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Amsterdam
and back in 4 days
(pictures coming soon)
Ever since I
went to Holland / Amsterdam for the first time by myself in 1995 I
realised that the place and people were really special in the whole of
Europe. The Dutch people I have met probably belong to an era when
neighbours were neighbours and you could leave your back door open and
your possessions would be safe. I am not saying this place is
paradise, as Amsterdam had a reputation for bike crime from my early
days visiting back then but the openness and welcoming nature of some
of these people is like music to the soul if you are a people’s type
of person. During my first visit I befriended some new friends who
invited me to their family home for food and we have been friends ever
since.
 Anyway this
trip has been on the cards all year and my last visit to Holland was
about 2 years ago with the company I currently work for ( the big R ).
This trip would consist of a number of Go Star friends Sean (Master)
Onipede, Matt Turner, Clifford Hunte and myself Ian Porter.
We planned a
7:30 start from north London but low and behold the timing was out
from the start due to myself arriving at 8:30am because of laid back,
bag packing antics that created a tie down nightmare on the back of
the R1. (bit of a tongue / brain twister for the slow of mind ;)
Anyway the
Master (Mr Onipede) came to the rescue with a nice small bag that
fitted my contents perfectly and we got strapped up. We all got some
fuel and money from the hole in the wall and by that time it was
9:15am and the ferry was due to leave at 10:00am from Harwich and we
were still in London. You can imagine what took place there after, as
the next ferry was late afternoon and we did not have the time to
spare. All the bikes were 600CC and above and all I’ll say is that we
moved swiftly as possible while still keeping contact with the floor
and reached there by 9:50am. We would have made a courier firm proud.
 We got on board
strapped the bikes in and enjoyed the crossing, which was perfectly
calm. This was a total "vegged" out biking holiday for me and I was
more than happy to sit at the back of the group or one but back all
day and not even read a single road sign. We had guy’s up front like
Matt & Master to do the map road sign readings. Where ever they went I
would follow…..chill.
I can’t
remember the name of where we stayed
(Hoofddorp - ed) but it was within a friends house within
the country. This was a friends of the other 3 guy’s but by the time I
left I was on the list (more Dutch hospitality). Her name was Ronnie
and she arranged to put myself and Clifford up at her neighbours house
next door for the 3 nights. This was no bed & breakfast house just a
regular family home and we were taken in and treated like family.
Thanks again Edith…respect and see you next year.
 What was good
about this trip is that we had a family type connection and we were
shown the sights of Holland by a lady called Nettle a friend of
Ronnie. With sight seeing mingled amongst daily bike riding, visiting
various Dutch markets and drinking beer the days and nights rolled
fast. A number of nights were spent in Amsterdam town touring the
bars, eating drinking and having fun. The tourist sight seeing of the
red light district was also one of those things that everyone does and
see the range of sex museums, cannabis artefacts and lady’s of the
night coming over to you in broad daylight offering themselves for a
Euro and a song. Fortunately none of us can sing so we could not get
the goods without a song.
 One of the
friends that the chaps had met during their last visit was a night
club / bar manager (Teasers
- ed) named Willem. He was a biker with a carbon Aprilia RSV
1000 Mille with more trick bits than you could see. We left our bikes
next to his, each night and his bouncers overlooked them, so theft was
not an issue outside his place. We hopefully may be seeing him over in
England soon as he wanted to check out Go Star and the MRO racing
scene from pit lane. Anytime Willem……
 One of the only
draw backs with staying in the country is the motorway driving needed
to go to a club or bar that would involve riding our bikes without the
proper biking kit on. I was in a stripped trousers, shoes, shirt and
jacket more akin to going to the Ritz than ridding a bike. Where we
were staying there were no public transport at night and our options
were limited and a compromise was made. For those who think “ crazy”,
remember a bike is not a substitute for a car and a bike has it’s own
advantages and disadvantages which are sometimes always on the
extremes of good & bad. With that said we were "extreming" it large
down the motorway cloths blowing in the wind without even a socks in
sight, we were just lucky it did not rain.
The day of our
return was a rain heavy day…..cannot tour without rain but at least it
was on the final day. Good byes, kisses and hugs were exchanged and as
usual yours truly was the last man to get ready and strap my kit to
the bike. To me this was no crisis as I have boarded planes and
ferries in the past within minutes of the doors being closed as the
last passenger to arrive. Knowing how to be late but still be just in
time is only for the laid back. Just Cool.
We rode swiftly
but not the same pace as when we were in England as we had lots of
time to spare as the customary arrival of one hour before departure is
designed for the 90% of passengers as everyone can’t arrive 30minutes
before departure as chaos there would be. We where all aboard the
skylark, had some food watched the "Spiderman" love story movie and
was back home for dinner and watch a bit of video taped footage of the
MotoGP.
Oh yes…we gave
out a number of Go Star flyers to Dutch, US, French and other solid
citizens.
Bye for now
Ian Porter
(pre event report) The London to Amsterdam run is an annual event
undertaken by a few of our members. This years event starts on
Thursday 18 July 2002
the same week as the
GSR Track Day
till the Sunday then back to work on Monday. The plan is to book a ticket on a ferry from Harwich
to "Hook of Holland" when we can be arsed to. Jump on the ferry when
we are ready and sort out accommodation when we land then large it for
a few days. This year's plan is to party .....
All are invited. Discretion, expect and assured.
(kidding but serious) Those confirmed as going
are
- Clifford Hunte
- Matt Turner
- Ian Porter
- Sean Onipede
anybody else that wants to party contact (male or
female)
sean@londongman.com
also see links from the past. (links open in new window)
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