Category Archives: Cycling

CLASSICO BORETTI 2013 – a snapshot and some snapshots

Of course there are windmills along the route.

Of course there are windmills along the route.

6000 Dutch cyclists, some very expensive road bikes, an awful lot of bananas, boxes of krentenbollen (currant buns), thousands of litres of sports drink, several tonnes of penne bolognaise at the finish and, for us, a little over five hours in the saddle…the 6th annual Classico Boretti ride. Continue reading

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TEXEL – up close and personal

'Brandweer ' - Texel's mini fire brigade. I noticed the key was hanging in the ignition, ready for any emergency.

‘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

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HOW FAR TO THE TULIPS? – cycling there from Amsterdam

This is what I want to see. Can I get there on the bike?

I’d seen them before, but I never get tired of them.



The Dutch countryside is nearly all beautiful. The nice thing about cycling out from Amsterdam is that you can ride in any direction with the wind at your back, then take the train back home.

I did just that today. I set out with no plans, and found myself blown inexorably towards the tulip fields. Continue reading

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HORIZONTAL RIDING – Texel Island

Riding with the wind for a change.

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

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DUTCH ID – the best electric bike?

A sight I won't see so often in future...Mevrouw T cycling behind me.

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

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AMSTEL LOOP RIDE – 44 km of pleasure mingled with pain

The drink station at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.

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

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