Weer Fietsen in Nederland

My Ritchey Break-Away came with me on a trip to Cuba.  Unfortunately I didn’t do any riding in Cuba.  My bike stayed in its case in La Habana while the group I was with explored Cuba by van.  About 1,800kms / 1,100mi over nine days.

I saw a lot of Cubans on bicycles, especially in towns outside La Habana.  Some towns have pedal powered taxis.

A number of visitors were on touring bikes, especially on the south coast around Trinidad.  And we drove past these guys on road bikes in La Habana one evening.

I brought my bike with me because my biker chick and I had a stopover in Den Haag on the way home.  My bike was out of its case and I was on the fietspaden (bike paths) the day after we arrived in the Netherlands.  It was so nice to be back in the dunes.

It was not so nice to be back in the wind.

Welkom in Nederland!

The group I cycled with when I lived in Den Haag, the Not Possibles, is still going strong.  I joined them for their regular Saturday ride.

I say “joined.”  In reality I got dropped within the first five kilometers of leaving DAKA Leidschendam.  I blamed it on the flu bug I picked up in Cuba.

Fortunately Jeff was kind enough to ride with me as I sniffled and coughed my way around the Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk to Hazwerswoude to Kruisweg to Leidschenveen loop, and back to the Coffee Club in Leidschendam.

It was nice to see old friends, and to meet new ones, over a coffee or two.

I rode six more times.  Alone, or with Jeff, or with David and Jeff, and one more time with the Not Possibles.  By that second ride with the Not Possibles I had flushed most of the flu bug out of my system.  I can honestly say that I rode “with” them that day.

What a great place for cycling the Netherlands is.  There are bike paths like this one to explore.

The countryside is lovely.

And of course there is this to look forward to . . .

Now if the Dutch could find a way to eliminate getting something like this in your tyre, the Netherlands would be absolutely fantastic for cycling :).

That puncture was a small price to pay for a wonderful week on my bike.  This is what I will remember.