Re: Brno, Czech Republic in June with Track Sense
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 1:56 am
OH! And we got BMW motorcycles in Amsterdam from the local dealer for a day!! Riding in Amsterdam itself was harrowing. Anything on two wheels is hell-bent on hitting you and killing you. Cars were so polite! But the streets are so crowded with bikes, scooters, trains and pedestrians, that many roadways would be blocked from truck deliveries and we'd have to ride over the center curb to get around. On a bike that I've ridden for 5 minutes... not awesome. But - we had a mission. Travel up the dykes to Kinderdijk to see all the windmills, because when in the Netherlands... We also hadn't planned to have bikes in Amsterdam, so we had to wear our race gear -- neon onesies with race helmets that were not really meant to be on a head for more than 20 minutes at a time.
So it rained a lot of the ride. It took 4 hours and a couple ferries to get to the windmills that were really just an hour away via highway. SO happy we took the windy, scenic route. We saw darling little towns along the water and the roads -- while essentially only one lane -- were pure perfection and so delightful. But, alas, race gear isn't made for a 4-hour trip, and man did it hurt. By the time we arrived at the windmill farm, it started downpouring so we went into the coffee shop. I pulled off my helmet and my forehead had oozed into the forehead airvents and it looked like I had two red devil horns. The blood blisters remained on my forehead for several days. Yay! Not. As we were sitting in the coffee shop, a little girl walked in, stopped in her tracks when she saw our neon onesies and gasped, "Whaaaaaa???? Why are they dressed like that?" and ran out. That was my very favorite part. Hahaha.
So we squeak squeaked down the road in our race boots and neon onesies to look at windmills, and took the highway back. They split lanes there, just like in CA, but their drivers are excellent and polite, and the lanes SO, so wide... it was a piece of cake. Until we got back in Amsterdam. I did get a little stuck on a median that we had to go over, and I did nearly tip the bike over at the gas pump (thankfully I was close enough to the boyfriend's bike that I landed on his and could push back up), but overall one of my favorite things we did in Europe. Loved it!!!
So it rained a lot of the ride. It took 4 hours and a couple ferries to get to the windmills that were really just an hour away via highway. SO happy we took the windy, scenic route. We saw darling little towns along the water and the roads -- while essentially only one lane -- were pure perfection and so delightful. But, alas, race gear isn't made for a 4-hour trip, and man did it hurt. By the time we arrived at the windmill farm, it started downpouring so we went into the coffee shop. I pulled off my helmet and my forehead had oozed into the forehead airvents and it looked like I had two red devil horns. The blood blisters remained on my forehead for several days. Yay! Not. As we were sitting in the coffee shop, a little girl walked in, stopped in her tracks when she saw our neon onesies and gasped, "Whaaaaaa???? Why are they dressed like that?" and ran out. That was my very favorite part. Hahaha.
So we squeak squeaked down the road in our race boots and neon onesies to look at windmills, and took the highway back. They split lanes there, just like in CA, but their drivers are excellent and polite, and the lanes SO, so wide... it was a piece of cake. Until we got back in Amsterdam. I did get a little stuck on a median that we had to go over, and I did nearly tip the bike over at the gas pump (thankfully I was close enough to the boyfriend's bike that I landed on his and could push back up), but overall one of my favorite things we did in Europe. Loved it!!!