bevan brot me to the ariport on friday and i hold my two dufel bages and my bike box to the counter wer a very burent out northwest enploy pomply charges me $90 for one extra paceg. i told her i would duck tape them together and call them one but she wasent having any of it. well on the way back i will only have 2. well a small prise to pay for the education of a world traveler. as i wate for my flite near the tiket counter theas two weman from itely come up to check in and try to pass of a pakeg the size of a dead yak for a careon. the atendents simpy check it as lugeg. funny, they look bewilderd at this out come. maby a problem with ther visuwel perseption? then i am struck with the idea that i could of checked just 2 at the counter and puld the same stunt at the gate. the lerning curve is exspadentchel.
i lucked out on my seat A11 windo seet up front. but wen i get to that seet the two italian weman are in them. i show them my ticket, they fane ignerents to the # and to the langug baerear. i show them the coralation betwen the # of the seat and the tiket and sudenly they can spake englesh. "e; would you mind siting over ther so we can tolk to each ather"e; as she flutered hir eyes at me. sins over ther oferd no wall for me to sleep and it was next to a cring babey i said out of my seet. this was perfict sins now i had a wall to sleep on and hir frend probely wodent try to talk to me and keep my awake.
the plain left at 6:30 pm. try as i my i do not have the speshel power to bo to sleep eny were any time like my freind josef's father isice how could sleep in a 55 gl drum roling down a roky hill side. in the span of six hours friday dusk becam saterday morning. i did have a grate vew of Hall-bop out my windo all night. i made it thrw customs with no problem exsept everone would aske if i was from amarica? well so much for blending. neve could master that.
i met josef shaoul ,my host hear in hollen, and he told me that ther was only one way to cure jet lag in one day. i was going to stay up intell every one in hollen went to bed. thus started the day of the walking dead. we sped off to the roderdam airport to pick up my frend and josefs, freddrik johhnos. he was coming from england.
it was raining hollen and all the leaves were on the trees. the place is butifull. it is not ubin but nither is it rural its rubin. you can find a lorg factory surounded by farmes, high ways criscrosing very nerow country rodes. evey wer it is flat and you can allwas see water of some kind. ther are canals every were so it helps for it to be flat or then they would be rivers. josef tells me that the duch are the tallest peapl in europ. for bing the largest peaple they own the smallest stuf. ther cars are no biger than a washer/dryer cobanation and ther apliences could be somthing you would find in a dall house minechers museam.
opon picking up fredrick we go to josefs place and he has two frends of his meet us ther for we are to go for a ride. i quikly asembel my bike and we ride to the cost for a rid in the duns. of cors this cost is up agenst the north sea. and now i lern wy hollen has windmills. it is windy. but it is also cold and rainy. we went from Scheviningen to Noordwijk and back. 40 km. josef said that this will help to reset my clock. of cors my good budys trid to ride me into the grouwnd as if they were in putney,but i have been traning and i quikly showed them i could cover any move they made and a few of my own.
this ride was on a bike pathe as wide as ther rodes. ther are bike pathes evrey were and many peapl ride. the contry is bike conches. josefs aportment has its own storeg room just for bikes as dous all aporments.
after this ride josef, fredrick and i went in to the old part of delft were josef lives. its an absulutly butiful city full of bikes, small cars, and butiful canales. we eat at josefs faverent restront were ther serv an apatiser, main cores and desert, but they take a long time betwen meals. in hollen they exspec that you will spend your hole evning ther. to the duch this is a night out eating and talking with frends intell late. the restronts generly charg alot sins they dont exspect any ternover. we finly get home at 9:00pm because they have had to resort to throwing cold water in my face. i go to bead after 32hr .
Day 2
april 6
woke at 6:30. we ate tipicel duch brakefast of fost and cheas. made lunch for the rode, loded up bikes and gear and heded for sint-niklaas belgem for the start of the tour de flanders. with the grate navigating skilles of fredrick and josef at the helm it was no problim finding the start. sint-niklaas squer was paked with riders, suport vicels and spektaters. all the riders had to run the gontlet of fans to get to the very lorge podeam were they were anownsed to the crouwd as they were sining in. and in no time the gun sounded and they were of. it is amasing that thes sport stars are every bit as pouler as are sport stars but the publik has full akses to them. even thow we as spektaters can walk up to them betwen team bus and start of race ther is never a mob sean like i would exspect in the states
after the start we made a plan to ride some of the cores. we rode 5 of the 15 hills. hill # 5,6,7,8,9. the kluisberg, knokteberg, kwarmont, paterberg, and kortekeer. 3 of thes hills were cobel stones from botem to top. an apsulut thrill to ride over the very same rodes i have woched on video for years. we suted up in full putney gear and started are ride 3 hours befor the race was to arive. as we rode over the cores in the diretion of the race the pectaters were gathering in numbers as we rode. we at the same time were having a frendly compatiton of how could crest the top of each clim first. are destanation was the kortkeer to woch the real bikers. buy the time we got to the paterberg this steply cobeld climb was lind with peaple. ths was a populer claimb because it would slaow every one dowen for a good look. as we puld on to the climb we brefly consitered that it was to step and rough and that we my have to walk but buy this time it was lind with spektaters. i was shoked at he numbers of spektaters and at this time josef akselarated to make it up the climb first. well i was not going to wlak now not with all thes peaple waching so fredrick and i sped after him. the spectaters sow are eferts and they started to chear. they suoud in the rode chering and moved aport as we went threw yeling and taking are pickters to the top. it was threoly over welming. with the adrenalin that gave me i could of climb up a bilding.
we got off at are last climb in time to see the pros go by. amasing! they rold over thos climbs as if they were pebels. we had to have more so we rode to the car changed, paked, and sped of to the bosberg. this is the last climb and the spring bord to viktory. with josef maniac bihind the wheel the navigating sweed fredrick and i loking to jug if we are ahed of the pack by spoting the helicoter we sped down nerow contry rodes at 70 km. we arived at the bosberg with just minouts to spere. a brake of 9 or so had got away and by the time thy reched the 1km kite it was sorensen, ballerini, moncassin, and chris peers finishing in that order. sorensen made a jump at the kite and fuled the two sprinters how were looking at each ather. it coutent of been beter.
Day 3
today started erly again at 6:00. we had to get fredrick to the airport in roterdam so he could get to work by 8:30 in londen. evry thing worked out grate with fredricks visit timed with mine. josef went of to work and i pland a ride out to the cost. my first exsploration in to the duch cuntrysied.
i set out from delft south to schipluden. it is 10km away from delft and i didnt have to use auto rodes. all bike pathes. i would say in the 75km i rode today it was 80% bike pathes. bike path dosent diskrib it. path sounds like an after thout. they are the size of most rodes around hear and offton you sher them with cars. small cars. all the cars are small. all the rodes are small. athe aplientses, the cutlery, the paking spases, and when you order a small bear it comes in a shot glass. i thout they were giving me a tast of the bear to see if it saw ok. maby the peaple are not so big. maby it is an opticel alution. they just look big next to all this small stuf. they use metric. a soler unit of maserment. tough to referents.
so enyway, it is inpresef to my that ther is somuch consideration given to cycelists. the bicycel is a ecanomicel form a transpertation wich is the duch all the way. very frugel. the duch ride ther bikes for transpertation, not so much for exersis. but fitnes is a by prodict of this for of transpertation. as i ride amung them ao ther. bike rodes the dont just tool along they are usely moving. it makes think that if they were on anything but the classice led fild, up right, in the wind, duch bikes, they would by kiking my but in the hed winds to the ocaon.
the duch are also in love with bricks. when you come in to a towen or city the bike rodes are lind with bricks. from cerb to canal. absolutly butiful. schipluiden is a town lining a canal the the bike rode travel along it. if you can get usto the constent small of manuwer from all of the faming it grate.
i went from schipluiden to massland, wich was my faverit brick lind bike rode along a canal town, to maasdijk to hoek van holland wer the see is. i picked up all the windmills on my way out wich look no diferent from all the pickters i have seen, but ther is not as many as i thout ther would be. i sow 5 in 75km.
when i got to the cost i stoped at the first snake house as they call them hear and bout some patates. this is french frise the faverit duch snack next to little pan cake. the smuther maionas all over them. i convintsd the propieater that this is not what i would like. i ate them wile riding dowen the bord walk. just for bikes of coers.
then i made my way back to delft by way of naaldwijk and delier. i was lost 50% of the time but because it is so flat you can navigat by dead recaning from majer land markes. it alowes you to exsplor with out realy geting lost. it not eazy to stay on coure sins ther are somany canels that you have to find your way around. it gives you the opertunity to exsplor and find your self riding your rode bike on the dert path at the top of a dike. all in all grate fun.
Day 4
i was hoping to sleep in this morning but josef had ather plans. i still dont think i have cout up on my sleep yet. staing up till 1am writing this jurnal wont work. i am starting a six to day. josef had a meting at 1pm so he took the moring off an we went to kinderdijk. this area has the hiest consetration of old wind mills in hollind. a nother prfictly sunny day for a ride. kinderdijk means childern dike. dont ask me way it looked like every ather dike we hav rode on. the wind mills were alond this dike and the canal boezem van de overwaard.
we rode aling the path by japanes and french turest for the first two km and then it was clear sailing. only fishermen with real long fishing poles that looked like radeo intena. they all sat on 2x2 meter squer dockes. the dockes were ten meters apart from each ather so i dout they spoke to each ather. besieds fishing is not about caching fish anywas. wen the bike path ternd to grass we cut acros to the river lek and foloed it to the fery that tool us to schoonhoven.
schoonhoven is a midevel towen of silver smithes. it allso was a wald city and some of the wall and the gate is still there. we toold around the towen on the brick streates. very nerow, most were just for padestreans. after windo shoping and cheking out a drand out canal ( i ges it must of had a leek and they had to reper it) full of rusted junk we heeded back on the ather bank of the lek. i did not wont to get up erly tomarow so i atemted to tier josef out by riding 40km/hr back to the next fary. i think it worked sins he is right now taking a nap. ones to the ather side we heded back on a back rode were we drafted on a farm trakter puling a tralier full of you gest it munewer. we folwed it at 50km/hr doging the stinke debry along the way. i brout us back to the oint were we left the kinderdijk and we continued this fast pace back to the car.
once at home josef rode to work and i went to the train station in an efert to get to rotterdam. i walked to the train station and wen i got ther the ticken office was closed. they had a mashean that would sell you a ticket but you had to punch a complicaded key pad with each key leterd with a wored that was as long as a sentens. and thats one of my sentenses. so i asked a college student near by to desifer. he was duch and of cores he spoke english. he told me that i neaded 5 gilder in cone form and i only had 4. so he gave me 1. he said some vagrent would aske him for it when he got to the city anyway. we tlaked about america and hollind all the way to rotterdam.
i spent the rest of the day soking up the city by walking threw the garmet distrik down to the woerf were i went to the maritime museam. the boats are as unequ as the country. walked back therew the city parkes woching hight school kides smoke cigeretes and ride skate boreds just like home. if your duch and your under the age of 35 you probely smoke and its alowed in all publike places. and its only marbourow. it is markeded hevely hear as is much of american culcher. i went to a burger king and it was basickly a tribut to america short of the maonas on the frise. ther were lotes of pikters of tv, musicel, and carton icons. ther as even a display window dressed with the US flag, unkel sam and merilan monrowe. i ges she is as good as anyone to be ant sam. they love american culcher and as an american i feal i get treted speshel. i would like to think ther this nice all the time. the duch seam very jenuwen. well tomarow is gent-wevelgom and i beter get some rest.
Day 5
Subject: gent-wevelgem
a nother butiful day at 8:00am wen we left for the two hour drive south to gent for see the start of the race. it was shorets and tee shert. as we ternd off the high way we had a sroke of luck. we murged with the AKI team cars so we jound the cerivan and foloed them to the start. we continued to folow them wright past the police check point and got a grate parking spase. sins the race did not start intell 11:45 we got a nice pece of fenc right on the start. from ther we had a paraed of team cars, buses, and team riders all infrunt of my camra lens. then a nother stroke of luck, eddy merckx parkes his car right in front of us. some grate pickters and then his son axel comes over to gane some sage advise befor the start.
i have seen mecca and you all will have to call me Hajii. as i was telling josef what a momentes ocation this is, and as you know my voice kareys, some one from the croud cam over and asked "e; how was the amarican?"e;. it was steven wood from velo news. he aske me all the usewel qusetons and told me that the wether is never this good. i tolled him if it wasent for the shop i worked for and bob goreg that he mite be working for the enquirer. he said maby we will see him in roubaix. a good giy maby i will have to start reading his stuf.
after the start we rode are bikes ( what ells) in to the center of gent. as phill ligget said:"e; of cores the canales smell in gent and all the wers if they didnt because then you would not know you are in the gratest city in the world"e;. they dont smell that bad. its sea water. he shoud try the gray water tank beside my house.
gent is a midevel city with a cassel and many cathlic cherches. the city perfected weving cloth in the midel ages and became one of the riches citys in europ, and it showes. we ate lunch at the base of the cassel and viseted the cherches. i am sher dering the 10th, to the 15th centerys they didnt have to go dore to dore to get folewer, thes cherches are beond words. they are inspiering. i am sher with out all of the destrations of trafic and conpetion bildings, and sins now one could read and they held all the knoleg it must of been a religest exspereants. tina you would love it. i ran out of pichers so i bout post cardes. ther beter than any thigh i could do.
now back to the race. you forgot ther was one going on dint you. josef had the vcr going so we woched it when we got back. i will start you were phill does, befor the kemmelberg, 60km from the end. ther are two opertunists out funt but no one is wered. as the main feld hits the base museeuw, cipollini, moncassin, and tchmil atack. tchmill flates and museeuw pulls way. moncassin made a gate efert down the fast cobeld desent and caught museeuw. the two nerwoed the gap from 3mi to 25sec befor geting swolowed by the feald. at the bace of the secont time up the kemmelberg axel merckx couter atacked put a grate efert in and caught the two sufering domestiques at the top and it look as if they were going back wereds. a nother white nuckel desent and he has 20sec on the feald. all the heads of state put in an efert to pull axel back and they did. i love the rode betwen the kemmel and wevelgem. it is nothing but 200bpm, in the guter, big ring hammer fest all the way ther.
non stop atakes and museeuw was apart of every thing. first a 19 man brake with museeuw, tchmil, ferrigato. it is a strate rode and you are all ways in site of the main feald. tvm put in a conserted efert as a team and pulled them back in an efert to get ther sprinter van peteghem up front. in an atempt to shed the bad luck of the ceresed rainbowe jersy museeuw aneseated an atack then got another 19 away. this one containd tchmill and merckx. with 10km to go it was non stop atack and counteratack all the way to the 1km kite. museeuw sat cool in his arm chaer at the back waching it all happen. ether he was shaged or he fanced his chances in the sprint. at the kite axel went and the sprint started behind him at 600m. museeuw was 4th in line wen they cout axel and tchmil was on him. museeuw got boxed in but tchmil got free but only got secent by centameters to the unknown cofidis rider philippe gaumont. tvm's johan capiot took 3rd.
if ther is anething you dont understand you all have each athers e-mail adreses at the top. i will give you a topick, rodeisland is nether a rode nore a island. discus.
Day 6 & 7
on thersday morning i woke to a nother butifull day. not quite jursy and shorts wether but 2 jurseys and a wind jacket. my goal to day is to ride to the hague. i am going to see if i can speak with priminester nethanyahu. ask him whats up? i hear he is at the pallice. i heeded south to my two faverit towens so far, schipluiden and maasland. butifuely brick lined bike pathes. you remeber from kerb to canal. it is also the main street and when cars are on it is like doing singel track.
i am geting quite fond of seeing sinds saying fietsped. that means this rode is for bikes. from maasland i am going to go out to the cost. cant get anough of the ocain and ther are these duns that look like cape cod. then i will go to monster. yes that is a town called monster. maby named after the tv show in the 60s? they do love amarican culcher. then i go inland to the hague were i meat josef at a little out dore cafe. this will be a chalng to find.
as i am crusing along a fietsped that is traveling along a long line of green houses a man in his 60s standing with his wife and dougter sais somting to me so i pull on the binders and spin it around to see what he whants. he starts talking to me in duch and being the ugly american that i am i have no idea what he is saying. i place my hand on my chest and say that i am american and i get the same worm respons i allways get when i say this. the man did not speek english but his wife and dotter did. josef tells me that the older genaration and usely farmers dont speek much englesh. we did fine. he wonted to look at my rims om my bike. he had never seen rimes like that befor. i aske him, or rather gesterd if he would like to ride it. he declined. his wife said that he was once the duch cyclo cross champion. i would gause this was in the 50s. i asked ther names. but the way i remember names that was a wast of time. espesely these names. they oned the green houses and rased radishes. from seed to eating in three weeks. they told me were the grow tulips and josef and i will go ther on saterday.
i had to use my usewel dead recaning on bildings, the sun and the diretion of the wind to find my way to the hague. i did fing josef after a wiel. we crused arowend and then went home were we jumped on a train for the night life in amsterdam. where money can just about by you anething. nug nug say no more. we drank grate molted libations at a out dore cafe' intell 1am.
so friday consistes of rest and recovery. josef is throwing a partey with a bunch of his frends. so we have been copking all day. it is a mexican feasta. evry one is going to be sory tomarow morning. well ther coming now so i must go.
Day 8
are mexican feasta we threw last night (friday ) was a compleat secses. they lerned how to stuf tacos and fold baretos as fast as i am lerning this langewig. that is i had to do it for them. maby the margaritas and sangrea contributed to ther lack of desxterity. everyone were on ther best english speacking behaver. that was intell josef and i whent in to the kichen. then it was reoriantat in duch. it was a grate time for me and for them to exstang observations. we are not to uncomin. exsept that riding a bike to me is novel, but to the duch it is tridition and a cheep form of transpotation. and if it is cheep the duch love it. at the bike shop in delf all of the macanics smoke and dont ride bikes for plesher. even with that ther are still more sport riding per capita that in the states i would guess.
saterday started like every day here so fare sunny and clear which is not the norm they tell me exsept for the winds that will blow the grees out of your bottom braket. we did all teristy things. first we went to the keukenhof. the place thos wonderfull peaple told me about the ather day wene i was riding. not all the flowers were in bluem but it was colurfull the the smell was overwelming. tipicel with the duch it was very organised. like a disny land for flowers. then we went off to amsterdam to kech the day time aktiviteys. once again i was not disapointed. with is old bildings and wide canals i would highly recamend it. ther were alot of americans along with every ather nashanality. turisom is in this citys blood. there are many races here and interrashel relationships are very acsepted. peapl can chous a partner of ther liking with out fear of bing herast from wot i have seen and herd.
then we were off to enkhuizen were the duch west indeas company was based. you remeber the peaple that went on the piliging tour of indonesha and the south pacific. got to have those spices. we ate at a cafe' that was the bilding that housed the company 500 years agow. now the harber contains a grate many old bouts that take peaple on ocian tours. bouts that are 20m and longer with lea boreds on both sides so they can pull them up when the are in sholow canals. some were three masted scooners, but most were slopes.
well roubaix tomarow.
Day 9
sunday was another pilgrimig to the holely land. the parie-roubaix. this time we were joind by one of josefs frends who rode with me the day i arived, dirkjan. dirkjan raced a grate deal when he was in his teens and erly twentys and it shows. he is very good. but when asked if he had been to this race and riden the cobels it is just like any one how lives near such an atraction. you dont make the time to visit it because you know you can at any time. but it takes a viseteor to akshely make you do it.
are palnds were to ride a portion of the cores and lop back to were we started, see the race go by and then beat trakes to another part of the cores to see it again. we started are trip in the towen of orchies. the cherch bells were welcaming us as we puld in the squer. it is ez to navigat by all the cherches inthis area. the pave' sections are rated in dificalty from 1 to 5. are goal is to ride pave' section 11-(level 4 - 2.4km ) 10-( level 5 - 2.8km ) 9-( level 4 - 1.4km ) 8-( level 3 - 1.7km) 7-( level 4- .7km ) 6-(level 5 - 3.1km) 5-( level 3 - 1.6km ) and then swing it back around and make it back to ochies.
the pave' whent from small dom shaped stones you could hold in two hands to larg sinder black rockes that dirkjan deskribed as been droped from helicopters. like mt biking you cant go to slow over thes section ore you will sherly fall. it is big ring hamer fest, but you must not hold on to the bars to tite or you hads will hert and ther will be blisters. this is what dirkjan found out after the 9th section. he has never been on a mt bike before. but dont be mastaken this is nothing like mt biking. your eyes radel in your head so you cant foces on anything like the baner that markes the end of the section. and it is though on the joins of the hands.
are speed was higher threw thes setions than it was on the pavment. partly because it was ezer at highr speeds and that we all tried to set the best tempo and you did not wont to get droped. as dusty and rough as thes secions were we stad on eachathers wheels the hole way. no crashes but dirkjan did get a fat on one section. the two things i brot plenty of is tubes and rain gear. nether i have neaded at all.
once we reched the end of the 5th section we ternd up the tempo to get back to section 11 befor the race. for thos of you how whatch thes races on video you will see josef and i at the end of section 11 in westhill coulers. at least we were planly visabel on belgin tv. then the camara ceches me again in hem a little towen 5 km from the finish as the riders make a right. i am on the corner. after seeing this race up close i will never look at it on video again the same way again. on belgin tv they had 4 hours of coverig, but i will start at the arenberg forest.
the feald of 100 was still together on this sunny dry day as they entered the arenberg forest. but because this section was a level 5 in difeculty ther were some crashes and the group had a difecult time staing together. a group of ten separated by the end containg stuart o'grady, andrea tafi, and jacky durand. sind sorensen is wering the world cup jersy his duch rabobank team mast at the frunt to chase dowen the escapeys. with a 1:30 lead over the main field mapei aperently dos not like that ther man tafi is up frunt and fansy museeuw last years winner up frunt in the brake.
after a few more sections of pave' the lead gruop is down to 8. sorensen aperintly not liking the pace of things in the main group tris to atake him self but with mapei driving the tain from behind he is sowloed after to long. after the 12th pave' ther is only five in the brake but still containg o'gratey, tafi and durand. back in the main feald tshmill seams to allways be in the fray as he has been for so many spring clasics. betwen pave' 12 and 8 rabobank with 8 members still in the main feald put a chace together that started to redus the time to the brake. after pave' 8 they were all together but the field by this time was gratly redused in numbers. losing some riders over every section.
once things were toghther the ataces were on again but only museeuw, zanini, moncassin, francois lemarchand, and jo planckaert with athers were abel to get away afte pave' 6. seeing the danger in such a talinted field sorensen and tshmill make an efert to escap the main field and sucesfuly jump the gap. with this talent this could be the a wining brake. whiel in the brake museeuw gets a flat wich putes him back the the main field. he cant seem to pu a foot right as seams to hapen to all thos how were the raingbow jursy. mapei seeing the danger in this brake trys desperly to get ther man back to the brake wich now contains 7.
maby to many egos in the brake because atakes kame from henk vogels and marc wauters that maneged to stay away from the brake that was cout by the main feald. this was no rest for the mapei team and they still drove the main feld tword the two eskapys. but sins this was not hapining fast anogh tshmill, moncassin and museeuw lonched of the frunt to cach the brake. they sukseded not only in caching but losing the arigenal two in pave' 2. will thes three make a bid for the podeam museeuw seams to have plunty of luke, all bad as he flast leving pave' 2 and has to rejouin whats left of the feald. with 12km to go it seamed that the win would come down to tshmill and moncassin, but tshmill seeing the oves sprinting advanteg that moncassin has he staged an ataket to rid his wheel of the french men. moncassin retaliated by staging his own atakes but nether could get away from the ather. so they desited to play cat and mouse with 4km to the finish with museeuws goup coming down hard. this continued to the edg of the velidrom were museeuws 7 rider feald cout the two and it would be a 9 up sprint. with sorensen, moncassin, tshmill, and museeuw all lining up for good pasition around the final lape of the velidrom the well rested and unowen rider for the french la francaise des jaux team cam over the top of all of them with an inpreseve two bike length win. secent had to be desided by the camra wich reveald planckaert the victor and museeuw therd. tshmill was forth.
this is you roving reporter in holland. i will see you all at the shop.
