Sunday 20th of May,  the famous Amsterdam framebuilder Rih opened its doors for the last time after 90 years of building bicycles. This meant a 'sacred' procession of more than 60 beautiful steel bicycles on the Westerstraat, Jordaan.
 
Paul van Warmerdam organized this tribute on which more than 60 Rih riders responded. It was a lovely day, and with so many lovers of steel bicycles time got short to hear all great stories. Posters were available to keep this day at memory, and this cycling friend got the opportunity to let it sign by Henk Faanhof, a good friend of Wim van der Kaaij and world champion in 1949!

It went like this: when ik entered the shop Wim 's wife immediately remarked my world champion shirt by saying 'you must deserve it to wear it' (however I bought it at Rih!). So when I responded to do my best today an old voice behind me, owned by the 89 year old champion,  said 'I already did in 1949' . Touché!

Mr. Van der Kaaij received as a present a big poster on canvas of the famous 6-days emperor Peter Post, riding a Rih of course. Mr. Van der Kaaij was deeply moved but had some nice words for us all. For a moment it was very quiet on the Westerstraat. At 13:00 everybody got on the bike for the lap of honor on the Amsterdam canals. This sacred procession of so many beautiful bikes was an unbelievable and unuasual sight, even for Amsterdam. We were riding the Keizergracht, Prinsengracht and Herengracht, with Mr. van der Kaaij all the time in the lead. The procession stopped at the beginning of the Westerstraat where mr. Van der Kaaij shook everybodies hands for the final time, and with an impressive applause this happening ended.
 
The good news is that currently there are some intiatives to have a restart of the RIH factory. Not on the same spot but probably still in Amsterdam, where Mr. Van der Kaaij will teach his craftmanship to a new generation. We all hope this initiative will succeed, so from this site we will keep you posted about the next steps. From here I would again give my warm regards to Mr. Wim van der Kaaij and his wife for all the beautiful bicycles they made for us in the past decades. 

see for an impression of the tribute and the craftsmanship of RIH here

Our group of Amsterdam cycling friends is climbing cols for more than 10 years. Along the years our legs became stronger, routes more interesting and our friendship more close. 

Our practices got tested over the years, and it developed into a concept for a 'Do It Yourself cycling tour with a group of friends'.  Yes, you need good friends to enjoy and experience our kind of cycling endeavors.

With cold rain, hail, snow but also with beautiful climbs we had an epic experience around lake Como in April. Find all about these beautiful rides here. 

Rumors of the recent opening of a special bike-shop brought us on a beautiful sunday morning to The Hague. We were the only ones. It was so quiet so Barista Marc got plenty of time to share his huge passion for special coffees. Meanwhile we got impressed by the design of the Lola Bikes and Coffee. More about Lola here.

Pieter seems very content with his new BBB helmet. Read all about it here.

After the Romin Evo Pro was awarded 'Gear of the Year 2011' by Men's Journal and the Romin Pro got a great review in Bikeradar. Stok is putting the Romin to the test.

Retro Singe Speeds are back! Pieter constructed one with a customised RIH frame. Find here all about the construction proces. 

The Gabba is a jersey made of nanopreen protecting against wind and rain. We put it to the test!

The Garmin Edge is a great tool specially for cycling new pre-made routes. But it takes a while before you know how it works. Here we offer you some help.

Some of our climbs you can see with Google Street view, like: the Colle della Finestre, the north, south and east side of the Colle della Fauniera, and the south-side of the Lombarde.

For a training weekend in may we are gonna explore the north part of the Eiffel in Germany. Here our designed routes. Later you we tell you all about this cycling area.

Early 2012 the Cervelo and BMC team were having their training-scamp north of Alicante. We already did for many years.
Here some great routes to inspire your next trainingcamp.

This year we go to the Southern Alpes to do some special climbs as the Fauniera, Sampeyre Agnell and Finestre. Find here all about our Alpentour 2012.

Last year Pyrenean-tour started in Bask Country. Great climbs like the Port the Larrau, the Pierre Saint-Martin and the Issabre. Find here our routes.