I am Dutch, so I have cycled all my life. As a child it was the way to explore and seek adventure. That never really changed. There are always reasons to leave the bike in the garage. I came back to cycling seriously during my years at ING Bank — as meditation more than exercise — and never stopped. …
Read more →Cycling
Posts tagged with
Remember Srebrenice
Today, July 13, marks exactly one month since I cycled in Srebrenica — a small village in the southeast of Bosnia & Herzegovina, near the Drina River that forms the border with Serbia. It’s also exactly 30 years since the Dutch UN battalion, Dutchbat, was forced by Serb forces to hand over the …
Read more →Tour de Tolerance 2023
After two years cycling in the Dolomites, I missed last years’ tour in the Pyrenees due to a bad fall in Goa. That had caused my family a lot of stress and me a lot of frustration of not being allowed to cycle by my doctor. The reason of my fall became never clear. I am still alive due to quick …
Read more →Tour de Tolerance 2021
Why do you show up even when it’s hard? That was the title of a recent Strava post trying to explain the atlete in you. Reflecting on challenging events is important to moving forward. On the Italian border A couple of weeks ago, I had again joined the Tour de Tolerance, a group of cyclists …
Read more →Tour de Tolerance 2020
I had heard of the Madonna but never of Madonna del Ghisallo. The little chapel in her honour sits atop a steep hill (532m elevation, 10.6km, avg 5.2%, max 11%) that climbs up from the shores of Lake Como. It had been such a stopping point for cyclists that the local priest had proposed that Madonna …
Read more →