Blake Harlan's Dutch Adventure

In January of this year I traveled to the Patagonia region of Chile for the Trans Andes Challenge. Before the race started the Team Jamis crew, which included myself, had bunked up with two Dutch guys. That’s all we really knew them as at first, “The Dutch guys”. However by the end of the race we were friends, sharing meals and swapping stories together. During one of those meals Gert made the suggestion that I should join him and his family in Apeldoorn to race and experience Europe. I didn’t think much of it at first…

As I write this on Gert’s couch it seems ludicrous that I only met Gert a few months ago. The Dutch are rad. The Stappenbelt family Gert, Roalean (my adopted Dutch mother) and their two fun and mischievous daughters Chinouk and Nadia have been best to share this experience with; always welcoming and the first to come up with ideas of things I must do while I’m here.

The first thing I noticed upon my arrival was the abnormally large amount of coffee people drink. The general rule of thumb I have come up with is two espresso’s for every meal plus or minus 2. A quick Wikipedia search summed it up as Holland is ranked fifth amongst coffee drinking nations. But this coffee drinking isn’t to support an American type work mentality of Go, Go, Go. No this is in fact the opposite, an excuse to take a minute and enjoy your company. Gert owns a successful bike shop, often slammed with customers. However come 10:15am or 4:00pm it’s time for everyone in the shop, including customers, to sit down and have a coffee or tea together. I don’t know how, but it works out and it’s awesome.

My time in Holland has been action packed. I have had so many new experiences in the last two weeks it’s hard to keep track of it all. From free riding in Winterberg, Germany to riding the track for the first time in my life it has been “full throttle” as Gert would say. My biggest struggle thus far is trying not to ride too much, as the more I explore the more I find endless awesome roads.

Apeldoorn and the surrounding area has some of the best road riding. While it’s pancake flat, an 85 mile ride (not even 1k of climbing) I took last Wednesday seemed to have everything in it. Rolling fields, tall wooded forests, cities, narrow bike paths some whopping 30 second climbs and even a ferry crossing! The bike path system here is incredible, connecting towns and keeping bike/car interaction to a bare minimum. Everyone rides bikes here and it’s no wonder why, actually that’s got me thinking, which came first, chicken or the egg?

Needless to say I’m having a blast and love being thrown into a new culture. It’s hard to share in words the real quality of this trip thus far so hopefully this little story inspires everyone reading to take a trip and experience something new. The mountain bike community is one of the tightest and most welcoming and experiences like mine are everywhere, you just have to be willing to look for them with an open mind.

The first two weeks marks the end of my first segment of my European adventure. I will be spending the next month traveling and racing with my teammate Ben Sonntag. On the list is Alpentour in Austria, European Marathon Championships with the final stop being Marathon World Championships! I’m full of excitement and can’t wait for what lies ahead.

Additional Fun Facts:

• It’s perfectly normal to have French fries as a meal
• Common lunch (as in “this is my meal”) is often bread with butter and sprinkles.
• They still love 90’s top hits radio (I might cry if I hear TLC again)
• You can always find awesome beer here (even though most of it is from Belgium)
• If you have allergies you might want to stay away from Holland and its billions of flowers
• The Dutch are funnier than Germans
• The best peanut butter I have ever had comes from Holland…go figure.
• Apeldoorn was liberated by the Canadians in WWII

Thanks for reading,

 Doei!

 Blake