Holland

Its Brad Tilby and I've decided to guest write on Sam's blog and tell you what he has been up to for the week. My blogs tend to be on the longer side so I apologize in advance.

Sam had a few days free in his training so he decided to head up and stay with me to check out life in Holland.
I am living in a small town called Rhenen about 100km south east of Amsterdam and like Sam I am also racing my bike.
With Sam being half dutch on his mums side, it was a great chance for him to come up and experience a little bit of his heritage and see the countryside. With me being here for 2 months already, I still hadn't knocked off all of the tourist attractions so I was keen to also have a big week of seeing what Holland is famous for.

Sam was meant to arrive on Monday afternoon but had a little problem with the trains he got to see a bit more of the countryside than he expected. Luckily he managed to get different connecting trains and finally made it to Holland. We met in Rotterdam because getting from there to my house involved using some of the local trains and after half a day of travelling.... and being in a different country I thought I would cut down the stress for him.

Tuesday we headed to the zoo in Rhenen. It is one of the biggest in the country and has some crazy animals you wouldn't get to see in NZ.
I thought I would give Sam a true taste of Holland in the afternoon by making him bike on a 'town bike' to the swimming pool and back. 7km each way doesn't sound a lot and under normal circumstances we would knock it off in under 15 minutes. The problem is these bikes are not going to win any speed contests..... exhausting ourselves to the max, we were still only getting to 30kmph and the 43 meter high hill to my house soon feels like 400 meters.
We headed into Utrecht city on Tuesday night to meet up with his Aunty and Uncle + kids for dinner. It had been 3 years since they last saw each other so there was a lot of catching up to do.

Wednesday was going to be a big day as we went to Amsterdam. This place truly is the tourist mecca. There is so many things to see and do....(and not do) that it is one great big circus. We headed in with the people I live so they could show us around. We did the city canal cruise to see all the attractions first and then headed out on the streets to see what makes this place famous. All you hear about Amsterdam is the cafes and the red light district and indeed these places are surreal to see. Ofcourse we did the window shop straight past these and went to do the tour of the Heineken factory. We came away from here each with a Heineken bottle with our names on them and mildly drunk. We did a bit more touring of the wider city and then did a bit of shopping. One thing about this city is the souvenir shops could pass as sex shops...crazy..

On Thursday I took Sam out for one of my favourite rides in Holland. It is a loop ride that starts from Rhenen and goes through Apaldoorn to Arnham and back. Sam was a bit worried with the lack of hills here but I promised that I would make him crack on a climb and I think I succeeded...... 10kms at 1% gradient, into a headwind at 36kmph is an artform and takes a bit to get used to.
Thursday night, we headed back in to Utrecht to meet up with my team mate Alex for a beer and the movies....or in Alex's case....beer, then a beer in the movies!!...only in Europe.

Friday was more riding and checking out where my team HQ before he boarded the train back to France

So a very big 5 days here in Holland. It was interesting to hear the contrasts between France to Holland and the different ways of life. Sam will upload some photos in the next few days as he is an asian tourist and carries his camera everywhere.

Brad