Comfort Zone

Pen drawing, 14 x 8 cm

The Bee Keepers Garden

Last week we've had a little vacation in Mayrhofen, Austria. We didn't do much: the children mostly wanted to swim in the nearby swimming pool. The wife and I mostly read books, magazines and the latest news on our smartphones.
Mayrhofen is a very quiet place after the snow has disappeared. Also a very neat place. I found it difficult to find interesting points of view for sketching. When everything looks so well organized it tends to be boring. The houses all look very tidy. Luckily enough I found an interesting view from one of the balconies of our appartement into the backyard of the neighbours' house. The neighbour turns out to be a bee keeper and I've tried to capture some bees in flight.
Black ink sketch with Visconti pen on Moleskine.

King Of The Road

Yesterday we had the Royal Inauguration of our new King. We also had fancy fairs throughout the country and on the one held in our village I came across a model of a car we really like: a Volkswagen Microbus.
This one is a scalemodel of the 1962 model and we are hoping to buy a real one, in the future. There are not so many good ones left over the years and the ones still riding are all a bit above our current budget. So I'm not sure we can get our hands on a model like this. But a more recent model will be quite welcome also.
Sketch made with my Visconti-pen this morning, right after breakfast.

Something To Think About

About a year ago I was cycling in Germany. It was an organised cyclingweekend, meant to keep in shape for the season to come. The weather was friendly, although a bit cold in the mornings, but temperatures were during the day comfortable enough to ride in cyclingshorts.
Our guide, having many years of cycling experience, told us that particarly these weatherconditions are the cause of many knee-problems racing cyclists suffer from. Because you think it's warm enough to ride in shorts, the knees are remaining too cold during the day which may cause rheumatic complaints in the years to come.
Keeping this in mind I actually bought a pair of knee-pieces, just to wear them while cycling in this time of the year when Spring just peeks around the corner.

Where'd You Think You're Going?

It's allways nice to know where you'd be going. A useful gadget to inform you about that while riding your bike, can be a bike-bell with build-in compass. In that case you can see in what direction you're going without having to stop and dig up your compass from somewhere where you thought you had it stowed away. Usually the last place you are looking in.
Is it usefull, such a bell? Well, when you are about to start your weekly workout tour and want to now from which direction the wind is blowing, it is. Otherwise, when your cycling a multiple days trekking tour, I doubt that, because in that case you've allready planned basically the route. But when cycling a daily tour starting from your home, it can be usefull to adjust your route to have tailwind on your the last leg back home.

Beating The Average Speed

Now it looks like Spring has finally arrived, I've started my usual weekly bike-training. I've only done three rides now about 50 km each and last sunday I finally cycled an average speed which gives me a bit of confidence about the shape I will be in this coming Summer.
Each year the starting of a new season is a bit of a mystery to me on what level my condition stand. I don't cycle indoors during Winter, so I have a bit of a set back in Spring to other cyclists who train on their spinning bikes during the cold months. I just try to ride as much as I can outdoors during Winter. Gives me more stamina and joy, especially when I can follow cyclist about half of my age from which I know they've trained all Winter in the gym on a spinning course.

Easter Morning

This year everything seems to be different at Eastern. First of all we had snow this morning. I can't remember I'd ever see it snowing on Easter. At least not where I come from.
Secondly my wife and I were the first this morning at the breakfast table. Normally our kids get up early on sunday's. We didn't really know what to do with the situation. We allready hidden the Eastern eggs last night so there was not very much to do after baking the buns. We sat there, looked at each other and didn't even had a subject for a nice conversation without the kids...

Spring will arrive soon, they say

When Winter has left, Spring will arrive. That happens every year... But when it exactly will happen is uncertain. Perhaps next week the temperature are reaching normal standards for this time of year. That'll be the day I finally can wear my usual bandana instead the winter hats I mentioned in previous posts.
I usually can cycle with the bandana at the end of February or at the beginning of March. I never had the 'pleasure' to go out cycling without wintergloves and winterhats at the beginning of April. It'll be a historic day, that's for sure.

It Should Be Spring...

MGB Roadster

Winter is still here

As I was looking if I would need new cycling stuff, which is somehow the case almost every year, I came across a helmet cap which I bought last year. I've only used it once on a very cold but sunny ride in January. The cap worked so well that after 20 km my head was all sweaty. It didn't feel very comfortable and I was glad I could take the cap off when I was done with my ride. Maybe the Dutch winters are too mild for this cap. I didn't use it since then.
Furthermore it looks like it was designed by the same guy who designed the caps for the Russian tankcrews, back in the eighties. Yes, you have to be of a certain age knowing how those caps would look like back then...

Functional and Warm

During the winter this is my loyal companion when I'm cycling. Earlier this week it looked like Spring had finally arrived, but it seems that we still be having cold and wet conditions for the next two weeks.
So it's not yet time to stow the warm hats and gloves away. We have to be patient and sit this out. Well, it's not the end of the world.

Woolen Hat

My daughter and I went to the library a couple of days ago. The visit became a typical case of: "Wherever I Lay My Hat, Then It's Gone".
Nobody had seen my cool hat, extra warm in winters because of the double layer. Why should they? It's just a hat.
But not every hat is just a hat. It becomes almost a part of your head when it feels comfortable to wear. Anyway, we had to buy another one and my daughter's choice won: a woolen hat. Nice, cosy, warm and cool, all for the price of... too much, in my opinion.
Pen and ink with Visconti.