Through the Netherlands to Amsterdam

We rode from Belgium across Netherlands.  Saw a couple hills in the distance, and the big climb of the day was over a bridge.  The flats are largely "polders" - land that is at a lower level than surrounding water and protected by those dikes that we learned about in grade school.  The land reclamation goes back at least 1000 years,   As you might image, land that used to be marshland is particularly firm for building, so buildings in Amsterdam tend to be more than a little crooked.  And, since the buildings have been taxed on the width of their street frontage, they are quite narrow with very narrow stairs.  So, many have beams with large "eye bolts" sticking out of the top of the building.  And, the front of the building are built sloping forward over the street.  Then, to get furniture in and out of the house (remember those narrow stairways), you attach a block and tackle to the eye bolt, and hoist up your couch, refrigerator, whatever.  Or, on a nice sunny day, you reverse the process to put some furniture down beside the canal and sit out for snacks and dinner..

I'm again impressed how Belgians and Dutch as kids starting to ride and being remarkably comfortable riding in close quarters.  On Sunday, we repeatedly saw families riding with parents with a hand on the kids backs, or bigger kids with a hand on an adult shoulder, and kids riding with one hand on Mom's handlebar - all for a little extra power.  A hand on a handlebar?  Without a crash?  Wow.  The side effect is that when faster riders (or a whole paceline) caught up with me, they never gave you a warning, and passed within inches (or brushed past) - apparently assuming that you wouldn't wobble.  

The family thing is undoubtedly helped by the bike geometry - I measured a head angle at 65 degrees, and a trail at about 100 mm.  So, a little kid's whole weight on the handlebar while accepting a "pull" from Mom is apparently not enough to turn that kind of geometry.  The dutch on the very upright cockpits (would make your kindergarten teacher proud of your posture), with very, very stable steering geometry gives the demeanor of the bike traffic a very sedate look.

Lots of things about commuter bikes that we aren't used to:  judging by the rust, lubing your chain is an admission of weakness.  Lots of chains with completely enclosing guards (I didn't see any belt drives - looks like a good niche market).  Lots of single speeds with coaster brakes, hub brakes, built in caliper style locks, and chain locks that would be able to anchor the Queen Mary.  Cargo bikes with deep wheelbarrows in front of the handlebars and a front wheel in front of that (many rigged up for as many as 4 little kids with seatbelts but no helmets).  Helmets are a rarity - I understand that it's an explicit policy that removing the helmet requirement generates more good from increased bike usage than adverse effects from potential head injury.

Amsterdam seems to have a significant bike parking problem.  Although there are lots of bike racks, there aren't enough.  Interesting style of rack with racks for the front wheel that are of alternating heights so that the bikes can be parked close with one handlebar over the next.  Lots of apparently abandoned bikes (judging by the amount of rust and the long-dead flat tires).  Allegedly there are far more bicycles than people and that roughly 15,000 bikes a year are fished out of the canals where they get blown by the wind (after having been parked with nothing to be locked to, or thrown in as a drunken pastime.

Amsterdam may have the only Tesla Taxicab that I've ever seen or heard of.  They also have plenty of electric powered tour boats.  

I wandered into one grocery store that boasted 300 varieties of beer, 50 varieties of (hard) cider, etc.  The manager was proud that lots of expat Americans came to get beer from "home,"  but, wanted other American stuff - so he had a big section of "American" cereal - Frosted Flakes, Trix, Rice Crispies, etc.  Kinda niche market.

There are in store kiosks in the grocery stores for recycling batteries and lightbulbs.  Lots of recycling, but apparently no single stream.




What to say, another church:



But, with a nifty organ:


Crooked houses with the beam and eyebolt sticking out of two of them.




I heard price quotes of 50-100,000 Euros for the houseboats.
But, 350-400,000 to buy the berth for the houseboat!!!!


Check out the head tube geometry.
And the caliper plus heavy chain lock on the second bike.
These are new - not yet rusted.

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