Izzie Kirsch

Every year, myself and seven women embark on an adventure somewhere new – we started off backpacking in Banff, Canada in 2019. Our sixth rendition of this trip was biking about 150 miles from Amsterdam to Eindhoven in the Netherlands (so about half of the country)! One of the girls in the group was living in Eindhoven for her partner’s job, so we decided that 2023’s trip had to be in Europe.

Previously our trips had involved hiking, mainly, so we decided to adjust to biking to take advantage of the glorious infrastructure the Netherlands has for biking. The routes are incredibly – impeccably marked, scenic, and flat! We biked through Kinderdijk, the UNESCO World Heritage site with 19 windmills, stopped at a monastery for Trappist beers, and slept on a houseboat in the Nieuwe Maas, a distributary of the Rhine River in Rotterdam. Our trip also included boarding our bikes onto small and large ferries to make our way to our final destination. We had all our belongings with us for the travels, carried in panniers on bike racksand two larger trailers attached to two of the bikes. While we had everything we needed, our luggage was waiting for us in Eindhoven, so no suitcases on the journey.

Overall, it was incredibly gratifying to propel ourselves across the beautiful country and enjoy remote areas we never would have made it to otherwise. The joy we saw in the local Dutch people was also palpable as they witnessed a group of eight girls laughing and cycling their way from town to town. I certainly continue to use bikes for transportation whenever I can – and advocate for cities to make it more safe to bike as well. Biking is incredibly sustainable, easy on the body, and let’s you take hidden shortcuts no car can take!