Nessersluis

Our first ride! A 50 kilometer loop to the polders south of the city. It took us about 20 minutes to thread our way through the city throngs to find some solitude and nature. We made our way through Vondelpark where the Riksmuseum and van Gogh museums reside. A few kilometers later we entered Het Amsterdamse Bos (forest park). Further south we entered the agrarian polders where we zigzagged over to the Amstel River from which Amsterdam takes its name. The return loop included a ferry ride and drawbridge, not to mention a few old windmills.

Nancy took a slow speed fall heading back through Ouderkerk when a small boy darted into her path on a narrow street. Not too bad a fall and a small band aid fixed her up. A good reminder to wear our goofy helmets on these longer rides.

Riding in Amsterdam proper is quite an experience. I've ridden motorcycles in Asia, driven cars in Spain, and pedalled bicycles pretty much all over the planet, but I haven't run across the combination of speed and numbers that I experience on the cycle routes here. As icing on the cake they generally allow motorscooters on most of the bike paths here. This seems like adding a whole other level of madness to me. On tge llus side, they are very good at riding bicycles here! Still, I'd better adopt the Dutch attitude of 'ride fast, be normaal, and get out my way' pretty quickly. Ding ding, ding ding.Read more