XL-Network's blog

My contribution to Cycle Video Day 2011

Last Monday it was Cycle Video Day and that meant making a video of your daily ride. The result of my ride can be viewed down here. I made the choice to add live commentary to my ride. A good call because I'm the only one so far. If you want to look at videos of other riders, just take a look at the overview page.

Faster again!

Yes... I did it again. Last year I was faster then three years ago (I didn't compete in 2009 because of a injury) and this year I improved my time by 38 seconds. I walked the 4 mile of Groningen in a time of 26:47.4 and that puts me in the top 4.39% of all runners. Pretty good. And that with only three times training. Okay... I have to admit that my basic condition with rowing and biking (ahum, 5200 kilometers in America) helped. But still, I'm proud of myself. Also I have no muscle ache or any other pains.

ROAM photos and more...

It took a while for the Roll over America photos to be posted but their all sorted and uploaded now. There were quite a number of them so I had to make a (small) selection. I also have over one terabyte of videos, but that's going to take well after Christmas to all be sorted and edited I guess.

I also have a bunch of photos from the two weeks I spent in Washington, DC and New York, NY.

Back in the boat

After some three months of not being able to row because of my adventure in America I was finally back in the boat today to do some rowing (I've steered and coached before). There were only two of my team mates so we couldn't take a 4+ (or even a 8+). That's why we went old-skool C2+ style. You know, a nice and wide boat with wooden handles and Macon blades. Besides that everything went pretty well.

ROAM interviews from Fort Wayne

I just received a tweet via Twitter about a new ROAM video, which is not that uncommon. But this time it was a 28 minute long video with rider interviews. Very nice to hear all the stories of fellow riders and myself.

Join me in the Cycle Video Day

This morning when I woke up I saw that YouTube user gaz545 had posted a new clip. During the 13 weeks that he couldn't cycle because of his broken clavicle he came up with the idea to have a Cycle Video Day. It was Magnatom's idea.

Autumn Meeting XII

Last Friday I traveled to campsite De Woensberg in Huizen. This time I took the train and didn't bike there because I could not get a day off from work. Around 8 PM I got off the train in Hilversum and found my way to the campsite. It was dark but my Busch & Muller Ixon IQ Speed illuminated the road perfectly and on my way there I only took one wrong turn. On arrival the BBQ was still burning but unfortunately I forgot to bring food. Fortunately there were enough people who would share a sausage, pieces of chicken and some bread. So I didn't went to bed hungry.

Training for the 4 mijl of Groningen

A bit late but still. Last week I've started training for the 4 mile of Groningen, a race which I do every year. Last year I put down a amazing time of 27:25.3, against all expectations. This year calls for a improvement. But there is a lack of training. Last weekend I started running and today was my second time. Six intervals of each two minutes running and one minute walking. It went pretty good. My condition was good enough that I could keep up. Next week I'll go out running two more times and that should be enough I think.

Cycling in circles

Last Sunday there was the annualy recumbent competition in Groningen, the Ems-Dollard cup: Groningen-Rutenbrock. Two years ago I visited and watched, but didn't compete due to a achilles tendent injury. This year was different. The day before I picked up my bike which had been on the ocean for four weeks. All that time I haven't cycled and I was curious what my condition would do. I expected to end up somewhere in the middle, but unfortunately that was not the case... I ended in the last 30%. I blame the fact that the week before (and I still am) a little ill.

Our ROAM bikes are back

Last Saturday our ROAM bikes came into Bremerhaven by boat and today we could finally pick them up again after four weeks (for me actually two weeks, because of my vacation in America). After unpacking, which went pretty fast, it was time for the BBQ, some chatting and thinking about our next tour.