THE NETHERLANDS

A boat/bike tour of The Netherlands? What are 2 high altitude road bikers doing on a flat road, short daily distance, below sea level excursion? We were meeting up with many of the folks we met on the 2014 Coast to Coast ride. One couple on the C2C ride is from The Netherlands. Hetty suggested that we all meet in her country for a tour. 25 of us took her up on the offer.  With friends and family we were became a close group of 31. The concept of sleeping dining and drinking on a barge and biking all day is certainly appealing.  While we all loved the C2C experience, none of us were voting for camping for this tour.

Day One

It’s a long, overnight flight to Amsterdam. I should have realized that 45 minutes is not enough time to get from a domestic terminal to the international terminal at Dulles.  It did give us a chance to stretch our legs at sprint speed.  It was surprising easy to get from the airport to our hotel via train and taxi. The Westcord Art hotel has original modern art work everywhere including the entire wall behind the bed.  John slept in the lobby while I explored the street and found the grocery store.

Later I met the group for a tour of the Rijks Museum.  John was still jet lagged. Quite the museum including, of course, Rembrandt’s painting, “The Night Watchman”.  I took pictures from the furniture section for John.

Day Two

We met the group again for a walking tour of Amsterdam.  I’m fascinated with architectural history. This was my kind of tour with perfectly preserved buildings from the early 1600’s adjacent to modern sculpture.

Our hosts are standing with the statues representing “The Night Watchmen”. After lunch in one of the oldest buildings in Amsterdam we made our way to the boat, The Fluvius. Accommodations were quite comfortable.  The chef prepared 4 course meals every night. We all enjoyed catching up with each other over drinks in the lounge.

Day Three, Amsterdam to Zaandam

The crew offloaded the bikes and we were each assigned one. 7 gears were more than adequate since the biggest inclines were the bridges. The tour guide lead and Hetti and her husband John rode sweep at the back of the line of 31 bicyclists. 9mph was plenty fast to try to keep all of us together.  I knew that the Dutch rode bicycles but was still surprised by the number and quality of the bike paths and lanes.  On any day, we might be on 10 to 15 bike routes each marked with numbers.  No pictures from this day as I was concentrating on not hitting the bike in front of me. John’s video includes segments from every day.

Day Four, Zaandam to Alkmar

This is the heart of the old windmill country. They are beautiful and quite complex. Not only were they used to pump water out of the land that they claimed from the sea but they were also used to grind chalk and grain and run all sorts of machinery including saws. In some places we could see the 17th century windmills in the foreground and the modern ones in the background.

Day Five, Alkmar to Den Helden

We biked by the sea. It’s strange to be on a dike and see the water on one side higher that the houses and towns on the other side. It was our third day on a bike and we had yet to see any house, public building or even a shed that wasn’t perfectly painted and maintained, windows were always spotless and there were no weeds. I began to wonder if The Netherlands has some sort of national HOA. 

I thought of all the sights Hetti and John saw in the USA and the trash on the roads and was embarrassed for our country. Really, we can, and should do better as a nation to spruce things up a bit.

Day Six, Den Helden to Texel

Texel is a Dutch island in the North Sea just off the coast of the mainland. We were treated to a tour of the beachcomber’s museum. Hey if Kansas can have a museum dedicated to barbed wire The Netherlands can have a museum for junk found on beaches. Our group posed for pictures on the West and East coasts of the island so we could boast that this group now has accomplished C2C biking in two countries. 

We enjoyed a few hours walking on the beach and actually got to watch a surfing class. Let’s just say I don’t think they’re going to be ready for Southern California’s surfing coast any time soon.

We ended the day at the Texel brewery. Excellent beer. Too bad it’s only available in Holland.

Day Seven,  Texel via ferry to Mememblik to Enkhuizen

We started the ride with a stop at the steam museum. I was hoping for a description of the cultural changes that steam brought such as the phasing out of windmills. This was more of a motor head tour with detailed explanations of the inner working of steam engines.  Back to biking though more beautiful countryside.  We could see the Fluvius motoring to Enkhuizen.

Day Eight, Enkhuizen through Hoorn, Edam to Volendam

Hoorn is an old harbor town. Edam, yes, as in the cheese.

We had some time to walk through both of these old cities. The tiny draw bridges are still operational.

I can imagine that they were built to fit a single horse drawn cart. Somehow now I could see a car, several pedestrians and a few bikes all crossing at once.  We were treated to a small open electric boat tour of the smaller canals through farm land and towns. The boatman showed us that the farmland is actually floating. He jumped and the land bounced.

Day Nine, Volendam  to Monnickadam to Amsterdam

In Monnickadam we toured the clock tower and were treated to a tour of the inner workings of the tower. The English speaking guide explained the layers of pottery and other artifacts that were found in a cesspit. They were from 4 centuries.  I was certainly glad that our boat is on the north side of Amsterdam, a ferry ride away from the Central Station. Traffic, especially bike traffic in the city is quite intense.

Day Ten, Amsterdam

We were free to wander the city. Just north of the boat dock we discovered an open air market set up in the street in a working class immigrant neighborhood. Everything from raw herring to hair dye was available. From there we took a tour by boat through the canals. There were old buildings, the new ship-shaped science museum [?], canal bridges and this tenacious duck who managed to make a nest on the fins of a small boat.

Day 11, The long flight home

It’s good to be home. We feel so very blessed to have been able to do this trip and reconnect with our 2014 C2C friends. Thank you Hetti for arranging this wonderful boat/bike tour.

Death Ride 2015

The Death Ride is a three day ride covering 234 miles and 16,000 ft of vertical. The weather over the three days was so unique to each day. It was as though in three days we rode in three seasons.

Day One

The ride started in Silverton Colorado at the base of Red Mountain Pass. When we left it was raining steadily with temperature in the low forties. It was a slow steady climb up to the top of the pass.  The temperature continued to drop and the rain turned to sleet and the n to snow. When we reached the summit at 11,010 ft. it was 32 degrees and snowing heavily.  The ride down was extremely cold and treacherous. When we arrived in Ouray at our hotel we dried our clothes and warmed up. Rose made the summit and 2 miles down the other side of the pass but was too cold and wet to continue down the pass. A kind general contractor picked up her and another woman and took them to Ouray.  Once dry and warm, Mike and I left for Ridgeway and Dallas Divide.

It continued to rain and the temperature stayed in the low 40's. The rain grew stronger as we started our descent off Dallas Divide. We slogged through the day until, with fewer than 20 miles to go of the 72 mile day, our friend found us and talked us into getting into the car. We spent the night in a warm lodge in Telluride.

Day Two

When we left Telluride it was in the low 40's, partly cloudy, crisp, beautiful with great visibility of the surrounding peaks and valleys.

As we started our climb up Lizardhead Pass the wind picked up to a moderate head wind. When we reached the summit we put on our warm clothes for the descent. The wind was strong enough that we had to peddle down hill all the way to Delores. As we lost altitude the temperature rose. All the riders were stripping clothes off by the SAG stop in Delores. We lost the head wind when we turned  toward Mancos.. From Mancos to Durango the wind was calmer but at our backs. Wish I could say it helped on the climb. It did make the last eight miles of descent to our hotel a lot of fun. We arrived just in time for the free wine. I don't drink wine but it made Rose happy.

Day Three

The group starts as the train pulls out of the station in Durango. The Iron Horse race pits bicycles against the train for the 50 mile journey up 2 mountain passes to Silverton. We didn't race the train but did ride on some beautiful quiet roads that pass through the valley and begins a gradual ascent to the base of Coal Bank Pass.

At about mile 25 we began the real climb up to Coal Bank and then Molas Passes. It's 6000 feet of elevation gain in less than 25 miles. An hour of riding doesn't click off miles with an average speed of 6 or 7 mph. It's worth the pain to slowly take in the scenery. All the vegetation was especially green after an uncommonly wet May and June.

The higher elevations still had snow. It is sure much nicer to ride past snow on a clear 55 degree day than ride in it as we did on day one. We celebrated when we arrived at the finish line, had a good dinner back in Ouray then eased our muscles into the outdoor hot top at the motel. Great ride experience.

Days 18-26

We’re starting to get into the rhythm of SAG duties and alternate riding days. Zipper alarms begin around 5:30. There’s just no sleeping through 53 people each unzipping sleeping bags, screen and rain tent flies and zipping up warm clothing. Coffee at 6:30 and breakfast at 7:00. Riders begin to leave as soon as it’s light. SAG folks leave as assigned to take care of 1st SAG, lunch and 2nd SAG. Setting up the rest stop Involves lugging 2 tables and 15 chairs from the trailer to a safe wide shoulder or park, putting out water, soft drinks, snacks, fruit and sanitizing everything before the first rider arrives. A good spot for a SAG includes a surrounding area with sufficient growth of bushes to send women in one direction and men in another.  This is the SAG stop near Valentine Texas.

By about day 16 the men have lost most modesty and most women just wait if natural accommodations are not adequate. Sometimes Bubba brings the RV for the women. In the evening the SAG trailers need to be restocked. There’s usually a meeting. We have strict rules for staff: no drinking until the last rider arrives. Two of us are assigned to be “designated drivers” each night. No alcohol allowed just in case some emergency occurs in the middle of the night.

John and I have each been able to ride about every 4th day. It’s much greener this year the more flowers in the New Mexico desert.

We stayed at the Painted Pony ranch in Rodeo, NM. Thank goodness we had indoor sleeping arrangements as a fierce T-storm came up in the afternoon and dumped rain for hours. After the rain there was a double rainbow. I’ve never seen both ends of a double rainbow touching the ground before. My camera would only capture half. So grateful to get to see it. Doubly appreciative since one of the riders [back saddle of tandem] is nearly blind.

West Texas on US 90 is unbelievably remote.  The 6-man football team for Sanderson High sometimes must travel 275 miles to a game, play and drive 275 miles back in a single day. The trade-off for the remoteness, according to the proprietor of the hardware/plumbing supply/antique/used book store in town is the community and low cost of living. One sign offered newer 2 bedroom house on acreage for $59,000. Note the Amtrak station.

Today we’re enjoying a lay-over day at Riverbend resort near Cancon Texas. We just entered the hill country. What a change. Two days ago we were in the desert. Today it’s humid, there’s natural grass and real trees. There’s actually water in the rivers.