Brussels to Amsterdam via Bike
Hello Family and Friends,
We biked from Brussels to Amsterdam, 212km (~131mi). Of course, this was something that Brett came up with out of nowhere. And of course, I laughed at him and said no when he first brought it up. He knew it was a crazy idea when he approached me, because he started with "listen completely before you respond". He worked on me for 3 weeks and on the day we were suppose to be leaving, I had agreed to bike one day and then take the train the rest of the way. Some of the logistics for the trip besides bikes, helmets and kid seat included bike bags that could hold about 3 days of clothing, laptops and chargers for bike. We also sent our luggage ahead of us so we didn't have to worry about transferring them by bike.
Day 1: Brussels to Breda (101km/~63mi)
We left Brussels on Saturday morning. It was sunny day and a little warm for biking. We were very grateful for any shade along the path.
Our first day was going to be our longest ride. We planned on riding for about 5 hours. However, 3.5 hours in our butts were dying. So Brett gave me the option to go about 15 min out of the way and catch a train or continue for another hour and a half. I chose the train with no hesitation.
We rode one train stop from Brecht, Belgium to Breda, Netherlands. It took about 15 minutes on the train. Brett was so disappointed that we didn't get all the way to the border between Belgium and Netherlands on our bike. However, we did ride 71km (~44mi), which was 70km more than I wanted to ride. We stayed at an Autograph by Marriott in Breda that used to be a nunnery, washed off the first day of biking and somehow being on a bike for almost four hours, changed my heart about this whole adventure. Between Brussels and Breda, I had been convinced that maybe this could be a fun adventure on one condition: we follow the train route so that when I'm done, I can just hop on the train.
Day 2: Breda to Utrecht (74km/~46mi)
On the second day we actually planned to catch the train in 'S-hertogenbosch, which is again one stop before Utrecht. The weather for the second day was overcast and we caught just a little bit of rain. However, the second day was easier than the first day. It wasn't as sunny and the rain really wasn't too bad. We also rode about half the distance than we did the first day (54km/~34mi). Furthermore, at about the halfway mark, we ran into another fair and stopped for a proper sit down lunch. By dinner time, I had the energy to go out and find a restaurant in town to eat dinner instead of just eating whatever the hotel offered.
Day 3: Utrecht to Amsterdam (42km/~26mi)
On the last day of our bike trip we felt it would be very possible to go from the door of our hotel in Utrecht to the door of our hotel in Amsterdam. This would be our shortest day of riding and hopefully our easiest. The view and trail was the best on the bike path from Utrecht to Amsterdam. We rode along a canal almost the entire trip.
Even though this view was the most beautiful of the three days, it was the most difficult ride. The wind was pushing hard against us most of the time. It felt like we were riding up a moderate incline the entire ride.
Even with the wind, we made it door to door! Honestly, I'm glad Brett pushed me to ride with him. It was honestly way more fun than I expected, especially since I expected complete misery. Brett told me that we went 167km of the 212km that would have been the entire trip from Brussels to Amsterdam. I told Brett that gives a "high C" and I don't really do "Cs". So next time we are going to have to aim for a "B", at minimum.
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