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@JWestland
Just saying hi, I am Dutch, and live in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The bit of the UK at the other end of the Irish Sea.
Cycling is like breathing for Dutch people, but generally we give little thought to our bikes. We get on them, and ride them.
Which is a bit harder in the UK with the potholed roads and not always getting right of way, but after 5 years of cycling here you get used to that too. See how I didn't mention the rain? Lots of rain in NL too ;)
In the UK there's a lively "cycling as a hobby" scene which lead from a roadster to a singledspeed (now a fixie, after I learned to use SPDs) and a touring bike.
Bike #3 has a childseat for the wee man but he's getting too heavy now at 20KG so time for a trailer.
Didn't notice much difference in treatment here luckily, doesn't matter if you're a male or female in the local bike scene. I get rather irate when I see female road bikes with flower prints (Trek I am looking at you!)
There's an outdoor track here, and a small bike enthusiast scene, along with critical mass/bike safety groups, several road clubs, mountainbike trails and cycling is on the up.
No bike polo (yet?) due to lack of numbers, Belfast isn't very big. Few girls on fixies, there aren't a lot of female road cyclists either, cycling is quite male orientated atm There are more woman commuting these days as numbers have gone up. No doubt that will change in time and the female cycling scene will grow.