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Hard work

Yesterday morning we had a few centimetres of snow, and since then the temperature has been hovering at about freezing point.  That meant that it was hard going this morning.  In parts it was icy, and I was very happy of the amazing ability of my Schwalbe tyres to grip where you would think it was impossible, and then all of a sudden the types would break through the crust and then it was all mud and slush and hard  pedalling. But of course the good thing about all the difficulty was that it scared off all but the most determined dog walkers and other people, so I had the woods mostly to myself.  Whenever I stopped to get my breath back after a hard bit of pushing through slush then it was wonderfully still, with the snow blanketing out the noise of the traffic.

Dangerous dog!

I could have understood it if I had surprised a dog out in the woods, but no, I was going along a normal cycle path and a large dog rushed out of its garden, through the gate, past its owner and sank its teeth in my leg.  Not what you expect. The dog was clearly normally kept behind a fence, buts its owner had open the gate to drive his van in.  He did try to call it back, but that was completely ineffectual, the dog was out of control. Irritatingly,  he did not even apologise but just continued with what he was doing. I got the impression it was normal behaviour for that dog.  So if you are going along the Kruislaan, between Planken Wambuis and the tunnel under the A12, look out! This is not the house with the dogs which always make a lot of noise on the west side of the track, but the one on the other side (Heycamp). This does illustrate that it is always useful to have a small first aid kit with you when on the mountain bike. I always carry one and sometimes wonder if there in any point, but in this case I hope that applying disinfectant iodine into the wound (together with the fact that my last tetanus vaccination was not too long ago) will mean that there are no serious consequences.

 

 

Amerongen in the snow

It was hard work through the snow and ice today but well worth it!

Fines for cycling off the offical mountain bike routes

Police and forestry commission wardens are carrying out checks in the woods on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and giving out €90 fines for any mountain bikers they find who are not on the official paths.  So if you are going that way, make sure you do not stray off the official routes!

See http://www.rtvutrecht.nl/nieuws/1272514/43-boetes-voor-mountainbikers-utrechtse-heuvelrug.html (in Dutch)

Winter for a change

Last year we did not really have a winter, so this morning when it was only a degree or so above freezing, that was the first time that it really felt cold for ages.  The weather was beautiful, blue skies and mist, so the sunbeams coming through the trees looked incredible. It was so nice that the woods were full of mountain bikers (through strangely enough fewer walkers and horse riders than I often see), I have never seen so many cyclists in the woods.  At first I thought there must be an organised tour or something, but they were all coming from different directions and different paths (and come to that there were no sign posts), so it was just beautiful weather tempting everyone out into the woods.