Fiets

Over the top

2008-02-27T16:47:00Z

Today was memorable. Paddling the blues away I reached the limit of my odometer

The first thousand on my new bike had been worth a post. A short calculation shows that I’ve been riding somewhat over 5000 km a year. Not bad. But how did I find the time to do that? Being my own boss gives me a lot of freedom in planning. To make up for time "lost" I rather work in the evening instead of falling asleep behind the tv. For a living I do things with software. Which requires thinking things over. Time after time it has proven to be far more productive to take an idea on a ride to and code the essentials after that instead of blindly typing away behind my desk. And now have to start all over again.

Bakfiets, transportfiets, cargobike

2007-09-21T07:46:00Z

Recently Brendan pointed me to xtracycle, describing a kit to convert a bike to transport more than just its rider. In most countries cycling started as fun but a bike can be practical as well. What struck me most was the name: Sports Utility Bike. SUV pops in minds immediately. I don’t know about you, but I’m not very fond of these tractors, as we call them. I can imagine they can be handy in rural US, where many a road is not that good. But over here in the Netherlands almost every unpaved road is shut for motorized traffic. Still we have a lot of them. But having one instead of an ordinary car is just show.
Bikes have started long ago as a common means of transport in the Netherlands, riding bikes for fun became a common pasture much later. Bicycles used to do a lot of more transportation, instead of a van the grocer/baker/butcher/street sweeper used a bike to transport his goods. A lot of models were available, the best ones were bakfietsen, tricycles which can carry hundreds of kilo’s. There is a complete site dedicated to transport bikes transportfiets.net They have a special category on bakfietsen. The text is in Dutch but the (large amount of) images are gorgeous.
These days the mailman still comes on a bike. And there is a big revival of bakfietsen, check bakfiets.nl to see some beauties of modern engineering.

Ride for the roses in Groningen

2007-08-20T09:06:00Z

This year the Dutch edition of the ride for the roses started in the city of Groningen. For me that’s just around the corner so here was the chance to ride with other cyclists. I always ride alone, I had no idea yet what it is like to ride in the peleton or what it’s like to ride in somebody else’s wheel or have someone else riding in yours.

In the first place the ride is an event to focus on cancer. Victims, research, fund-raising, dealing with it. The local newspaper had organized quite a campaign around Thea, a woman who has chosen to live her final months in public. Which can be a great support to a lot of people but (this is hard to say) might raise an eyebrow to others. I have seen cancer from very close. My parents were a lifelong donator to the cancer fund, the KWF cancer symbol was a common sight at home. Cancer itself was unknown in the family, but it popped up his ugly head and took an aunt and my dad. He found a way to deal with it. Personally I cannot find much comfort in Thea’s campaign, to many one-liners, in the ride even interleaved with messages from the sponsors. But no criticism, any way to deal with it is good but I just had to get this of my chest. Anyway, I didn’t fill in my “I ride for” form, had my dad in mind and my eyes on the road.

The ride itself almost chocked in its success. Some 8000 cyclist did the 100 km cycle tour. Which is a greater number than some of our local roads can handle. Leading to bouchons (traffic jams) all along the route.

But in between it was great to ride. Riding in a group you make so much more speed, I was amazed. The ride is not a race, it’s a tour. But I have to confess I have been trying to go full steam as much as possible. Especially rolling through a village with cheering spectators makes you really step on it. My best moment of the ride was Surhuisterveen. Party on the sidewalks and I found myself overtaking one after the other. And then all of a sudden a stretch of empty road was before me and I immediately felt the extra energy that takes. One of the riders I just had passed popped up in front of me and offered me his wheel. He pulled me to the next group. Thanks again man ! Full cycling experience in a couple of km’s.

The ride was over before I realized it. We had to queue again to receive our rose.

Totally content I paddled home.

Uphill in the Luberon

2006-09-18T19:39:00Z

Our second stop in France was in the Luberon, which is just east of Avignon. This place is flooded with cyclist. The opportunities for a good ride are countless. There are lot's and lots of hills to climb. At the horizon you have a good view of Mont Ventoux, one of the 'hors categorie' mountains in the tour.

The bikes for hire were far better than at the former place. No real lightweight bike yet but I managed to get uphill. Good practice for a flatlander. Not Mont Ventoux, just a small one.

Small, but enough to get a good kick out of it. I'll be back. Next time with my own bike, let's see how high that will take me.

It's the scenery not the bike

2006-09-18T19:25:00Z

This summer we went to France. I couldn't bring my own bike so I was dependent on things available for hire. Our first stop was in Bourgoundy and the only thing available was this.

An (almost) cast iron Dutch Sparta. Originally these bikes are, like most simple Dutch bikes, single speeders. Not that much of a problem, as we have no hills. In my surroundings the steepest climb is about 30 meters up. France does have hills so the local mechanic had fitted some gears. Still it was hell of a job to go uphill. But did it really matter? No, the scenery you drive through is gorgeous. Pedalling through on anything is fun.

Tunnel of green

2006-07-27T11:22:00Z

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!

Do you really need gloves ?

2006-07-18T10:10:00Z

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?

Contre le montre

2006-07-08T09:13:00Z

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:)

Erik Dekker

2006-07-05T08:19:00Z

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.

Bumpy road ahead

2006-07-01T19:18:00Z

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.

Another anonymous cyclist

2006-06-27T18:35:00Z

I used to make fun about fat old men on thin bicycles with funny hats hiding behind dark sunglasses which mainly seemed intended to protect their eyes against the color of their shirts.

Now look what has become of me:

The bike is my way to prevent a mid-life crisis
It (I) have to work (out) to take care of the approaching belly.
A helmet to protect my income.
In one of my former lives I was an entomologist. But the last time I was struck by a beetle it gave me a hurting eye for over a week. In came the glasses.

It's up to you to judge about the color of the shirt. I like it.

Cycling along the Groninger waterways

2006-06-22T08:11:00Z

The Netherlands are rich with waterways. Many of these have been dug in past ages for several reasons, like a good transport route or just to get the water out to sea as fast as possible. These days they also make a lovely scenery for cycle rides.

This is the Aduarder Diep, originally dug in the Middle Ages to get the water from the city of Groningen to sea. Last year its border has been decorated with a cycle path, again partly funded with European money (this post has some on that).

Looks and is a good rollercoaster ride but you really have to keep your eyes open and your hand close to the brakes. Look out for:

Sheep. The dike is populated with sheep to keep the grass short. The girder in front is to keep them inside. Sheep don't care about cyclists and love to lie on the warm concrete.
Sheep shit. Can be quite slippery
Sharp turns. The road is straight for quite some time but all of a sudden a sharp turn turns up.
Cycling pensionados. Everybody cycles over here, including old couples who take their time. Riding side by side and both (more or less) deaf. See some in action here.

Other waterways were dug in the 17th and 18th century into the (former) moors of south-eastern Groningen. They were to de-hydrate the area and transport all the peat to the West of the country. This is the Stadskanaal leading to a city with the same name.

A great sight, makes you want to find out if there is an end to it.

No problem, alongside is a cycle path

Enjoy your rides.

My first thousand

2006-06-06T11:57:00Z

Last Friday I clocked the first 1000 (kilometers) on my new bike

Just 2 days late to celebrate my (49th) birthday.... One of my wishes was better weather; so more and longer trips are possible (work permitting..) Looks like that's finally coming. :)

Blijf jong, ga fietsen

Here comes the rain

2006-05-30T19:14:00Z

This spring was late, very late. After a short period of nice cycling conditions the weather (the Dutch always complain about the weather) has been bad again. For the last days we had stormy winds with local fierce showers. Which will get you completely soaked and when it's really bad you get beaten in a hailstorm.

This one really looked bad and was coming my way.

But, local as it was, I managed to ride around it. Great fun. So I'll stop complaining about the climate; also a rain cloud has a silver lining.

New season in cycling paradise

2006-05-22T09:02:00Z

The place where I live is a cycling paradise. The new season has really started, the crops rise above the ground.

All I can do is ride on:

Enjoy the spring !