Dear Diary....

Hehe... at least that's what my wife likes to call these Ulogs!

Anyway, today was a moment of fatherly pride for me, as my older daughter (6) managed to complete a long day of bike riding, clocking at over 20 kms of riding! I thought that was pretty impressive for my little girl, although Netherlands is pretty bike friendly, with very little in the way of elevation!

The Morning Bakery Run

We did a quick morning bakery run, which was probably at most a km or two to pick up bread and croissants from the local French bakery. Both of us just jumped out of bed and onto the bikes in our pyjamas. Luckily it wasn't too cold, and the wind was quite calm, so we didn't freeze to death!

However, it was on this bike ride that we hatched our big bike day plans!

The big one

In the afternoon, my girl has a piano lesson and group music lesson at the Conservatorium of Music. Normally, we take public transport to get there, but today the weather was just so good. Not too hot at a comfortable 20 degrees Celcius (that's above freezing for those who use the American Imperial system...), and the wind was just perfectly still. Often, in Netherlands, the elevations isn't the problem... it is more that the winds tend to be on the side of gale force, which means you are pushing into some serious wind resistance (it never seems to be at your back...).

I had mapped out the route before we left, which made for total of around 20 kilometres of riding (as a return trip). I made sure to avoid any large bridges or anything with big inclines that would make the trip a disaster. That said, it was one of the longest rides that she has done in her life!

Along the way we would come across landmarks from when we used to live in the city, in addition to seeing the routes that we normally see from the car. This particular tunnel entrance was a fond memory for her, as we would always take the bike tunnel from home to her beloved daycare. She would be on the child's bike seat screaming "Echo... Ecaaaa... Ecooooo" all the way through the tunnel! This time it was her younger sister's turn to be yelling the same thing!

Well, all said and done, I'm impressed that she made such a bike ride without complaint and she actually enjoyed it! I'm surprised that she didn't want to make a short detour for ice cream though.... who is this child that turns down ice cream????