NL 2

today i struck out on my own to explore the dutch countryside outside of r'dam, meaning i had no specific plan, map or destination, just me, my masi single speed, 4 hours and a countryside full of bike lanes. it has finally cooled off a bit here and it was quite windy. the clouds blew through all afternoon and luckily did not drench me as expected.

some observations:

1] scooters doing +55KMH on single lane bike paths suck going both directions.

2] using sheep to keep the vegetation under control along bike paths sucks for various reasons, i am sure you can do the math. [unfortunately blogger does not have a scratch and sniff function.]

3] farm land is nice to look at [unfortunately blogger does not have a scratch and sniff function.]

4] i don't know what gear most city bikes have here, but from my humble observation, they are way to low and hard to push, and consequently always in my way.

5] one actually has too hit the start button on a garmin 305 for it to start recording, unlike a cycleop's powertap that just starts like a normal bike computer.

6] a more advanced dutch road sign vocabulary might be good to have.

7] gail force headwinds more than make up for the fact that there is no climbing in NL.

[i should be smiling, as i was giddy with joy to be training in NL, were they give bikes their own road, that is removed from the auto lanes and there is no sheep manure on this section]

[bike lane art, putting those tax euros to work]

NL day 1

[isn't she purdy, thanks masi]

so today was the first day back on the bike in NL, after a rest-bit fighting mosquitos in sweden. it felt great to get in some good flat miles on the masi single speed, ahead of the the six day season [throw that in to make tim jealous]. i put in about 50K today and should be ramping up to about 100K by weeks end.

the masi worked great and the single speed was a perfect choice to bring with me this time to train around rotterdam. the bike lanes in NL are great, although the speed of public traffic is a drag sometimes to deal with. the few K on the paving pave is also a good workout, especially when you throw in a good headwind. even with a strong bike culture here, it still amazes me how the drivers on a single lane road buzz bikes.

[all old school]

[the scenery was not bad ether]

[LA river or NL canal?]