David's Blog

Utrecht is the 4th largest city in the Netherlands, just 30 minutes by train to the south of Amsterdam. It is very similar in appearance and age to Amsterdam, although it's a lot smaller and quieter. Not so many tourists.
The canals in Amsterdam are busy with boats, but in Utrecht, you can rent a kayak and just row thru town. There's one main rectangular canal belt that takes about an hour to row thru going pretty slow. A 2 person kayak works out well so one person can row and the other can make a documentary:

The main attraction in Utrecht is the Domkerk which in Dutch literally means dumb church, but in this case "dom" is refering to a dome. The tower is quite tall for the Netherlands. Amsterdam has nothing close to that height. You can see the top of the tower in the center of this picture:

Did you want a better view of the Domkerk?

I don't know if this is typical of Utrecht, but it happened in Utrecht, so I'll tell you about it. An italian food stand sells calzones, pizza, etc. But on this day no pizza. Why not? Because the guy who makes pizza is on vacation. Couldn't the guy who makes calzones, not fold it? Or couldn't someone else make pizza? It's like a bar not serving beer, because the guy with the bottle opener is on vacation.

Labels: netherlands

Posted by David at 3:53 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Just one example of the many tasty things you can buy at various street markets around Amsterdam.

Labels: food, netherlands

Posted by David at 3:46 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Speed skating may not be very popular in the US, but if you recall from February, three US men each got a gold medal. The speed and the camera angles distort the fact that they're skating on a 400 meter track, same size as a running track. Completely indoors and covered in ice. There are a few such tracks in the US, but I had to come to the Netherlands to give it a try. Here's a picture from the inside of the stadium named "Thialf". I nor anyone I asked was aware of the name's origin.

This track is in Heerenveen which is a 2 hour train ride north from Amsterdam. It's in the province Friesland (Fries as in freeze, not as in french fries), where by no coincidence the canals freeze and speed skating (known here as "skating") is the most popular sport. There are actually pro speed skating teams, much like pro cycling teams. There are many similarities between speed skating and cycling. When the track closed for the day, most people switched their skating skinsuit for a cycling jersey/shorts and rode home. Here are a few bikers you might run into while speedskating:

I claim to be a good inline skater, and have ice skated many times, but I was surprised to find that using speed skates was remarkbly difficult. The shoe doesn't go above the ankle and the blade is very thin. It's a very wobbly feeling. After a while I felt more comfortable as you can see by my skills in this video. Seeing how fast other people skated is really impressive.

Keep in mind this is not only the middle of the summer, this is the middle of a heat wave. Wearing pants, a jacket, and gloves in a really big indoor ice rink does seem to exude unneccessary energy consumption, but they only keep it open for 2 weeks, and rest assured, I have no interest in being anywhere near Friesland in the winter. There are many open air 400 meter ice tracks around the country in the winter including one across the street from the Alkmaar velodrome.

Labels: netherlands

Posted by David at 8:58 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The Dutch national team trains at the indoor 250m velodrome in Alkmaar, about 30km north of Amsterdam.

A closer look at the roof and support columns. I think it looks like the underside of an open umbrella.

Think you have good bike handling skills? Try sending a text message while riding on the black line!

This is Cees. (pronounced 'case') He's the goat that hangs out around the velodrome.

Labels: animals, cycling, netherlands

Posted by David at 12:33 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Traded my road bike for a ladies city bike. Handlebars high enough to sit upright. A handy bell in case anyone gets in my way. A light that's powered by the wheel's motion (which doesn't work), and best of all, no top tube, so I can get on and off quickly and comfortably. Unfortunately, I'll never get used to coaster brakes. I am constantly reminded by the sudden jolt, don't pedal backwards while coasting!

Labels: amsterdam, cycling, netherlands

Posted by David at 11:40 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

You're all aware Holland is a tolerant place. A lot of things just aren't a big deal when your country's founders weren't Puritans. But when it comes to alcohol, the Dutch are strict. Strict like America. These signs are posted in every market. They'll card you and if you're too young, you can't buy it, don't even try. You'll just have to wait 'til your 16.

Labels: amsterdam, netherlands, signs

Posted by David at 11:22 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Every once in a while, the tour comes to the Netherlands. Stage 3 of the 2006 tour finished in Valkenburg which is in the very southern tip of the Netherlands. It's closer to Germany and Belgium than it is to Amsterdam. This is a popular place for bike racing. It hosted the 1999 World Championships and the Amstel Gold race finishes up the Cauberg climb every year. The dutch national championships were in nearby Maastricht last week (see earlier post).

Given the proximity to other countries and the fame of this climb, there were an insane amount of people there. About 500,000 in a town with a population of 4,000.
This video shows tons of people just at the base of the climb.

To pass the time, people threw cups of beer at people on the other side of the road, or better yet at the people waving from the publicity vehicles driving through the course.
It had to be one the hottest and most humid days ever. I found some shade and space on a flatter part of the course with 4km to the finish.
Don't blink. The pack just flew by.

Once the main pack went by I cut across back to the Cauberg to see the stragglers/crash victims finishing.

Is it worth sitting on a train 6 hours (roundtrip), and standing around in really hot weather for 3 hours....to see the tour go by for 2 seconds? When I put it that way, no, not really. It's only worthwile to spectate a time trial, a climbing stage, or a circuit race. But I'll do it again in two weeks watching the final stage in Paris. At least there they do 10 laps of the finishing circuit. When you're an American cycling fan in Europe in July, you'd be overrun with guilt if you didn't stop by the tour once or twice.

Labels: cycling, netherlands

Posted by David at 6:38 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Student housing made out of shipping containers. When I heard about this, it didn't seem too appealing. Would you want to live in a shipping container?
But they constructed a pretty nice complex. Each "building" is about 5 containers high and 15 wide. There are around 10 of these structures. Walkways on one end, balconies on the other. No windows on the sides but both ends are glass. I'm not sure how you design a plumbing system through shipping containers, but someone figured it out. Each container has a kitchen and bathroom. So there you have it...student housing built from shipping containers. A great idea, an economical idea, and you won't see it in America.

Labels: amsterdam, netherlands

Posted by David at 6:15 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It's not too often that I get to be in a follow vehicle at a pro race in europe. So far, it happens every 24th year. I'll try to make it a more frequent occurence, because it really is the best place to be during a race and I would even argue it's the best place to be, period. How does one get to sit shotgun in a team car for a race? It helps to be a team director, a mechanic, or in some cases it works to be a well-connected cycling fan;)
Some background info: Gerrie Knetemann was a well known pro racer from back in the day and more recently he was the national team coach. He died last year and this race was created in his memory. The race was 5 laps on a 30 km loop in eastern netherlands, close to germany in a reasonably hilly area with nice big U.S. sized homes, and narrow curvy roads (please see earlier post regarding lack of straightaways). The participants were mostly dutch racers and dutch pro teams. A handful of top dutch pros that are on foreign teams raced together as the national team. You might be familiar with such guys as Servais Knaven (Quick Step), Karsten Kroon (CSC), and Max Van Heeswijk (Discovery). A fourth well known cyclist joins them for this picture:

National team coach Egon Van Kessel gives a pre-race pep talk. "Now listen guys, you're all here cuz your teams didn't think you were good enough for the tour, but you're a hell of a lot better than anyone else here. You're all wearing different jerseys and I don't pay you, so let's have some fun."

Does Max Van Heeswijk ever stop smiling? So far the answer is no. Not before the race, not during the race, not after race.

Waiting in the caravan for the race to start. In the caravan lottery we got number 15. Not so good when there's 20 teams.

I thought it might be boring to sit in the 15th car, after all, I wouldn't see the race much. I was wrong. There's the race radio, the radios with the riders, joking around with the other team managers, driving erratically on closed roads, enjoying the scenery and spectators. The team car is a busy place. And in a really big race there'd also be a laptop, TV, gps, etc. Four hours flies by. One minute you're chatting with the Rabobank guys.

The next minute it's Jeroen Blijlevens driving the official race car.

Two of our guys were in the breakaway and once the gap reached over a minute, our car was allowed to move up. That was great because now I'd actually be watching the race. Here's video of us passing the field.

Another video watching the race from behind.


You also get to see the riders a little bit more when they drop back to the cars for bottles and food. Usually the exchanges are pretty quick but in this video, Karsten Kroon is taking a while. It seems like he wanted water but the bottle he got was a sports drink.

The gap grew to almost 3 minutes, but near the end it got reeled in....way to spoil the fun Landbouwkrediet-Colnago. Consequently the car had to go back and I didn't see the finish. A Rabobank rider won. But Max Van Heewswijk was still smiling. All in a day's work. It wouldn't be a bike race if there wasn't post-race standing around in chamoises (or whatever the plural of chamois is).

Labels: cycling, netherlands

Posted by David at 1:21 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The video quality from a Canon digital camera is surprisingly good, but also surprising was how large the video files are. YouTube compresses it quite a bit, but it's the best option I know of for sharing videos online. If you watch this video real close, you can see Michael Boogerd zipping by solo and crossing the finish line. This was the pro race for the Dutch national championships held in Maastricht, the only real hilly area in the Netherlands. The Amstel Gold race is also held in this area in the spring. Only around 30 or 40 racers finished probably because of some rain, the climbs (Dutch climbs are also known as "flat roads" in Switzerland) and all the turns. From the 3 dutch races I've seen so far, I'm convinced there is a rule forbidding straightaways longer than 200m in any part of a Dutch race.


Here's the start/finish area. I wonder who the title sponsor is. hmm. Maybe it's vodafone?



Whoa, that's a pretty big jersey, maybe T-mobile's the sponsor.



Riders coming through the start/finish.



Michael Boogerd gets the dutch champions jersey for the 10 millionth time. Just like Lance...once you find a good race, you just win it year after year without any other top results.


The Maas River. Whoa, that's gotta be the widest river I've ever seen, which doesn't mean a whole lot because I haven't seen too many rivers.

Labels: cycling, netherlands

Posted by David at 7:38 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Just south of the city is a 2km long rowing venue, called the Bos Baan because it's a track (baan) along the Amsterdam Bos (forest). From what I'm told, it was built (or shall I say dug...you don't build a hole) in the 1930s to create jobs. Nothing stimulates an economy like a big digging project. Probably due to canals and rivers everywhere, rowing is a pretty popular sport here.

Labels: amsterdam, cycling, netherlands

Posted by David at 5:05 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

There are a lot of things in the Netherlands that you won't see in America. There are a few stereotypical things that come to mind, but don't mistake things that you don't see with things that are illegal. For example, in spite of being illegal you can see plenty of marijuana in America, so I've heard. But you definitely won't see South Park with Dutch subtitles. If I remember correctly, in this frame, Cartman says. "Don't you get it? If someone enters the special olympics who isn't really handicapped, there's no way he can't win". The Dutch translation says "If someone presents himself as handicapped, he can easily win the prize." Learning a language is just one of many reasons why watching TV is so educational.

Labels: amsterdam, netherlands

Posted by David at 6:08 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post