Rich Gibson 

We arrived yesterday and are still groggy. We have an apartment here in Leiden and I plan to make it to stages 1 & 2 and photograph them. I had bike withdrawal symptoms so I went to a bike shop and rented one. As some of you might have heard it is said there are 15 million (more or less) people in the Netherlands and 40 million bikes. I'm driving a stick shift rental car to get around and my first trial by fire this morning was The Hague (den Haag). It isn't enough that the narrow streets were originally meant for horse driven carts but the bikes are like fleas, they're all over and you have to give way to them!

The typical Dutch bike is quite a different beast. I have only seen a handful of 'road' bikes; everyone rides upright high handlebar bikes with either coaster brakes and single speed or hand brakes and a handlebar mounted 3 speed. The shops I found had no road models in stock, let alone available to rent. Mine is the latter but it must weigh 40#! They all drive v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y too. The saving grace is the Dutch personality. Live and let live..everyone is patient and cheerful with none of the American impatience and rudeness. You see moms and dads with bikes with what looks a wooden wheelbarrow tray in front with two and sometimes three kids in it. I even saw one of these ridden by a dad who also had a baby in a sling on his chest and a five year old riding on the pannier in the back! He must have world class thighs!

Tomorrow I'll try to find a bike path and shoot my trusty steed.

Rich

jppe

Great stuff! Should be a fun trip.

OldsCOOL

Have a blast!

qcpmsame 

Enjoy the race, and the entire holiday, Rich. I am officially envious of you, have a great time.

Bill

Tusky

We went to wedding in England in April, took the train to Paris, picked up a car and spent the next 24 days in France, Spain and Belgium.

Most people we saw seemed to be riding 'GIANT' road bikes. The club rides had a greater selection of other 'Brand names'.

It took about a week to get used to driving an automatic again. I would push down on the clutch when I stopped but it was the brake I hit and the stop would be a lot quicker than intended!

I used to hang with a group of retired guys who went to France with their bikes every year. They would rent a van to haul their stuff. They took turns driving the van while the rest rode. They all got bike time and they saved a bundle over the cost of an organized tour.

Enjoy your time, I wish I was there!

berner

One of the best thinks of travel to a foreign country is to realize that the customs, attitudes, behaviors we become accustomed to are not ordained from above.

BobbyG

Cool, look forward to the pics!

StanSeven

Off topic but I did something similar here in the States with a group. We did a week long ride at a quick pace, most of it involved pace lines. When I got home and drove my car, I had the urge to pass get close to the car ahead for drafting

Rich Gibson 

Here is the 46# beast!

Doug64

Enjoy your ride! It is a totally different culture. Bicycles are considered an important component of the transportation system, not just something that drivers have to put up with.

This young, very pregnant women rode her bike to the grocery market with a small boy on a platform on the top tube.

Small town just north of Amsterdam. She makes some of our excuses for not riding look pretty weak.

Gerryattrick

+1 We can but hope!

Enjoy your TdF viewing

Rich Gibson 

I went out three times today. It was a real test trying to fold my U.S. version of the rules of the road with the seemingly effortless way the Dutch navigate their town. They all understand subtle cues which I couldn't figure out at first so I had to stop every hew hundred yards. By the end of the day I popped out and picked up dinner like a native (or so I thought).

zonatandem

Be sure to eat some smoked mussels or eel . . .
Born and raised in Belgium; roughly the same culture as the Dutch.
Nu, gij moet een beetje Nederlands leeren ook!

Rich Gibson 

My youngest son, Steve, was in London last week and extended his stay and met us in Leiden. After considering all the options I decided to attend the start in Utrecht. Rather than have a stream of bikes screaming by after expending hours getting to the location and back it made more sense to gather in the excitement of the start and then take in a bit of the historic town. Here we are:











My "I was there" jersey, a gift from Steve. (I also bought a Katusha jersey)




Rich

freedomrider1

Dang... livin the dream !

Rich Gibson 

Here's the start of stage 2

Rich

https://richgibson.smugmug.com/Travel-Europe/The-Netherlands/Utrecht-2015/50413169_q3S77w#!i=4183922042&k=pgVDctX

Rich Gibson 

I saw all sorts of bikes with carts called bakfiets.








I drove my son to the train station in Leiden this morning and it was an experience! As I have already mentioned they ride their bikes at a leisurely pace but they have a laid back attitude toward rules of the road and pick whichever route through an intersection is convenient. I remember seeing the same driving by the people who drive their Vespas in Rome. Of course with motorized two wheelers its even more dangerous. I found myself sitting for long periods of time waiting for a break in the line of bicycles to cross an intersection.


The only thing which I found disturbing was the use of motorbikes and motorcycles on the bike paths. One friend here said that was against the law but another said it was permitted. A motorized two wheeled vehicle can reach as much as 120km/hr and young men being who they are (we raised three sons!) there is the chance of some serious injury as they 'race' along.


That said I grew comfortable zipping through Leiden on errands. No thanks for a semi-electric which someone suggested I try; this was fast enough. I turn mine in this afternoon. I had a great time going local.


Rich

Fldaves

Rich, loved reading this thread. Hoping for more updates as I'm sure I'm not the only one now living vicariously through this journey!

reverborama

So cool! We were in France in May of 2013 doing a bicycle tour. The last couple of days we stayed in Avranche and biked to & from Mont Saint-Michel which was the route of the TdF time trial that year. On the TV coverage we were able to see lots of places we rode and stopped for pictures on the day's route. It really whetted our appetite to go some July and watch a stage or two. I'll show your pictures to my wife tonight!

More pictures!

skidder

Nice pics from the Tdf start. First pic contains both 2014 winner Nibali (bottom-center Jersey #1 ) and Sagan (green jersey in center), sprint points champ the last 2 years.