Cherry tour around Geldermalsen and then to Utrecht

Bicycle: 87 km 
Riding time:  5:06 h
Total ascent: 138 m
Avg speed:  16.6 km/h
Max speed:  28.1 km/h
Route: Geldermalsen - Culemborg - Leerdam - Geldermalsen - Utrecht
Weather: Sunny, not a single cloud and really warm, 26 C

New all time record for me, 87 km cycling in one day! And actually apart of my buttocks I am feeling pretty fine. Luckily enough they only started hurting in the train back and the last km back home was a pain. The problem seemed to have been the stitches in my cycling shorts. I hope Nivea will do its work.

I met up today in the morning with a group from Meetup at the station in Geldermalsen for a leisurely ride through the Gelderland, a region which seems to be very well known for its fruit fields. Not only cherries as today, but also apples and other fruits, like currants and raspberries.

We pedalled at a perfect (for me) speed through the fields, and after protest of some of the participants stopped at a cherry vending place, where we all bought like half a kg cherries. Mine are already save in my belly. The last I ate in the train back from Utrecht.

The organizer of the ride had thought up a nice route through of about 50 km through a somewhat different Dutch landscape. Less (or maybe even no) polders, much less dairy farming, and a lot of fruit trees.

Close to the cherry spot and actually already quite close to Geldermalsen, we ate in a very nice relaxing garden restaurant on the shores of this river-cum-lake. Food was Dutch. But that can't be helped.

At about km 45 there was an other fruit farm, where they also had many fruit trees and bushes for show and tasting. Like these red currants. A long time I haven't eaten them... probably since picking them last in the garden of my parents many, many years ago. (Not even sure if those bushes are still there... need to check next time I go).

And after about 49 km we were back at the station, where the ride officially ended. However 3 of us thought that it was a great idea to continue just a bit further (well, "just" an other 30 km) to Utrecht. So we left half of the group at the station and rode to Utrecht at pretty much the same leisurely speed, following one of us and his Google Maps. Google Maps brings you (at least in the Netherlands) safely on official bicycle lanes to your destination, BUT it does not necessarily choose the nicest routes. Pretty much the same what Garmin does, when you just give it the destination. I recently downloaded an other app, Komoot, where apparently it is possible to plan a trip following the knooppunt system, which normally runs on much nicer cycling paths. (I am getting totally spoiled here. How am I ever going to be able again to ride in a country like Japan, without a perfect cycling infrastructure???) But no time yet to really look into it. And even if I had, I am still having the problem that my Garmin does not want to connect to my iPhone via bluetooth. Strangely enough it connects perfectly fine to its mobile internet to UPLOAD rides, but not to DOWNLOAD anything. Mysteries of technology (or technological ignorance).

Riding into town we came by this perfect habitat of mussels...

... and this very cute houseboat.

Getting close and closer to Utrecht but not quickly enough for one of the three of us, how had her husband returning today around 18:00 from a business trip, and she still needed to get home. Lucky me ;-) my husband only comes back tonight from his business trip, so I could continue riding at the perfect speed.

At Utrecht station I arrived just perfectly in time for the next train to Leiden. Actually I felt perfectly fine as long as I was on the bicycle and could have easily continued for an other 10 km or so... But Utrecht Centraal it was.

So really a PERFECT DAY. Nice weather (a bit hot, but not too hot), lovely people, great ride, new personnel distance record (the previous one was riding from Bentenjima to Irago in Japan, which however was also coupled with ascent record (for me), good cherries, reasonably nice landscape, and no hills, which I obviously appreciate. 

Silverroute

Bicycle: 29 km 
Riding time:  1:40 h
Total ascent: 29 m
Avg speed:  17.2 km/h
Max speed:  28.1 km/h
Route: Leiden - Voorschoten and back on the Zilverroute
Weather: Sunny, 15 C

After yet an other exhausting work day (today not that many TCs... but a lot of other things to do) some nice evening ride. I started without a real plan where to ride, and just thought that I would follow some signs I found on the road. Well, that explains the strange form of the ride today.

At about km 2 I actually wanted to ride to knooppunt 2 (which is likely around km 7.4) but didn't take the right turn and ended up going somewhere else, on a nice bicycle "highway". At some point of that highway I arrived to a very nice looking river (km 4.5) and I decided to follow that, only to find out pretty quick that it would lead me straight back to Leiden. So I turned back and found an intriguing sign for the "Zilverroute":

There is a number of these routes around Leiden. Windmills, Silver, Limes, Landscape, ... and for some some more. I have yet not had any luck finding them on the internet and suspect that they are only published in some book. They are also not on the ubiquitous knooppunt maps.

So I decided to try and see where this Zilverroute would lead me. And it resulted in a very nice ride, specially in the South-West direction. On a real bicycle highway, but through green fields and houses.

At some point the tour started turning back to Leiden, and I returned as well. I think that in Voorschooten at some point I must have lost the route, as there wasn't any indication for a long time, until out of the blue the indication was there again. In Leiden I again continued on the route, but the last time I saw any indication of it was at km 23.5. I obviously had decided by then to return to Leiden. So no idea if the route just stopped there. At km 26 I found again signs, of the same type of cycle routes, but now for windmill route. So there I knew for sure that I was no longer on the Zilverroute... but at least I am back home. I am also wondering what I was actually supposed to see special on a "Silver" route. It could have been any landscape route I guess, but Silver?

Tomorrow cherry route...

Short evening ride exploring new paths in well trotted territory

Bicycle: 18 km 
Riding time:  1:04 h
Total ascent: 22 m
Avg speed:  16.4 km/h
Max speed:  35.4 km/h
Route: From Leiden to the South end of Kagerplassen
Weather: Sunny, 19 C

After a day full of teleconferences (6 in total) I only managed to start my evening ride shortly before 21:00, so it wasn't so long, but still nice to get out and riding around a bit.

From about km 2 to 4 I was chasing some (very slow) racing bike riders who pedalled away relatively leisurely, and I kind of raced behind them. Still kind of okay speed, but not doable for me for a long time. But it brought me 3 new personal records in Strava on a path I had ridden before.

Well, after a while they became faster (I like to assume that that was the case and not that I became much slower... although that is probably more likely what has really happened), so I broke off an had a brief stop at a lake that I had always only seen from the bike lane but never really approached its shore.

Then I decided to ride to Kagerplassen and actually decided to ride to slight different place, i.e. on the other side of one of those many rivers... but forgot that there is no bridge and the ferry at this hour in the evening is no longer working. So I just drove around a bit at the Southern end of the lake, taking in some very Dutch landscape ...

... and even riding between cows.

no fence there.

Riding back I rode through a few new lanes in a residential area and came finally back just before 22:00.

More tomorrow, hopefully, if meetings allow for it. 

Slightly larger round around Kagerplassen

Bicycle: 36 km 
Riding time:  2:08 h
Total ascent: 42 m
Avg speed:  17.0 km/h
Max speed:  30.6 km/h
Route: Leiden - close to Lisse - Kagersee - Leiden
Weather: Sunny but windy, 20 C

First ride with 45! A nice evening ride to the North of Leiden, a little bit of a bigger round around the Kagerplassen and riding into Lisse, the city of the tulips. Today no tulips though... nor any other flowers on the fields. Too late! Way too late!

Just some windmills...

... some apparently (!) on the field sailing boats (very common sight in the Netherlands, where the water often is higher than the surrounding fields ...

... and a small cruise ship on the Kaperplassen:

Apart from that really nothing special to report. Just out and riding. 

Idroscalo in Milano

Bicycle: 12 km 
Riding time:  1:08 h
Total ascent: 62 m
Avg speed:  10.1 km/h
Max speed:  22.3 km/h
Route: One ride around the idroscalo
Weather: Sunny, 26 C

We came to Milan over the weekend to visit a bunch of relatives, but mainly our appointments with relatives are in the evening, as eating is obviously one of the main activities. Yesterday afternoon we went to an exhibition in the centre and afterwards kind of both thought that for today something more in the countryside would be nice. But real countryside is too far and we don't have a car anyway. So my husband thought of the idroscalo because of this song:

So we went to the idroscalo, originally built as a waterairport cum water sport lake, now only used for water sports and relaxing on the shore and in the small wood.

After relaxing and having a - not so good - quick lunch at one of the bars at the lake, we hired some bicycles ...

... and set of for a round trip around the entire lake - ex-airport.

It might be an ex-airport, but it is just besides the current airport of Linate. So lying in the grass one can see the airplanes taking off. Luckily they don't fly overhead so it is reasonably quiet in the park. In the far distance one could even see the Alps.

Nowadays the lake is used for many different types of water sports, from swimming, playing in water, kanoeing etc, but the one that looked most fun was a waterski "lift" without a motorboat:

Midway through we stopped at one of the bars, got a granita, relaxed a bit and then continued, only to find the last few meters before closing the loop blocked off by the park policy, as there was an emergency helicopter that had just landed. So instead of riding just a little bit out of the park back to our starting point, my husband preferred to ride back the entire way, and I would obviously never protest against a few extra meters on a bicycle.

In Milano city one sees a lot of bicycle shares, mainly from 3 different operators:

• Ofo
• Mobike
• BikeMi

BikeMi is for sure the oldest of these bike sharing offers. I remember having seen it a few years ago when I last came to Milan. It is apparently quite similar to Bicing (in Barcelona) and uses fixed docking stations. Not really sure if it is only open to residents as is Bicing and if you need a subscription. 

The other two, Ofo and Mobike, are both Chinese companies that started quite recently and are flooding now the European markets. I haven't tried any of these, but in Milan both bicycle types seem to be quite ubiquitous. 

But we got very old style park bicycles for our ride. 

A new round around Kaagersee

Bicycle: 29 km 

Riding time:  1:31 h

Total ascent: 49 m

Avg speed:  19.1km/h

Max speed:  33.5 km/h

Route: Leiden - Kaagersee - Leiden

Weather: Sunny and nicely warm, 18 C

After two days without riding, I had time again tonight to have a nice ride around Leiden. This time I nearly repeated a ride I had already done in mid-May, once around the Kaagersee. Many parts of this ride I had already done several times before, so I didn't need to stop a lot to get oriented. This probably contributed to the "high" average speed of 19 km. I think probably the highest average so far riding in the Netherlands. 

A part of the ride is on a windmill roundtrip, which I still haven't found detailed information on (probably need to buy some book...), well, there are a lot of windmills around:

The Kaagersee is a region dominated by water and without a lot of bridges, so this farmer needs to bring his big tractor back home on a very small ferry that is totally occupied with his tractor, "swimming" back to his home, which obviously is a windmill:

The way back from Kaagersee isn't specially nice as it follows for a long part a highway. But I didn't want to try to ride through Sassenheim, as I thought that it might be typical paved (i.e. bumpy) village roads. But the way towards the lake is always nice.

Dune ride

Bicycle: 41 km 

Riding time:  2:17 h

Total ascent: 98 m

Avg speed:  17.8 km/h

Max speed:  33.8 km/h

Route: Leiden - Wassenaar - Katwijk - Leiden

Weather: Sun, clouds and quite windy, 15 C

This weekend was a full of activities, but still I managed to squeeze in between a sail on a rented boat in Leiden in the morning and a visit to the local cinema to see "The Death of Stalin" a 40 km bicycle ride to the dunes.

It was a ride very similar to others I did in the recent past to the dunes, but this time going first to the southmost point and then coming up along the dunes all the way to Katwijk and back to Leiden. This time I also did the beach promenade in Katwijk instead of turning immediately inwards after leaving the dunes. 

No pictures taken... as essentially there wasn't anything new on this ride nor anything specially interesting happened. Just a happy 40 km ride, partially against quite some strong headwind.

Quick evening ride

Bicycle: 20 km 

Riding time: 1:05 h

Total ascent: 38 m

Avg speed:  18.2 km/h

Max speed:  33.8 km/h

Route: Leiden - Rijpwetering - Leiden

Weather: Sunny and a bit windy, 16 C

Today in the morning we visited with some new friends from a Meetup group (Espanoles en Holanda) gardens in Amsterdam that are normally close to the public. Like this more conceptual garden, but also some others that were full of flowers or more like a 17th century French garden arrangement. 

After a late lunch I had still just about time to go to an apparently famous bicycle shop in Amsterdam, specializing in touring bicycles.  Where I ordered my new bicycles to be delivered in about 4 weeks! I got all measured up, had to take multiple decisions on what kind of handle bar I would like, if with derailleur or internal hub, if with a chain or a belt... even what type of light. Finally the decision on the frame was a very easy one, as most of the "female" bicycles aren't that female, and still require quite a high entry into the bicycle, so finally it is going to be an idworxs model. But that will still need at least 4 weeks.

So when I finally came home it was already 19:00 and dinner was probably going to be around 20:30, so I set out for a very quick ride just up to Rijpwetering (where the Golden Fox restaurant is... to which I have still not made it) and then rode back to town (with quite some head wind).

This time I didn't get lost on the way home and made it nicely in time for dinner. 

Cycling instead of Ronaldo : Spain (3:3)

Bicycle: 28 km 
Riding time: 1:34 h
Total ascent: 69 m
Avg speed:  18.0 km/h
Max speed:  32.0 km/h

Route: Leiden - Wassenaar - Katwijk - Leiden

Weather: Gray and humid, but no rain, 14 C

After a week of too much sitting in front of my (work) computer, some cycling just before the weekend. Also thanks to the football match Portugal : Spain that just ended in a 3:3 draw. So while my husband was in a bar watching it, I had time to ride a bit.

Actually todays ride was a copy-paste of a ride to Katwijk and the dunes a few days ago. But this time with slightly better weather.

Close to Wassenaar there are some relatively stationary birds, storks and some others that seem to live there, as I encountered them pretty much in the same spot now several times already. Today I managed to get a good picture.

On towards the dune and up in to the "mountains":

On the dunes also a jogging competition was ongoing that finished in a stadium in Katwijk with a lot of cheering. I first saw that there was something ongoing, because two paramedics were following a slow jogger on bicycles on a walking path. Only after a while I realized that there were more people jogging in an organized way and those two paramedics and the solitary jogger must have been backmarker.

Riding over the dunes by Wassenaar

Bicycle:  36 km 
Riding time: 1:59 h
Total ascent: 92 m
Avg speed:  18.2 km/h
Max speed:  32.8 km/h

Route: Leiden - Kaagersee - Leiden

Weather: Sunny, some clouds and fresh, 13 C 

Today I finished work early and set out for an other ride to the coast, thinking that there might be yet an other part of the dune between Nordwijk and Den Haag that I hadn't yet done. And rightfully so.

I first went to Wassenaar on the same route that I had found loosing my way a few days ago and then did continue versus the sea, but this time turning to the left instead of turning towards Katwijk. Surprisingly the landscape is actually quite different. "Hilly" as towards Katwijk but one is farer away from the sea, and the landscape somehow is slightly less "dunes-like", being a dune though. There are even a number of nice small lakes in the middle of it.

The path here on the dunes isn't asphalted, but the pavement isn't too bumpy... although in the long run after many km it gets a bit tiring.

One could continue on this path further South towards Den Haag, but I turned back to Wassenaar, which brought me through a long strip of forrest. Not a common sight in the Netherlands. And then back to the South end from Wassenaar from where I returned to Leiden. Getting into the city I tried a slightly different way from km 30 onwards. That way is also okay. Not yet sure which way is better to get out of the city.

Lunch on Kaagersee with my husband

Bicycle:  20 km 
Riding time: 1:45 h
Total ascent: 42 m
Avg speed:  11.5 km/h
Max speed:  30.6 km/h

Route: Leiden - Kaagersee - Leiden

Weather: Sunny but with some fresh wind, 25 C 

Today in the morning my husband came back from a week in Argentina. It's his first weekend at home since many weeks, travelling too much through the world. Which may also mean that from tomorrow I wont have time in the evening to go out for a ride.

When I commented in the morning that the weather is going to be nice, his proposal was - surprisingly - to get out on a ride to somewhere close by. Surprising, as he dislikes cycling.

So after a late breakfast we set out on our old city bikes (his only bike and I was not going to use my good brompton, if he is on his old city bike). We rode out towards the Kaagersee. Had a first stop in a polder, with a windmill turning, some swans in the forefront, a Dutch flag undulating in the wind and KLM planes passing above. Only there was no rain, otherwise it would have been the quintessential Dutch experience.  

From there, after a few misunderstandings about where to turn right, we took the small ferry over the Zijl and continued on the other side out to the Kaagsociëteit. I had always stopped short of it, as it requires a ride on a small ferry that doesn't even allow bicycles. So I had no idea if it was a good place for lunch or not. But we were very nicely surprised by a nice lunch on the shores of the lake:

From there, he commented that he wanted to see more of the lake, so we went back and to an other spot with views of the lake. There we took out again our plaid and rested peacefully on the grass with our big bikes in the back ground:

Although it was really sunny today, it was also very windy and the wind was cold. So after some time it got a little bit too cold (specially for me who was NOT riding with long trousers and a (light) fleece jacket, but with a summer dress. So we set-off again direction home. I lost again my way, but this meant that we discovered a whole new street how to ride out to Warmond. And as you can see from the map, it was a really direct road back. 

An ice cream in town and back home to a lazy late afternoon at home. 

"A bit of a challenging" ride to Brielle

Bicycle: 70 km 
Riding time: 3:47 h
Total ascent: 145 m
Avg speed:  17.7 km/h
Max speed:  36 km/h

Route: Leiden - Noordwijk - Katwijk - getting lost near Wassenaar and back to Leiden

Weather: Sunny and nice again, 16 C

I signed up on Meet-up for several cycling groups. Today my second appointment (after last Saturday mini-meet-up to Uithoorn) was with a bigger group, "threatening" with a "bit of a challenging" ride from Rotterdam to Brielle.

We were a group of 9, most actually on racing bikes and thus quite intimidating when I first met them all at a station in Rotterdam. But also some others on touring bicycles.

The organizer had planned out a very nice path out to Brielle, and old city out in the delta in front of Rotterdam. Getting there we had to take two different ferries and cycle for kilometers and kilometers through nice Dutch landscape.  One of the ferries was a "do-it-yourself" ferry on which we had a lot of fun. There wasn't a lot of time to take pictures, as we were riding on. But a lot of time to chat to the other riders.

We had lunch in Brielle on a central place and then rode around the outside of the old fortification and then back towards Rotterdam on a different path.

Back at home there is unfortunately no onsen waiting for me. So the bath tub will need do.

Climbing up to the highest point of South Holland

Bicycle: 29 km 
Riding time: 1:41 h
Total ascent: 80 m
Avg speed:  17.0 km/h
Max speed:  29.9 km/h

Route: Leiden - Wassenaar - Katwijk - Leiden

Weather: Gray and humid, but no rain, 13 C

After the nice ride yesterday through the dunes between Noordwijk and Katwijk and the nice way back, I decided to ride today again in the same direction, but to try and see if there are more dunes to cycle on beyond Katwijk. And there are. 

The ride out to them was nice as yesterday, but with much less people around (weather was worse, but not bad). Already at Wassenaar I became terribly hungry. No idea why, as I had lunch and even ate at least half a kilo of cherries... So well, I continued with my empty stomach and today it was even hilly, as I was riding towards the highest point of all South Holland, the Vlaggeduin (well, okay, I realize the name of this place does not really convene the idea of hight. But I didn't choose it).

Here some pictures from one of the several hights that I climbed today:

Well, it was quite foggy, so probably the highest part is hiding somewhere. 

Before I came to the dune, there was even a forrest. Also a strange sight in the Netherlands.

On the way back I got again lost. Well, not really lost, but I did not follow the road that I actually wanted to follow. Somehow at km 18 I convinced myself that continuing straight must be the wrong direction, so I turned left... and thus I didn't make it to N206. Later on, probably around km 20 I was riding through an area that I recognized from yesterday (and some previous trips to Katwijk) and I thought it would be easy now to find the main street to Leiden... but I failed again. BUT this time (similarly to yesterday) this was actually a nice error. Not so far as yesterday, but I discovered a cycling route through Katwijk that leads one quite close to Leiden without needing to follow N206, which is a busy street (plus its dedicated cycling lane), but essentially one is cycling along side a lot of cars (at least that is what I remember from the one time, many months ago that I actually found it). But that route a little bit to the North of N206 is much nicer.

To the beach!

Bicycle: 34 km 
Riding time: 2:00 h
Total ascent: 77 m
Avg speed:  17.1 km/h
Max speed:  40 km/h

Route: Leiden - Noordwijk - Katwijk - getting lost near Wassenaar and back to Leiden

Weather: Sunny and nice again, 16 C

Again, nice weather, again on the bike! I don't know if this year is a specially good year weatherwise in the Netherlands, or if it is all a prejudice that it is raining every day in the Netherlands. But this year, I cannot really complain. February and March I remember as very sunny (and freezing cold) and now since at least mid May it is nice, warm, sunny and the days with rain are few.

For a change today my ride went to a new direction, towards the beach at Noordwijk. The ride out of the city from about km 5 wasn't that nice, as the lane was paved (not asphalted), but well. But then there is the beach:

Noordwijk is actually quite a touristic place, with a  lot of ugly hotel buildings.

After a brief stop on the beach I continued my ride and this second part of the ride was definitely great. The best part must be the ride through the dunes between Noordwijk and Katwjik. On a perfect cycling lane on top of the dune.

Which is also one of the highest places in South Holland. I think the highest is actually a dune a bit to the South of Katwijk and I think not accessible, but even this one here is quite high and has quite some up-and-down. Well, for the Netherlands. Not for any other normal country. And a lot of cyclists seem to use these "hills" for training.

The dune ride is actually not very long, about 4 km.

Also the way back to Leiden was quite nice, also thanks to getting lost. Actually I had decided to ride back to Leiden on the straightest line... but as you can see from the map below, I did not succeed in this. One wrong turn!

However the road to Wassenaar but also from Wassenaar to Leiden was great. Nicely asphalted, not a lot of bicycle traffic, bicycle lanes all the way and through nice quiet countryside. I was actually a bit surprised as I remembered the straightroad from Katwijk to Leiden as not being so nice (just being a major road with a cycling lane besides it). So I was actually quite surprised to see that my memory was incorrect... but actually only my sense of orientation was incorrect. Well, thanks to getting lost I got a 2 h, 34 km "hilly" ride. 

Zoetermeer and Vlietsland in one circle ride

Bicycle: 30 km 
Riding time: 1:38 h
Total ascent: 46 m
Avg speed:  18.0 km/h
Max speed:  31.3 km/h

Route: Leiden - Zoetermeer and back round the Vlietsland to Leiden

Weather: Sunny and nice again, 14 C

Today again weather is really nice (global climate change after all isn't that bad... yet...) so I set out yet again in the evening after work on some cycling. I decided to combine Zoetermeer and Vlietland in one ride, without riding around the entire Zoetermermeer and coming back on the river side of the Vlietland (instead of the highway side, as yesterday).

Part of the ride towards Zoetermeer was on the same paths as on Saturday, but this time not in the middle of mist. So I took some pictures of the polders:

... and of the Zoetermeer, where there is even a small beach:

Not today, because too cold, but on the weekend, and even yesterday I saw quite a lot of small (and not so small) boys bath in the rivers and lakes. Even jumping from the bridges into the water is still en vogue. A bit like in the '50s.

Riding on from Zoetermeer I came into a region that I had not yet crossed by bicycle and even came to some Dutch mountains, including a skiing slope:

But cycling is definitely more appropriate for the Netherlands.

 

Once around the Vlietland lake to Leidschendamm

Bicycle: 34 km 
Riding time: 1:53 h
Total ascent: 38 m
Avg speed: 17.8 km/h
Max speed: 28.8 km/h

Route: Leiden - around the Vlieland lake to Leidschendamm and back to Leiden

Weather: Sunny and nice, 18 C

Today after work I thought that I'd just ride around without any specific aim, just riding for about 10 km in any direction and then back. My initial plan was to follow any kind of knooppunt into any direction and later on just see what is the best way back. Well, that is what I did at km 4, a nice path on a cycle lane with tall trees invited me. But after not so long I ended up in one of the industrial parks that line the Rhine in direction Alphen, and I had been in that direction already and it's probably not one of the nicest here around, so I decided to turn back and find some other direction. And this presented itself pretty soon: The Vlietland lake. And so I rode along the river, where is a nicely asphalted cycle lane on and on, until I ended up in Leidschendamm. Where I took a few pictures...

... before turning back and riding along the other side of the lake back to Leiden. 

Actually one hardly sees the lake from the cycling lane. Either because the cycling lane is too low (i.e. under lakelevel and behind some dike). But at a few spots one can see it:

For the next time riding in that direction, definitely the cycling lane along the river (i.e. Western side of the lake) is nicer than the one in the East where instead of a river one is riding along the highway. 

Mini Meet-up team ride from Amsterdam to Uithoorn... and home to Leiden

Bicycle: 55 km 
Riding time: 3:31 h
Total ascent: 63 m
Avg speed: 15.3 km/h
Max speed: 25.6 km/h

Route: Amsterdam RAI - Uithoorn - Leiden

Weather: Sunny and getting warmer and warmer, 24 C

About a week ago I saw in meet-up a team event for today, a ride from Amsterdam to Uithoorn following the Amstel river. I signed up, but the meeting organizer never informed us about the meeting location. So finally yesterday afternoon I proposed to meet at Amsterdam RAI, a convenient place quite close to Amstel river. Finally we were only 2, others already excused themselves yesterday, the organizer was somewhere else, actually not too far, but she apparently never checked her messages though even we waited for her a bit longer, she never came... So well, we were only two, but set out to Uithoorn. 

The ride along the river Amstel was quite nice, with villages full of splendid looking houses facing the river:

Also a lot of other cyclists took the opportunity for a day out. There are essentially two types of cyclists.

1) the racers

2) the tourists

The racers, well race. Are equipped apparently well (not that I really understand anything about it), but they all seem to be serious about racing and not so much interested at all in their surroundings.

While the tourists, well they are there to have a nice day. Not necessarily to do actually tourism, but to just travel at a leisurely pace along the river. 

The surprising thing about this ride was Uithoorn itself. I had no idea about the town, but after all the nice towns along the river and by the fact that this was our proposed end destination, I expected a small, nice Dutch city. I could not have been much wronger. The city of Uithoorn is small, but anything but beautiful. Not only is there a big chemical plant along the river at the entrance to the village, but also quite a lot of abandoned office buildings, houses missing in the city centre and a very ugly shopping district. Really surprising. No idea why the meeting organizer (who finally didn't even make it to the appointment) decided on this town as the final destination. Maybe simply by distance. And one has to admit that the ride along the river was definitely nice. We had something to eat (well, in the line of the rest of Uithoorn, not very good) on the river bank and then parted. My co-rider returned slowly to Amsterdam, while I continued onwards back to Leiden.

I had planned out a tour on Garmin for my return. Initially following the river and then at some point over to Alphen and back home.

Cycling along there were some very narrow cycling lanes, half occupied by sheep looking puzzled at all these frequent cyclists. Probably asking themselves why there is such a change in cyclists from day to day and what those people do on those days, they do not come to their pasture.

It got hotter and hotter, so at some point I stopped at a picnic table on a playground with marvellous shadow to cool a bit down. And then continued my way down to the river.

The ride was quite nice until getting into Alphen. I had planned out the ride on Garmin, but not with a lot of attention to the details. So I ended up cycling through what must be the less appealing neighbourhoods of Alphen. Even came by 2 (!) jails. And it continued to get hotter and hotter and I had packed only one bottle of water.

Luckily enough finally at Koudekerk I found a nice garden restaurant, where I had something to drink an icecream (not terribly nice) and was able to use the restroom and fill up my water bottle again. After some break there I restarted my final kilometers back to Leiden.

So far in my few rides in direction Alphen I have not yet really found a nice place. One day I really need to ride through Alphen proper to see if the ENTIRE city is so dull as the parts I have seen so far.

But the area behind and in the greater surroundings of Alphen is really nice. To be explored in further trips.

Two lakes - Zoetermeer and Vlietland

Bicycle: 38 km 
Riding time: 2:20 h
Total ascent: 82 m
Avg speed: 16.1 km/h
Max speed: 34.6 km/h

Route: Leiden - Zoetermerr - Vlietland Park and back to Leiden

Weather: Gray and humid, but not raining, probably around 17 C

Today an other ride outside of Leiden. I had planned the ride on Garmin, but then it would not transfer from the computer to the device. I tried multiple times, but to no avail. So I set off without Garmin and just followed the knooppunt maps. Not really a problem. And I didn't even get lost.

It was notably cooler than the other day and totally gray. Every now and then I thought that it would start raining, but actually it never did. It felt however a bit like cycling in the middle of a cloud.

Once outside of Leiden things quickly get very much into country side. Some of the paths were really small and on one stretch even some sheep were lying on the cycle path peacefully munching on the grass. And not disturbed at all by a cyclist passing through them at mere centimetres.

Apart from the typical Dutch animals in landscape (cows, sheep, horses and goats among others), today there was a colony of ducks...

... and a solitary pheasant. 

Although the weather was not so perfect as the other day, the ride was quite nice. The area is much less cycled (or maybe only today because of the weather) and yes, somehow the landscape, always flat, is a little bit different. Also bike lane conditions is generally good, but only one stretch of road in Stompwijk that was very roughly paved.