Bike riding in the Netherlands

So, after the game the other night we were talking to Hester and

John-Marie about how to get to Bruges, since he is from there and they said that we should bike it.  It’s only 40 km to Bruges from here once you cross on the ferry and the bike ride is amazing they say because you are going along the coast and then following a canal into Bruges.  Okay, forget that we will be entering another country on this trip (Belgium), forget that 40 km is really

not that far and seems doable in this flat land.  What we did not take into account is my inability to ride a bike.  Now, that’s not true exactly, I can ride a bike.  On my street with no pedestrian and car traffic flying around me with other people on bikes riding my ass.  We looked at some books that talked about having to “post” on a bike over cobblestones like you do when riding a horse at a trot so you don’t get bounced to death.  We looked in several stores for bike routes and maps and I decided 

  that we should maybe take the bikes out for a spin before we got too into this planning.  Good damn thing too, because of the above problems.  We got the bikes out, one needed air in the tire which we noticed when John started off and the back tire pretty much had no air in it. 

So, air in the tire, leave again and I realize that my bike doesn’t really seem to have a gear that it stays in because you can pedal and pedal and it feels like it only catches ever so often, so I’m 

already thinking to myself that this might not be feasible to go to Bruges on these bikes when John makes a left hand signal and crosses the road, leaving me on the right side with a car coming up on me and a Dutch bicyclist coming up on me and no where to go.  I turn around to see who is going to run me over first and in doing that, hit the car that is parked next to me which was my place to avoid the other car and bicycle.  So, now I get to write a note to the poor person in English that I’m the one that scraped their car and where to find me if they want remuneration for this accident…Strike 2 against us riding to

Bruges.  Now, I’m embarrassed, my ass is already hurting and we haven’t gone anywhere yet.  John’s worried about me and we call it a day as we successfully make it back with only one car honking at me on the way home and walking my bike through the crowded 

shopping center.  So, biking to Bruges, which sounded awesome and so Dutch is just that, so Dutch.  And I am not Dutch.  They have 2 year olds here who ride a bike better than me and somehow know where they are supposed to go and when.  I’ll leave it as a culture that is brought up on bikes and their bike laws and rules.