Dutch mountain

In the Netherlands, we don't have mountains. We do have hills that are amazingly steep and can take you by surprise,

but however mean and steep those can't really be classified as long climbs.

What we do have is lots of wind and open spaces, creating what we call "Dutch mountain". The harder the wind, the steeper the mountain so to speak. Going up against the wind is climbing and tailwind means down hilling. The wind we had or are still having today, we can actually classify as an autumn storm. At 8.00 am the winds became a storm with heavy storms along the coast force 9 (this means the average wind speed is 75 km/h (46.6 miles/h) over a 10 minutes period) with gusts of wind (110 km/h) and landward force 6 (average windspeed around 50 km/h (31.1 miles/h)) with hard gusts of wind (80 to 90 km/h). Apparently there was also a weather warning, urging people to stay inside if they didn't need to go anywhere.

I didn't know this until I came back from my training. Every Sunday I try and get in a couple of hours on the bike outdoors. It makes me feel the effects of my training on the bike and can be highly encouraging and motivating to keep up the indoor training. Today I was actually aiming for a rather relaxed ride on my bike. I'd heard the wind, but it didn't quite come across as hard as it turned out when cycling up against it. When I really got into the open roads, along the fields, I actually became aware the wind was above average, blowing me to the other side of the road. The only way to stay on course was by hanging in the wind sideways. A little bit like this only with... well... on an extremely light bike with very different clothing. I was very happy with the new winter gear I decided to buy on Friday night!

I cycled roads which were completely scattered with broken branches. Snapped like twigs by the wind.

There were a few moments I didn't think I'd be able to stay on my bike when the wind suddenly caught me, but back in one piece. I warmed up under the shower, drank my milk which is supposed to be very good for recovery, ate carbohydrates and nuts and now snuggled up inside with cozy lights, warm drinks and some nice music.