Tour de France Stage 2: Gouda, The Netherlands

I have not yet come across a country that is more bike-crazy than Holland. Cycling is so entrenched in the culture here that it is not uncommon to see bikes littered everywhere. In Amsterdam, there is a four-level parking garage just for bikes. Four levels?! The kids here start biking (and ice skating) before they can even walk, it seems like. Rain, snow, hail, wind - these elements are not an excuse to not cycle because this is just what they do here. I know of a couple of Dutch tweens, both girls and still kids really, who have cycled up Alp d'Huez. I mean, come on.

Bikes loaded with groceries, hardware items, multiple children, multiple children with a kayak on the cyclist's head - there are endless permutations to exibitions of the Dutch cycling culture.

When it was announced that Le Tour de France this year will start in Utrecht, at the bellybutton of The Netherlands, the country went crazy. The departure coincided with the time we were in Holland, and since the center was equidistant pretty much from anywhere in the country, it wasn't a big pain to drive to watch a section of it.

We drove to Gouda (pronounced "gow-duh"), made famous for its Gouda cheese, and where we put ourselves in Le Tour's way. And although the whole affair whizzed by in a 20-second blip with the cyclists we are rooting for unreocognizable in their helmets and sunglasses, it was still an experience to be elbow-to-elbow with the local crowd (and the nation) rooting for Dutch cyclists Dumoulain, Mollema, and Ten Dam. In true Dutch fashion, the weather also made an appearance and seconds before the peleton came, it brought rain and strong winds with it.

And the Dutch, by nature, are loud and experts at having fun, so the street revelry was something to know and remember Holland by.

Lunch: De Lichtfabriek, Hoge Gouwe 189, 2801 LE Gouda. This was an old lightbulb factory from 1910 that is now a beautiful restaurant specializing in farm-to-table. Website here.

Travel Gear Tip: Holland weather is notriously unpredictable. It was HOT the day I arrived, but in Gouda, just as the peloton whizzed by, the wind picked up and it started raining. There was a girl in front of me in shorts and she started shivering. I knew to pack my Eddie Bauer Travex Get Away jacket which is perfect for travel because it scrunches up into a tiny ball, yet is resists wind and rain pretty well. Link here.

#travel #holland