Look out the window today and its raining, damn man! ............. I hate it when it rains here in Holland.

Its 8.00am so I wonder out to the dinning area to have breakfast with my team mates. Usual fare of Vanilla Vla (a kind of Dutch custard), bread and lots of coffee especially for me! I love the "Tiger bread" too ......... the Dutch call them that coz of the stripes formed in the oven on the crust?? Go to Holland and you will see it in every bakery or "bakerij"??

Sullen seems to sum up the mood this morning, I guess everyone is thinking of the friggin cold that is gonna cut straight to our bones when we hit the road! Sigh! After a long breakfast, seems long usually long as  I guess everyone is prolonging the stay before we get in to the cold fray ..................... we go to our rooms and we get ready for the cold wet ride that awaits us. First is the long leg warmers, after that bibs shorts, a woolen inner shirt to keep warm, jersey number one with long sleeves and finally jersey number two the regular short sleeve one. Secondly water proof over-shoes keep the toes warm and just before we set off a clear rain cape! Takes a whole 30 minutes to dress like a clown to the eyes of the common folk and yes even in a cycling country like this one, there are still people who have not seen "dolled up" bicycle riders in colorful gear! heh! heh!

The first thing that hits you on the bike after you set off is the cold wind! The first 30 minutes you shiver like someone who just got electrocuted. Your face feels like it is stretching side ways, insides of your nose is hurting, the fingers don't work, your toes feel numb and your eyes tear like someone just passed away but in this case you'd wish it was you! The only thing you have control over is how fast to pedal so that you can keep warm this way! But you forget that your fingers don't feel much in this cold rain and before you know it someone's on the ground! There's 8 of us so it can be messy when there is a crash. Funny thing is that the fallen guys tend to get up really quick and we were on our way again! Pain can wait ........................ keeping warm is the key word here! We could have broken our legs and we still could get up to ride to keep warm, the cold is something one has to experience to understand!

After 4 hours of rain, cold, wind and no feel of your fingers we finally reached the end of our training ride. We got off our bikes ran straight to our bath rooms and took hot showers while still in our wet clothes! These days riding in the cold was never something I wanted to do but I guess when in Rome you do what the Romans do....Right? These day, I gladly ride in the rain at home here in the tropics, the hot humid weather isn't so bad if you get use to it and besides it is easier to get use to the warm than cold. Once in awhile, I get people asking me how I managed to ride to work in the rain? They lamented that the roads are slick and the brakes don't work ....blah!....blah!....blah! My advice is buy good expensive tyres and proper brake pads and besides, I guess I don't have a choice do I? I don't have the luxury of a car so I guess I will have to ride come rain, shine and if it ever snows here and Lo and Behold temperature drops below 10 degrees..................................I WILL BE READY!!!

 

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