Not a lot of racing has been going on but we are spending a fair amount of time at the local velodrome and training with the locals working on leg speed, riding in tight groups and started some work on pacing.
On Thursday nights here they have a track training night open to anyone who shows up. Under 15 through to national representatives from Holland and Indonesia were there, roughly 45 riders on a track with a maximum racing limit of 24. The trainer would stand at the side of the track and call out instructions over the public address system and groups would form up, sprint or whatever on his instructions just like a square dance on track bikes. This works extremely well, assuming everyone speaks good Dutch of course. It was soon worked out that the idiot in “The Hub” shorts did not in fact speak good Dutch. Once they found out I came from New Zealand everyone was really pleased to ride beside me telling me what was happening next etc and striking up conversations between efforts that always went along the same lines of asking where in New Zealand was I from, then they would say they had an Aunty / Uncle / Cousin who lived in Auckland / Wellington / Te Puke and did I know them?.One guy was even riding round in a New Zealand skinsuit and he tearfully told me how he wasn't allowed to go back to New Zealand by his Dutch wife.
Really good two hour session tightly run and everyone got a good workout. Apparently Thomas Dekker was at one session when he took a call on his cellphone, he was instantly booted out, so even national hero's have to strictly follow the rules or leave.
After we finished, training got really spectacular because the Stayers came out to train. Stayer bikes have their fork turned round backwards, have a little 24inch front wheel, reinforcement stays under the handlebars and seat and an enormous Ken Mackenzie type chainring. One bike I looked at had a 66 tooth front and 13 tooth cog on the back. The riders, and I can confirm they did have a crazed look in their eyes, charge round behind big motorcycles at up to 100kph on some tracks. When things go wrong they really go wrong as there have been a number of deaths over the long history of Stayer racing. Apparently last year when a motorbike and rider went down, the nurses took four and a half hours to remove all the splinters from their bodies.
The pacers are Honda CN400cc twins with a roller stuck out the back. The local velodrome has nine identical ones lined up at the track. The motor cycle rider stands on the back pegs and wears this special helmet that makes him look like a cyberman. This has bulges open at the back around his ears so he can hear the rider yelling at him. He also wears some very fetching leather pants and jacket, think Doctor Who meets the Village People. Anyway the macho cyberman stands up straight on the back pegs of the bike with his arms straight down by his side. Once again think village people when they do the “M” in YMCA and you get the idea. The handlebars are extended back all the way to their hands held by their sides, and that's how they charge round, trying to make as big as possible windbreak for the rider as possible. The noise and the speed make this an amazing spectacle, specially when you get them roaring round side by side.
The Dutch love “out there” sport. There was a tv channel which only broadcast tractor pulling. But this would appear pedestrian to surely, what would on paper at least, be the most exciting spectator sport known to man, the sport of 'dyke jumping'. I tried to find out more about this exciting sport, possibly the liberal minded Dutch would screen it on late night tv, after all any culture which doesn't bat an eyelid over B & D cybermen whizzing round a velodrome on motorcycles would be right into televised dyke jumping. Sadly it would appear this sport sounds far more exciting than it actually is. Its sort of like pole vaulting across real dykes.
I have discovered in Holland you have to be ready for some of these simple traps. For instance if you were to go into a pub and ask for the “slagroom” they will bring you a plate of custard, where's the fun in that.
All good here.
