March 30, 2018
Day 4: Apeldoorn
We had been looking forward to breakfast at the Bastion since we booked our room about a month ago. It may seem funny to look forward to something like breakfast especially since at home, in principle anyways, we can have any breakfast we desire.
That's all true, but the Bastion does have someone to make eggs of any type, and then there is bacon, sliced cheeses, soft cheeses, salad, tomatoes, cucumber, sun dried tomato, olives, lax, smoked chicken, yogurt, fresh fruit salad, fresh fruits, seeded buns, apple cake, lemon cake, cinnamon buns, espresso, latte, hot chocolate, etc. etc.
We had had a lot of fun yesterday setting up our bikes with packs, water bottle cages, extra lights, bells, GPS, and so on. Now we rode them fully loaded back to the bike shop to see how they would do. We also came equipped with a list of about ten questions for Remco. This included learning about what would be the right replacement chain when needed, getting some chain lube, questions about adjusting the hydraulic brake handles and the shock absorbing seat posts, shortening or tying back floppy cables, etc. etc.
Remco as always was totally patient with all the questions. Also, when the time came to square up financially for the value of parts, like seats, that came on the bikes bit that we did not take and others, like a helmet, lube, quick release clamps, bike computer batteries, extra main charger, and more that we threw in, he just called it even. But in fact he was giving us many euros worth 0f euros of stuff. We did compensate by giving the shop a dollar store "Canada" bike license plate! This is now proudly displayed by the cash register.
Remco and his uncle, the shop owner, were tickled that we had come all the way to their shop specifically, and they had us pose for a photo with the bikes. Then they took some other shots of how Dodie had cleverly attached extra water bottle mounts and so forth. We got a hearty goodbye as we sailed off down the street and on our way.
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While in principle we could have actually headed towards Germany right then, we did not feel in a big hurry to leave town. Rather we had planned a shakedown cruise around the outskirts and another night at the Bastion. Another night, of course, also means another breakfast!
Our cruise into the suburbs took us past more and more of the typical neat and tidy doll's house residences. Then it was into a large wooded park north of town. We plotted a route from the "knoopunt" system and signage that covers Netherlands. This directs you from numbered point to numbered point over the country.
The temperature at midday rose to the high teens and we gingerly gook off some of our warm clothes. We were a little shell shocked after the cold of Montreal and even Amsterdam but we began to hope that comfortable temperatures were going to stick around here.
The bikes performed perfectly during this ride, but we did take the opportunity to fine tune the seat positions and to see which water bottles were going to be too floppy or bounce out of holders.
Much of the park offered dedicated bike paths, but there were also roads with clear bike lanes, designated in red. Roads like this are very common in Netherlands but I had the occasion to rethink how they work, when a car passed us and then carried on, straddling the bike lane. At first I thought the driver was "out of line" but when a car came in the opposite direction I realized what was going on: The red painted bike lanes are for bikes when bikes are present, but otherwise the cars need to straddle them to have space for two way car traffic to pass. It's a sensible share the road system that just makes it clear that bikes have priority when there is any question. Got it!
Today's ride: 19 km (12 miles)
Total: 19 km (12 miles)
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