Fiets

July 2006 - Posts

• Tunnel of green

  It's hot over here, very hot. Almost as bad as in the tour. The majority of our landscape is pretty open; the sun really hurts. Often the streets of the countryside are bordered by trees, but they don't offer much cover. But at some places it's different. You ride right into a tunnel of green. Cool! Posted Jul 27 2006, 12:22 PM by pvanooijen with no comments

• Do you really need gloves ?

  Out of a kind of automatism I wear cycle gloves. The downside is that my hands are sweaty and pale after a ride and are happy to get out. In the tour I saw some riders with bare hands. These days I'm not feeling to well. The upside is that I can just come to rest behind the TV, the downside is that I can only ride small strolling stages myself. On the last one I left my gloves at home. And felt actually quite good about it. The rubber on my bike provides a nice and good grip, just the gear levers are somewhat slippery. But you usually operate them with your bare fingers. So what's the difference ? Any ideas or suggestions? Posted Jul 18 2006, 11:10 AM by pvanooijen with no comments

• Contre le montre

  Today the tour will be an individual race against the clock. Two years ago I had the opportunity to see the tour live, there I learned the poetic French name for this: Contre le montre. Literally it stands for "against the clock". The Dutch word for this type of riding is tijdrijden, pronounced as in Leipheimer. Cycling, it's pure poetry on the rhythm of the pedals:) Posted Jul 08 2006, 10:13 AM by pvanooijen with no comments

• Erik Dekker

  Yesterday, the 4th of July, the Tour passed through the Netherlands. In the far south, as I live way up north, I didn't got the opportunity to take a look. Media coverage of the event got snowed under in the football. By far the worst thing was that Dutch rider Erik Dekker crashed really bad even before crossing the Dutch border. After a long and impressive career it was going to be his last Tour .What a sad way to end that. Wish him well. Posted Jul 05 2006, 09:19 AM by pvanooijen with no comments

• Bumpy road ahead

  A grean signpost indicates a scenic route. This one was quite right, it was scenic. But the first part was very bumpy, especially with freshly pressurized tires. Posted Jul 01 2006, 08:18 PM by pvanooijen with no comments