycle as a mainstream means of transportation is still foreign to much of my home country. Ine Plovie shares this sentiment: "When you compare it with the USA, Flanders is indeed a cycling paradise."
But why? Is it the flat terrain? The many famous Flemish cyclists? Or maybe it is a sense of environmentalism that you can only get in a small country with such little wilderness left?
Or maybe it's just that the grass is always greener on the other side? "[Belgian biking] culture is nothing in comparison with the Netherlands," Plovie told me, "but we try our best! The bicycle paths in the Netherlands are really good and the Dutch are avid bikers, for functional as well as recreational purposes... Over the last few years the government has really been trying to make biking safer, especially in cities like Brussels."
www.trapentram.be
www.villo.be
www.vlaanderen-vakantieland.be/trekkershutten
www.fietsroute.org
www.routeyou.com
With the Flemish Coast Cycle Route, spending the day on a bike along the seaside is too tempting to pass up. Here are some ride suggestions - some of which will be detailed in the Tyre Tracks column over the next few weeks:
• The East End: From Knokke, head east away from the crowds along the coast past Het Zwin nature reserve, an ornithologist's paradise. If you have the time, continue over the border into the Netherlands - though Trap & Tram bikes do need to be returned in Belgium!
• Ostend: Easily accessible by train and a major summer destination in its own right, Ostend is the perfect spot to begin lots of different rides along the coast. Heading west, the path follows the boardwalk on the water's edge; heading east, it winds its way through the picturesque inland.
• West Side Ride: From Nieuwpoort, there are trails along the coast or inland through rambling sand dunes. This is another one where you can feel free to let your wheels wander - Dunkirk is just twenty kilometres away over the French border.
Flanders Today is a 
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