Jun 19
This is a little bit from my book, The Only Way Through is Forward : How an American Survived Bankruptcy in Amsterdam During Covid-19, which can be purchased at the following link…
https://print.24bookprint.com/books/292762
As this is happening I felt the need to get out and away from the city so a few days before the pop-up opened a bunch of us went for a ride on our chopper bikes through a few of the villages north of Amsterdam.
The idea was to meet behind the train station and ride off from there. At the time there was no set route planned so when I received a text saying we were meeting across the harbor I realized I did not have a mask to ride the ferry. Into the train station I go, purchase three masks for three euros and onto the ferry it is. Five minutes later I’m across the water and meeting up with the biking crew.
Mies is there, along with Roy, Brandon and Monica plus a few others. We are not riding on fancy light weight road bikes. We’re on fat tire chopper and lowrider bikes, out for a mellow ride at a nice slow pace. With possible stops for beer along the way, maybe before we even get started.
The route we take begins along the Nieuwendammerdijk, past the locks leading to the Ijsselmeer and into the village of Durgerdam. From there we swing through the polders to Ransdorp and stop off at the one cafe in town, the Swan, “het Zwanne”. Other than a few locals playing snooker it’s pretty quiet. Which is just a damn shame. The cafe is the one that we’d stop off at on our bike tours to the north for the previous three years and it had always done a steady business. Not just with our groups. Other tour companies would come by, plus lots of locals and cycling clubs would stop in for a drink or a quick snack before moving on. It has a garden in the back and houses a small hotel as well. The ladies who run it are very nice and quite old school. A few colorful characters work and drink there as well, it’s always been a nice place to stop off and relax for a bit.
They recognize me and we chat for a bit about how business is going. They’re suffering as well but the cafe has been in Ransdorp for a very long time. A lot of its business is locals stopping by so when things open up again they should still be standing and ready to go. It’s companies and businesses that are more reliant on foriegn tourists that are going to be feeling the pinch.
