Oh the Humanity!!!

Yep, it's true. I've gone through the time-tested right of passage that apparently everyone must go through before they can truly call themselves an Amsterdammer. My bike got STOLEN! Thieves! Bike stealing is aparently a favorite pastime of the underbelly of the Amsterdam community. This is why the trick is to ride around on the shittiest looking bike you can find so nobody finds it in any way appealing. Preferably it should be in such bad repair that any attempted thefts would result in the theif impaling themselves on it mid-heist.

I got my bike about 8 weeks ago. Never having caught the mountain bike craze, the last bike I owned had a bright yellow banana seat and an orange flag on the back - all going very well with my winged hair and muppets t-shirt so that gives you an idea of how long it'd been since I'd "cycled" anywhere. Mind you this is a Dutch bike that I bought so there are some differences.

First of all - it's massive. These things are big so I have to stand on my tippy toes to touch the ground when stopped. This does however help with the shock absorption which is a blessing since most canal streets are cobbly brick.

Second the handle bars on a dutch bike are both higher and narrower so you don't hunch over, you're sitting perfectly upright but your elbows are right in at your side. Disconcerting at first, but you soon learn it's a necessity for riding along the narrow canals and not getting hit by car mirrors when they pass you.

A bit of getting used to (and after I stopped getting off to walk my bike whenever I saw a car) I was biking to work everyday rain or shine. After 4 weeks I'd even mastered biking while holding and umbrella in the rain and biking while talking on the phone - one handed cycling certainly has it's challenges! I'd reached record status for a new biker having not fallen ONCE even coming home from the bar - this compared to my friend and fellow newcommer Brad who is soon going to be moving into double digits on the fall meter. (I should confess that I have thus far fallen down TWICE while just walking on the sidewalk...no drinks, no hazzards...I just bit it.)

How I loved my bike. It was big, shiney and fabulous. I had a great long ride to dinner and back meeting a friend on Tuesday night. It was an especially nice night out. I parked the bike outside my house and was horrified to see an empty space in the morning. very sad. So I've spent the week taking public transport again being very jealous of the bikers I see along the way. Tomorrow I go to buy my next bike, and while I will love it, it just won't be the same as my first trusty bike that saw me through the granny-slow turns when I was just starting out :(