27 August 2005
24 August 2005
Finally some action..
Don’t worry, you don’t have to censor this for the children, it’s not the type of action that I was thinking of.
Finally after sitting and waiting for the inevitable, it finally happened, not just once but many times.. I must have been in the car waiting for at least twenty days so far. Hey, it’s not such a bad thing, if I stay in the car it means there are no problems, just watching and waiting, waiting for problems. Well the wait is over, got the best training all in one day, that is it for the season I hope.
The race was the Holland Hills Classic, a few days before the National TT listed below, got a little carried away on that story forgot to put this one first. It was in the Maastrict area, you know, the area with the hills. The race was a four-lap circuit of 35km, with a great little change on the last lap to feature a 24% hill for 800m (Parnell rise from Stanley St is 18% at its steepest if ya wanna know) with a distance of 135km in total.
Our star Miriam was the winner last year and the year before I think, so she was the hot favourite. We had a good team organised for the day, some of our best hill climbers (Lada, Luise, Sandra) sprinters (Tanya) and the power house (Linda) so we were looking to a great race. We had the car full with four spare bikes and enough wheels for any problems we may encounter. The girls were feeling good, the day was looking great, I was feeling fantastic even though I worked two days solid on the bikes and wheels for the race. Think I glued 24 tubulars, trued 36 wheels and rebuilt three bikes, including one at 22:00 the night before.
The team is scattered throughout Europe, so the girls just turn up for a race either the day of, or night before. Their bike might not have been looked at for a month or be cleaned for a week or two so it fells just like home back in the workshop, nothing has changed except the bike is new 10sp Dura-ace and the girls have been thrashing them. I have meet most of the girls so far and you can tell who rides the most by the state of the bike, who cleans, who doesn’t, who has a boy at home that rides, who doesn’t. I could probably guess soon how they race and their job in the team from the state of their bike. It’s pretty cool that they are so into riding so I don’t give them too much grief at this stage (to all my customers, just in case you think I’m getting soft here, there will be a full inspection of your bike the week that I get back so start cleaning now… or there will be trouble).
Back to the racing, where was I. The day was starting to look good, it had stopped raining, the sun was starting to shine, things were looking good. We had car No.2, which is great, as we were near the front of the race, otherwise you don’t get to see jack. Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and a few other small countries that sound like Luxemburg and stuff. There were about 160 on the start, looking good for the day.
How wrong I was. The race started, the sun was shinning, for about a ten minute period, then all hell broke loose. Rain like it was time for me to ride home after a beautiful day at work, so hard that the peloton disappeared into the mist and the road ran like rivers. The radio was silent from the girls, nothing to say, they were just dealing with it. The first climb was looming 10k into the start, half way up all the road debris was starting to appear all over the surface and I was starting to sweat, the humidity was killing me.
Then it came, “PUNCTURE” loud and clear from the radio, it was Mir, the leader, half way up the hill with the race spread all the way up the hill. Such tiny roads, I thought we would never get to her in time, but the director managed to weasel his way through the field. One of the girls had stopped and gave up her wheel, I changed hers, pushed on her way and we got back in the race. Things were sweet, as we watched all the other teams having the same problems I didn’t feel too bad, kind of pleased, hey it’s a race after all.
The rain was hard, the road was covered, I recovered, then not 15 mins later I hear the cry again, same voice, same word, “PUNCTURE”, (it was really in Dutch but I translated for the good of the story). There was none of the team near so she had to hang on while I sorted it, off again with two of the team up the road waiting to pull her back into the bunch. No problems all season then two in one day, my luck.
Not ten minutes later, you guessed it that Dutch word for puncture (I’ll remember it soon), this was getting bad, all three on the same bike, same girl, someone didn’t want her to win today, and they wanted to keep me awake in the back of the car as well.
To cut a long story short, it happened two more times, that’s five in total. I was starting to get worried as I was running out of wheels in a hurry, even sneaked one off the spare bike as they were all rear wheels, who would have thought. To make things worse, we had the two biggest sponsors in the car, things were tight with two of us, but another two. Think I got one of them in the head twice with a wheel in the end.
In the end the usual rules apply, when you think that you have it completely sussed, you are asking for it to happen.
When allowing sponsors in the car, you will be giving them a good show, and justifying your wages to them, they will get in the way. When the day looks good in Holland, it will be for a few minutes, then it won’t be and then it will be all within an hour.
Carry more wheels than you can imagine, more is good.
When the TV cameras are there, expect to be on film with the only wheel that won’t fit and get it caught in the derailier, and for the ten minutes they show the race, that’s better footage than the finish.
When it rains the girls get wet, and their clothes change shape and colour, in the team car it is dry but you sweat.
Yes you can have the total punctures for the season in one day.
We did have a second place in the end, all the team finished, mostly all. The sun did shine again after an hour of racing, no more problems after that, thank god.
Finally after sitting and waiting for the inevitable, it finally happened, not just once but many times.. I must have been in the car waiting for at least twenty days so far. Hey, it’s not such a bad thing, if I stay in the car it means there are no problems, just watching and waiting, waiting for problems. Well the wait is over, got the best training all in one day, that is it for the season I hope.
The race was the Holland Hills Classic, a few days before the National TT listed below, got a little carried away on that story forgot to put this one first. It was in the Maastrict area, you know, the area with the hills. The race was a four-lap circuit of 35km, with a great little change on the last lap to feature a 24% hill for 800m (Parnell rise from Stanley St is 18% at its steepest if ya wanna know) with a distance of 135km in total.
Our star Miriam was the winner last year and the year before I think, so she was the hot favourite. We had a good team organised for the day, some of our best hill climbers (Lada, Luise, Sandra) sprinters (Tanya) and the power house (Linda) so we were looking to a great race. We had the car full with four spare bikes and enough wheels for any problems we may encounter. The girls were feeling good, the day was looking great, I was feeling fantastic even though I worked two days solid on the bikes and wheels for the race. Think I glued 24 tubulars, trued 36 wheels and rebuilt three bikes, including one at 22:00 the night before.
The team is scattered throughout Europe, so the girls just turn up for a race either the day of, or night before. Their bike might not have been looked at for a month or be cleaned for a week or two so it fells just like home back in the workshop, nothing has changed except the bike is new 10sp Dura-ace and the girls have been thrashing them. I have meet most of the girls so far and you can tell who rides the most by the state of the bike, who cleans, who doesn’t, who has a boy at home that rides, who doesn’t. I could probably guess soon how they race and their job in the team from the state of their bike. It’s pretty cool that they are so into riding so I don’t give them too much grief at this stage (to all my customers, just in case you think I’m getting soft here, there will be a full inspection of your bike the week that I get back so start cleaning now… or there will be trouble).
Back to the racing, where was I. The day was starting to look good, it had stopped raining, the sun was starting to shine, things were looking good. We had car No.2, which is great, as we were near the front of the race, otherwise you don’t get to see jack. Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and a few other small countries that sound like Luxemburg and stuff. There were about 160 on the start, looking good for the day.
How wrong I was. The race started, the sun was shinning, for about a ten minute period, then all hell broke loose. Rain like it was time for me to ride home after a beautiful day at work, so hard that the peloton disappeared into the mist and the road ran like rivers. The radio was silent from the girls, nothing to say, they were just dealing with it. The first climb was looming 10k into the start, half way up all the road debris was starting to appear all over the surface and I was starting to sweat, the humidity was killing me.
Then it came, “PUNCTURE” loud and clear from the radio, it was Mir, the leader, half way up the hill with the race spread all the way up the hill. Such tiny roads, I thought we would never get to her in time, but the director managed to weasel his way through the field. One of the girls had stopped and gave up her wheel, I changed hers, pushed on her way and we got back in the race. Things were sweet, as we watched all the other teams having the same problems I didn’t feel too bad, kind of pleased, hey it’s a race after all.
The rain was hard, the road was covered, I recovered, then not 15 mins later I hear the cry again, same voice, same word, “PUNCTURE”, (it was really in Dutch but I translated for the good of the story). There was none of the team near so she had to hang on while I sorted it, off again with two of the team up the road waiting to pull her back into the bunch. No problems all season then two in one day, my luck.
Not ten minutes later, you guessed it that Dutch word for puncture (I’ll remember it soon), this was getting bad, all three on the same bike, same girl, someone didn’t want her to win today, and they wanted to keep me awake in the back of the car as well.
To cut a long story short, it happened two more times, that’s five in total. I was starting to get worried as I was running out of wheels in a hurry, even sneaked one off the spare bike as they were all rear wheels, who would have thought. To make things worse, we had the two biggest sponsors in the car, things were tight with two of us, but another two. Think I got one of them in the head twice with a wheel in the end.
In the end the usual rules apply, when you think that you have it completely sussed, you are asking for it to happen.
When allowing sponsors in the car, you will be giving them a good show, and justifying your wages to them, they will get in the way. When the day looks good in Holland, it will be for a few minutes, then it won’t be and then it will be all within an hour.
Carry more wheels than you can imagine, more is good.
When the TV cameras are there, expect to be on film with the only wheel that won’t fit and get it caught in the derailier, and for the ten minutes they show the race, that’s better footage than the finish.
When it rains the girls get wet, and their clothes change shape and colour, in the team car it is dry but you sweat.
Yes you can have the total punctures for the season in one day.
We did have a second place in the end, all the team finished, mostly all. The sun did shine again after an hour of racing, no more problems after that, thank god.
23 August 2005
more photos
Managed to find some photos that I lost of the first race in Germany, put some decriptions up later
you can't win em all
Quite a serious day today for the team. We had the Dutch National Time Trails on for the day, so time to defend the title for our star of the team Miriam. The reigning National champ has so much more pressure on them than the defenders, believe me the whole team was feeling that pressure today.
We had three of the team racing in the TT and most of the other girls there for support. I think I had as much of a tough day as the riders because I felt the pressure bearing down like never before. I always take on too much responsibility when I work on others bikes, I always feel responsible when things go wrong even when I know that it was not anything to do with me. So why can’t I do the same for my own bikes you say, well it’s the same as a builders house or a mechanics car theory, maybe I should get others to work on my bike then I might not crash through mechanical failure, just rider error.
I think this was most serious racing to date for me for this trip, not only was I working on the defending champs bike, fourth seed, best junior of last year (new girl that the team is getting ready for when she is old enough to race elite). I also had the Team Directors two kids racing, both of them out for first in their consecutive classes, both defending champs as well. Plus on top of that the sun was shining like never before, it was hot, up to 30’c at one stage throughout the day. I was sweating, from the heat of course, what else did you think.(shame I could not go to the beach as this was the nicest day here so far). Nah, I was stressed as well, hey it feels like I am racing every time a bike leaves my hands. If there is a problem with the bike, who else do they look at, not the cook or the bus driver.
I started early, after having spent two days solid on seven bikes, one of them I spent almost a day checking everything out three times. Polishing and cleaning every part on the thing, thinking of all the possibilities that might happen, making sure, then checking again. Hey, I trust my own work but you never know, shit does happen..
The day before I decided to call it quits about midday, there’s only so much you can sort on a perfect machine. It takes a good mechanic to walk away from a bike at this stage, but rather than over tighten and strip that important part, walk away. So I headed up to Amsterdam with one of the girls not racing, for the afternoon for a ride and a bit of shopping. The ride was great, hooked up with a couple of kiwis, for a sweet ride out to the coast all on bike paths and some cool cobbled hills. Got to love the riding here, no cars hassling you, dedicated riding paths, sunshine till 9pm. It was a late night, just what I needed, no time to worry when I should be sleeping.
So back to the day, the daughter left, no problems, fifth place, not so good but ok. The son left, no problems, third place, not to bad. The junior had an hour to kill so I decided to chop her TT bars down a little, reroute some cables (I needed to get busy as I was starting to sweat it just a little). Her father was on my ass, looking at what I had on, looking at the watch, looking at me. Thank god he could’nt speak English as he was trying to talk, in the end I just moved him away about 50m, put a chair under his ass and gestured I would cut his balls off with the cable cutters if he came near me for the next 30 mins. He got the idea. The bike was sweet, the position rocked, she beat many that she hadn’t beat before and was raving about the bike. The old man kept looking at me strange as I was talking with his daughter afterwards, he wanted to come closer and listen, but I had the cutters in my hand unknowingly clipping them nervously as our two best were up next, he stayed well clear..
Next up the fourth seed, Sandra, she was pretty relaxed, her bike was sweet, she has done this before and wasn’t expected to win. Her boyfriend was tailing her in the car, just in case of punctures or mechanicals. We wouldn’t get back in time for our champ if we tailed her.
Next up, the last pro Woman to start, our star rider, team captain, Miriam. She had spent the last hour or so on the trainer warming up. That’s after a couple of warm up laps and a ride earlier in the day. Two TV crews were filming avidly as she came up to the start. I get my last check here, brakes, gears, cleaning the tires as she steps up on the start podium. Passing the bike to her the cameras go off, I get the last word, ‘Success’ (translation: good luck) she is in total control, a trance like stare down the start ramp, 3-2-1 she’s off. I dive into the car and were off.
A nice tail wind to start, across the top of a dyke for 10km, winding trough little villages perched on the side of it. We hit 63kph, nice straight lines, the cameras in close proximity, a little too close to concentrate from what I can see. Past many people lining the streets clapping, calling her name, they know she is the defending champ, they want her to win. The director doesn’t stop on the radio, don’t know much Dutch but I can pick up the odd bit here and there. ‘Like a coffee grinder’, ‘nice straight lines’, ‘change gear’. I’m sure there was a few expletives used as I have heard them been used before.
The woman race only 25km, which is short for the work involved for me, the stress from the director and the preparation from the riders. Into the wind on the way back Miriam starts to slow down a bit, more radio action from the director (who is also married to her), things are starting to get heated on the race radio as we start hearing the times from the riders coming into the finish. A few quick calculations and we work out that at her current speed she will be about 5 seconds down. Things started to get serious as we got closer, quick calculations every kilometre were done in our heads. From 5km out we new that it was over, three seconds to get back in the last few minutes, seemed impossible, but we still tried. Race radio was updating the last three riders, a new fastest time posted, things were looking bad.
The last km she was sprinting out of the saddle, trying to grasp those precious seconds, bang, bang, bang on the pedals… It was not enough, third place, it may as well been last for the director, he seemed pissed. We tracked her down past the finish line, she was drained of every bit of energy that she had. She was upset and trying to gain composure for the podium at the same time. She looked gutted, we were gutted, but that’s racing for ya. The sun was still shining, that was good, the bike was perfect, best it had been for a while I was told, that’s always nice to know after a few stressful days.
As I was packing up the bikes the professional men were starting. All the big Dutch names were there, both the Dekkers, Bogard and a load of others whose names I won’t even try to spell. Man those guys are fast, puts our locals to shame, actually most of the woman would as well. They were flying past the truck with such speed, I defiantly thought they were going to bin on the corners, but no.
Right, next race to think about, another World Cup, this time in the UK, Newport in Wales. Should be nice weather I hear, plus I have never been there so should be great.
Righto more later benny
We had three of the team racing in the TT and most of the other girls there for support. I think I had as much of a tough day as the riders because I felt the pressure bearing down like never before. I always take on too much responsibility when I work on others bikes, I always feel responsible when things go wrong even when I know that it was not anything to do with me. So why can’t I do the same for my own bikes you say, well it’s the same as a builders house or a mechanics car theory, maybe I should get others to work on my bike then I might not crash through mechanical failure, just rider error.
I think this was most serious racing to date for me for this trip, not only was I working on the defending champs bike, fourth seed, best junior of last year (new girl that the team is getting ready for when she is old enough to race elite). I also had the Team Directors two kids racing, both of them out for first in their consecutive classes, both defending champs as well. Plus on top of that the sun was shining like never before, it was hot, up to 30’c at one stage throughout the day. I was sweating, from the heat of course, what else did you think.(shame I could not go to the beach as this was the nicest day here so far). Nah, I was stressed as well, hey it feels like I am racing every time a bike leaves my hands. If there is a problem with the bike, who else do they look at, not the cook or the bus driver.
I started early, after having spent two days solid on seven bikes, one of them I spent almost a day checking everything out three times. Polishing and cleaning every part on the thing, thinking of all the possibilities that might happen, making sure, then checking again. Hey, I trust my own work but you never know, shit does happen..
The day before I decided to call it quits about midday, there’s only so much you can sort on a perfect machine. It takes a good mechanic to walk away from a bike at this stage, but rather than over tighten and strip that important part, walk away. So I headed up to Amsterdam with one of the girls not racing, for the afternoon for a ride and a bit of shopping. The ride was great, hooked up with a couple of kiwis, for a sweet ride out to the coast all on bike paths and some cool cobbled hills. Got to love the riding here, no cars hassling you, dedicated riding paths, sunshine till 9pm. It was a late night, just what I needed, no time to worry when I should be sleeping.
So back to the day, the daughter left, no problems, fifth place, not so good but ok. The son left, no problems, third place, not to bad. The junior had an hour to kill so I decided to chop her TT bars down a little, reroute some cables (I needed to get busy as I was starting to sweat it just a little). Her father was on my ass, looking at what I had on, looking at the watch, looking at me. Thank god he could’nt speak English as he was trying to talk, in the end I just moved him away about 50m, put a chair under his ass and gestured I would cut his balls off with the cable cutters if he came near me for the next 30 mins. He got the idea. The bike was sweet, the position rocked, she beat many that she hadn’t beat before and was raving about the bike. The old man kept looking at me strange as I was talking with his daughter afterwards, he wanted to come closer and listen, but I had the cutters in my hand unknowingly clipping them nervously as our two best were up next, he stayed well clear..
Next up the fourth seed, Sandra, she was pretty relaxed, her bike was sweet, she has done this before and wasn’t expected to win. Her boyfriend was tailing her in the car, just in case of punctures or mechanicals. We wouldn’t get back in time for our champ if we tailed her.
Next up, the last pro Woman to start, our star rider, team captain, Miriam. She had spent the last hour or so on the trainer warming up. That’s after a couple of warm up laps and a ride earlier in the day. Two TV crews were filming avidly as she came up to the start. I get my last check here, brakes, gears, cleaning the tires as she steps up on the start podium. Passing the bike to her the cameras go off, I get the last word, ‘Success’ (translation: good luck) she is in total control, a trance like stare down the start ramp, 3-2-1 she’s off. I dive into the car and were off.
A nice tail wind to start, across the top of a dyke for 10km, winding trough little villages perched on the side of it. We hit 63kph, nice straight lines, the cameras in close proximity, a little too close to concentrate from what I can see. Past many people lining the streets clapping, calling her name, they know she is the defending champ, they want her to win. The director doesn’t stop on the radio, don’t know much Dutch but I can pick up the odd bit here and there. ‘Like a coffee grinder’, ‘nice straight lines’, ‘change gear’. I’m sure there was a few expletives used as I have heard them been used before.
The woman race only 25km, which is short for the work involved for me, the stress from the director and the preparation from the riders. Into the wind on the way back Miriam starts to slow down a bit, more radio action from the director (who is also married to her), things are starting to get heated on the race radio as we start hearing the times from the riders coming into the finish. A few quick calculations and we work out that at her current speed she will be about 5 seconds down. Things started to get serious as we got closer, quick calculations every kilometre were done in our heads. From 5km out we new that it was over, three seconds to get back in the last few minutes, seemed impossible, but we still tried. Race radio was updating the last three riders, a new fastest time posted, things were looking bad.
The last km she was sprinting out of the saddle, trying to grasp those precious seconds, bang, bang, bang on the pedals… It was not enough, third place, it may as well been last for the director, he seemed pissed. We tracked her down past the finish line, she was drained of every bit of energy that she had. She was upset and trying to gain composure for the podium at the same time. She looked gutted, we were gutted, but that’s racing for ya. The sun was still shining, that was good, the bike was perfect, best it had been for a while I was told, that’s always nice to know after a few stressful days.
As I was packing up the bikes the professional men were starting. All the big Dutch names were there, both the Dekkers, Bogard and a load of others whose names I won’t even try to spell. Man those guys are fast, puts our locals to shame, actually most of the woman would as well. They were flying past the truck with such speed, I defiantly thought they were going to bin on the corners, but no.
Right, next race to think about, another World Cup, this time in the UK, Newport in Wales. Should be nice weather I hear, plus I have never been there so should be great.
Righto more later benny
16 August 2005
Hills, hils and more hills..
After hearing the legend of the hills of Holland I finally found them. Made a short journey south from where we are living, only 129 km away, which is a small distance to travel here. I saw them from a distance, sticking up out of the landscape, so proud to be so high in a country predominantly flatter than a pancake. What a beautiful sight to see.
I would never have thought that I missed riding up hills that much. Living in Auckland and finding a flat ride is always hard for me, so many hills to choose from, so little time. Doing a lap through the Waitaks before work always got me off to a good start for the day, flying up the hills, reaching the top is always fun. As much as I like climbing hills, I like descending them a lot more, the speed through the turns, water running out of my eyes, the thought of sliding down the road on your ass at 80k always gets the adrenalin going. I always try to scare myself on the descents, sometimes it works well, almost too well with the back wheel just starting to give away. At least if I come off the road my mountainbike skills will see me through. At least it always puts a smile to my face before work.
Holland is a flat country, in fact most of it is under sea level. The first time I was here, I thought my altimeter wasn’t working, as it was reading negative15m most of the time. To find some hills here is very exciting, I was starting to get worried that they might not exist here at all. The area is Maastrict, in the south, bordering Belgium and Germany. It is full of wicked old castles, coal and gold mines. Rich in history, full of small villages full of life, old churches and some of the oldest looking houses I’ve seen here so far. The best looking cheese shops I have ever seen (that’s another story in itself, more later) and some of the sweetest riding that I have seen here so far.
Driving into the area brought goose bumps to my spine. The smile on my face seemed to get bigger the closer that we got, so did the hills. Leaving the car we started ascending through the most amazing small village, restaurants lining the small winding streets. Lots of tourists kicking around this place, seems to be quite a destination for them. There is a Casino on the hill over looking the town, maybe this is why so many punters are kicking around. The tourists stand out easily in their matching parkers, wearing a look of bewilderment, trying to look at their maps and look inconspicuous at the same time.
I can choose my designation depending on what day it is, today I am a local, and they are the tourists. The team has given me a complete set of clothing to go riding with the girls, they say I ride like one, so I may as well look like one. They are quite into the team spirit side of things, keeping the sponsors happy by always looking professional. The last thing they need is someone publishing a photo of them riding with some other form of advertising on their ass. Kiwi riders can learn a lot from this, any time they are near their bikes or any race, all the clothing and all things branded for the team are actively worn and promoted. Hey it’s a professional team after all, I keep reminding myself, they have to look good, shame they always have me in tow…ha ha.
The team love me, I can do everything and more than they ever dreamed of, good old Kiwi’s aaa! They think that it is really funny that I ride every day and still keen to come out for an ass whipping on a regular basis. Most of the men here still don’t think that Woman’s cycling is that serious, they certainly don’t want to be seen riding with them and defiantly not in the team kit. I must be crazy going out with them on training rides, a bunch of girls? How wrong they are, I can’t think of anything more I would rather be doing. It’s nice to have the male/female ratio reversed for a change when out bunch riding.
Four hours later we had to head home, thank god we had my gps with me as we were miles away from where we were supposed to be. The miles fly by when your having fun, and what fun it was, the climbs were great, the scenery was fantastic, the company divine, the descents fantastic. The coolest thing around here is that it’s like a world tour almost every ride. First we started out in The Netherlands, then a couple of hours later we were in Belgium, and to finish off we headed to Germany just to get the trifecta for the day. To top it off, some of the climbs felt like we were in Italy, some of the descents felt like France, in fact part of Belgium had French road signs and shop signage. Some of the towns looked Swiss, the churches looked English and the cheese shops looked delicious (but that’s another story). I get a bit confused where we are sometimes, should have taken that Geography class instead of chemistry after all. German, Dutch and French lessons as well, while we are at it, who would have thought schoolwork would have come in handy!
Just for the record, not a single car beeped its horn, even though we were taking up most of the road, most of the day. I stopped counting roadies at about 100, and stopped the recreational cyclist count at 450. You gotta love this part of the world. They certainly have my interest at the moment, where did we go wrong in NZ…
I would never have thought that I missed riding up hills that much. Living in Auckland and finding a flat ride is always hard for me, so many hills to choose from, so little time. Doing a lap through the Waitaks before work always got me off to a good start for the day, flying up the hills, reaching the top is always fun. As much as I like climbing hills, I like descending them a lot more, the speed through the turns, water running out of my eyes, the thought of sliding down the road on your ass at 80k always gets the adrenalin going. I always try to scare myself on the descents, sometimes it works well, almost too well with the back wheel just starting to give away. At least if I come off the road my mountainbike skills will see me through. At least it always puts a smile to my face before work.
Holland is a flat country, in fact most of it is under sea level. The first time I was here, I thought my altimeter wasn’t working, as it was reading negative15m most of the time. To find some hills here is very exciting, I was starting to get worried that they might not exist here at all. The area is Maastrict, in the south, bordering Belgium and Germany. It is full of wicked old castles, coal and gold mines. Rich in history, full of small villages full of life, old churches and some of the oldest looking houses I’ve seen here so far. The best looking cheese shops I have ever seen (that’s another story in itself, more later) and some of the sweetest riding that I have seen here so far.
Driving into the area brought goose bumps to my spine. The smile on my face seemed to get bigger the closer that we got, so did the hills. Leaving the car we started ascending through the most amazing small village, restaurants lining the small winding streets. Lots of tourists kicking around this place, seems to be quite a destination for them. There is a Casino on the hill over looking the town, maybe this is why so many punters are kicking around. The tourists stand out easily in their matching parkers, wearing a look of bewilderment, trying to look at their maps and look inconspicuous at the same time.
I can choose my designation depending on what day it is, today I am a local, and they are the tourists. The team has given me a complete set of clothing to go riding with the girls, they say I ride like one, so I may as well look like one. They are quite into the team spirit side of things, keeping the sponsors happy by always looking professional. The last thing they need is someone publishing a photo of them riding with some other form of advertising on their ass. Kiwi riders can learn a lot from this, any time they are near their bikes or any race, all the clothing and all things branded for the team are actively worn and promoted. Hey it’s a professional team after all, I keep reminding myself, they have to look good, shame they always have me in tow…ha ha.
The team love me, I can do everything and more than they ever dreamed of, good old Kiwi’s aaa! They think that it is really funny that I ride every day and still keen to come out for an ass whipping on a regular basis. Most of the men here still don’t think that Woman’s cycling is that serious, they certainly don’t want to be seen riding with them and defiantly not in the team kit. I must be crazy going out with them on training rides, a bunch of girls? How wrong they are, I can’t think of anything more I would rather be doing. It’s nice to have the male/female ratio reversed for a change when out bunch riding.
Four hours later we had to head home, thank god we had my gps with me as we were miles away from where we were supposed to be. The miles fly by when your having fun, and what fun it was, the climbs were great, the scenery was fantastic, the company divine, the descents fantastic. The coolest thing around here is that it’s like a world tour almost every ride. First we started out in The Netherlands, then a couple of hours later we were in Belgium, and to finish off we headed to Germany just to get the trifecta for the day. To top it off, some of the climbs felt like we were in Italy, some of the descents felt like France, in fact part of Belgium had French road signs and shop signage. Some of the towns looked Swiss, the churches looked English and the cheese shops looked delicious (but that’s another story). I get a bit confused where we are sometimes, should have taken that Geography class instead of chemistry after all. German, Dutch and French lessons as well, while we are at it, who would have thought schoolwork would have come in handy!
Just for the record, not a single car beeped its horn, even though we were taking up most of the road, most of the day. I stopped counting roadies at about 100, and stopped the recreational cyclist count at 450. You gotta love this part of the world. They certainly have my interest at the moment, where did we go wrong in NZ…
11 August 2005
Love that free wireless..
Did I tell you that I just love free wireless, got about ten good hotspots in the town here were we are staying. This one tonight is outside one of the two pubs, on the tables outside. Nice glass of wine, the sun still shinning, 23' C and it's alomost 8pm. The weahter here has been shit lately, very unholland so they all keep telling me. But every now and again they throw a good day in for good luck.
Got to go off road today, getting mud under my tires was sweet for my soul. Tried all day to get some Cyclocross tires for the Ritchey today, god damn if every shop we went wasn't closed. You just can't tell, half of them close for lunch for an hour or so, half of them are closed for the summer for a few weeks, and the rest of them close on wensdays. So it wasn't ment to happen today, but I went anyway.
One of the girls got a new Moutainbike today, so after 78km of time trail training in the wind, we rode to the trails and she still put up a good fight. I was on road tires, pumped up to 120 psi, in road shoes, so it was a bit of a handicap. She was still giving me a run for my money. Found some good single track,thank god that it's not too far from here. Found a great big pile of stinging nettle as well, four hours later my legs are still killing me. Was giving shit to the girls for wearing thier leg warmers in the sun in the forest, they kept on smiling at me.... now i get it.
Righto got a day off tomorrow, taking the camera out for a bit of ride, then back down here to show you some pic.
Don't get too cold, benny
Got to go off road today, getting mud under my tires was sweet for my soul. Tried all day to get some Cyclocross tires for the Ritchey today, god damn if every shop we went wasn't closed. You just can't tell, half of them close for lunch for an hour or so, half of them are closed for the summer for a few weeks, and the rest of them close on wensdays. So it wasn't ment to happen today, but I went anyway.
One of the girls got a new Moutainbike today, so after 78km of time trail training in the wind, we rode to the trails and she still put up a good fight. I was on road tires, pumped up to 120 psi, in road shoes, so it was a bit of a handicap. She was still giving me a run for my money. Found some good single track,thank god that it's not too far from here. Found a great big pile of stinging nettle as well, four hours later my legs are still killing me. Was giving shit to the girls for wearing thier leg warmers in the sun in the forest, they kept on smiling at me.... now i get it.
Righto got a day off tomorrow, taking the camera out for a bit of ride, then back down here to show you some pic.
Don't get too cold, benny
9 August 2005
Another go
details of these later.
some of the huge billboards thoughout the town, think about 100,000 spectators for the weekend. Hey thats bigger than any rugbygame at home isn't it?
One of the Italian team cars, thats one of three. The bikes were carbon and pretty colours as well.
A nice arty shot of the start line for the Woman, I had a lot of this stuff on the shots I lost. Doh..
And yet another try, maybe this will work as well. So far so good, it might be a record in my current technical state
some of the huge billboards thoughout the town, think about 100,000 spectators for the weekend. Hey thats bigger than any rugbygame at home isn't it?
One of the Italian team cars, thats one of three. The bikes were carbon and pretty colours as well.
A nice arty shot of the start line for the Woman, I had a lot of this stuff on the shots I lost. Doh..
And yet another try, maybe this will work as well. So far so good, it might be a record in my current technical state
finally some photos maybe..
Finally looks like we are in the zone. Found a cool little device in a computer shop today that gives you an indication of any unlocked wireless signal.. Seems to work fine, found about ten good connections not far from where I live. The best one seems to out side this bar with great furniture, great food and great beer (if ya drink it).
So while I am oon to a working thing, see if i can't get some pictures going..
Some of the spare bikes on our team car.
Thats our car, the Team Director on the left and the Songniuer
Some of my ride home, one of the canals that I pass over.
So while I am oon to a working thing, see if i can't get some pictures going..
Some of the spare bikes on our team car.
Thats our car, the Team Director on the left and the Songniuer
Some of my ride home, one of the canals that I pass over.
3 August 2005
Well my jinx continues with anything electrical. Now I have definitely lost all my pictures for the first few weeks... God damn digital gremlins, now all is need is my GPS to stop working and then I am really lost. Where would I be with out that thing. This place is flat, not a hill to be seen for miles. Riding would be hard with out it, plus it's nice to know when you are crossing international borders on your bike. Went to Belgium and back about three times, on a ride the other day, that makes the ride a little bit more interesting.
I only live about 7 km from Belgium, with a great ride through a forest to get there. There is some trails in there, thank god that I brought the cyclocross, might get some mud on my tires and my face, got to be good for me.
I have been trying to catch up with all that has happened up till now with this blog site and all my emails. So there is going to be a change, I'm going to try and head this jinx off into the wild yonder. So no more recovery articles, no more old stories, no old photos, it's all going to be new news and photo's. I will load them when I can get to a wireless port and not before. If you miss some good bits, tough, I'll tell ya later.
JINX begone...........(and some expletives of course, but its a family page).
I feel better now. Right lets get back to business.
Just got back from Amsterdam today, spent a couple of days up there with my good friend Emile. He used to be a bike messenger in Auckland, now working for a cool ad agency here. He's got a way cool apartment right in the middle of town. You can look out the window in the morning and see the sun glistening off the canal and a few of the professionals heading home. What a sight. It's only about an hours drive from where I live which is sweet. Much shorter than the 500 km that I drove to Germany for an hours race and then back 500k the same day. Man I love the Autobarn (not to be confused with Bikebarn, which I don't love).
Emile fully sorted my laptop, which is great cause I can start to have someplace to store my photos till I up load them onto the net, for safe keeping. Went for a great ride out of the Dam (slang the locals use), following the Amstell canal. In fact we were out of town and riding in the countryside with in about ten minutes, thought that it was a bigger city. But no, only 700,000 which is small for Europe. Saw a few windmills, some wicked water barges, awesome canal cruises and some awesome water front homes. Not to mention the bridges and locks that cross the canals at every village.
Found a great cycle shop on the way, had some pretty cool city bikes, but finally some way cool road stuff and some mountainbikes. Did not spend a cent, that was hard. Out for a few hours, must have seen around 500 other people on bikes training. Then about 1000 older people just cruising the countryside and you can see why, no cars, and when you see them they are almost stopped on the side of the road waiting for you to pass. I love this place for riding.
Had a few hours cruising the streets that there were no tourists on, that's every street but four of them. Had a few great coffees, from real machines for a change, almost felt like home. Found a couple of great bike and camping stores with some cool bits in them. But not much fruity stuff, that will come later (heard of a four level shop in Belgium, all euro's know of it). Found a great shop with cruisers and all the parts to die for. I'm going back to get a shot of the bike they had in the window, it rocks, you will see why later.
Righto, time for some sleep, off to a race near Rotterdam tomorrow, that will be cool as I have not been there yet. We are also trying to get to a race that the pro's will be at tomorrow as well. Got a hookup to meet some of the mechanics for the big teams, yea ha, should be some swanky bikes to look at.
Actually the other day meet a few pros, not the ones in Amsterdam, Jan Ulrich, my hero for a start. Popavich, Boogard, Basso and about twenty other top riders, they were not as big as I pictured them. Smoe of the Rabobank guys were huge though. man what an impressive sight some of the trucks and bike setups. All of them had the showpony girls hanging around, team cars loaded with cool bikes, awesome to see them. Did not get an autographs though, sorry way too cool for that just yet, but had a good chat to Jan, he knows one of the Girls in our team really well and she put in a good word for me. I'll get him to sign a shirt later for me, something like 'only one race a year, Lance ya pussy' 'I may wear pink, but you can't call me yellow'
righto more later, benny
I only live about 7 km from Belgium, with a great ride through a forest to get there. There is some trails in there, thank god that I brought the cyclocross, might get some mud on my tires and my face, got to be good for me.
I have been trying to catch up with all that has happened up till now with this blog site and all my emails. So there is going to be a change, I'm going to try and head this jinx off into the wild yonder. So no more recovery articles, no more old stories, no old photos, it's all going to be new news and photo's. I will load them when I can get to a wireless port and not before. If you miss some good bits, tough, I'll tell ya later.
JINX begone...........(and some expletives of course, but its a family page).
I feel better now. Right lets get back to business.
Just got back from Amsterdam today, spent a couple of days up there with my good friend Emile. He used to be a bike messenger in Auckland, now working for a cool ad agency here. He's got a way cool apartment right in the middle of town. You can look out the window in the morning and see the sun glistening off the canal and a few of the professionals heading home. What a sight. It's only about an hours drive from where I live which is sweet. Much shorter than the 500 km that I drove to Germany for an hours race and then back 500k the same day. Man I love the Autobarn (not to be confused with Bikebarn, which I don't love).
Emile fully sorted my laptop, which is great cause I can start to have someplace to store my photos till I up load them onto the net, for safe keeping. Went for a great ride out of the Dam (slang the locals use), following the Amstell canal. In fact we were out of town and riding in the countryside with in about ten minutes, thought that it was a bigger city. But no, only 700,000 which is small for Europe. Saw a few windmills, some wicked water barges, awesome canal cruises and some awesome water front homes. Not to mention the bridges and locks that cross the canals at every village.
Found a great cycle shop on the way, had some pretty cool city bikes, but finally some way cool road stuff and some mountainbikes. Did not spend a cent, that was hard. Out for a few hours, must have seen around 500 other people on bikes training. Then about 1000 older people just cruising the countryside and you can see why, no cars, and when you see them they are almost stopped on the side of the road waiting for you to pass. I love this place for riding.
Had a few hours cruising the streets that there were no tourists on, that's every street but four of them. Had a few great coffees, from real machines for a change, almost felt like home. Found a couple of great bike and camping stores with some cool bits in them. But not much fruity stuff, that will come later (heard of a four level shop in Belgium, all euro's know of it). Found a great shop with cruisers and all the parts to die for. I'm going back to get a shot of the bike they had in the window, it rocks, you will see why later.
Righto, time for some sleep, off to a race near Rotterdam tomorrow, that will be cool as I have not been there yet. We are also trying to get to a race that the pro's will be at tomorrow as well. Got a hookup to meet some of the mechanics for the big teams, yea ha, should be some swanky bikes to look at.
Actually the other day meet a few pros, not the ones in Amsterdam, Jan Ulrich, my hero for a start. Popavich, Boogard, Basso and about twenty other top riders, they were not as big as I pictured them. Smoe of the Rabobank guys were huge though. man what an impressive sight some of the trucks and bike setups. All of them had the showpony girls hanging around, team cars loaded with cool bikes, awesome to see them. Did not get an autographs though, sorry way too cool for that just yet, but had a good chat to Jan, he knows one of the Girls in our team really well and she put in a good word for me. I'll get him to sign a shirt later for me, something like 'only one race a year, Lance ya pussy' 'I may wear pink, but you can't call me yellow'
righto more later, benny
Computer action.
Just got my machine up and running, had to botch the thing a little, but otherwise a semi successful repair. Now we can get some action on the photo's if I can find them.
Had the use of one of the girls laptop the other day, which was a great idea. Until the thing got started up and I realized that the whole thing was in Danish! Being the sort of wannabe computer expert, I thought I could wing it with memories of what windows ask what to do. All was going sweet and after about an hour of trying to see my photo's (152 of them), I thought I downloaded them on to the laptop, they seemed to be coming off the camera and on to the hardrive.
I must have asked it to delete them off the camera when it had got them as they were missing off the camera that very moment. But bugger me if I could find them on her computer. I might have to wait for my Danish interpreter to get back to see if I haven't blown it totally.
Otherwise the bikes are sweet and the racing is wicked, but I'm not touching any of the computers on the bikes as they would proably shit themselves as well..
Try to keep this thing a little more interesting from now on.
cheers Benny
Had the use of one of the girls laptop the other day, which was a great idea. Until the thing got started up and I realized that the whole thing was in Danish! Being the sort of wannabe computer expert, I thought I could wing it with memories of what windows ask what to do. All was going sweet and after about an hour of trying to see my photo's (152 of them), I thought I downloaded them on to the laptop, they seemed to be coming off the camera and on to the hardrive.
I must have asked it to delete them off the camera when it had got them as they were missing off the camera that very moment. But bugger me if I could find them on her computer. I might have to wait for my Danish interpreter to get back to see if I haven't blown it totally.
Otherwise the bikes are sweet and the racing is wicked, but I'm not touching any of the computers on the bikes as they would proably shit themselves as well..
Try to keep this thing a little more interesting from now on.
cheers Benny
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