Tuesday, July 07, 2009

A laid back 4th of July weekend...

On my way home from work on Friday I had the satisfaction of being a helpful Amsterdam resident. I was on my bike when I came upon 3 tourists standing in the bike lane. They asked me where a specific hotel was. I couldn't really understand them so I asked for the address. One of the guys dug out his camera and showed me a picture of the address. I then pulled out my iPhone and googled the address. It was down the street 1.5 blocks. You gotta love technology.


Saturday morning Kevin and I went for a run with Isaak and the dogs. It was a little longer then my "normal" route. I am still amazed at how much it doesn't hurt for starting again. After the run I headed to Albert Cuyp for a few fruits & veggies, while Kevin went to Centrum to get me another bike. Yes, we now own 6 bikes between the 2 of us. This 6th bike is for me to leave on the Hilversum side of my commute, hopefully cutting 10 minutes off of one side of my commute. I found a bike dealer (through one of our many Amsterdam guide books) that sells bikes he has built from recycled parts. They are cheap and not stolen, which works for me.


To celebrate for the 4th of July we BBQ-ed burgers at Courtenay & Brian's. Yum!

DSC02382

After lunch we proceeded with Kevin's 4th of July traditions. Reading the Declaration of Indpendence, sentance by sentance. This was then followed by the annual viewing of 1776. I think it is neat that Kevin loves this holiday so much, but that isn't going to stop me from teasing him.


Sunday afternoon Kevin and I went for a bike ride. It was the first time in a year that I had been on my road bike. It had been more then a year since I used clipless pedals. Once I finaly got clipped in, I couldn't clip out. Kevin had to ride ahead and then stop so he could catch me. I had to take my shoes off to get off my bike. We loosened the pedals and hit the road again. Isaak was along for the ride in his trailer. We rode out to the Amstel and on to OuderKerk, past a windmill. Half to OuderKerk it felt like I lost my chain or was on the way to losing my chain. We stopped again. I flipped my bike up side down and found a sunglasses cord wrapped around my sprocket. It had been in my "bento box" and must have fallen out when we had my bike upside down to fix the pedals. I was becoming a real pain in the ass.


It had been so long since I had been in clipless pedals that I was pretty shaky when it came time to clip out/in. It was nice to be on a fast light bike though.


On our way home from the ride we stopped at "The Taco Shop". Good American-ized mexican food!

1 comment:

Amsterdam Bound said...

The Taco Shop is the best! I'm glad you guys like it as much as I do.

I need to get another bike as well...would you mind passing me the bike guy's information?