First day on the road...

We had to hustle to get on the road this morning even though it was fairly late start at 8:30 AM. Had repack, get your breakfast, load the baggage van and make final adjustments to the bikes.

I'm renting a bike, so that final critical seat adjustment were required. The bike routing is much more sophisticated than in the past where we would all get route sheets to follow hope for the best. This trip everything is also electronic. Tiny little GPS receivers with maps and routes the that beep at you on all the turns and buzz you when you go off course. Most of the units are various models of Garmins and a couple of units from Wahoo.

In addition, there is a smartphone system called "ridewithgps" that allow you to turn your phone into a GPS bike device as well. The nifty feature of "ridewithgps" is that it will call out the routes as you ride through your headphones. I used both devices today. The Garmin on the handle bars and the smartphone tucked into my back pocket with the headphone snaking up to my ears. For the first day, it worked out ok. I've also helped several others get their units set up as well.

The Ride

Today was a ride that headed a bit south then east as we left Amsterdam. Some this on bike paths that ran beside the road and many times paths that headed out across the fields. The dutch have put a lot of effort to make sure that bike travel is practical and safe with special bike routes, signs and traffic lights.

In contrast to the recent heatwave, today was a bit overcast and cooler. I don't remember the exact temperature, but it was likely in the 70's most of the day. The day was also pretty breezy with headwind early in the the ride turning into tail winds as the day progressed.

Jan the trip leader lives outside of Amsterdam and arranged for us to picnic at his waterside house. The picnic is typical items to keep you going for the final 1/2 of the ride, sandwich fixings and drinks. I made a couple of peanut and butter sandwiches.

The final push into the hotel was almost all tailwinds with some sky threatening to pour at any moment, but out luck held as it spit on us a bit but never developed into full downpour.

The hotel is very upscale and even has a gambling casino. After a great dinner it was time to get ready for tomorrow.

Click here for daily ride photos