Riding in Holland

At least in my part, it's very flat. This can easily lead to the same kind of riding, in the same position, with the same cadence, for an entire ride. The result is often a painful back and lazy legs. So you have to use the tools handed to you by traffic enigneers (things like roundabouts, viaducts, tunnels), other bikepath traffic, and the weather (mostly wind) to keep it lively. I try to use every slowdown enforced by traffic furniture as an opportunity to get out of the saddle and quickly accelerate back to my old pace--or a little faster. (This I learned the hard way as a novice to the sport in the 1980s, trying to ride with my cycling mentor Thijs, an ex-amateur of some repute). Same after passing slow bicyclists on the narrow bikepaths, which happens frequently. Every viaduct and tunnel I use to get out of the saddle also, maybe shift to a bigger gear, and stand up the entire way, preferably accelerating at the same time. If you hear a moped coming up from behind, check its speed and see if you can't jump on its wheel, if only for a little ways. The wind you can use to simulate hills: get in a gear that's a little too big and just make yourself turn it over. Last night, on the Wednesday ride, the three of us integrated this kind of stuff into our ride, thereby creating a pretty good interval workout. There was the bridge over the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal (the canal that connects Amstedam with the Rhine river, or Waal, as it's called once its main branch enters the country) at Breukelen. Then a tunnel-viaduct combination at Niewer-ter-Aar, followed a little later by a headwind section just before Vinkeveen. Riding the tailwind through Vinkeveen we got on a moped, which upped our speed from about 24 to 28 (close to the end of the road, I briefly pretended the moped was our lead-out man). And crossing the canal again at Loenersloot, we did our final hard effort. (If you don't know this region near the Vecht river, just go to Google Maps, and look for Nederhorst den Berg, our new hometown--this will also prepare you for a future visit).