Introduction
| We actually started preparing for this trip in December and January, when my husband and I discussed where we wanted to take a multi-day ride this year. Three years ago, we had planned a ride along the River Seine in France, including stops at places where Claude Monet had lived or worked. That trip was cancelled when COVID interrupted the everyone's plans. We still had credit with Delta Airlines for the tickets we had already purchased three years ago, and we wanted to make a self-supported trip with our own bicycles in Europe.
We opted not to re-create our itinerary of riding along the Seine, having concluded that the terrain and mileage goals we had set for ourselves were too ambitious for our current tastes and fitness levels. We wanted to see a place where we had not bicycled before, and we both agreed that a previous self-supported ride in Germany was a pleasure because of the country's excellent bike trails and infrastructure (i.e., route signage, bike-friendly accommodations, and - great beer). With the hopes of enjoying some of those same benefits and perhaps seeing fields of tulips, we decided to explore a trip in the Netherlands. We found some excellent information online at https://www.hollandcyclingroutes.com/long-distance-cycle-routes/rijnfietsroute and used the mapping tools of Ride with GPS to plot our course. We did some training rides around home, not getting nearly enough miles to be completely ready, but enough to improve our comfort level with doing a self-supported tour again. A couple of days before departure, we prepared our bikes by breaking them down and getting them packed in bags for checking with the airlines. |
Breaking down the bikes and packing them 
Packing the bikes 
Packing the bikes 
Dirty work 
Checking that delicate parts are protected 
Each of us has one suitcase, one bike bag and one carry-on piece (not shown) |
| Other travels |
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