By the way...

In case you didn't already notice, you can now see the final Top Five favorite things about living in Amsterdam (the blog is post-dated to keep it in chronological order). Sorry for the delay - I guess there were just a few "distractions" the past couple months :)

Enjoy!

Living in Amsterdam: Top Five Favorite Things

Hold your breath no more! Finally, without further delay, here are the top 5 ...

Number 5: Coffeeshops (& yes, spacecakes!)

Ok, it’s not #1, but #5 aint bad :) There are over two hundred coffeeshops (and I don’t mean the kind that just have hot beverages) – enough that I was able to go to a different one every day (ha, just checking to see if my parents really do read this!) The main reason they are in my top 10 list is because I like the concept -- In general, the open-minded and accepting attitude of the Dutch, “to each, his own”. It started in 1976 when the Netherlands allowed them as a way of separating hard vs. soft drug users, and it worked – over the next 30 years the percentage of hard-drug addicts in the Netherlands fell significantly relative to other countries.

Since it’s for the same kind of reason, also included in number 5 is the Red Light District (it can be “5a”, if you will). After all, it isn’t a complete list about Amsterdam if the RLD isn’t included! But sorry I can’t report any personal experience on it ;) Ideally it helps control things that would happen anyway and creates an organized and more health-safe environment. All I know is that it’s very popular with the Brits, but it’s only one small part of what Amsterdam has to offer. Here’s a pic from across the street (since the girls come after you if they see you take a picture of them) – It looks like these guys don’t even notice the girls in the window...

Number 4: Gezellig

What in the world is that, you ask? It is a Dutch word that they say is difficult to directly translate to English, but could be described as “cozy” or “pleasant” - it could involve something like sitting by the fire reading a book, or hanging out with friends at a cafe and enjoying conversation. Whatever it refers to, it usually involves a moment to enjoy. Don’t forget to clear the back of your throat like you're gonna spit when you say it (kinda takes some of the pleasantness out of it doesn’t it!).

In general, the Dutch are very keen on taking their time and enjoying the experience when they are out for a meal. Especially when there is great weather, the outdoor cafes are full of people sitting outside all day – It is not uncommon for a group to claim a table for the entire day and only consume one cappucino or glass of wine, and yet the wait staff never seems to get frustrated. Maybe this is because they would do the same thing if they could! The downside is that it can be a challenge to actually track down any wait staff if you actually do want to get your bill within the next 5 hours, and that can be frustrating to us ‘mericans, but gradually we are adapting to the “take your time” state of mind and enjoy the moment...

Number 3: Environmentally Friendly

It feels good to make a smaller “ecological footprint”(link), and that is not hard to do when living in a city with so many mass transit options (see Jeff's blog “Ride the Train”) as well as bike paths everywhere. This is also a general European thing of course. Here many people don’t even own cars, compared to the U.S. trend of Hummers as big as some houses in the Netherlands. This is the Amsterdam version of an SUV...

Gone for us are the days of collecting 50 plastic bags from one trip to the grocery store – Here you’re expected to bring your own (see Jeff’s hilarious blog on when he first learned about that).

The lights in the office have auto-sensors, and the buildings have solar panels and other environmental-friendly features. The living areas are smaller, and there’s no A/C. Our office was virtually paperless (see blog). Some things were harder to get used to than others, but you realize that it’s not so bad, and in the end it feels good to be helping the environment at least a little (or at least not hurting it as badly!).

Number 2: Proximity

This is another one that could apply to Europe in general, but one of the great things about living in Amsterdam has been being close to so many other interesting places! In the few months we’ve been here, we’ve gotten to visit Norway, Denmark, I went to Prague, we biked in Spain, visited Belgium several times (gotta get that Belgian beer fix!), I went to Germany, and we biked one insanely long day up some mountains in France. Oh and southern Netherlands too (even though it’s in the same country as Amsterdam, it seems totally different, and even has hills!).

But of course it was always nice to come home to our beautiful city filled with tree-lined canals...

*********************************************************************************
Ok, after long last, you have finally reached the number one favorite thing about living in Amsterdam!! Drum rollllllllll......

Number 1: Having Friends & Family Visit!

We have been amazed by how much of a bonding experience it is when friends and family come to visit us over here. Maybe it’s because you spend a lot more time together than in our previous “normal” lives, and because there’s so many new experiences to share... Well whatever it is, we have really enjoyed the connections it creates.

Our friends Sandy and Jim were the brave souls who earned the title of “First Visitors”, and we rang in the New Year together in Dam Square with thousands of our closest Dutch friends (click to see more pics).

Jeff’s parents came out in February and we had soooooo much fun sharing everything with them (click to see more pics).

In April our friends Bill and Maria enjoyed a week of perfect weather (they must have brought the sunshine with them from Colorado)... As they put it so perfectly as we biked thru the countryside, it’s like a “fairytale land”. Then later in April my parents came out, just in time to catch the last of the incredibly beautiful tulips that Holland is so famous for. In July Heidi spent a week with Becky where they had some real girl-bonding and Heidi taught her how to shop (thanks Heidi!), along with a side-trip to Berlin.

Right after Heidi left, Brian stopped by during his bicycle tour of Europe...

It’s hard to put into words how meaningful the time was that we’ve spent with you all, and how much we enjoy sharing these experiences with you.

So that’s my top ten. There are still many other great things about Amsterdam, it’s impossible to mention them all – It really did surprise me how different the city is from possible first impressions. So I’d recommend including it in your future travel plans sometime if you haven’t already. Thanks for reading!

Living in Amsterdam: Top Ten Favorite Things

Sometimes it takes leaving a place to make one stop and reflect on all the experiences of the current situation, and that’s exactly what’s happening to us now that we’re about to leave Amsterdam. We’ve only been here less than a year, but we have experienced what feels like a lifetime of new encounters and different perspectives.

So I’ve decided to summarize it into another “Top Ten” list – Here are what I consider the top ten things we have enjoyed about living in Amsterdam:

Number 10: Biking as the main mode of transportation

Since this top ten list isn’t in any certain order, I’ll start with the most obvious, at least for us “cycling enthusiasts”. It has been so much fun to use our bikes to get around everywhere – to and from work, to get groceries and run other errands, to go out to dinner or concerts… We haven’t owned cars for almost a whole year now, and we haven’t missed it at all! Ok, maybe just a few times I have wished for a warm car to sit in when it’s January and raining with a 50-mph wind and we’re all dressed up for work (they tend to dress more formal here), knowing that we might as well not dried our hair that morning (!)…but luckily those times were few (and “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”, right?!).

For more about biking here, see Jeff’s blogs:

Cycling in Amsterdam, Part 1 & Part 2 (“My New SUV”)

When you use your bike as your car, you have to get creative with ways to carry things, since your "trunk" or "back seat" consists of a basket and maybe some panniers...and you can always strap things on too:

Number 9: Seeing everyone else biking everywhere

As a cyclist (and environment supporter), it is a wonderful sight to see more bikes than cars commuting to work in the morning. There were so many bikes on the bike paths, there were mini “traffic jams” at some intersections. I couldn’t help giggling when I see men dressed in crisp pin-striped suits holding their briefcase in one hand and biking to work! Including Jeff:

Women wear dresses or short skirts with heels while biking… anything goes. (By the way, that is a general theme for Amsterdam as you’ll see later in this blog.) Also I love seeing parents riding with their kids on the bike, taking them to school or riding around town:

Jeff and I laugh all the time when we see what some people carry while biking – some things have included a full-size ladder, a Christmas tree, rugs (see Jeff’s blog pic doing that himself)… the list goes on and on. Definitely a different way to use a bike than we were used to!

Number 8: The canals

Amsterdam has much more beauty than I think it gets credit for. The canals give the city a unique feel (some call it the “Venice of the North”), so that there’s less concrete and more of a nature feeling (just don’t look at the water too closely!)

It’s especially beautiful at night, when the lights on the canal bridges reflect in the water. That was really nice in the winter since it got dark so early!

Number 7: The buildings

We’re not usually into architecture, but this is different - In the city along the canals, all the buildings are connected, yet each has a different style. I guess we’re used to the U.S.-approach of making it all the same to minimize the material costs and get it done faster/cheaper/simpler. But not in Amsterdam – People here have liked to express their individualism, even through the buildings they design! It has been referred to as “the largest outdoor museum” since it is so interesting just to walk or bike around and look at the different designs:

Number 6: Our apartment

It’s only less than half the size of our smallest previous house, but we’ve actually loved having the smaller space – Less to keep tidy means more time to be out playing! And we are always able to talk with each other no matter where in the apartment we are, since it’s basically one big room (but the bedrooms are separate rooms). Jeff had to be very creative to fit all our skiing and backpacking equipment into the one closet that we have, but he made it work. The only problem was that we had to take everything out if we ever needed something in there! Overall it has made us see how we can live in a smaller space than typical in the U.S., and we’re just fine (although another closet or two would be nice!).

The windows overlook a canal, so it has been fun to be sitting on the couch and watch boats go by in our “front yard”!

Whew, this Top Ten list is turning out to be long! So I will take a break here… But stay tuned for numbers 1 through 5 coming soon (can you guess what they might include?!)…

Working in Dutch Land

By moving to Europe, I was of course expecting to have an “international work experience” – Little did I know just how international it would be! Our office is located in Amsterdam, so of course we are surrounded by the Dutch culture (and its interesting idiosyncrancies, but I’ll get to that later). Our department serves as the financial “support team” for ING’s Central Europe Region, which includes: Spain, Greece, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech & Slovakia, Hungary, and Russia. In our department of only 30 people, there are 13 different nationalities represented!, including Hungarian, Greek, Australian, Indian, Romania, etc., and of course American (me and one other). So, obviously there is always a chance to be around people who see things from a different perspective, and to learn about how people do things in different parts of the world.

I feel very fortunate that English is my first language (ok, my only one!), since it’s already a challenge to explain things like market consistent embedded value without having to translate it at the same time. I’ve been working on several projects which are in some ways similar to what I have done in the past (e.g. embedded value, financial projections, product development). Of course, the approaches are different in many ways, and the markets are very different as well. But many of the same issues still apply, such as having to predict financial results more often and more accurately (at this rate we’ll be moving to daily financial reporting before too long!), and developing new products better and faster.

So, what about the Dutch traditions… There are so many little differences that every day something comes up - such as just saying something a different way (instead of telling someone “Good luck” when they’re getting ready to try something challenging, they say: “Success!”) – So I have decided to make a “Top Ten” list of my fave (or at least most interesting) things about Dutch office culture to share with you:

Number 10: In the office, the custom is that when you want a cup of coffee, instead of getting up to get one for yourself, you ask all your colleagues whether they would like any coffee or tea (there is a machine where it is free on each floor). Each person specifies whether they’d like coffee with cream, or maybe a cappuccino with sugar, or extra strong espresso, or some tea extra-mild… and you get to test your memory to remember these details as you head to the machine with a tray to carry the cups back. Then the real test is when you get back to your desk, you have to remember who ordered what as well as recognize each drink on your tray!

Number 9: The office work area is representative of Europe in general – lots of people in a small space. As a result, there are very few separate offices, which are occupied by only the most senior people, and more often than not are shared between at least two people. Most workers sit out in the open, at folding tables – no cubicles, no separators of any kind. It definitely is a test of one’s concentration skills (at least mine), trying to work with people talking all around! But it also is nice at times for supporting a “team” feel when you really need to work together.Number 8: A common phrase (translated from Dutch) is: “The Final Word Has Not Been Spoken”, referring to the fact that an issue is still being discussed (and discussed and discussed…). It is common for a topic to be covered from every angle very thoroughly, with each person’s opinion fully expressed and considered. This is also referred to as the “Polder Model”, as an example of how their focus on reaching consensus works successfully, as poldering is the process of creating land space by building dikes to hold back the water (and they obviously have done a very successful job of that!). In short, it can make for some painfully long meetings.

Number 7: After the Christmas and New Year holiday time, when each person returns to the office, they walk around the department and greet each other person in the department with the traditional three kisses (alternating cheeks), and ask about how their holidays were, etc…. This can take 10 minutes or more per person in the department, but it is considered very important. Needless to say not much work gets done during that first day back from the holidays!

Number 6: Let’s imagine it’s morning and you’re standing in an elevator full of other workers traveling to their work floors… When the elevator stops and the doors open for someone to get off, you hear them say “Eaaaggghh” as they leave, and you think: “Wow, they really don’t sound very excited about getting ready to work”, and then the elevator stops at the next floor and the person leaving says it again: “Eaaaggghhh”. What’s this about? Are people already stressed out about their day before it even really starts?? Well they’re actually saying “Dag”, which means “good day” (be sure not to face them or you’ll have spit in your eye!).

Number 5: Lunch time is always exactly at noon, and everyone always goes to the cafeteria together at the same time -- Even though the elevators take longer and the lunch lines are longer because everyone goes then. Even though you look at your colleagues for 9+ hours each day (since as I mentioned there are no walls between you), you also get to look at them every day at lunchtime too!

Number 4: Typical Dutch lunch consists of the following: 6 slices of bread, a small pad of butter, 1 slice of cheese, 1 tube of some type of meat spread that you really don’t want to ask what kind it is, and one box of chocolate sprinkles (kind of like the ones you might put on cupcakes in the U.S.). You make 3 sandwiches, each of which have butter and only one of each of the other ingredients, and you eat them with knife and fork. Sometimes you substitute a slice of meat for the meat paste. But you never, never combine the cheese and meat. If you ever see a sandwich like that, it is referred to as a “luxury sandwich”. You eat the sandwich with the butter and chocolate sprinkles last, with some yogurt, followed up by a huge glass of milk, juice, or karnemilk (a thick pasty-like milk similar to buttermilk). Mmm,mmm! (or as they would say, “Lekker!”)

Number 3: Birthdays are very important and celebrated by everyone. When it is someone’s birthday, the tradition is that the person having the birthday brings mini-cakes for everyone in the department.(At least this way the birthday person gets the kind of cake they want!) Each person in the department goes up to the birthday person and sincerely congratulates that person, while shaking their hand or exchanging the traditional three alternating-cheek kisses. It is very much acceptable to discuss age (which is even included on people’s resumes, along with their marital status and sometimes even the ages of their children!).

Number 2: The office is virtually paperless – No one has drawers, cabinets, or shelves to keep files or binders. The only thing we each have is a small locker with a metal briefcase, in which is stored our laptop overnight. There is enough room leftover for maybe three very thin files of just a few papers. It definitely teaches one how to avoid printing items and keep it all organized electronically. But it also seems extreme sometimes – There’s not even a drawer where we can each keep things like pens!

Number 1: Biking to and from work, in a suit/skirt and heels! Or biking to buy groceries or pick up the dry cleaning. Biking all the time, everywhere! (see separate blogs from Jeff and pictures on this) It is hard to believe just how many bikes there are here. You can literally bike anywhere in the entire country and be on a bike path, trail, or lane 99.9% of the time. The bike garage at work is always full. How can we spread this mentality to the U.S.? It makes getting to and from work every day a little more fun!

Dutch Mountains

When we first moved here, I actually wondered if there were any organized bike rides in Holland -- like the "pay $15 and get a t-shirt" century rides in the U.S. I should have known better -- I really should have, but I didn't, so I continued to wonder and searched the web for months. By late winter, we stumbled across the amateur version of the Amstel Gold Race. It's based on a famous pro race that's known for its brutality -- as Discovery team's Demol said "it's a [bleep] course with a thousand turns". So, during our short winter days, we learned of this amateur performance event' (as the website called it) and I practiced my skill of quickly signing up for events without thinking through the ramifications.

Before we get too far into discussing the Amstel Gold and other organized rides, I would like to formally declare that yes, the Netherlands does have hills. It's just that they're all in the tiny southern tip, practically in the fanny pack of Belgium. (By the way, I struggled over how to make this literary connection to Belgium. You see, I am the holder of a Dutch residence card, so I really owe it to my host country to poke fun at the Belgians at every opportunity. The problem is ... Belgium rocks. Great cycling, great beer, great chocolate, and every single time I've been in Belgium, the sun has been shining. So, that's why I picked fanny pack. It's such an odd metaphor that I'm hoping that it straddles the fence nicely). So, yes, declaration made ... the Dutch can indeed claim hills and the part of the Netherlands that we've now fallen in love with is referred to as Limburg.

Back to the story: We had a fantastic time on that inaugural ride -- getting in a huge day of cycling with great weather. We also enjoyed watching the pros take on the course the following day. It was one of those "don't pinch me, because if I'm dreaming, I want to keep on dreaming" weekends! Since discovering Limburg during the Amstel Gold, we've gone back several times to participate in organized rides, such as the Steven Rooks Classic and Limburg's Mooiste (mooiste means beautiful in Dutch), and also to train on our own or with groups of friends (including the great group that invited us to ride the M&M (Melick, Maastricht, Melick Ride)).

Here are some of our top experiences of cycling in Dutch hill country

Insane climbs: One minute you're cycling past cows on easy terrain, the next you're on a 20% incline. The road has suddenly narrowed. There is no shoulder. On both sides of the road, there is either barbed-wire fence (there's no space to waste here!) or a row of trees. Despite the starting field of riders spread out several hours, it's shoulder-to-shoulder cycling (3-Wide in Nascar speak, although I'm not sure why I know this term and why I would mention Nascar on my blog). It's so steep that people are falling over -- stopping dead in their tracks. There is no room to maneuver. You can barely turn the pedals over -- it really hurts, but it's a beautiful pain. It's raw cycling. It's what you always envisioned when you heard about the European Spring Classics (Paris-Roubaix, Tour de Flanders, etc.). Your heart rate is at it's max, you see signs painted on the road for the pro-race. You give it every ounce of energy, like your faux-career as a pro racer depends on your ability to attack on this climb. Oh no, a cyclist stops right in front of you -- lean to the left, scrape against a tree, balance, balance, shift to an easier gear that's not there (the dud-shift), push it, now you're making contact with the guy to your right, step on the pedals, this is your moment. You're foaming at the mouth, you've got that fixed, but cloudy gaze in your eyes and you drain all of your reserves with no thoughts of the consequences. You top out in only a few minutes, have 5 minutes to recover and then you do it all over again.

My problem is that I'm always so happy to see hills that I attack every single one of them -- they're rarely longer than a mile and usually around 1/4-1/2 mile, but there are so many of them that these relentless attacks take their toll and you end each cycling day completely exhausted. Hill after hill after hill. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Paint-by ... I mean Ride-by-numbers:

They've got this great bike route system in the Netherlands -- all over the country. It really shines in Limburg though. You see, they've planned a web of routes, placed numbers at nearly every major intersection, and placed permanents map boards all over the place. These map boards show you your current location (with a reference number "We're at number 54") and arrows pointing to the next number(s). This allows you to make up major routes on the fly without fear of ever being lost. At any given moment, you just arrive at sign, check your locale, and head off in the direction of the next sign. Sometimes we'll plan a series of checkpoints -- ok, 54-55-58-36. Once we're at 36, we'll decide if we want to add a loop (that would be 35-25-19-18-36) or just follow the series of numbers to the closest train station for the ride back to Amsterdam. This is such a phenomenal system as seen by our American eyes. I would love to see something like this on our riding grounds back home. The sad thing is that in the best rural riding areas in the U.S., you have the kind of people who would quickly vandalize anything like this. That's really sad. I sure hope that changes some day, because such great cycling facilities encourage a happier and healthier lifestyle for an entire society. I have to be fair here though -- if you check out the picture to the left, you'll see that the numbers on the sign with arrows have been whited-out. It's not quite the bullet-holes vandalism you'd see in the American south, but it's still vandalism. People are people, I suppose, regardless of the flag that flies over their capital.

When a country gets their cycling infrastructure right, as the Netherlands has, you go out for a ride and you see so many different types of people in the outdoors, pursuing the same joy and health benefits. Even in hill country, it's not just the racers who are out. You see families out for a spin, the elderly (we've seen a fair share of 70- and 80-somethings gliding through the country-side), people in their Sunday best, people on mountain bikes, people riding to the local pub, people riding alongside someone on a horse, people on a city bike in street clothes riding up the finishing stretch of the Amstel Gold route moments before the pro riders come through ... all types and all situations.

In addition to the ride by numbers, keep in mind that whenever you're anywhere near a village or even a slight amount of traffic, you'll be on a dedicated bike path (a "fietspad" in Dutch) or in a dedicated bike lane. In the remote areas, you often lose the bike lane, but the cars just have such incredible respect for cyclists. It seems unreal. In the hundreds of miles I've logged in the Netherlands, I've never been honked at, had anything thrown at me ... never been yelled at, never been the object of obscene gestures, never been told to "buy a car" (my favorite redneck comment heard in the States). I've also never been offered cash or been handed a plate of warm brownies, so I suppose that there's still room for improvement!

Finish Line Beer: This experience brought tears to me eyes -- it really did. After 10 hard hours of riding at Limburg's Mooiste (the last 2 hours of which I was redlining the whole time), we arrived at a finish line, where I saw two scantily-clad young ladies holding trays of beer. You can hear the music now can't you -- I know you can! Right under the Finish Line banner, I was handed a cold beer. I've trekked to the beer tent after rides before, but to be handed a beer the moment you finish, oh, that's just very special.

So, yes, there are Dutch Mountains. It takes some effort to get to them if you're living in Amsterdam, but they're there for the discovery and along with them comes all the joys (and pain) of big mountain riding!

Cheers,
Jeff

Ride the train, berijd de trein.

As a prelude to our upcoming Dutch Mountains posting, I wanted to chat with you about train travel. Of course, as Americans, our prior experience with trains was little more than hearing freight trains in the distance on summer nights while playing kick-the-can as 7-year olds, waiting at the occasional train crossing when our handy short-cut was thwarted by loads of coal, chickens, and hobos headed for somewhere else , and watching toy trains chug through miniature landscapes ... past the depot, through the tunnel, oops the caboose just fell off and the dog just stepped on all the miniature people at the Depot. Yep, that and some flashbacks of old Western movies and of course, Blazing Saddles, represented our whole paradigm on trains until we moved to Europe.

To reach our favorite cycling destination in the Netherlands, we've been spending lots of time on trains and thus immersing ourselves in a very different transportation culture. This is quite a change from our "toss all the gear in the car and gas 'er up" mindset that we honed in the land of plenty (except for public transportation options, that is)! It requires a different preparation mindset and different expectations, but the rewards are outstanding and we get a double-bonus by being in a country with such a great cycling infrastructure. That is, we can count on never having a worry on getting to or from train stations purely by bike wherever we go in the Netherlands. There are special provisions for bikes everywhere -- on the trains, at the train stations, even on roadways fairly remote from major villages or cities.

These train trips start out as we navigate our road bikes through the streets of Amsterdam with a weekend's worth of belongings in backpacks. It's at this point that we really appreciate how well-oriented our city bikes are to uneven, cobbled road surfaces and heavy loads -- it's tough on the road bikes and we're always a bit nervous on our tiny-tired bikes as we weave our way along the canals and past the hoards of tourists to the train station! Twenty minutes later though, we're on a train with our bikes gliding through the flat countryside. It gives you a great feeling of self-reliance -- it's really liberating not to have to rely on a car and to achieve your travel objectives solely by bike and train.


We learned quickly that 1) you have to buy a separate ticket for your bike and 2) you have to board on one of the special cars with a bike sticker above the door. Now, the downside to #2 is that most people carting bikes on trains aren't carting around their fancy racing bike -- instead, they are carting around their daily driver ... their 1983 pickup truck of bikes ... their beater bike. And this is the part that makes me the most nervous and serves as fodder for the rest of this story. It always goes like this: the train pulls up. You spot the special bike sticker and as the train slows, you start walking toward it. The train keeps on moving though, so you walk and then start to run because now the special door is 100 yards away. You realize that the best bet would have been to stand still and wait for the next sticker. You finally make it to the door, carry the bikes up the steps into the train car, and place them oh, so carefully along the wall (in a special bike area). You line up the bikes for you and your traveling companions, brace them so they won't move an inch, triple-check to ensure that the cranks and skewers are aligned in such a way that no contact will be made .... no scratches on the carbon fiber surfaces, no scratches on the components, no inappropriate bike-to-bike contact. Then, you lock the bikes together just to make sure that should bandits storm the train with guns a blazin, bandanas covering their faces, and horses awaiting their getaway ... that they would have to take all the bikes together and not just one.

Seconds before the train pulls away, it always happens that someone shows up with the beater bike. You can see him coming ... it's happening in slow motion. You want to jump out of your seat and hit the button to close the door. You beg to hear the conductor's whistle signaling imminent departure, but alas, beater bike guy makes it on. You know it won't be pretty. You know that beater bike guy has no clue that instead of owning a car, you invested a car's worth of savings into a high-end bicycle. You stand up, to make your presence known and to make an awkward attempt to head-off the inappropriate bike-to-bike contact that's sure to happen. It's all happening in super slow motion, but you just can't seem to move quickly enough. You've ceased to breath because of the anxiety. Beater bike guy's basket nicks your saddle -- then, out comes the kick-stand. His jeans are making contact with your wheel -- what if something on his shoes snags my rear dérailleur and rips it off the bike?!!! Then, with the kickstand extended, you clue in on the impending lean. Mathematical calculations are whizzing trough your brain! Will it touch?!! Will it touch?!! What if the train lurches forward suddenly?

Beater bike guy leaves the bike in mid-lean and starts his walk into the main train cabin. His bike is in free-fall. The kickstand has yet to make contact with the ground. The handlebars are turning -- the basket is in full motion. The rear panniers are making their move toward your aero wheels. Your bladed spokes are cowering in fear. You try to reach for the beater bike, but you're not fast enough. It's all a blur -- not just a scratch, but a full disintegration of your carbon fiber frame flashes before your eyes. You envision spikes, blades, and big fangs extending from the beater bike and ravaging your beautiful frame -- your recreational art -- your prized steed that allows you to escape to a world of bliss. You envision millions of carbon fiber particles filling the air as your bike meets its end. Oh, the humanity, you think.

The train eases from the station as beater bike comes to rest. A stillness fills the air. Tears well up in your eyes -- just preparing themselves for escape should your frame have been damaged. You survey the situation -- taking it all in. No contact. No contact. Thank you, thank you, thank you ... no contact! Sweet, glorious music fills your mind.

For the next two hours though, you watch the bikes like a hawk. Every time the tracks shift, the bikes move and sway. You hope that the kickstand doesn't fail and allow 50 pounds of steel, rubber, and plastic to violate your prized ride. Finally, it's beater bike guy's stop. One last contact with his jeans -- one last bump of the saddle by his basket and it's over. Serenity -- sweet serenity. The bikes are alone as we complete the journey. They arrive damage-free and apart from the now expected and somewhat humorous anxiety, the trip is pleasant and just plain easy.


We exit the destination train station, toss on our backpacks, and mount our bikes. We experience our typical feeling of disorientation, find a map of the town (usually on a big sign that also shows the bike routes), and ease into a bike lane headed for our hotel or camp site. Sometimes it goes super-smoothly and sometimes our journeys are filled with multiple beater bike experiences and track repair work requiring multiple train changes and just a lot of hassle. I'd still much rather worry about a scratch on my bike and some hassles than deal with rush hour traffic and road rage!

Cheers,
Jeff

Cycling in Amsterdam: Part 2 - My new SUV

That's right … my new Sport-Ute, a single-speed 50-pound contraption without a sliver of titanium, without a strip of carbon fiber, and without even a hint of aerodynamic design. What it doesn't have in weight-saving or go-fast properties, it makes up for in raw, unadulterated practicality. Practicality so practical and so Dutch that most Dutch would think it nuts to devote this much text, much less the rest of this posting, to describing it. "It's just a bike" they would say … "full stop."

The first step in buying a Dutch bike is to make it through the advice-receiving phase. This phase starts the moment you mention to a local that you have recently moved to the Netherlands. "Are you planning to buy a bike? Don't buy a new bike as it will surely be stolen. Buy an old second-hand bike – spend no more than 20 Euros and buy 237 locks for it."

Next, you visit the local bike shops, which appear on every other street corner. You first learn though that 20 Euro second-hand bikes only exist in memories of 20-years ago OR in the alleyways beyond the train station under the cloaks of darkness and guilt as you buy someone else’s recently liberated ride. It's during the bike shopping phase that you really start to notice what other people are riding. Hand-brakes or coaster brakes? Single-speed or gears? Basket in the front? Panniers in the back? Straps, locks, saddle types, etc. After I spent a week of searching the shops and analyzing the pros and cons of my endless options, I set off to buy a model designed for commuting, hauling loads, and not looking as new or fancy as it will likely turn out to be.

"Is this going to be your only vehicle?" the shop owner asks. Absolutely, I respond. "Are you planning to use it to go shopping for food and other items?" Indeed. "Ok, you'll want heavy-duty racks, heavy-duty spokes, a reinforced top-tube, etc." As you can imagine, I've signaled to him at this point that I'll take any and every heavy-duty item that he can dream up and throw my way. "You'll also want sturdy, fat tires with extra-sturdy spokes, and of course lights in the front and back. Now, gears or single-speed?" Thinking that I have enough gears on my other bikes to power an 18-wheeler and also that Amsterdam is crazy-flat, I opt for single-speed with coaster brakes. He finds a model that meets my criteria and hands it over, saying "You really should ride it first though. Never buy a bike before you ride it."

I hop on for my test drive and set off down a busy street only a foot from a set of tram tracks. Moments into my ride, I realize that 1) this is a very large and very heavy bike and 2) the saddle height is a good 4 inches too high. Sitting on the top tube to ride back to the shop, I ride against traffic and somehow avoid being hit by the endless stream of bikes rushing my way. I ask the owner to lower the saddle. Instead of dropping it a little or actually doing some sort of measurement or even looking at me on the bike, he simply lowers it all the way until the saddle bottoms out on the frame. Take-two of my test drive and I manage to circle the block, but with my seat height much too low and my knees hitting my elbows on each pedal stroke. I ask one more time for an adjustment and he responds by … you guessed it … raising the saddle height right back to its original setting.

After determining that this bike would do the trick, we discuss theft prevention. He suggests the two-lock approach. Lock 1 is a traditional New York City bike messenger-style chain lock. It has huge links that supposedly cannot be cut with standard bolt cutters, but only with jaws-of-life type devices that are solely in the tool kits of emergency crews and professional Russian mafia-affiliated bike thieves. The chain links are covered in a sheath of blue nylon, which protects your ears from the clang of metal each time you haphazardly toss the chain around a lamp post. The chain is connected by a funky German-made locking mechanism that works flawlessly at times and requires a few minutes of key-jiggling and concrete-banging whenever it's raining or I'm running late for something. You use the chain lock by passing it through the front wheel and frame and then wrapping it around any stationary object that you can find. Lampposts work particularly well, as do rails on canal bridges, and groups of Japanese tourists huddled around guidebooks and maps in front of museums. Lock 2 is bolted onto the bike behind the saddle. It includes a hoop device that wraps around the wheel and through the spokes to make the bike impossible to ride or roll on two wheels. With this lock by itself though, the only thing that prevents a thief from carting the bike away by lifting the rear and rolling the front is the bike's heavy weight and boxy nature. Most good bike thieves seem to have strong arms and a tolerance for boxiness though. When you put a key in this lock to unlock it and ride, your key stays in the lock. That is, when you're riding your bike, your key stays put in the opened lock, dangling from the locking mechanism under your saddle. This is mildly annoying as the bike lock key is typically accompanied by the rest of your keys. Anyway, if you use both locks together, there's a good chance that your bike will be around when you need it next.

After my lesson in locks, the owner states "And you'll want insurance." Insurance? "Yes, you can insure your bike for something like 60 euros for 3 years. When, ok … IF, it's stolen, you get a full reimbursement of the purchase price." Being convinced by many locals that my bike will be stolen before I even leave the bike shop, I opt for the insurance.

A few more feature descriptions for those of you hanging onto your seats wishing to know every detail of Dutch city bikes …

The chain is completely covered by a plastic housing – which makes it much easier to ride the bike in a business suit and also virtually impossible for me to perform chain maintenance. Nice.

Then there are the lights. The front and rear lights are required by law for night-riding. In the winter here, night-riding begins at 4:30 in the afternoon and they actually have police check-points to inspect lighting. The lights are self-powered (with me being "self" in this case) by a device that you can flip down onto the front wheel. It makes a pleasant little hum and creates a little extra resistance, which you notice especially on rainy nights when you have a bag of groceries in the front basket and your rain clothing is no where nearby.

Speaking of the basket and back to the bike shop, I ask where to buy the large plastic crates I've seen on many of the other bikes buzzing by. "Oh, you mean a milk crate." Sure. He points me to a local corner market. Four euros later and I have a plastic crate, which we zip-tie to the front rack.

And so begins my city bike journey. I bought the bike and shortly thereafter I carted home a box of wine and then stocked the front basket with a kitchen full of groceries. And then there was the espresso machine ... which forms the perfect segue to a future posting on crazy things I've carted home on my bike!

Oh yeah, more bike photos here -- includes photos of Becky's new bike as well!

Cheers from a surprisingly warm November night in Amsterdam,

Jeff

Cycling in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is paradise for cyclists … well, a near-paradise. If the Alps were within an hour or two by bike, then it would be utopia. It’s close though. I’ve never seen a culture so bike-centric --- bikes rule the road here. It’s just fantastic. There are few roads without a dedicated bike lane or an adjacent path, and when you actually have to ride on the road – you own the road.

Bikes have more road rights than cars here. I read that there are 11,000 miles of bike lanes in the Netherlands. I can believe it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are less than 11,000 miles of auto roads in the country. Here, you don’t take “the bike path” somewhere, because there are thousands of “the bikepaths”. Pick any road, set off, and chances are you’ll either have dedicated lane or a separate path. Every intersection you come to … even out in the country … will have signs pointing to the next village or town, with the distance marked for cyclists.

Especially in Amsterdam, people rely more on bikes than cars. Regardless of the season, weather, or time of day, you see a constant stream of bikes passing by. Old, young, slow, fast, no passengers, 3 passengers, thin, American tourist nearly hit by a tram, etc. You see bikes carrying the oddest, most unimaginable loads, like garbage cans, potted plants, large moving boxes, Christmas trees, and families of four (and I'm not exaggerating at all -- if anything, I'll leaving too much out!). Walk the streets (and past enormous bike parking garages) and you hear a cacophony of bike bells and creaky bike parts. It’s glorious music to my ears.

For several reasons, we decided not own cars in the Netherlands, so we do everything by bike or public transportation. First of all, it just seems like a great challenge to live several years without a car … saves money, less impact on the environment, less hassle, less stress, etc. Second, we live on a canal in the central part of the city, where the waiting list for parking is 3-5 years. And finally, biking is just plain fun. We were the freaks in Denver and Atlanta who biked to work in a culture that appreciates pimped-out Escalades and Hummers more than self-powered … anything … so it’s just wonderful to experience a culture that is so intensely into cycling for everyday life that they just don’t think anything of it. In fact, I think that they think we’re freaks for making such a big deal of it!

As life-by-bike rolls on, please stay tuned for the upcoming parts of this series. Stories in the pipeline include: “My new SUV”, “Cobbles and rails”, “Wide Load: Carting the Espresso Machine”, "Dutch Mountains", and “The commute”.

Cheers,
Jeff