Riding a bike in Holland (particularly Amsterdam) is a more common site than seeing a car drive by. I think everyone owns a bike in Holland. There might quite possibly be more bikes than people in Amsterdam. They don't have parking garages for cars, they have parking garages for bikes....
A Bike Parking Garage by Central Station
After flying for what felt like eternity I finally arrived on an early morning in Amsterdam. After hauling my backpack through the airport, train stations, and walking to my hostel I was pooped. My room was not ready, so I had to store my backpack in a locker, and then it was time to decide what to do. I'm not gonna lie, I was tired. But for me, the way to overcome jet lag and get back to a normal sleeping pattern for that time zone is to be awake throughout the day, and then take a Benadryl at night. I should have taken it easy on my first day.
I found a bike company online that didn't require reservations, and that ran daily bike tours out to the countryside. I took public transportation to the bike rental place, but I had arrived a tad early so I decided to walk around and find a place to sit and enjoy my lunch. Then it started to pour rain. My lunch included huddling under an umbrella shielding myself from the rain in front of a dry cleaning place (oh the irony).
After lunch I headed back to the bike place, and because of the rain it was only a small group consisting of a couple from the UK, a couple from Australia, and a gal from Canada. We were edumacated on Amsterdam 101 before dressing into our ponchos and heading out on our 22km journey. We first rode around the city, and I have to admit I was more afraid of all the other cyclist than the cars. They were everywhere!
Our first stop out of the city was a windmill. Of course I had to take a photo of how silly I looked in my hideous poncho...
Imagine that in bright red, like Teletubbie Red. That is easily one of the top 10 most embarrassing photos of me. Enjoy it. Save it to your hard drive for times when you need a good chuckle.
After checking out the windmill we were back on the road, and our next stop was a clog factory and cheese farm. We parked our bikes in a barn full of cows (more proof we really were in the country).
We immediately stepped into a room covered with shelves of cheese. I needed a Lactaid just looking at it. A Dutch man came out and talked about the cheese making process with us, and then we sampled the cheeses. We then entered another room and watched wooden clogs be made. The man was actually wearing a wooden clog and walked in them with ease. When we went into the clog shop they had clogs of every style, and they even had some that were blank in case you were artistic enough to design your own. Perhaps they have a Pinterest tutorial for Clog Designing?
Of course, out of curiosity I had to put a pair on. The Verdict? They are utterly uncomfortable. I'll stick with my Toms, Thanks.
When we stepped out of the factory it was pouring rain again. We ran to our bikes and waited a bit for the rain to calm down, and once we continued it started hailing. It felt like someone was throwing bullets onto my face. It was painful! The worst part was that the hail was so intense that I couldn't even open my eyes to see the path ahead of me. Tell me again why I decided to do a 22km bike ride in the hail after a transatlantic flight?
After nearly 30 minutes of bike riding and continuous pouring we made our way to a park just outside the city. We finally stopped, and I decided to take a photo. I reached into my "waterproof" poncho pocket to find that it was filled to the top with water. Inside swimming in my poncho pocket was my brand new camera! Needless to say the camera drowned and I was unable to revive it.
We reached Vogel Park, and then back into city limits. I was so exhausted, drained, and drenched at this point that my fear of the other cyclists had withered away. They were probably fearing me.
Would I do it again? Sure. But I would follow these 3 simple rules....
- Only sunny days so I can soak in the scenery
- I must be well rested, or at least highly caffeinated
- No hideous ponchos allowed within 100 feet of historical windmills
Date Accomplished: October 19th, 2011
