I have moved to Amsterdam for 6 months now, the first three are very smooth, I got a house in two weeks, and a lot of museum visits and many rides to many places in the Netherlands. However, since the accident in July, I have to take a break for a month and take it easy for many things, so since then there are not many museum visits and travel anymore.
Summer in Netherlands #
It was quite warm here but not as warm as in Singapore and Thailand. Everyone said this year, I’m quite lucky because it has more sunny days than rainy days. In fact, there is almost no rain here and there was water shortage and drought in the Netherlands. If I didn’t need to take a break in July, this year would be more enjoyable for me, for a ride and weather.
Autumn #
This is the season that I’m waiting for. I was here in Amsterdam five years ago at the end of October, and the park with a mix of green and red trees here is really beautiful (at least in the Oosterpark.) However, September was very wet and cold, especially in the middle of the month but at the end of the month is not quite bad. My first cycling event after moving to the Netherlands was also in September and it was in the worst weather of all of the cycling events I joined. I still plan to join next year's event, but hope it won’t be like this year again.
Dam tot Dam Fietsclassic #
My first cycling event here and it was the worst wet weather one, it rained the whole day with strong wind in a few sections. There are 2 food stations at 40km and 80km which is perfect for me, but if I joined the 150km version, I probably would not finish it.
This event is not a race, so there is no time limit and the only section that they close the road is under the IJ highway, and other than that it’s mostly on the cycle path. The traffic control is good even under very bad weather conditions. There are few people who race and go very fast, however it’s also good that they don’t care much if you sit on their wheel too. So there are few big groups that you can join along the way to the end.
I’m quite exhausted at around 90km but still got to the end at the Dam square. This has happened to all my 100km since I moved here and still can’t find a good solution for it yet but this month I will try to use more big-ring and slow down my cadence and hopefully I will get better next year.
