4,000 are estimated to be parked by Centraal Station

Bikes at CS Amsterdam

The bike I got last year, was cheap, and not from a junkie.
Having not cycled for 18yrs, I was a bit nervous and didn’t want to fork out for a new bike that I might not use.

That fear was unfounded, I cycled almost every day the 14km round trip to and from work until Dec 1st.
I gave up in the real winter as black ice on cobblestones, steep bridges and lunatic cyclists all make me nervous.

My old bike was a grand starter, and it earned its price in saved tram fares in a couple of weeks, however after the first month, I found crouching to be a problem, my knees and ankles ached. I hadn’t heard of this as a side effect of cycling.

It seems I was cycling a death trap.

I forgave it the fact that the brakes were dodgy at best (most efficient way of stopping was jumping off) and the saddle seemed to be made of nails covered in cement (my rear looked like a permenant victim of a paint balling kamikaze attack) but I was reluctant to “just throw away” the €50 I spent on the bike. After not cycling for 2 months and living with out the ankle, knee and butt pain I swore that this year I would buy a new bike.

Valentines day saw me and my lady roaming the bike shops of the Jordan.

I get the usual look when I explain, I’d like a small bike, with gears and *gasp* handbrakes that work. Back pedal brakes, while cheaper and easier to maintain, are not for me…. cycling back ways is not my instant reaction when faced with on coming traffic, and I am likely to sail out in front of same traffic screaming and grasping my non-existent handbrakes.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that in Amsterdam with bike traffic jams being more frequent than car traffic jams, bikes would be really cheap. Let me dispel that, they are not, well especially not for pint sized, handbrake wanting foreigners. New bikes average around €600/€700. Second hand ones start at €75 but most good ones are around €200 for back pedal and €300 for handbrake.

The bike I got looks a bit like this it has brakes that work, 3 gears, a decent saddle and its so great to cycle.
I no longer feel like I’m pulling a dead cow up the road after my bike!

So I began cycling to work again, only on the first morning I realised my old route was being dug up by the Gemeete, Amsterdam’s version of the Corpo, and they are about as helpful and productive as same. It seems this is budget spending month so every road is being dug up for the sheer hell of it. Fun!!

I had to devise a new route, and my mum was impressed this one doesn’t take me through Dam Square or the red-light. Doped up Tourist dodging on your way home from work is not as fun as it sounds.

This is my way TO work and this is my way FROM work. The are 6.6 and 6.9km respectively and better still doing this every day will burn about 800kcls a day. (4000 a week) and I’ll be travelling 67.5kms a week. Not bad! Plus saving €20 a week on transport!

The route is still lovely along the Amstel, and some morning I am going to take my camera along and get some photos!

My Spanish Colleague and I are planning a beer cycle home some evening, visiting local establishments between the office and the city! Photos from that are likely to be wobbly.

PS I listen to Morning Ireland (the wonders of unlimited data for €9) on my mobile so if you are listening to it between 7.30 and 8.10 (from 1st sport to 2nd reading of morning papers) think of me cycling along the Amstel

Wednesday at 2pm Poo went home to Ireland, think he’s glad to be going home. I think he liked the time to relax in Amsterdam, I’m not sure it was what he expected but I hope he was happy.
I really liked him being around, I know I’ll miss him but I have lots of visitors over the next few weeks and the trip to New York to look forward to so its all ok.

Got a HUGE mosquito bite on my neck tuesday night…… I look deformed, no really I do.
Actually the one on my arm is more worrying… looks like a second elbow and there’s a nasty red line running from it to almost my armpit…. I’m not a doctor but it doesn’t look great

Went home last weekend, didn’t think Poo was leaving so quickly after or I’d have stayed but I had it booked ages ago and I hadn’t been home for 7 weeks so it was due! Saw all the work mums had done in the house, stuff she’s wanted to do for ages and I’m glad for her that she’s getting her house a little more the way she wants it, she deserves it.

I’ve been waking up every morning wrecked, it began when I moved here first and abated slightly after 3 months to return with a vengeance in the past month. I have to say I chickened out of cycling to work for the last three days on the basis that I wasn’t awake enough to competently make it to work in one piece. Really I was just too lazy and preferred the idea of veging on the tram/train/metro/stroll listening to morning Ireland/rick o shea/2xm streaming on my mobile (yes i found a way around the olympic ban – more on that in a bit) I could be forgiven for one morning as it was excessively wet, however Thursday and friday have been lovely so I am just a useless lazy sod to be honest!

The restrictions on RTE broadcasts for the Olympics bug me, even if working in the industry I understand them. RTE paid money for the rights to broadcast exclusive coverage of the Olympics and as such have to keep that coverage within their territories. This allows the IOC to sell similar rights packages to other territories on an exclusive and therefor more expensive basis. But really, could RTE not just delay transmission by 15 seconds and edit out/ block any news bulletins or coverage of Olympics? Anyway …. as I must circumvent every rule relating to my aquisition of entertainment I spent an hour trying to find another way to satiate my aural needs of morning ireland/ rick o shea / decent music. I happened across a site called moodio (m.moodio.com) and within mins was streaming my daily fix through the wonder that is my mobile!! I hope the usage is within the limits of my 9.99 “endless” data package, but I am restricting myself to just those two shows and then switching to the internet to listen to 2xm which is unaffected by the blanket ban.

I spent a couple of hours watching the Olympic Opening ceremony last Friday, wow it was amazing. Sorry I had more to say on this …. but it took the last train out of my head!

Lots of visitors this weather, which is good, and bad. Mostly good…. all the visitors that have stayed in my house so far have been pretty excellent. Beginning to wonder about certain requests for lodging tho. Ever wonder when to draw the line under a friendship, when its run its course and now its just a vestige of something that was….. I do!

Been doing some great night time blog searching these days, and found some treasures… hope they dont mind me listing them here; most are in my sidebar anyway….
Travelvice – the blog of a guy who has been traveling the world since Dec 2005, first solo, then with his girlfriend and since Jan of this year, with their son!
Conortje - the blog of an Irish guy in Netherlands for ten years, I love his writing, very witty and intelligent.
Textsecrets /Post Secret – two sites really but similar idea, people write anonymous confessions to absolve, incite, inspire, entertain the public….

Ok enough from me…. suspiciously photo free post!