80.80km – 11H45’
Altitude :
We were up early, at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for a small stroll in Amsterdam at the end of the day, after the stage. At 5:55 it is not quite daylight when Serge leaves, upset because the tendon is just as painful this morning as it was yesterday at the end of the stage. For the 3rd consecutive day on a circuit, he will change his direction. At the 4th lap, he surprises us because the refuelling is not quite ready; he is about 5 minutes early and informs us “it is the fastest lap I have done in 3 days”. The mental gets the upper hand because his injury is foremost in his thoughts and he talks of nothing else and only hopes that it will resist, because Serge will not stop on Friday afternoon around 4:00 p.m. when he clocks the record distance. He intends to continue on his advance…For the moment, nothing has improved the situation: Diclofenac, Flector Tissu Gel, leaks, ice every evening, special heel pads. It is wearing on our runner who, as he often says, does not like pain.
At just past 5:00 p.m., the Garmin watch shows 77.22 km. Our caravan heads toward Amsterdam, where we arrive in the city center at 6:00 p.m. He adds more than 3 km to his clock, in the streets of the capital. At 7:00 p.m we return to a hotel where we managed to find rooms (which are rare), near Schipol airport, because the city is hosting a major event: SAIL, a maritime event which takes place every 5 years and which resembles our “Voiles de la Liberté” or Armada, which has already taken place 5 times since 1989 at Rouen, in Normandy near our home : http://www.holland.com/fr/villes/amsterdam/sail2010.jsp
So our passage through Amsterdam was quick. The city is one huge construction site (Central Station square, near the famous red light district, the Royal Palace in Dam Square and the Rijksmuseum, near MuseumPlein) are covered in scaffolding and surrounded by cranes. We go along the canals, which form a spider web organized in a half circle. More than any other country and any other capita city, Amsterdam is the bicycle kingdom. In a city of 1.5 million people, no less than 465,000 bikes have been counted, that is, one bike for every 3 inhabitants, including babies and elderly people.
This is most impressive but watch out because whether in a vehicle or on foot, the cyclists are upon you and they come from all directions.