DAY 12
Thursday MAY 12 2005
I am two days early in my departure for the mouth of the Rhine, but I am happy to get started. I repacked all my bags and was a half hour late to breakfast. Hans and Marjet asked if we could breakfast together. I felt bad I had made them wait half and hour, but was having packing problems.
We had a wonderful breakfast together. I must say that I do recommend this B&B to anyone and everyone. My hosts made it as comfortable as possible for me. Even my last night was cozy and warm with heat in the room. Every so often throughout the week there, I would go into my room and there would be a thoughtful gesture such as chocolates or sum such sitting in my room.
Hans' gentle humor and Marjet's outgoing, caring personality has really made my stay there more like a home rather than a business. The human element means so much in a trip like this, more than I ever realized, until I needed it. But now it is time to leave the comfortable womb of this B&B and the lovely vitality of Haarlem and head for the Rhine via the flower fields.
The gracious hosts of the B&B.
This man is their next door neighbor and we co-opted him to be our photographer. When I left he gave me many well wishes of HAPPINESS on my trip. I took his picture for that. Hans mentioned that he will now be on my website and his response, said with a jolly smile, was "That's all right, I will have my own fan club".
So with the parting gift of a magnetic bookmarker, tangerines, and those pictures I leave Haarlem. The weather finally turned around and it is a beautiful, windless, sunny day. I should have no problems reaching the fields in three hours.
Little did I know what was in store for me this today...
MANY HOURS LATER
From the B&B to the flower fields, at the absolute most, it should have taken me 2.5 hours not the 5 hours it took.
My first problem became apparent immediately after I left the B&B. I could not control my steering, this while I was still walking my bike! At first I was freaked out thinking 'Gosh, did I bite off more than I can chew?'. Then I remembered I had packed completely differently the night before. So the weight ratio shifted.
No problem, I will just head over to that laundry mat and re-shift some items. I kind of felt like Barbara Savage at that point. I was still a little freaked out and because of that could not remember the exact composition of each bag as I had packed them in Anchorage so I had to guess on what goes where. After I left the laundry mat I went across to a cafe and had a tomato and cheese sandwich. I mention this as it will be the only thing I eat in the next five hours to come and also I wanted to sit down as sweat was pouring off of me like rain in a drizzle.
Bike at cafe.
So, I walk my bike off this major pedestrian area and find a little nook of a neighbor hood to practice biking in and see if my load is ok now. Well, I still can't steer straight. In fact I steer so badly I am a menace to the cars around me and myself. I start praying as I go Please God help not to get myself killed. So I walk my bike some more and find a nice quiet area to re-shift again.
Here are some pictures of the view while walking my bike.
The Basilica.
This is where I lost some tubing to my handle bar, but didn't notice it was gone for about 30 minuets. I wasn't going to go back for it.
After re-shifting again, I walk my bike some more till I get to a place I can practice safely. I hop on and bike for a few minutes. I can steer in a straight line now, but I noticed that if I get over 9 km an hour my bike starts wobbling horribly. I get off once more. By this time several hours have passed and at several points I had to suppress tears. I walk my bike some more until I find another quiet spot. I re-shift again. Whoa, that made it way worse. I re-shift again and start walking the bike. My back tire keeps feeling slow like its flat or something, but it's not flat.
Now I know that if Jeff were here, since he has a mechanical bent of mind, he could have figured this out in ten minutes flat. Unfortunately, it just me here. I just kept reminding myself to persevere through it. Even though I am rather miserable. I will figure out what is wrong eventually.
I also kept remembering that with this very same load I rode all over Anchorage. So I know it is not me. I rode throughout my neighborhood, to the supermarket, to my dad's house. I can move this load, no problem. So what's up? Eventually I came upon the Heemstede train station.
Ooh! Time to get some practice in. I bought a ticket for me and my bike to Hillegom and went up to the platform to wait for the very next train which would be there in four minutes. Time for some education. The train is knee height above the train platform. How to lift my bike up? A very nice gentleman that spoke British helped me lift my bike up. I thanked him profusely. Meanwhile he was eyeing my bike and I was eyeing his bike. We laughed. His bike folds ever so neatly into a compact package. It would be a cool train bike! He said "A Rodriguez, we've heard about those." I showed him my S&S couplings. He showed me is Ortlieb bag. Only cyclists! :-) He mentioned that mine weren't waterproof the way I had them closed. I needed the straps for that. I was instantly disappointed as I had left the straps at home to save weight.
He then mentioned to me the following "I have done many bike tours and to get a tandem and two children's bikes, plus luggage on and off a train in two minutes is an art form." Now that really worried me. I had only two minutes to disembark! Crap. All the sudden my stop was here. I would have never known it was my stop if not for his help. We had my bike and gear off in a jiffy. He certainly didn't help me because I was some sweet smelling beauty! By this time several hours had passed since I had left Haarlem. I was stinking to high heaven! The kindness of strangers! :-)
My bike still wouldn't go so I walked it to the nearest hotel from the train station. Screw the price. A tall, lanky, blonde teenager was walking past and I waved him over. In the schools, here, children start taking English at age 11, so I figured he was a good bet. I asked him where a hotel might be and he walked with me the whole 2 Km to show me where it was. The kindness of strangers!
He asked me why I was biking to Budapest and I said to get skinny. "Ah, like me, heh?" he said. We had a nice chat walking in the sun, but I was emotionally drained and physically exhausted as by this time it was 3:30 pm and I had left the B&B at 10 am. I was so happy to get to the hotel I forgot to say thank you to the boy. I just rushed right in and got a room. Darn.
At any rate, it should not take 5 hours and a train ride to go 15 km. Something is wrong. I purchased two days at the hotel to take the time to resort and figure out what it is.
As soon as I got to the hotel room I washed my clothes and took a wonderful, much enjoyed, shower. Their shower head is better than even mine at home. I started the morning with a shower and ended the evening with a shower.
Then I called Jeff, there is no internet access. As I was speaking to Jeff I started crying. Jeff asked me a bunch of technical questions about the bike that I had no answers for. Jeff will FedEx me my straps. He grumbled when he found out he had to, then he grumbled about the cost of the call. Not exactly the supportive response I was hoping for. We exchanged I love yous and said good-bye. I hung up and promptly burst into tears again. I need food, I am bonking, my period started, and I bruised my foot on a wrought iron stand.
Favorite Moment of the Day: The kindness of strangers and the well wishes of happiness.
Least favorite moment of the Day: Do you have to guess? The journal of this day is poorly written. I can not adequately express to you how tough it was on me today, but I will say this:
Out of the toughest days of riding this ranks as number three.
1) When I was riding and did an endo. A stranger found me squirming and screaming on the ground. I had a compound fracture of the arm.
2) When I was riding home with a splitting migraine. I made it home, but it was a miserable, long ass, ride!
3) Today.