Elfstedentocht in 2010 ?

No Elfstedentocht in 2010. Even though it's been a cold winter, it looks like recent snows will prevent the ice from freezing to the required thickness....... from the Dutch news this am. Another year with no race ....

It takes too long to explain that this is a skating race (125 miles) on frozen canals in the northern Netherlands (Freisland) through 11 cities. It starts and finishes in Leeuwarden, then on to Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, and Dokkum. In 1999 I toured some of these places and skated through the bike paths....

YouTube has some great films of the race from what look like the 40's or 50's.
This is my favorite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyoQ4wz6d64

Hanging on Until Spring

Things are slow in the blogshpere. Not cold enough consistently for ice-skating. Too much frozen rain for in-line skating. I went skating last Sunday (1/25) and found black ice on the bike path.

This is the view today from my home office. ---->

On the positive side, I did find EXACTLY what i've been looking for since 1993 to prevent blisters under my ankle bones - reusable round gel pads called "Clear Clouds"..... I got them from a web site called "Skating Safe" (located in Florida). Excellent response times from this company.
http://www.skatingsafe.com/

I think I'll be skating more this spring than riding my bike... makes a nice change. My goal for 2009 is to learn to do cross-overs. Tried to learn it once, but it didn't take. I'd also like to learn how to handle hazards - sticks, etc. in my path.

Holidays to get us through the winter and spring:January - Lunar New Year
February - Valentine's Day; plus, the daylight lasts longer.
March - 21st - Vernal Equinox (SUMMER STARTS HERE !)
April - Tax Day, start of good water conditions for Kayaking.
May - Every day is a good day !!!

About the Photo on This Blog

It was taken in a snall town in Freisland (a northern province in the Neterlands) in 1998, while I was on a skating (in-line skates) tour of the Netherlands. I was sitting on a bridge over a canal eating lunch, turned around and saw these houses, and shot it. I think it's a great shot, and totally captured the look of the towns we skated through. It's practically impossible, I think, to take a bad picture of scenery in the Netherlands, especially in the farming areas in the north.

I took the skating tour with "Zephyr Tours" http://www.zephyradventures.com/ in 1998, which was the company's first year. At the time, it specialized in in-line skating tours; it has branched into walking tours and in-line skate camps.

This picture, and others, are posted on iStockPhotos. http://www.istockphotos.com