A very nice ride to Haarlem

Rode out from C&G's place late morning, with Haarlem my destination.

First mile or so a bit challenging, as I exited Amsterdam. My fault, I think... used GPS system, and I had inadvertently entered C&G's address incorrectly: Haarlemmerstraat, when it should have been Haarlemmermerstraat. Turns out that there is a street with the shorter name, but it is right downtown... so the GPS was doing its best, but with faulty info. I just figured Vlad had hacked the GPS satellites, and ignored the directions, rode by "seat of pants" until I was far enough out of town that error was meaningless.

By that point I'd hooked up with LF20 -- long-distance cycle route 20 -- which took me all the way to Haarlem (with a couple voluntary detours at nice spots).

Weather was cold and windy, but no rain! Was warm enough with T-shirt, plus light fleece, plus windproof fleece vest, plus regular rain jacket.

Amazingly few people on the route. The Netherlands has Europe's highest population density, but you wouldn't know it when you get out of the towns.

Bike worked beautifully. Light load, redistributed, and it felt like flying. Loosened front brakes slightly -- they were fine for commuting, but a bit fussy for distance.

Haarlem is a really great town. Wandered all over city centre. Surprisingly busy for a Tuesday afternoon, with tons of foot traffic, window shoppers, kids hanging out, etc. I think this may be a school holiday week, probably accounts for some of it.

Was cold and hungry, so scouted the fries situation. Highest activity was at a little shop right off main square, in the shadow of big church: fries seekers queued up 6 or 8 deep! Joined them. Good fries, with a novel twist: Sambal sauce. (Sambal is killer hot pepper condiment, courtesy of Holland's Indonesia connection.) Very warming!

Took train back to Amsterdam Centraal, then cycled cross-town in time to sprint up 45 steps and skype with Katie before she headed out to work.

Planning a quiet night, here with the washing machine.

FRITES REPORT

A good problem to have...

Going to have to remember which bag sunglasses are in!

Morning is dry, cool, sunny.

Plotted route to Haarlem.

Taking rain gear just in case ;-)

Wet plus special bonus... Cold!

If I am never again quite as cold and wet as I was on the ride from Amsterdam Zuid station back to Cathleen & Garrett's place, that will be quite fine, thank you.

Easy ride from Lent to Nijmegen station, in just a light drizzle. Rain picked up during train ride, and temperature dropped. Temp was 45F when I left Nijmegen, I'm guessing maybe 42F now in A'dam, and with good solid rain squalls. Ride from the station was quite a treat. I'm taking temperature drop as a sign that a new weather system is moving in, and the rain is moving on! (Watch out, eastern Europe.)

The Dutch must be very hardy. Doesn't seem to faze them. Some use umbrellas, some put up a hood, some... many... don't even bother.

Weather and forecast

Rained >10 mm Sunday according to official report. Let's call it half an inch. High temp was 44 degrees.

Forecast for Monday calls for another 7-10mm of rain, with high temp in low- to mid-40s.

Longer term forecast much nicer. For the next week, no day should have more than 2mm rain, temp could get as high as mid-50s, and on several days it might actually be sunny. Practically Saharan by comparison to past couple days!

Velorama Fietsmuseum

I'm speechless, so will keep this short and post more later.

3 floors, packed with bikes across centuries. I took 240 photos. Only scratched the surface of design concepts. Going back tomorrow on my way out of town.

If you have any interest in bikes, do not miss this museum.

A slight change in plans (good sense triumphs)

The forecast for tomorrow calls for more rain.
My plan for tomorrow called for a 30 mile ride to Culemborg.
Thirty miles of riding through the rain is not on.
Back in Amsterdam there is a warm, dry, unoccupied apartment.
I'm heading back to Amsterdam in the morning by train.
Forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday calls for nicer weather, maybe even sunny! If it is true, I'll do some day rides out of Amsterdam before Katie joins me Thursday.

FRITES REPORT

WET WET WET WET WET

My god it can rain here!

Suckered me, though I half expected it. Was dry but blustery when I rode into Nijmegen this morning. At more or less exactly the furthest point of the ride I'd planned, the sky opened up. I hung out under a bus shelter along with two police, misc shoppers, a street person or so, and some kids for fifteen or twenty minutes until it slowed (mind you, it was still pouring, but nothing by comparison with the way it had been coming down). Zipped everything up, hopped on bike, and headed back. That was signal for the spigots to open up again.

Inside and dry now, with cup of hot coffee.

Weight Gain

Just had a great breakfast here at B&B in Lent. Host cooked bacon, then scrambled eggs in the bacon grease, plus breakfast rolls with honey and hazelnut butter, big pot of coffee, and served with sides of cold cuts and cheese and rolls so I could custom build a dagwood to take along for lunch...

Hey, how about this healthy bicycling life-style!

Reminder to self: If ever need a heart transplant in future, opt for heaviest-duty model available. Walrus perhaps? Rhino?

Weight Loss

Bike did feel a bit lighter and nimbler after I lightened the load a little, and gave the tires a bit more air. Also, realized that the "anvil" feeling on first day of cycling might have been partly jet-lag induced... body-time, I was riding in the prime cycling hours of 3:00 am on!

I'll continue minimizing weight. For example, did you know that "The Girl Who Played With Fire" was written in multiple parts? And thanks to some careful slicing, it is also now available in physical parts! (Part one is finished and in the trash; part two is in my bag; parts 3 on are in the mail back to Amsterdam for later).

Keep minimizing and by the end of this trip I may reach my original platonic ideal of luggage: passport, credit card, toothbrush.

It is raining. Sunday is going to be a wet one! No heavy cycling planned... just a short ride back into Nijmegen to museum.

May Day (Otterlo>Hoge Vulewe>Arnhem>Nijmegen>Lent)

Greeted the dawn, with assistance of tbe roosters.

Saw a stag last night, courtesy of my hosts who came over and knocked on door when they spotted it. A rare thing to see. Was a couple hundred meters away, across a meadow. Beautiful beast, with 4-point antlers.

Packed up, had breakfast, then walked downtown to post office with a bag of "Why did I think I needed this?" stuff. Posted (I'm guessing) 2 kilos back to Garrett & Cathleen's place in Amsterdam, contained in three separate mailing sleeves. Used three... because I wanted each to fit through the mail slot. Turned out the post-mistress actually had a mail-slot tempate to check size! How cool is that?

Also pumped up tires a bit extra, to cut rolling resistance.

Then said goodbye, saddled up and rode out.

Took indirect route, as I wanted to ride through the Hoge-Vulewe reserve. The indirect route became a bit improvisational, as the bike tracks meandered all over. If I were a stickler for the facts, I suppose I would say that I got lost. Anyway, did a few miles more than I had planned, but the park is lovely.

Rode through a series of squalls. Ranged from occasional dry spots... through drizzle... through rain... through drenching downpours... through "standing under waterfall". But except for face / hands / feet I stayed pretty dry. Goretex jacket and some kind of miracle fibre pants did the trick. The pants were from REI... cost a small fortune... but they worked. And they actually look kind of dressy. Their tag said something like "Climb a mountain in the morning, visit a chateaux in the afternoon." For the price, they should have included a nights stay at the chateaux, with a good meal thrown in, but worth every penny.

Anyway, I did finally reach Arnhem. Cold, tired, damp, hungry. Found a dry spot to stand under a building balcony to eat my sandwich and regroup. As I was standing there, I realized I knew exactly where I was... had been just across the street on my ride out from Arnhem two days earlier... and that the train station was only blocks away. Stroke of genius: the trains run from Arnhem to Nijmegen four times an hour, and the fare is only about five bucks. Need I say more?

Rode the last little bit to the station in pouring rain, and hopped the train.

Got off in Nijmegen. Beautiful town... looking forward to seeing more tomorrow. Nijmegen is one of the Netherland's main university towns... and today is May Day: workers of the world, unite! As I exited the station, I emerged into a sizeable demonstration. Didn't really twig to what was going on until I saw the polizie... some on bicycles of course, but some on horses... and saw that the horses had plexiglass shields over their eyes! All was orderly, but both sides were serious in playing out their parts.

Thought about stopping to take my turn waving a red banner, but after all... I was still cold, damp, tired and had some miles to go to reach my destination. Plus... would have been a bit of a fraud don't you think? Sure, I'm a pawn of the capitalist system... but I'm also enjoying sabbatical with pay!

Anyway, I'm here now -- safe, dry, and warming back up!

Tomorrow to the bicycle museum!