Okay, my bad. . .I haven't actually been that diligent of late on my postings and I promise that when I get back from my holiday, I will get back to it semi-regularly. I even have a series of posts already formulated in my mind but you will just have to wait and come back regularly.
So I have taken a real shine to riding my bike aka Beatrix :-) and when I say a real shine, I mean a real shine! I ride it everywhere! I ride to and from work daily (thankfully the weather has been nice). Today my co-worker and I Google Mapped it and it is 3.4 km to work in the morning and 3.5 km on the way home - I take a slight variation on the way home due to the oneway paths. That is 7 km more a day than I used to be riding!
I ride in a skirt and a dress. I ride in high heels. These one are pretty low :-)
I ride it to go grocery shopping. I have ridden it to the hardware store where I bought a rake and rode home with the rake. I have ridden it to a bbq with a bottle of wine in my basket.
I no longer feel like Chummy (from Call the Midwife) on my bike and I now ride with a fair bit of confidence, but I am by no means cocky. I have become pretty good at stopping and am more confident using my back brakes (there are not hand brakes). I am have also gotten better at speeding up and slowly down to take into account cars and pedestrians. Now you all might be laughing but when you haven't serious ridden a bike in years, this things all take time to come back!
The one thing about riding my bike is that I am constantly getting lost, as The Hague, like most European cities is not on a grid system. Often before I venture out, I will Google Map where I am wanting to go so I have a general idea of the route that I need to take but invariably, I will take a wrong turn at some point and wind up going down some random street. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing but I am now starting to see different streets that I otherwise wouldn't go down and find shops that I wouldn't otherwise know exist. I am finding riding my bike to be very liberating and just so Dutch!
But tonight, Beatrix fell a little sick. On my way to the beach, I seemed to have lost my 3rd gear and it slips and makes a weird noise when I try to use it. Now you are probably thinking, so what, well when your bike only has 3 gears and you lose one, it's not a good thing. When I get back, I will have to take her back to MegaBikes and get her checked out. :-(
Here are a couple of pictures from my ride this evening.
So I have taken a real shine to riding my bike aka Beatrix :-) and when I say a real shine, I mean a real shine! I ride it everywhere! I ride to and from work daily (thankfully the weather has been nice). Today my co-worker and I Google Mapped it and it is 3.4 km to work in the morning and 3.5 km on the way home - I take a slight variation on the way home due to the oneway paths. That is 7 km more a day than I used to be riding!
I ride in a skirt and a dress. I ride in high heels. These one are pretty low :-)
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| Today's bike shoes - yes, I rode my bike to work in these. They are a 4 inch heel :-0 |
I no longer feel like Chummy (from Call the Midwife) on my bike and I now ride with a fair bit of confidence, but I am by no means cocky. I have become pretty good at stopping and am more confident using my back brakes (there are not hand brakes). I am have also gotten better at speeding up and slowly down to take into account cars and pedestrians. Now you all might be laughing but when you haven't serious ridden a bike in years, this things all take time to come back!
The one thing about riding my bike is that I am constantly getting lost, as The Hague, like most European cities is not on a grid system. Often before I venture out, I will Google Map where I am wanting to go so I have a general idea of the route that I need to take but invariably, I will take a wrong turn at some point and wind up going down some random street. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing but I am now starting to see different streets that I otherwise wouldn't go down and find shops that I wouldn't otherwise know exist. I am finding riding my bike to be very liberating and just so Dutch!
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| Selfie taken while riding my bike tonight |
Here are a couple of pictures from my ride this evening.
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| This is what a bike path looks like on the roadways - taken while riding tonight. |
