Europe Day 32: 30 Miles

Utrecht, Netherlands to Amsterdam, Netherlands

Well I guess that’s it. After 1,212 miles I have arrived at my stopping point in Amsterdam. Today’s ride was an uneventful 30 miles which went by quickly. I almost got stuck riding in the rain again, but it thankfully stopped just before I got on the road.

There isn’t much to say about the ride itself today. I started in the woods where the hostel is. It took a few miles before I was riding through the center of downtown Utrecht. By the time I was outside of Utrecht I had already covered 10 of today’s 30 miles.

The next 10 miles had me follow a canal on my right side and the train on my left. It wasn’t the most scenic riding, but that was to be expected traveling between two major cities placed very close together.

Once I got into the city of Amsterdam, I still had about 8 miles of riding to get to the Airbnb that I’m staying at for the next 4 nights. Riding in Amsterdam is a bit hectic because there is a ton of bicycle traffic along with foot traffic and cars. There are lights and paths for all 3 and it is sometimes hard to know who has the right of way. This morning I stopped to let a pedestrian pass me while riding through a park and she stared me down until I started to move and then yelled towards me that bicycles always have the right of way. I’m sure riding in the Netherlands would become second nature if I was here for a longer amount of time, but for now I just try not to make any sudden movements which might confuse the people around me and hope for the best.

I arrived at the Airbnb 30 minutes early. The ride had been much quicker than expected. I waited outside for 15 minutes and was then greeted by Pieter and his young son. The Airbnb is located right next door to where Pieter and his family live. He had to take care of a few things before he could let me into the Airbnb but invited me up to his place in the meantime. Pieter is also into cycling and has done some long trips himself. He said when his wife mentioned to him that I was a cyclist based on our conversation through the Airbnb app he was looking forward to meeting me. Pieter was incredibly nice, stocking the fridge with food and buying me a package of stroopwafels.

I brought my bike and all my things upstairs to the apartment and then threw all my clothes into the washing machine. One of the big perks of this apartment is the washer and dryer in the unit. I haven’t done laundry since I was in Bastogne, Belgium so I did not have any clean clothes.

Once my clothes were dry, I headed out to meet up with my friend Deborah. Deborah and I met when we both worked at Sterling Talent Solutions and have been friends since. It just so happened that her new job had a meeting in the Netherlands this week and she is sticking around for an extra few days.

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Musings:

• I can’t believe I made it 1,212 miles without a single mechanical issue or flat tire. I think I had gone through at least 5 or 6 tubes by the time I hit 1,200 miles on the TranAm. The current tires I’m using have been on my bike since Jackson, Wyoming 2 years ago, so I figured at some point I would have to switch them out or I’d at least get a flat. I was very lucky with everything working out on this trip.