A new start

Finally on a computer that works for more than a minute or two without crashing, all the buttons are working, and the screen is clear. It’s a far cry from a new bike, but almost as exciting for me as a new pair of cycling shoes, or something small on a bike like a new like new set of wheels. After having hand-me downs, recycled and second hand computers forever, this is a bit of a shock for the system. Not being the type of person to spend cash on anything but bikes, and related bike equipment, it’s a nice change. The end result is almost the same though, it’s nice and fast, clean, no scratches or dings yet, and everything seems to be working well. No buyers remorse setting in, so the buy was necessary and needed. Lets see if it can be like a new bike, where the first few races on it are your best, and you just feel great when you get on it every day. Of course, the first crash, is the last thing that I am thinking about, so I won’t dwell on the crashing side of things, and ‘let the good times roll’ until that time.


Just about to look inside the box, almost like Christmas.

So I there is nothing much to report in the last couple of weeks, a couple more races around a Church (criteriums). A couple more wins for the team, one in the south of Holland and one today here in Germany. A win for Linda, and a second place for Tanja, plus they took almost every sprint premium between them for total of about 25 prizes.


The girls happy after the win.


The Podium.

Besides the cash, we walked away with four huge salami’s, and the biggest, cured and smoked ham that you could carry. The ham is wicked, we pigged out on our winnings when we got home, it was so delicious. The ham was very famous, from a secret location in the Black Forest, deep in the south of Germany. It looked like it had been dry smoked for days, just opening the pack, the outside of the ham was almost black from the smoke. Cutting into it, released the smokey flavour, I was dribbling by this stage, quite profusely. Upon the first morsel touching my mouth, I was speechless (not from the mouth full of ham), but the flavour was like nothing I have tasted before, (my mouth is still watering just thinking about it). I will make a point of finding the smokehouse, as if this is an example of their goods, I think I need to see what else they make.


The Black, Black Forest Ham, yummy.

Sauerland, Germany is the area we are staying for a few days, a little bit of riding, and a two-day race to contend with. Driving in here, we passed many forest trails, some steep hills (which is nice after been in Holland for the last few weeks), and a few cool looking lakes. Looking a little bit like Rotorua, and the surrounding lakes, I was kicking myself for not bringing my MTB, but it’s only a two hour drive, so I will be back I think. I have scored a nice little cyclocross for a spin around the forest, so I can take the GPS and do some mapping for later. So will let you know how the riding is later. But expect to see a few catch ups with the photo pages, and maybe the articles, if I get the time.