Where were you "dutch" riding girls when I lived there ;-) ?

I think the issue for me with the touring groups is they were primarily male, and primarily dutch. And altho I learned to speak some dutch, I never found it comfortable to "force" anyone or a group to have to speak to me in English. My job was all English/Int'l so my dutch was limited to carrying on transactions at the market...at Etos, Albert Heijn ;-) He he That brings back memories.

I lived in Haarlem, it was a great city! The Ringvaart was easy to get to and ride. And 15 miles in, there was a very nice Italian-dutch man (I speak some italian) who sold gelato...so it was great incentive to go another 15-20 after that...

We started to enjoy some mtn biking too (I think it was in Alkmaar, etc. by the dunes) and they were nice respites from the city. SANDY riding though!! When it was dry out (not that it often was!!) that course was tough.

Mimosa, you'll laugh, when Albert Heijn had their grand opening in Haarlem they were giving away those really nice bright orange plastic "ah" shopping bags -- we ended up with about 6 of them, and we shop here with them at the store!! People always ask ... "where are those from...."