‘Brandweer ‘ – Texel’s miniature fire engine. I noticed the key was hanging in the ignition, ready for any emergency. May all their fires be small fires.
Excuse me for harking back to last weekend’s cycling trip to Texel Island. There were a few little things worth mentioning that I missed in my previous post.
What makes Texel so attractive to Dutch people and to a handful of knowledgeable German visitors is its small scale and its olde worlde charm. Continue reading
Filed under Cycle touring, Cycling, Holland
I’d seen them before, but I never get tired of them.
I did just that today. I set out with no plans, and found myself blown inexorably towards the tulip fields. Continue reading
Filed under Cycle touring, Cycling, Holland
Riding with the wind for a change.
This island is 20 kilometres long, 10 kilometres wide and has more than 135 kilometres of cycle paths. It’s not hard to guess which country we’re talking about.
Texel, the most southerly of the Dutch Wadden Islands, is flat. Mostly. Continue reading
Filed under Cycle touring, Cycling
A sight I won’t see so often in future…Mevrouw T cycling behind me.
Is this an exciting step forward into the future of our cycling or an admission of defeat? We’ve bought an electric-assist bike.
Was this a good decision? Continue reading
Filed under Cycle touring, Cycling
The drink station at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.
The Amstel Gold race, perhaps the Netherlands’ most important cycling event, is on TV today. My modest ride along the Amstel River wouldn’t qualify as ‘gold’; it was more ‘aluminium alloy’ class.
But it wasn’t raining, the sun was making an effort to break through, and I needed to get some serious kilometres in before the Classico Boretti cycling event exactly three weeks from now.
Either my Brooks saddle or my rear end has changed shape since they were last in contact seven months ago. They’re no longer a perfect match. My loop was hard work, and that gave me an excuse to stop and admire the scenery along the way. Continue reading
Filed under Cycle touring, Cycling, Holland
The RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride – fabulous organisation, great routes and rather a lot of company. I’ve done this one twice, but there’s a new route every year.
Damn you, RIDE ON magazine, for publishing this list of Australia’s Top 50 Bike Riding Experiences. Now I want to do them all.
I’m able to say I can tick off a few of your selections, but still have about 45 to go. There are some MTB routes which are out of my comfort zone, but also many road rides that look fantastic.
Meanwhile I’m chained to my desk for a few more weeks, with only the occasional morning ride in Sydney to keep me sane.
Have a look at the list, and if anyone has other great Aussie routes to recommend – let me know, while I still have some knee cartilage left.
Filed under Cycle touring, Cycling
