Speaking of bicycles I have been doing some research on bicycles lately. I am a fan of Raleigh bikes but while researching I came across a Dutch brand for road bikes, who would have ever thought (sarcasim). The Netherlands has a strong bicycle racing heritage and one such Dutch brand is Koga-Miyata. Now you might say "wow that name sounds Japanese", and you might be right. In fact you are right. The founders of the brand were originally a joint venture between Miyata a forward thinking Japanese brand and a Dutchman, who just so happens to be the knowledgeable son of the founder of another important Dutch bicycle brand Batavus. Koga-Miyata's are known as a well made bicycle brand, and the design and assembly are all done in Holland. What gave K-M it's good name was the 1980's Tour de France. The company sponsored the Ijsboerke cycle team using the Koga-Miyata FullPro-L bike. Since 2010 the koga-miyata brand no longer exists, instead they have changed into an international company named simply koga. Here is the 1980 Dutch Tour de France stage winner or should I say Winnen.
When life gives you lemons make green tea lemonade. So, when one lives in the midwest why not make the best of it and explore the sites in this area? You don't need a lot of money or even a passport. That brings us to Holland, Michigan a Dutch settlement in America. Obviously the city is very proud of its Dutch heritage, as shown in the klompen picture at the top. Klompen is the name of the Dutch wooden clog dance. There are many dutch settlements in Michigan but what makes Holland so distinctly Dutch are its two festivals: the tulip time festival in the spring and the winter festival. The tulip festival is held in mid-May and lasts for 8 days. The festival includes tours at the local windmills, tulip farms, local dutch houses, as well as dances, concerts, street scrubing, and a dutch marketplace. One interesting thing about the Dutch costumes that are presented during the festival is that they are from the 8 out of 12 different provinces of the Netherlands. Here is...


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