Three weeks ago, Brad asked if I was interested in taking a long bike ride to Enschede. Enschede is a town just over the German boarder in The Netherlands. On the map it is about 60 kilometers, but on a bike it ended up being closer to 90 (55 miles). Since my bike (The Amsterdam) was made in Holland, we said "we're taking the Amsterdam back home."
We started at 5:00pm and arrived around 11:00pm with no real agenda, no intention of getting a hotel, just arriving and hanging out. We shot some pool, met some cool people and checked out the town. Around 6:00am we found a park and slept under a tree before heading back home.
Last weekend we took another bike ride, this time to a friends house in Hager which is a pretty short ride from my place in Gievenbeck. We played fussball at his house until 3:00am and on the way back home decided to have a roadside jam session.
This past Sunday, I was drinking some coffee outside on my patio when a neighbor walked up. He said something in German that I didn't understand and I told him I speak very little German. He says "oh, no problem I am an Ice Hockey coach and have to speak English for training." I told him I was a hockey player and coach and he invited me to join him yesterday to coach some young kids and play in a late night drop-in game. A completely random conversation was all it took to get me back on skates, the first time in seven months. I was a little rusty and using unfamiliar equipment, but it was great. The kids had a blast and it was really fun to play with Germans, Dutch, British and Bulgarians. It looks like I will be able to coach a little and definitely play at least once a week.
