Cycling

An ongoing theme during this holiday has been T's cycling races. He is a serious racer and disappears out the door at least 3 times a week, often returning with flowers - cyclists in Holland receive these if they get a place. He went racing on the day I arrived and came first; he thought I might have brought him luck, as he usually comes second or third, but not first. Yesterday I accompanied him to a race in Utrecht and he won again - by quite an impressive margin (above).

The racing world has its own social life and I am getting to know some of the people involved, especially Els who is married to Kees. She speaks a smattering of English and I speak no Dutch, but we have a good friendship already. I met her at the national time trials last Sunday before we went to Veen - my first experience of racing. No-one spoke English so I learnt to count in Dutch very quickly as the announcer called out the times of the laps. Tim did not do as well as he hoped in those trials, but Kees won, making him the national time trial champion for the over 60s group.

Above: Tim the winner (Kees is 3rd)