Category Archives: Cycling in the Netherlands

I am not a Grimpeur

Posted on August 29, 2024 by alchemyrider

A grimpeur is a climbing specialist. A lightweight cyclist who can ride especially well up inclines. I am not one of those. I am more Magnus Backstedt, a retired professional cyclist who raced weighing 95 kg (209 lb), than Tadej Pogačar, who won this year’s Tour de France weighing 66 kg (146 lb).

Perhaps fortuitously, I started road cycling in Houston. A city where the only climbs are on overpasses.

Map courtesy of en-gb.topographic-map.com

This topographic map shows just how flat Houston and the surrounding area are. I hadn’t realised that Commerce Towers, where I lived in Houston, is in the highest part of the city, at 46 m (151 ft) above sea level. It is downhill from there to West End Bicycles where my group rides started. Doña Maria, our Sunday destination for breakfast tacos, is even lower.

You must drive about 48 km (30 mi) west to Katy and onward another 43 km (27 mi) to Bellville (elevation 92 m) to do any hill cycling.

I moved from Houston to Den Haag. Another city not noted for hills. Much of the surrounding area is below sea level.

I lived on Van Hougenhoucklaan which is 5 m (16 ft) above sea level. The sand dunes to the west are a natural form of coastal defence. They form the highest parts of the west of the country. You go 43 km (27 mi) east to Ruiterberg to find land twice as high as Noordwijk. Or 170 km (106 mi) south to Valkenberg which sits at 137 m (450 ft) above sea level.

I moved back to Kuala Lumpur after two years of pan-flat cycling in the western Netherlands.

My first ride in Malaysia was to Genting Sempah which is 637 m (2,090 ft) above sea level. That was a shock to my system.

I don’t have to go far from home to find a hill. Bukit Damansara is 6 km (4 mi) west of Anggun Residences. I climb 80 m (262 ft) to get there. Higher climbs lie to the east. Anything from 158 m (518 ft) above sea level to 500 m (1,640 ft) above sea level.

The terrain to the west isn’t as high, but it is rolling. An 18.7 km (11.6 mi) ride along the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) can include 361 m (1,184 ft) of climbing as you cycle up and down between 16 m (52 ft) and 70 m (230 ft) above sea level.

I can’t avoid hills, especially if I start riding from home. Climbing is hard work. In my case, the effort is worth it. I enjoy the payoff a lot.

Image courtesy of designer.microsoft.com

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in Texas, Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Bukit Damansara, Climbing, Den Haag, Genting Sempah, Grimpeur, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Houston, Kuala Lumpur, West End Bicycles. Bookmark the permalink.

How Many Road Bikes Do You Own?

Posted on March 20, 2024 by alchemyrider

I subscribe to a weekly e-newsletter from Road Bike Rider. Each issue closes with a Question of the Week. These were the options for a recent poll:

Just my one road bike
2 road bikes
3 road bikes
4 road bikes
5 or more road bikes because you can never have too many

This is the result of that poll:

I am among the 26.81% of 1,854 respondents who own three road bikes. Over 85% own more than one road bike. Perhaps not surprising given that the respondents are readers of a cycling publication.

How did I come to own three bicycles?

I bought my first road bike in 2010. My steel Alchemy.

By 2011 I was living in The Netherlands, riding a lot, and wanting a frame that was stiffer than my steel frame. Alchemy built a titanium + carbon bike for me. These two bikes came home with me to Kuala Lumpur in 2012.

In 2013, I made plans to ride the BP MS150 and the TD 5 Boro Bike Tour in Texas and New York, respectively. I needed a bike that was easy to travel with. I bought a Ti Ritchey Break-Away.

I made another trip to the US in 2015 for a cycling vacation. Alchemy Bicycle Company had by then relocated from Austin, Texas, to Golden, Colorado. My cycling vacation was based 40 km away from Golden, in Boulder. Convenient, as I could order another bike from Alchemy, pick it up when I arrived and ride it on my Cognoscenti adventure. That would be much more fun than travelling with my Break-Away.

To make room for my new Alchemy Eros, I sold my two other Alchemy bikes. The steel bike went to a friend in KL, and the Ti bike went to a colleague who took it with him when he returned to Canada.

I bought the steel bike back in 2019. The friend I sold it to only rode it a few times in five years. After a conversation with my Biker Chick, we agreed that I should buy it back for sentimental reasons if nothing else.

I ride all three bikes. To get a view of use over the bicycles’ lifetimes, I dug into my Strava data, and this is the result:

The graph shows the three road bikes I own now and the Ti bike I sold in 2015.

The Eros is by far the bike I ride the most. It is the one that is most comfortable for any ride longer than 50 kilometres.

That historical 1:1 ratio of the number of rides on the Eros versus the total number of rides on the steel and Break-Away bikes holds today. So far in 2024, I have ridden the Eros sixteen times and the steel bike and the Break-Away a combined total of seventeen times. I do enjoy alternating between them all.

There is an old joke among cyclists. Ask the question, “How many bikes do you need?” and the answer is, “Well, if N is the number of bikes you have, N+1 is the number of bikes you need.”

I don’t need three bicycles, let alone four or more. I can do without the Break-Away. The last time I packed that bike into its case for travel was in 2018. Despite its sentimental value, I could part with the steel bike.

I do like the three bikes that I own, though. I will keep them for as long as I can.

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Posted in Cycling in Colorado, Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in New York, Cycling in Texas, Cycling in the Netherlands, Gear and Tools and tagged Alchemy Bicycle Company, Bicycle, bicycles, bike, Cognoscenti, Cycling, Ritchey Break-Away, Road Bike Rider, travel. Bookmark the permalink.

A 14-Year Cycling Summary

Posted on January 4, 2024 by alchemyrider

Strava and other activity tracking apps send out personalised annual activity summaries. My 2023 Strava cycling summary shows a bit of an uptick since a steady decline starting in 2018.

I took a look back at my cycling history as recorded on Strava. The chart below shows the year-on-year increase or decrease for total distance, total elevation, number of rides and average distance per ride for each year from 2010 to 2023.

The numbers show overall high and low totals in the relevant year.

Data courtesy of Strava, RWGPS and VeloViewer

I started cycling in September 2009. Just after starting a new job in Houston. This post explains why I started cycling:

It Started With a Loud Pop

The first ride I recorded on Strava was in Houston on 31st January 2010. By then I had graduated from my first bike, a Trek 7.5 FX hybrid, to a custom-built steel road bike from Alchemy Bicycle Company.

This post is about the process of getting that road bike:

Jumping Into the Deep End

My last ride in Houston was in April 2010. My next ride was in June 2010, on a rental bike while I was waiting for my Alchemy to arrive in my new home in The Netherlands.

This post describes that first Dutch ride:

Welkom in Nederland

The Netherlands now has 33,000km of dedicated cycling paths. I covered 9,787km exploring those paths in 2012. It helped that I had a lot of time to cycle because I wasn’t working while I was in the Netherlands.

This post describes some of the aids to navigating that vast network of bike paths:

Where Do I Go From Here?

I miss those bike paths to this day.

My last Dutch ride was in September 2012. I had my first ride in Malaysia two weeks later, thanks to having air-freighted my bicycles home to Kuala Lumpur.

That ride was courtesy of a former colleague who introduced me to her cyclist brother. He linked me up with the Racun Cycling Gang:

Step One: Find the Meeting Point

I started working full-time again in 2013, so I couldn’t ride whenever I wanted. What my new Malaysian riding buddies and I were doing was cycling on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Nevertheless, I rode less in 2013 than I had in 2012. What did increase that year was the metres climbed. There are more hills around Kuala Lumpur than around Houston and Den Haag!

2014 saw my mileage fall to 3,198km. I did 59 rides, a third of what I did in 2012. I don’t remember why, but we did fewer Tuesday and Thursday night rides. I think marriages and births had something to do with it.

The major reason for the decline in 2014 was my crash in May:

Better an Ounce of Luck Than a Pound of Gold

That kept me off my bike for more than three months.

Regular service resumed in 2015. I rode 10,096km, including five imperial century (160km or more) rides and twenty-one other rides of more than 100km. That started a five-year streak of cycling 10,000km or more per year.

2015 was also the year when I did my first cycling vacation:

The Cognoscenti Adventure

There are seven posts about my Cognoscenti adventure. You can read the following posts by clicking on the link or the arrow above and to the right of the post title.

The upward trend continued in 2016 and 2017. 2016 was when I had my longest ride. 445km in 27 hours:

Audax BRM400 Malaysia 2016 Part 1

2017 was the year I rode the furthest, the most often, and climbed the most. The year began with a 301km ride on New Year’s Day. By the end of the year, I had completed sixty metric century (100km or more) rides.

I rode more than 10,000km in 2018 and 2019. Including completing the Rapha Festive 500. A streak of Festive 500s that started in 2016.

2020 marks the start of the COVID-19 Restricted Movement Orders in Malaysia. Despite only doing 24 rides in five months, I rode enough in the other months to rack up 152 rides for the year. That included an Audax 300 ride in August.

But 2020 was the start of a decline in annual mileage.

As you can see from the graph at the top of this post, my mileage fell in 2021 and 2022. I did 151 rides in 2021, which is a surprise as I had seven weeks off the bike after knee surgery. Despite doing just one less ride than I did the previous year, the average distance per ride fell. I covered 1,763km less than in 2020.

There were 99 rides in 2022. I was in Colombia for six months, where I cycled once.

I did manage to complete another Rapha Festive 500, though.

2023 started with the 115km Audax Pink Ride 6.0.

Photograph courtesy of Audax Randonneurs Malaysia

I had 41 more rides in 2023 than I had in 2022. But again, the average distance per ride was lower. This time by 10km. Despite riding more often, my total distance was just 650km more than my 2022 distance.

Hopefully, 2024 will bring another uptick in the total distance covered. The 120km Audax Pink Ride 7.0 is on the cards!

Image courtesy of Audax Randonneurs Malaysia

That will be my first metric century ride since the Pink Ride 6.0.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in Texas, Cycling in the Netherlands, Gear and Tools and tagged Audax, biking, Cycling, Strava. Bookmark the permalink.

Weer Fietsen in Nederland

Posted on December 18, 2015 by alchemyrider

My Ritchey Break-Away came with me on a trip to Cuba. Unfortunately I didn’t do any riding in Cuba. My bike stayed in its case in La Habana while the group I was with explored Cuba by van. About 1,800kms / 1,100mi over nine days.

I saw a lot of Cubans on bicycles, especially in towns outside La Habana. Some towns have pedal powered taxis.

A number of visitors were on touring bikes, especially on the south coast around Trinidad. And we drove past these guys on road bikes in La Habana one evening.

I brought my bike with me because my biker chick and I had a stopover in Den Haag on the way home. My bike was out of its case and I was on the fietspaden (bike paths) the day after we arrived in the Netherlands. It was so nice to be back in the dunes.

It was not so nice to be back in the wind.

Welkom in Nederland!

The group I cycled with when I lived in Den Haag, the Not Possibles, is still going strong. I joined them for their regular Saturday ride.

I say “joined.” In reality I got dropped within the first five kilometers of leaving DAKA Leidschendam. I blamed it on the flu bug I picked up in Cuba.

Fortunately Jeff was kind enough to ride with me as I sniffled and coughed my way around the Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk to Hazwerswoude to Kruisweg to Leidschenveen loop, and back to the Coffee Club in Leidschendam.

It was nice to see old friends, and to meet new ones, over a coffee or two.

I rode six more times. Alone, or with Jeff, or with David and Jeff, and one more time with the Not Possibles. By that second ride with the Not Possibles I had flushed most of the flu bug out of my system. I can honestly say that I rode “with” them that day.

What a great place for cycling the Netherlands is. There are bike paths like this one to explore.

The countryside is lovely.

And of course there is this to look forward to . . .

Now if the Dutch could find a way to eliminate getting something like this in your tyre, the Netherlands would be absolutely fantastic for cycling :).

That puncture was a small price to pay for a wonderful week on my bike. This is what I will remember.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Den Haag, Ritchey Break-Away, The Coffee Club, The Not Possibles. Bookmark the permalink.

An Abridged History

Posted on July 1, 2015 by alchemyrider

June has been a quiet month for riding. The weather, weekend travel, illness and idleness have all kept me off my bikes. I started 2015 with aspirations to average 1,000km a month. So far I am 150km per month short of that goal. Nevertheless 2015 is shaping up to be one of my better years for cycling.

I consider my first day as an avid cyclist to be Sunday January 31st, 2010. That was the day Big Bill B guided me on a 53km loop around Houston, including a food stop at Carter & Cooley Company Delicatessen in The Heights.

It was the first time I rode with a Garmin cycling computer on my handlebar, which allowed me to commit this and all future rides to that collective memory that is the internet. I am a bit of a ride data geek. I started feeding that habit with Garmin Connect. After a few years I supplemented that with Ride With GPS, and very soon after Strava was added to the mix. Lately Veloviewer has joined the party.

Why so many tracking apps? In my case, mostly because they each provide different ways to view my ride data. Ride With GPS provides nice summaries by month or year. I can see what my buddies have been up to in Strava. Veloviewer makes annual comparisons easy. Charts like these ones provide the grist for this post.

Charts courtesy of Veloviewer

Between January and the end of April 2010 I rode in and around Houston. Those rides included my first century ride, The Space Race, and my first BP MS150.

Heat Map courtesy of Strava

My biker chick had started her new job in Den Haag, The Netherlands, in April. So my bike spent May in a container, along with our other possessions, on a ship bound for Europe.

I spent the rest of the year exploring the bike paths around Den Haag.

I logged 2,831kms in 2010. My average ride distance was 59kms. My average ride time was 2 hours 28 minutes.

In 2011 my total distance covered jumped to 6,886kms. My average distance went up slightly to 63kms. The average ride length went up in tandem to 2 hours 33 minutes.

Much of that increase in total distance ridden is testament to the outstanding cycling infrastructure in The Netherlands. You can’t help but get on your bicycle in a country where the riding in so safe, convenient, and scenic.

In 2012 my mileage again jumped significantly over the previous year. To 11,019kms. The average distance stayed almost the same at 62.25kms. I picked up speed though, with my rides averaging 2 hours 29 minutes.

Heat map courtesy of Strava

Almost all of my riding over these two years was in The Netherlands. I did occasionally venture further afield. I made my first extended cycling trip in 2011. I went to Ninove in Belgium, to ride in the Ronde van Vlaanderen sportif.

In 2012 I did the Ronde van Vlaanderen again, which started and ended this time in Oudernaarde. I also took two trips to Maastricht, for the UCI World Championships and the Amstel Gold sportifs.

Heat map courtesy of Strava

In October 2012 my biker chick and I returned to Kuala Lumpur. My bikes (by this time I had two) followed soon after by air freight. So it wasn’t long before I was immersing myself in the relatively new and booming road cycling scene in Malaysia.

Cycling in Kuala Lumpur reminds me a lot of cycling in Houston. You share the roads with traffic. Sometimes a lot of traffic. City riding is best done at night, when the roads, or motorcycle lanes where provided, are quieter. The popular daytime cycling routes are mostly outside the city.

In 2013 I started venturing further afield. Century rides in various cities around the country become a regular activity, including one international road trip to Hatyai in Thailand.

Despite the number of century rides, my mileage in 2013 was only 7,102kms. My rides had become shorter, averaging 49kms and 1 hour 58 minutes per ride. I remember that tropical rainstorms had a lot to do with curtailing riding time in 2013.

The downward trend continued in 2014. I had four months of enforced time off my bikes because of a crash, and two unrelated surgeries. Those breaks from cycling resulted in only 3,918kms ridden. My average ride was surprisingly long though, at 66kms and 2 hours 35 minutes.

Heat map courtesy of Strava

Almost all of my cycling since the end of 2012 has been in Malaysia. The exceptions were in 2013, when I flew to the United States to ride in the BP MS150 from Houston to Austin, and to ride in the 5 Boros Ride in New York City. In between those rides I visited an old friend in Denver, where I managed to squeeze in a few rides as well. I came home with bicycle number three.

Heat Map courtesy of Strava

That bicycle is a Ritchey Breakaway. It came with me to Melbourne in December 2013. My last cycling trip away from home to date.

Heat map courtesy of Strava

2015 looks good so far. I am up to 5,078kms as at the end of June. My average ride length for the year is 71kms. I must be a bit fitter than I was last year too. I am riding on average 5kms further this year as compared to last, but my average time is the saddle is only 3 minutes more, at 2 hours 38 minutes.

I’m hoping to take at least one cycling trip outside Malaysia this year. And I am looking forward to staying healthy and spending as much time as possible riding.

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Posted in Cycling in Belgium, Cycling in Colorado, Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in New York, Cycling in Texas, Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Garmin Connect, Ride With GPS, Strava, Veloviewer. Bookmark the permalink.

Kilo Months

Posted on October 3, 2013 by alchemyrider

I started keeping track of my rides in January 2010. I had a new road bike, and an even newer Garmin Edge 705 cycle computer. Uploading the details to the Garmin Connect web site after every ride became standard practice. That year I rode 3,173 kilometers.

The heat map below shows where I rode for the first six months of 2010. The most-ridden routes are depicted in red. Click on the heat map to open the image in a new window. You will see that most of my kilometers were accrued on the West End Tuesday and Thursday evening rides, and the Sunday Taco rides through Houston.

Heat Map courtesy of Strava

I had some big rides outside metro Houston: The Humble Lions Club Ride, The Space Race, and the BP MS150. But I didn’t have a kilo month, which is my term for riding more than 1,000 kilometers in a month.

In mid-2010 I moved with my biker chick to The Netherlands. The excellent cycling infrastructure there gave me more opportunity to ride, albeit on my own as I didn’t connect with a cycling group until the following year.

I started riding with the Not Possibles in March 2011. The Saturday and occasional weekday rides with them boosted the distance I rode in 2011 to 6,985 kilometers. In 2012 that number increased to 11,054 kilometers. Almost of those kilometers were around Den Haag, with the 2011 and 2012 Ronde van Vlaanderen sportives, and the 2012 UCI World Championships sportive in Belgium thrown in for good measure.

Heat Map courtesy of Strave

I racked up my first kilo month in August 2011. The fine summer weather allowed me to ride eighteen times that month for a total of 1,085 kilometers.

Somewhat surprisingly I didn’t have another kilo month until January 2012, when I rode 1,091 kilometers. I then had four more kilo months that year. March, and three in a row from June to August. My Not Possibles friends and I had a good summer that year. My biggest ever kilo month was in July, when I rode 1,718 kilometers. I had the luxury of being able to go on twenty five rides that month.

In October 2012 my biker chick and I moved home to Kuala Lumpur. My ride frequency and average distance dropped dramatically for some months before slowly increasing again. So it took more than a year before I had another kilo month, in September 2013. Helped by five rides of at least 100 kilometers each.

My 2013 heat map looks a lot like my 2010 Houston heat map in that most of my rides are limited to a couple of routes. Int his case KESAS and the Guthrie Corridor Expressway, with Putrajya and Genting Sempah thrown in for variety. Scattered around the map are the one-off events that I rode in Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan and Penang, My Racun buddies and I also rode to Fraser’s Hill, and I joined Dave Ern on a ride to Cameron Highlands. You can also read about the Bike X and Broga 116 rides.

Heat Map courtesy of Strava

It looks like I will ride about 7,300 kilometers in 2013. And perhaps have another kilo month this quarter. Garmin Connect will reveal all.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in Texas, Cycling in the Netherlands, Gear and Tools and tagged Den Haag, Edge 705, Garmin Connect, Genting Sempah, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Heat Map, Houston, KESAS, Kuala Lumpur, Not Possibles, Putrajaya, The Netherlands, West End. Bookmark the permalink.

Ramadan Rides

Posted on July 19, 2013 by alchemyrider

We are in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Ramadan. Which for Muslims means fasting during the daylight hours from dawn to dusk.

The Islamic lunar calendar year is eleven or twelve days shorter than the solar calendar year. There is no intercalation, or insertion of a leap day, week or month, to realign the lunar calendar with the solar calendar. So Ramadan migrates through the seasons.

My biker chick and I spent the last two Ramadan months in the Netherlands. Where the summer daylight hours extend for eighteen or more hours. There are advantages to being back in Malaysia where there is little variation in the length of the day throughout the year. Here we have only about fourteen hours between sahur, or the pre-fast meal, and iftar, or the fast-breaking meal.

The length of the fast at this time of the year in northern Europe means that iftar is not until almost 10pm. So rather than spend the last hours sitting at home thinking about food I would go for an evening bike ride. Sometimes on my own and sometimes in the company of David or others from the Not Possibles.

After a loop like this one, and a shower, I was very ready for that iftar drink and meal.

I did the Saturday morning Not Possibles rides as well. Those rides were too much fun to miss. A very large banana and blueberry smoothie at sahur set me up nicely for the ride. I must admit the post-ride koffie verkeerd and appeltaart at The Coffee Club were tempting.

Ramadan rides in Kuala Lumpur are a bit more challenging because of the heat and humidity. Fortunately with iftar being at 7.30pm or so there is no need for evening rides to divert the mind from food and drink. So rather than riding late in the day on an empty stomach, as I did in the Netherlands, I do the Tuesday and Thursday night rides in Kuala Lumpur on a very full stomach. I am usually eager to get started at 9pm, but during this month I am happy for any delay that adds to my digestion time.

Weekend rides will continue here as well during Ramadan. The heat and humidity mean that I have to be selective about the routes, and the pace. The Guthrie Corridor Expressway route is very open and gets too hot for a ride sans hydration. Which leaves Genting Sempah as the ride of choice. That route winds though forest so is shaded and breezy.

Photo courtesy of abuomar at http://basikalgunung.blogspot.com

Having lots of scenic spots for rest stops helps too.

Photo courtesy of Mark Lim

There is the elevation to deal with, but if taken at a relaxed pace that isn’t a problem. Most importantly for my non-fasting riding companions, the nasi lemak shop at the end of the ride is open during Ramadan.

I get to ride during Ramadan, and my non-Muslim friends get their teh tarik. Everyone is a winner!

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Genting Sempah, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, iftar, Ramadan, sahur, The Coffee Club, The Not Possibles. Bookmark the permalink.

Things to See on a Bike in the Netherlands: Wall Art

Posted on July 4, 2013 by alchemyrider

Drivers sometimes experience highway hypnosis. That state of driving on autopilot and arriving at the destination without any memory of what you saw along the way. Highway hypnosis is brought about by the monotony of driving along a boring road for an extended period of time.

I often finish a ride with little recollection of what was around me along the way. But not because the ride was monotonous. It is because the ride was fast.

The faster I ride the more I have to concentrate on the road just ahead of me. Looking out for pot holes, gravel, sand, broken glass and other debris which could bring my ride to an abrupt halt. If I am riding in a group my focus is even tighter; most of the time on the rider in front of me. Watching closely for sudden swerving or braking. So I miss a lot of what is around me.

There is a web site called 18 Miles Per Hour, where “speed, calmness and observation all live together.” The site is about seeing and absorbing the world around you while you ride. Good reasons for going on slow rides once in a while.

I know I missed a lot of wall art the Netherlands. Fortunately this wall was at the turn-around point in Alphen aan de Rijn. I was going slow enough to notice it.

M.C. Escher is a very well-known Dutch graphic artist. A number of his murals adorn buildings. This three-dimensional mural, titled Fish and Birds, is on the Delfluent water treatment plant in Scheveningen.

The Escher in het Paleis museum is in Den Haag. A large print of his Day and Night hangs over the entrance.

Look who I discovered living in Harmelen.

This mosaic is over the escalators that take pedestrians and cyclists in to and out of the south entrance of the Maastunnel in Rotterdam. The tunnel is 585 meters / 1,920 feet long, and runs up to 20 meters / 66 feet below the river Nieuwe Maas.

The mosaic on the north side, visible in the following video, features mermen instead of mermaids.

Translated Lyrics
Two big copper dome roofs: north and south
Is where this tunnel sees them all go in and out
On the escalator cyclists stand oblique
They carry bags with lunch and start their working week

[Chorus]
Back to you, under the river Maas
Back to you, your echo I can’t lose
Back to you, and endless corridor
Tiles up the wall, I long for more
Back to you

I just go on, for there is still no end in sight
I get back in time, by the 1940’s light
The escalators rattle on the other side
You – at the end of this long tunnel – end my ride

[Chorus]

Closer to home is this mosaic on a wall of the sports center in Voorschoten.

The bike path to Rottermeren runs under the A12 highway and the train tracks near Moerkapelle. The tunnels are tiled with patterns of flowers and birds.

This last piece was not on a wall but on the side of a truck. It is however quite emblematic of the Netherlands, which is the center of production for the European floral market, as well as a major international supplier to other continents. More than Euro 5 billion worth of cut flowers are exported annually.

It certainly is worth slowing down to smell the flowers once in a while.

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Posted in Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Alphen aan de Rijn, Den Haag, Harmelen, Maastunnel, Rotterdam, Voorschoten, Wall Art. Bookmark the permalink.

Things to See on a Bike in the Netherlands: Public Art

Posted on July 3, 2013 by alchemyrider

It is not just windmills, cheese and tulips in the Netherlands. The country is also a center for the visual arts, and has been since the 17^th century. Every town and city has at least one art museum. The Dutch website Museum.nl lists 325 museums in the ‘fine arts’ category.

If you want to see a Rembrandt, a Vermeer or a van Gogh you will of course have to visit a museum. (Click the arrow below to hear how the Dutch pronounce “Vincent van Gogh”).

Sculpture, on the other hand, is not confined to sculpture gardens like that at the Kröller-Müller Museum or the Museum Beelden aan Zee. Public art is everywhere in the Netherlands.

Some is in a classic style.

This statue commemorates the many Maassluis residents who have lost their lives at sea. The inscription on this statue is from the poem “The Sea” by Antoine “Toon” Hermans, a noted Dutch comedian, singer and writer.

It reads “. . . en de zee zal mijn zwijgen wel verstaan . . .” / “. . . and the sea will understand my silence . . . ”

This memorial is in Hoek van Holland. It is called “Channel Crossing to Life.” It commemorates the 10,000 mainly Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, who were permitted to enter England without their parents and escape Nazi persecution. Most crossed the English Channel to Harwich from Hoek van Holland.

This gentleman can be found in Delft.

This fine fellow is watching the world go by in Leiden.

Some public art is in a modern style.

This statue is in Maassluis.

The Dutch equine industry is highly regarded in the Sports Horse sector, and particularly in terms of the standard of breeding and bloodlines. The equine industry in the Netherlands is worth more than Euro 1.5 billion per year. This horse graces a field in Valkenburg.

I noticed Dick Tracey in Den Haag soon after I arrived. It was much later before I discovered that the building behind him is occupied by a branch of the Dutch police.

I’ve never seen anyone lounging on this seat in Hoek van Holland.

I am embarrassed to admit that I rode this route on the outskirts of Zoetermeer many times before I noticed this sculpture.

And some public art is just plain weird.

This melange of animals stands outside the Stadhuis in Den Haag.

Surrendering in Hoek van Holland.

This multi-headed creature is in the Grote Markt in Den Haag.

Somewhere near Rijpwetering. Interpretations anyone?

Classic, modern or weird: all are visible from your bicycle.

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Posted in Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Art, Delft, Den Haag, Hoek van Holland, Kröller-Müller Museum, Leiden, Maassluis, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Public Art, Rijpwetering, Sculpture, Valkenburg, Zoetermeer. Bookmark the permalink.

Stuck Indoors

Posted on June 28, 2013 by alchemyrider

Peat lands, forests and palm oil plantations are burning in Riau province, Sumatra. At this time of the year westerly monsoon winds blow from Indonesia across the Strait of Malacca to Malaysia.

Malaysia uses the Air Pollution Index (API) to measure air quality. The amount of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter in the air is used to calculate the API. A value above 100 is unhealthy. A value above 200 is very unhealthy. A value above 300 is hazardous. People are advised to stay indoors when the API is above 300.

In the past week the API hit 750 in Muar, Johor. The highest API in Malaysia in sixteen years. Readings in Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam nudged 200.

This was Kuala Lumpur a few days ago.

Photo courtesy of Lai Seng Sin at AP Photo

The air quality in Kuala Lumpur is not great at the best of times. For some years now there have been too many poorly-maintained diesel engined buses and lorries spewing black smoke, and too many poorly maintained two-stroke engined motorcycles spewing white smoke.

When my biker chick and I moved to Den Haag in 2010 we immediately noticed the clearer air there. I was later told that the air quality in the Netherlands is amongst the worst in the European Union. The Dutch may emit excessive amounts of nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide, but it certainly looks like they have less particulate matter floating about.

I dug up some photographs I took while riding in the Den Haag area to remind me of what clear air and blue sky look like.