First double race weekend in the Netherlands

It's much steeper than it looks!

The first double race weekend in the Netherlands wraps up with tired legs and two decent rides although no real results.  Saturday was the opener for club racing-each club has a training race at their home track Saturday mornings here.  "Training race" is a gentle way of saying we all start at once and still go full speed.  I joined the race in Utrecht-the course uses the terrain and includes a proper stair runup and plenty of off camber to keep things interesting.  Damp, warm and very windy meant there were even tactics to play--I ended up at a standstill several times trying to move someone else to the front heading into the wind when the course was exposed.  Good fun with nothing on the line.

You don't want to hug
the tree like this guy.

Sunday morning round 2 of the Middle Netherlands series brought all these clubs racers together at Hilversum.  By a rough count 70 riders turned up to race on course about 2/3 the size of a football field.  A few 3 meter high lumps keeps it interesting and with a morning rain slippery corners a plenty.  And did I mention plenty of corners?  With a course this size they use every spec of land-180 turn and then straight just enough to bring back the guy in front of you 100 times.  It took a good two laps for the long line to break up-you could see the 30 guys ahead of you in two or three lanes racing back and forth.  Passing is tough and after all those accelerations not much left in the tank, a good day is not hitting the deck while the sliding around.  Going in circles is a long morning.

Happy to put the feet up and watch the World Cup on Sporza this afternoon!