Seeing Holland: The Cycle to Amsterdam Adventure

Yesterday we cycled to Amsterdam. Celine from France, Pepe and Tiziano from Italy, Gustavo from Brazil, Johannes from Germany, Ben from England and I. We came together with this one goal of cycling from our new hometown of Nijmegen to the infamous Amsterdam. We started at 7 am and planned to find our way through more than 120k of Netherlands territory to Amsterdam in one day.

The Beauty

I originally began the journey just to see if I could do it. Even the locals thought we were crazy to try to do this in one day. Having never biked more than 2 hours, I thought I could go for 8 or so! (seems legit) The second we took off along the river Waal at sunrise, the scenery gave me the real reason for doing it. I realized what better way was there to really see Holland than to cycle through its roads, tiny farm towns, bike paths and construction zones. We found that we were able to completely immerse ourselves in the midst of the beauty of Holland. I tried to take as many photos as I could but nothing could portray what we witnessed.

The Landscape

About an hour into our ride I realized that the landscape was ever changing. Sometimes we would be cycling on a little bike path through farmlands, sometimes we would be on the bike lane on a very well paved road. We traveled through many little towns that were rich or poor, cobblestoned or construction zoned, canaled or windmilled or just plain green. We saw cows and sheep and little kittens as well as many other bikers and locals roaming the streets.

The Pain

The first hour of the ride was simply bliss. I was excited and enjoying the scenery. I was also enjoying the company of my 6 new friends. During the second and third hours I started feeling a little tired but it soon passed when I realized how much fun I was having.

Our first real stop (other than all of the little breaks when we were lost and trying to navagate) was when we had to cross a river on a ferry boat. We stopped at a little restaurant just before and had coffee and some food we brought. This was actually my very first time on a ferry it was a pretty cool experience.

After this, Utrecht was in our sights. We figured we had about 2 hours to go before we would make it there. It was further than halfway so we really pushed to get there. At this point I was so excited to see Utrecht that I never let myself think about the soreness rising in my legs. Pulling into the town we heard church bells ringing and beautiful buildings lining a canal. It was like a mini Amsterdam.

We stopped under a church and had lunch as we rested. While in Utrecht we went to a pub to grab some coffee and re-fill our water bottles. Gustavo realized he had a puncture in his tire and had to work to repair it. Although this could have set us back a bit, I did not mind because I had the chance to talk with the lovely bartender in the pub. We talked about traveling and meeting new people and she was very surprised we were doing what we were doing. After Gustavo's tire was fixed, we were ready to get to Amsterdam. We guessed it was only about another 2 hours and that we would make it there by 4. A couple small towns over is when the pain set it. We all started slowing down and getting grumpy. It was all I could do to just try and shut my brain off so it wouldn't think about how tired I was. I got little spurts of energy when I'd see a sign "Amsterdam 24k" or so on but it was hard to ignore the pain in my legs, knees and back as well as the sweat that was caked all over me.

The Infamous Amsterdam

We did finally arrive in Amsterdam although I scarcely remember it. I was so exhausted physically and mentally that everything from there was a blur. I tried to take a few pictures and pretend that I cared to see Amsterdam but I really did not at this point. There were people everywhere and the streets were hard to navigate. We stopped at a little Italian restaurant and I scarfed down my bowl of pasta as if I hadn't eaten in days. One of the guys ordered 7 beers because we deserved it. "Seven big ones!" This only made me more tired and care less about the city. We sat in a park for a few hours trying to rest and chatting with a few of Ben's friends who are studying abroad in Amsterdam. Later they took us to the prettiest canal spot they knew of to sit and have another beer. Of course, I ordered hot chocolate instead and it was possibly one of the best I've had. Overall that night was lazy and relaxed and we headed for our train at 12:23. The most difficult part was getting back on our bikes every time we would switch locations as well as biking home from the train station in Nijmegen at 2 am sore as ever.

The Experience 

What started out as a unlikely idea turned into a learning experience from multiple perspectives. Seven brave souls from our orientation group set out on a journey to Amsterdam the dutch way: on a bicycle. Johannes had a vague idea of what route to follow but needless to say, we always felt a bit lost. Ben reminded us that morning that it was completely okay if we did get lost because we were all out there for the experience anyway. I am proud to say I made it all the way across the Netherlands and that it was one of the coolest things I have ever done!