Amsterdam

We arrived in Amsterdam early Saturday morning. Roy was waiting for us in Baggage Claim, having arrived an hour earlier. We quickly collected ALL of our luggage (what a relief), took about an hour to retrieve the Sixt Rental Van from an Industrial Park outside central Amsterdam, returned to the airport and retrieved our luggage including two large bicycle carriers.  We then drove about 10 miles south of central Amsterdam to a wonderful little horse ranch and bed and breakfast - Villa Oldenhoff - where we had room to spread out, assemble our bikes (again, no surprises, bikes in great condition), play with the two very large and impressive rhodesian ridgebacks and take a little nap before a night out on the town.

Our evening in Amsterdam was enjoyable and memorable.  We drove to Nord Amsterdam across a narrow waterway from the central train station and the edge of the major old city area.  We crossed the 1/4 mile wide waterway by passenger ferry running about every 10-15 minutes.  The ferry was filled with pedestrians and bicyclists heading into town for a Saturday night.  One can only imagine how these people have taken to bicycles.  The city is totally committed to bicycle traffic.  Every street has separate bicycle lanes, on this Saturday there seemed to be as many cyclists out as cars. 

It took us about a half an hour to find "our" outdoor bar.  We sat at a small table adjoining one of the secondary canals.  The air was filled with the frivolity of a Saturday evening in a party City.  Small boats would pass by on the canal just feet away, women boaters being hooted at by drunken gawkers drinking too much beer. We drank our obligatory native Heinekens and enjoyed evening temperatures in the 70's and the wonderful atmosphere of the quaint buildings and the joyous people.  We befriended two FinAir pilots at the adjoining table and had a pleasant visit.

Our bar was at the periphery of the "red light" district.  So, we took a stroll through the streets with many other native dutch and tourists.  Many very attractive women in their 20's in skimpy bikinis posed behind their glass windows and doors, trolling for action. It seems Amsterdam's Tourist Bureau should be subsidizing these women, as they did attract a large crowd of evening strollers.  It was hard to imagine their all getting any business with the people looking at them; anyone trying to enter their chambers would certainly not do so with any sense of discretion.  We saw no attempt by any men or women to curry these women's favors (whatever those might be.)  After our stroll, we had a wonderful Italian dinner at an outdoor restaurant on one of the main boulevards.  Party goers in large numbers passed by, dressed in various costumery indicating masquerades, balls, celebratory gatherings.  All in all, a very good evening, and we were ready to return to our wonderful horse ranch and a quiet night's sleep.  For tomorrow was to begin the biking.

Greetings from Amsterdam.

It works! I'm looking forward to reading your Posts.

My first time (? Botswana English ?) ever to POST on a blog - just to say " Bon courage" and see you all soon. Can't believe you are finally on your way after all the planning, training, and anticipation !

Ready to Go - Thanks Sammamish Valley Cycle Cycle

We leave for Amsterdam and the start of our journey tomorrow.  Just to be safe, I took my "steed" into the bicycle shop today for another "professional eye" checking out the bike.  Some minor tweaking and they spent most of their time trueing the rear wheel - it was just a smidget wabbly.  Thanks, guys, for your attention to my bike.  And...they were nice enough to donate their services - gratis.  What a bunch of guys!!!!!!!!!

For Bicycle Techno-Geeks - Others Do Not Read

So, what does one need for a ride like this?  It is rather puzzling how little information there is on the actual machinery running the race.  Yes, there's the Cervelos, the Treks, the Cannondales, and every other fancy bicycle out there, all space age composites, now;  my aluminum steed is a throwback to the 20th Century.  But, the frame is not the game.  Not really..I wanted to know what kind of gearing these guys were using, and that is very difficult information to come by.  Never did really find it.  Are they running triples on the mountain stages?  How big is big on those rear cassettes?  Inquiring minds want to know.  Well...I didn't find out so I had to draw my own conclusions.  I am running with a compact crank - 50-34.  My bike came with a 50-36, but that 36 just wasn't enough for the hills around Issaquah/Redmond, so I moved to a 34.  In the rear I have been running a pretty standard 12-25 10 sprocket cassette.  Campagnola for me, started out that way, like their derailleurs, never thought about switching to Shimano.  Habit.  Both work fine.  But, there's a lot of climbing on this trip.  So my intention is to switch to a 13-29 range rear cassette for the mountain stages with more than 7,000' of climb (and there are a few of those).  That should allow me a little flexibility in terms of increasing rpms vs. just muscling up the hills.  I am taking a total of three cassettes along to have lots of spare parts in case a sprocket or two starts to wear out and I start to get chain hopping.

I am also starting out with one new chain and one extra new chain in reserve.  Also two good tires with two new tires in reserve.  Four spare tubes, plus a patch kit.

For tools I am taking a chain whip and cassette removal tool, pliers, crescent small torque wrench set, several screw drivers, 12" ruler to measure chain wear, chain rivet removal tool, cable cutter/crimper, standard hex set tool.

I am taking a high quality hand pump that will pump up to about 140 psi.  I'm also taking a full size floor pump. I debated long and hard on this one, but it's just too much to expect a little hand pump to do the job of starting you out with proper pressure every day.  I'm also carrying an electronic pressure gauge, since it is really difficult to tell by hand out in the field after a flat repair, exactly how much air you've pumped into your tires.  Usually, too little, which leads to pinch flats and more potential tube damage.

I have a wonderful little Trek bicycle computer, the type that measures both speed and cadence.  I never purchased the cadence module.  Not a very strong believer in measuring cadence.  Think you pretty much know when you can't crank out more rpm's, and if you're not sweating, you're not cranking out enough rpms.  That's about all I think you need to know.

For this trip I am also carrying a Garmin Edge 605.  We have the tracks for all the Tour stages, so this little beauty will, hopefully, keep us on the route all the time.  Just follow the magenta line.  Of course, we had to purchase the European Map module, the standard map just does not have enough detail.  One of the frustrations planning this trip has been  dealing with the Garmin toys, their manuals, directions, and general information, which are, at best, limited.  You have to spend some time with these things to understand what they can and cannot do.  No amount of reading will do.

Okay, I think that's enough techno-geek for now.  Let's focus in the future on having fun on the trip.

Why Do the Tour de France

Until four years ago, all I knew about the Tour was brief encounters in the sports pages with Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong.  That two Americans so dominated a non-American sport was rather amazing. I was getting all my exercise through jogging, never thinking about riding a bicycle. 

A very unique set of circumstances changed everything.  First, I was invited to do a very famous northwest event, the Tri-Island Trek, by my friend, Linda.  (Thanks, Linda.)  Three days, about 170 miles.  This seemed like a pretty big challenge, even with all the jogging I was doing,  and when Conny (Thanks, Conny) invited me on a 40 mile trail ride, with typical male chauvinism, I figured "if she can do it, I can do it" and, besides,  I needed the training for the Trek.  I almost died that day.   My legs had never before been totally deplete of all energy resources.  I was truly crippled by that ride, thinking, by the end, as I staggered away from the bicycle and collapsed, that I would never recover.  Miraculously, the next morning I woke up with a renewed spring in my legs, feeling better than I had for years.  I WAS HOOKED!!.  I began adding bicycling to my first love, jogging.  Two years later, as I got more into bicycling, my left hip gave out.  My jogging days were over.  Fortunately, I had discovered a new sporting activity very compatible with a steel hip joint, so the transition was an easy one, absent of any angst.

Two years ago a germ of an idea entered my brain. Onto my "bucket list" entered the Tour de France.  I thought, perhaps, over a 5-10 year period I would have the opportunity to slip over to France for a week or two and bicycle 3-5 stages of the Tour.  At that time I was of the impression that the "Tour" followed a prescribed route that didn't vary from year to year.  I had no idea how much distance it covered.  But, then, I also didn't really know what a "peloton" was, so call me ignorant.  This past summer, thanks to the advent of modern cameras and HD television, I was able to follow every stage of the Tour from start to finish.  As I watched, mesmerized by the image of all these hard working men touring the French countryside, I wanted to join them (hey, guys, slow down...wait for me...).  The fields, the castles, the ponds, the mountains...all looked so idyllic, away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities.  I could do this!!!  And, I could do this all in one trip!

So...my next step was to convince others to join me.  I didn't need many.  Well..actually, I just needed one...the love of my life, Gwen.  She had led the way and provided all the support when we did Ragbrai in Iowa, her home state.  She agreed to come along, providing the SAG wagon support for the trip.  But...it would be nice to have someone else come along to actually ride with me, so I asked my friend Roy.  Roy lives across country, we only see each other once every few years, but we are "best" buddies.  One of the great trips of all time involved us travelling by powder blue volkswagen beetle through the edge of the Kalahari desert to the expanse of the Okivango Swamps in Botswana.  We'd travelled to Rhodesia, seen Victoria Falls...well, one could say we made travelling an art form, sprinkled with all the adventure one could hope for - like the time Roy's little VW was surrounded by about 20 Tons of really big elephants while we just sat there and hoped they would think kindly of us. Or....well, I could go on forever, but the Tour story must continue.

So...naturally Roy said "yes, I'd love to join you", and our trip was finalized.  We got 2010 Tour route maps, we got air transportation, we booked lodging in the middle of nowhere (thank goodness for the internet, it makes planning a trip a breeze), we rented a van to haul all of our stuff,  and we prepared for the trip. Training in earnest began in January, along with some efforts to get my tongue around the French language (disaster).  Now, we are less than a week away from the beginning.  Four weeks in the Netherlands, Belgium, France.  It will be spectacular. Thanks so much, Gwen and Roy, for joining in the fun.  And..oh, yes...Fran...Did I forget Fran?  Fran lives in London.  Another old and dear mutual friend.  Fran will be joining us for the second half of the trip.  Riding along, offering us her support,  entertaining Gwen, who will have spent quite a bit of time alone prior to her arrival.  We'll all do Paris together.  Magnifique.