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TRIP REPORT: A14 to Amsterdam

A14 (Suffolk) locals Joe Embrey, Steve Broomfield and Ollie Davitt recently took a little road trip over the channel. When we think of euro road trips, we usually think of summer, but these guys went for it in winter. With some solid indoor options, they had themselves covered (quite literally) but it seems the weather ended up being on their side. Read on!

Photos by Joe Embrey / Steve Broomfield

– Tell us about this road trip. Who was on it? Why did you choose to go in winter?

Our crew usually plans a trip to break up the winter months and get away. We travel a fair bit anyway, but this winter we’ve been travelling more after our indoor shut down earlier in the year, which has given us extra motivation to get out and explore new places to ride.

After a few ideas back and forth we landed on the idea of a euro driving trip to allow us to be a bit more flexible and hit some spots we’d never been to – also a change from the BCN/Malaga trips we’ve done a few times.

“Going in winter was a gamble for sure! But knowing there were some rad indoors to hit meant we had a more than decent fall-back plan”

Going in winter was a gamble for sure! But knowing there were some rad indoors to hit meant we had a more than decent fall-back plan!

After a few people dropping out we had a nice tight crew of myself, Steve Broomfield and Ollie Davitt (Dav) who are two good friends from home and are always motivated and down to explore new spots. Having a smaller crew meant we could keep it simple and fit in one vehicle too.

– Why did you choose Belgium/Netherlands?

We’ve been to Holland and Belgium before but that whole strip between Calais and Amsterdam just has so many good spots to hit there’s never a shortage of things to ride. The famous bowls in Belgium and Area51 were bucket list spots for sure! Dav’s brother lives in Amsterdam so it meant we could hook up with him too.

If anyone hasn’t had the chance to visit Holland/Belgium to ride, I’d highly recommend it. They are doing it so right over there!

– How was the journey?

The journey was so straightforward and it never felt like we were in the car for more than an hour or two between spots. Made us realise how much of a faff it can be driving about the UK sometimes. My grandad wagon made it to Amsterdam and back on a tank and a half of fuel too! Haha.

“The journey was so straightforward and it never felt like we were in the car for more than an hour or two between spots”

– How was the weather?

We couldn’t have been more lucky with the weather! It was cold, but dry and relatively sunny every day! Spot on!

– Which spots did you ride? And which was your favourite?

We hit Antwerp bowl/street, Eindhoven street, Area51 indoor, Utrecht bowl, Amsterdam street/Zandaam park under the bridge.

The highlight by far was stumbling across a full pipe by the side of the road in Antwerp. I’m sure it’s been ridden before, but for us it was an absolute gem! One of those sessions you’ll never forget!

– You got some photos from the trip. Were you filming clips as well?

We all got a few clips at all the spots we rode. I got a couple of clips I was really stoked on which I’ll hold back for FBM/Union/4Down projects through the year.

– Any spots you wanted more at? Would you go back to them?

All the spots we hit I would 100% go back to, but in particular Antwerp and Kortrijk bowls are on the list to go back to ASAP. Dav took a nasty crash at Antwerp which cut us a bit short – our Airbnb host turned out to be an acupuncturist, so a session with him and Dav was back on his bike in no time! Shout out to Ton for the hospitality!

– Where are you going next?

I’m going to be gone quite a bit this spring! Heading to France next week, Florida in March, then BCN/La Poma in May! We’re also talking about doing a different version of this trip with more of the dudes this summer! Trips are life!