indoor training

In company...much more fun!

The session was led by the Pirate on the whistle...one beep for go like hell, two for go easy!
"Russian Steps" they call it, increasing effort periods and decreasing recovery periods, up to a minute of each,then back down to the beginning...only eleven efforts....but nobody asked for more, even though he offered!!

The cycling club has some members who are also members of the sailing club, so we have a place to train, and the sailing club benefits as well.

Trip to Alkmaar

 ferry from Newcastle...well, Port of Tyne.....and a lovely sunset....

 then sleep(?!!) on the overnight ferry to Ijmuiden (akaAmsterdam, on the tickets!)

 half an hour's drive across Noord Holland, 10k past Alkmaar to Schoorl, where we stayed on a holiday bungalow site for a week.

 while we trained every day on the track, then raced on the last weekend.

 and saw plenty windmills and wind turbines

 and huge allotment garden sites around Alkmar

 and bikes for hire...

 sign for a pottery workshop, mainly for handicapped people in Schoorl...but others can use it too.

 by the main road and canal, houses with tile and reed thatch

 and bikes everywhere!!

 the velodrome at Alkmaar Sportpalais

 himself (on my bike as we had to bike share!) he did well in his races...not fast, but feeling better and it does him good mentally to be back on his bike

 after the racing, we still go in circles!  and we had supper together too...good Dutch food and hospitality.

 Then a day off...walking around Alkmaar. Our friends chose the boat trip..

 and we chose to walk...saw the building with the cheese museum which was the main cheese mart and import/export building by the quay.

 and a walk around the old town.  We know where we'll be returning to!

 of course we bought cheese...and good honey!

 back to the velodrome to collect our bikes from the stores

 and pack the car.........

 and on to the ferry again

 but not before frites and mayo!!

 and the smaller Dutch tall ship came into Ijmuiden as we waited to leave the harbour

 our last sight of the Nederlands...for now!

 and the sun set in a cloudy sky...

 time for supper, and bed....and a better night's sleep on deck 11 on the way back....deck 2 was rather noisy and hot on the way out!!

back to Scotland for a mountain of washing and gardening catch-up....

a bike day

 Today we sent off the riders, at minute intervals on the Ayr Roads Cycling Club's Hill climb time trial.     This is looking back down from the Nic o' the Balloch as the last spectator breasted the climb by the finish.....and this is the view the other way from the top.

 and here they all are, with the finishing times being read by the top timekeeper.

Then The Pirate and me went to Glasgow for a session on the velodrome....hard work and preferable to this morning....warm and dry!!

back on the bike

The Pirate has his training "circuit"...an old bit of the main road about 8 k long..quite "lumpy" too.  Today was the first time I'd ridden it on a decent (borrowed) road bike.

You can add a "sting in the tail" by riding up one dead end (or "no exit" road it is called here) called Hill Road...as they say, it does what it says on the tin!!

Looking down, and across The Waikato..the centre of which is a peat dome....

and looking up to the hill... and unlike Scots and Welsh hills, they go steeply up....and steeply down, no plateau in sight.

This is our last day officially in these colours as we both change clubs for 2013.

Funnily enough we'll just be swapping club nationality...as he'll be riding for Bush Healthcare, a Welsh racing team, and I'll be a member of the Sandy Wallace racing team from Fife!

Then I left The Pirate to do two more hour's riding, and came back across a local  small road.

You can see the effect of several hundred cows crossing the road twice a day....
cow dung is very corrosive to road metal.    In most places now they are not giving any licences for cattle to cross the road, and underpasses are built for the road crossing.

This is also quite near the  cycle track, financed personally by the NZ  prime minister from his own pocket.

This goes from Te Aroha to Thames with a branch off near Paeroa towards Waihi, and is steadily growing.
 It is a pity to see the railways struggling...but good to see the track being constructively used.