I have not posted for a few weeks and to be honest I don’t know who is actually reading but I will continue. It is strange how the best of intentions work, just under a year ago I wanted to set myself a challenge and a challenge was born in the form of a charity ride. As with all plans and ideas they expand and contract with time and people come and go for reasons that can only be dealt by fate and circumstance.
Day 3 was by far my favorite day, a light mist of rain over Brugge and the first time I had felt free and in control at the same time. We circled the town and headed into Holland along the fine stretches of bent tree canals. We knew Bresckens was our destination, catch the ferry to the islands and ride through as far as we could before resting up for the night. I haven’t got the words or the time to try to explain other than by suggesting that you try this ride for yourself and that it was a landmark day for me, even if you do just that stretch. True riding.
The sense of trust from people along the way was dumbfounding, even in the centre of Rotterdam. I honestly thought that I could have left my bike anywhere and it would have been there when I got back.
Day 4 took us to Rotterdam and after a 50km headwind across the North sea divide it was a bit of a disappointment but part of the journey. I had and have been humbled by those days on the saddle with my feet out of the pedals and cruising along trying to get the feeling back in my toes, to the constant tweaking and changing of my backside to get a better softer ride but lets face it it wasn’t going to happen but every twitch and tweak was worth the hobble later on.
Day five was emotional, my knee began to flare up and took us from the colder confines Rotterdam and the most lifeless hostel back on the road north to Amsterdam, half way for me and the end of the road for Greg, it was going to be a big day.
there are 4 things I remember about this day… miles of cobblestones, I mean miles. Shiphol airport and what seemed like an eternity to get round it and still be 15Km away from the centre of town. Our spirits were good but strained with rain forming and Greg wanting to make time to meet the man who built his bike ( he did, and he was an amazing man). I suppose our benchmark was Amsterdam train station and the end of our ride ( I knew this, I just wasn’t ready to admit this yet) We had ridden 550km in five days with neither of us ever having done this before, a major achievement, major.
We ate pancakes, enjoyed beers and rolled our way back to the hotel. better friends for it, thank you Greg.
Back to the issues of trust and helpfulness, I will add a list of helpful people in another post. this city my home has shown me many things and that bike has shown me many that I thought that I would never see or be able to believe in myself enough to achieve so a massive salute to my fuji track, it is with a shallow heart that I mention that it was stolen from where I work on monday afternoon in broad daylight from a locked courtyard. Gutted.
There is a positive in this though, don’t let one event get in the way of your happiness or your goals as they are yours, a bike in some eyes is an extension of the person riding it, but it does not define you. There is always another bike and always another dream.
With thanks,
James
