Cycling the Pacific Ring of Fire

"Cycling the Pacific Ring of Fire", "volcano-hopping" by mountain bike around the globe's largest ocean is an expedition of epic proportions undertaken by Canadian adventurers Janick Lemieux and Pierre Bouchard. 

"Cycling the Pacific Ring of Fire part 3...Full Circle!" is a multimedia documentary presentation of the adventures they've endured during the third and final leg of the mega MTB-trek. This time, the couple spent some 27 months in the saddle and rode 24,000 kilometres between Jakarta and Vancouver...via hundreds of volcanoes scattered throughout archipelagos of Indonesia and the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Russia's Far East, Alaska, Western Canada, and Hawaii. Over 1,000 stunning images, video excerpts, and animated maps portray their fabulous journey as the adventurers provide witty and insightful commentary and observations, intertwined with melodies and rhythms of Montreal composer Martin Tremblay. This highly volatile, explosive and "subversive" cocktail of culture, nature and adventure will enthral you! Until they stop over in your area, here's a little glimpse...

Fall 2012 pan-Canadian/US Pacific Northwest lecture series schedule and info:
http://pedalmag.com/cyclovolcan

Food on the Netherlands

J once asked me to describe a typical Dutch meal. It didn't take me long to suggest "wortel stoomp", always my favorite, especially the way that mom makes it.

Knowing that you can't live on "carrot & potato stew" forever, we thought that you might enjoy knowing what we ate during our trip, as much as we enjoyed eating it.

Indonesian x2
Indian
Chinese x2
Algerian
Italian
German
Mexican
Spanish
Thai
and Dutch pannenkoeken & Bossche bol! And yes, in Ijsselstein I even managed to have a decent "stoomp".

I guess that a typical Dutch meal is a reflection of the countries diversity and multicultural make-up.

Tot ziens ...

Amsterdam in the rain, and sun, and rain again

Thursday was designated "gallery day" and we took full advantage of the on-again, off-again rain day. My feet were telling me that we logged somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 km!

Our first stop for the morning, was the famous Rijksmuseum, The National museum of the Netherlands. Unfortunately the main building is under restoration and only the Philips Wing was/is open currently. On display currently is an exhibit of "The Masterpieces" which gave us an opportunity to view all the highlights of the Golden Age in one place at one time.

Next on our list was the Van Gogh museum, but it too is closed for the next 8 months and the Van Gogh's have been moved to a new temporary location at The Hermitage. Grand Opening is tomorrow (after we've left).

Not to despair 'cause if there is one thing Amsterdam has lots of (besides brown cafes and prostitutes), it's museums!

Our next stop was the FOMA, the national photographic museum (interesting). Once the sun came out we took in a canal cruise, followed by yet again more walking through the "exhibitions amsterdam" - the section of the city with all of the private and commercial galleries (very interesting). Our evening was spent at the newly re-opened Stedelijk Museum. After being closed for 8 years, the Stedelijk reopened this week just in time for our arrival! Very impressive with works from all of the major contemporary artists.

Today is our last full day and - finally - it look as though the sun will be with us all day. More walking with visits to the canal zone and the Jordaan districts. Maybe even some shopping!

Tot ziens ...

Amsterdam ...

I'm guessing that there could be a lot to write about ... about Amsterdam.

We arrived via intercity train from Maastricht and, with our bikes, weaved through the crowds from the Centraal Station to our B&B, a short 4 or 5 blocks away. For anyone who has spent time in Amsterdam, you will recognize that a B&B within 4 or 5 blocks of the train station is likely somewhat sketchy. This is no different, although we feel quite safe with two police stations very close by :-) Our B&B owner had assured us that we would find "secure" bicycle storage close by but, once we arrived and checked out the security, both J & I decided that it was either keep the bikes with us, or find another room. Kees, our host, wasn't too keen on having the bikes onsite, but once we assured him that it was all or nothing, he agreed. Of course the trick was to get the bikes up 3 flights of stairs pitched at close to a 30* angle. We were pretty close to having to disassemble the bikes. With time & effort, we managed.

Our B&B windows look out onto a small side street just off of the Damrack, the main road leading from the central train station. Our apartment is directly above a couple of "brown" cafes, a "pizza by the slice" restaurant and across the street from a donair joint and a sex shop. Interesting company we'll be keeping for the next couple of nights.

All of the "interesting sights and aromas" aside, we've had a fun first day in Amsterdam. The Jordaan district, where we had dinner, is really interesting and we hope to spend more time there tomorrow.

Sight of the day ... Bikes are everywhere! There is an enormous 6-level parking garage JUST FOR BIKES at the Centraal Station. There are almost no cars in the city. Cool!

Tot ziens ...

"Holland would be great if it wasn't for the f*•#¥ing wind" (J.Loukras 24/09/2012)

That quote just about sums up today's ride! A steady headwind of 40 kph followed by rather regular gusts of over 60 kph. At one point, we both had our bikes at 15* angles just to keep them upright. One gust caught J's rear pannier and swung her around in a circle. The 45 km traveled at an average speed of 11 kph was much more difficult than yesterday's 80+ km at an average speed of 18 kph ...

Not that we're complaining! We have ARRIVED in Masstricht, one of the most beautiful cities in Holland if nothin all of Europe. We found a great little hotel just off of the Markt Square and close to the canal. If you were interested in clothes shopping, Masstricht would be your mecca. Tomorrow our plans are to take a short canal tour, perhaps visit the caves in St. Pietersberg, visit the art gallery and spend some time at the Dominicankeerk, now a bookstore that is rumoured to rival Monroe's in Victoria. We're also looking forward to Wilma and Peter joining us for part of the day and dinner!

Lesson for the day ... Don't get so focused on the destination, that you forget to enjoy the journey. Had we not let ourselves explore a little we never would have found our great lunch spot with the DCV in Rekem, Belgium.

Tot ziens ...

What a ride!

Wow!! Yesterday was our test day and we won!! 83 km from Mariahout to Bree. My legs were so tired that it took all the rest of my energy to climb the stairs to our hotel room at the Hotel Mussenburgof.

Here is our story of the day ... Earlier in the week we located a hotel in Bree via the Internet. We sent an email asking for confirmation that they had bicycle storage, but never did get a response.

After 7 1/2 hours of cycling (in mostly cold weather mixed with a little rain), we arrived in Bree. By now you've likely figured out that the reason we didn't receive a reply was because the hotel was CLOSED!!!

We asked around town for other hotels with little luck until someone mentioned a B&B just outside of town. After 80+ km, what's a few more ... Especially considering the alternatives! Boy, did we luck out! We arrived at the Hotel Mussenburgof and immediately fell in love with the converted farm. It's part of the Bike & Bed network and sits right on the canal that flows down to Masstricht, our destination for today's ride.

So the adventure continues ...

Back up a few days first though. We had a fabulous weekend full of laughter and life with Jack, Patricia, Kayley, Sydney & Jake. The visit with Wilma and Toon, seeing Ome Adrian and then spending a couple of hours with Ome Johan in the cafe was very special. Thanks very much guys! We miss you already ...

Tot ziens ...

A break from the bikes ...

The last two days have been a welcomed respite from cycling! The ride from Ijsselstein to Sint Michielgestel was the longest - and wettest - of week 1. We're guessing somewhere close to 70km. Until we reached Den Bosch, our route was simple follow the National bike route LF7. From Den Bosch to Gestel we followed the red bike paths. Easy - peasy!

We were reminded that "it's a small world after all" as we crossed on a bicycle ferry at Heusden. Another couple on dutch bikes out for a day trip noticed that J's panniers were from
MEC. That started the conversation. Turns out that they are from Calgary and visiting family in Holland. The small world comes in when we discover that her sister owns Baan Thai restaurant in Victoria and that her niece and Anil have gone to school together since Kindergarten!

The last two days have been spent with Ben & Jeanne (Jäger) at their home in Gestel. It's been a wonderful time. We drove to visit their new "country" home in Nettetal, Germany but most of all enjoyed the company and the conversation. We hope that we can return the hospitality soon!

Today it's another short ride day to meet up with cousins in Mariahout. First though it's a ride through the town where mom (Anna) grew up and some picture taking.

Tot ziens ...

A tale of two windmills

Today's ride was both short and speedy given that we had the wind at our back most of the way.

After a visit to the "new" cathedral (circa 1400's) and a history lesson on the "House of Orange" and the conflicts between the RC Church (Rome) and the Protestant Church (Dutch Reformed), we cycled up & down the polder's with landscapes filled with greenhouses and windmills.

Of course, the tale of two windmills represents only one of the conflicting visions of Holland. Old/new, progressive/historic, liberal/neo-con, blond-blue eyed/multicultural, etc. etc.

This afternoon we arrived in Gouda, went to the VVV (tourist info centre) which doubles as the Kaas Museum and found a great bed & breakfast .

One small mishap today that is worthy of mention as P couldn't unclip from his peddles and fell sideways - ever so slowly - into a lovely bush filled with stinging nettles! "Ouch" hardly begins to describe the tingling ...

Tomorrow's ride includes a tour of windmills (the old kind) en route to Ijsselstein.

Tot ziens ...

Slept in

When we checked into our Leiden hotel, the clerk was kind enough to extend our check-out time to 10 am. We finally heard the housekeepers literally banging on our door at 11. We'd slept for close to 13 hours, not counting the 2 am - 3 am wake up call as the bars closed and patrons were dumped out onto the street in front of our hotel.

Off we cycled without breakfast (slept through that as well), to The Haag via the beach resort of Scheveningen and then on to Delft for the night. Wonderful stop for lunch in Wassenaar along the route. To top it off, there was no getting lost today!!!!

The city scapes and the villages, towns and cities that we've cycled through are stunningly beautiful. The people that we've met, have all been kind & generous. (Well, there is the exception of the old waiter in the Indonesian restaurant where we had dinner this evening. He had gone out of his way to show us how you should eat Indonesian food, then he spotted J eating her dinner in a different way. All we need to say is that he was not amused ...).

No sun tans for us, although wind burns might redden the cheeks. Tomorrow it looks like we could have some rain on the ride to Gouda.

Tot ziens ...

How do you spell R.E.L.I.E.F.?

Despite all the concerns and warnings that we heard about AirTransat, the flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam was great! We even arrived a little early! (Take that Air Canada :-))

After waiting 45 minutes or so for our luggage and bikes to appear, we managed to reassemble without problems and 2 hours after reaching Amsterdam, off we set to Leiden.

A little comic relief to match the head winds. We rode round & round & round, following the bike path (red) signs to Leiden. It seemed that every time we covered another 5 km, we would find ourselves the same distance away. 19 km to Leiden, cycle 5. 19 km to Leiden. Cycle 10. 15 km to Leiden. Cycle 5. 19 km to ... By now you've got the picture. Turns out, there are many ways to get to Leiden and most of them intersect. By our count, we cycled close to 60 km today for a 35 km ride. After sitting in the plane for 9 1/2 hours, the extra cycling time was appreciated.

Tomorrow, Den Haag & Delft & maybe Gouda!

Middle age lycra ...

An interesting article that highlights some of the attitudinal differences about cycling & cyclists between Europe & Australia. Unfortunate that the "public sentiment" in Victoria is closer to the Australian experience than the European.

We're working to change that -- one middle ager in lycra -- at a time.

http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/fitness/blogs/on-your-bike/cycling-the-continent-20120906-25fpg.html

warmshowers.org

Just a quick word about warmshowers. Judy and I have been extremely fortunate to have been able to play host to 2 young men cycling their way around the world.

Christian was our first visitor. He began his journey in January, leaving his home in Germany and traveling through Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Mexico, USA, before arriving at our door in Victoria.

Julien, a Suisse, was nearing the end of a year-long journey which began in Patagonia before ending in Vancouver. His cycle route covered 23000 km, taking him as far north as iqaluit and Yellowknife, before catching the ferries from Alaska to Prince Rupert to Vancouver Island.

We admire both of these young men immensely. Gives us confidence that the worlds future will be in good hands.

Bikes are packed

Thank goodness for Julien and Christian, our two world travelers who stayed with us recently through "warmshowers.org". We were able to get great instructions on how to disassemble our bikes for packing. It took us 2 hours of trial & error before finally taping the boxes shut. Let's hope that we aren't leaving any necessary parts behind!

Getting ready ...

Holland here we come! Well, not for another couple of weeks yet. This is out first attempt at chronicling our travels by bicycle as we tour Holland. It's really intended to keep family and friends up-to-date on our adventures and to create a record of this trip and future trips.

Why Holland?
Flat, flat, flat ... That, and it's easy to begin in a culture that understands and respects cycling.
Then there is the added benefit of knowing the language and visiting relatives as we travel.
With the exception of the "flat, flat, flat" part, it is about family.