4.5 Fridays in Netherlands in May?

Heard from several Bike Friday riders who will also be cycling in Netherlands in May. A neighbor (well, 20 miles... ) is planning to spend a couple of weeks in mid-May riding in Amsterdam area, with a friend, both on Bike Fridays (a Crusoe and a Tikit), and another pair of Bike Friday riders will be touring mid-May on a Tandem. So, that will be 5 of us riding in the Netherlands, on 4.5 Fridays (counting the tandem as 1.5?), at the same time. Wonder if any other Bike Friday riders will be cycling in the low countries then? 5 is very cool, and I hope that we'll cross paths for a day's cycling or at least a coffee break and photo at a crossroads somewhere. 6 or more riders? ... Well, that could be a "Bike Friday Flash Mob Netherlands" kind of event!

Electronics

Taking some basic electronics: Netbook, GPS, camera, battery charger. Netbook is incredible -- a Samsung N120, sub 3 lbs yet very high function, a terrific Daily Deal purchase on eBay. GPS -- a Garmin eTrex Legend, designed for cycling -- seems an odd choice for someone who claims to have no fixed destination hence no need for location, but I have discovered that I want to keep a record of where I will have been. (How many tenses in that sentence?).

Camera will probably be Canon S3. Battery charger prevents leaving a trail of dead AA batteries along the way.

Maps

Part of me says 'just ride -- if you don't have a destination you can't get lost' while another part says 'maps are neat'. How to reconcile? One possibility: enjoy the map... then ignore it.

Anyway, I found an incredible cycling resource for the Netherlands... a interactive site offering cycling-specific maps based on the LF (longfiets, or long-distance cycling) network, for variety of routes and regions. Here is the site: Landelijkefietsroutes

Purchased a set of overview maps -- the "Basis Kaart".
Very nice maps, and they appear easy to ignore in a pinch.

Bike, loaded up

Hmmm. Got the bike set up with briefcase and front panniers, stuffed with a bunch of towels and misc junk to approximate load I may be taking, and went for a couple rides this weekend. Works well, but the ride is certainly different! Without luggage, ride is kind of Miata-like... very nimble and zippy. With luggage... ride isn't exactly a Cadillac, but it is a lot more... stable. Did get high praise from a kid maybe about 9 years old, on a bike, as we rode by: "hey, that's coool!"