Generally when you plan an Epic Journey you can structure it one of two ways. You can start off in an alien land and gradually come home (think Peking Paris), or you can start off in an easy place and gradually get harder.
As far as cycle provision goes, we are definitely on option B. Every single road I have seen here has a separate cycle track (makes crossing the road as a pedestrian a bit of a nightmare btw), and there is a very clear give-way protocol for drivers. Memo to self: this will not last, do not get used to it.
In fact at one point I was coming up to a very minor road crossing as a car approached up the road. I slowed, the car slowed, I slowed, the car slowed, and I gradually toppled off to the left with my feet still in the cleats. The (female) driver was completely horrified and jumped out of the car to help as I lay there feeling both unutterably foolish and like a stranded whale.
Anyway, back on the bike with only minor damage to the legs and onwards. One of the side-effects of the Dutch cycling culture is that (doh!) people do a lot of cycling, and so they are very good at it, and do it very fast. We have been overtaken by a basket full of geraniums, a highly unfit-looking youth in a camo jacket riding a spectacularly ill-fitting bike, and a bloke driving a lawnmower.