European Tour – The very first ride day! (Written by Chris)

We have just arrived in Utrecht and we are staying in the coolest building ever. It is actually my dream place to live, a huge semi abandoned office space that has been reclaimed by 4 people to keep others from squatting. It is massive and spacious and likely going to get knocked down in a year. Seeing everyone’s expression after they walk in the door after doing our first 40km of the trip is awesome.

The first real ride of the trip was pretty picturesque. We rolled through plenty of small towns all while having our own separated bike paths from the cars. I think the distance was also the perfect amount to get started with. It allowed us to get our feet wet without anyone worrying about not being able to do it. It also, at least for the first couple groups, meant we were at our destination by just after 2pm.

Our trip has not been all peaches and cream so far though. We were unable to get a couple more tents last night so some people got very cozy last night. Really it is just more team bonding though. Gene also had a pretty spectacular wipe out today where he wound up going over his handlebars down and small embankment and into a ditch. Luckily he has fine and other than being a little smell and wet nothing was damaged.

I’m also not alone in the flat department! Three other people blew out their tires pumping up their tires. Luckily all of them had seen me change mine earlier in the day so they had a pretty good idea of how to do it when the time came. I guess we are all too strong for our own good.

That’s all for now, I think we are going to be a very happy bunch tonight.