Friday 24 July 2009

The eternal uphill

Yesterday evening's ride home from work was a bit of a trial. Headwind the whole way again. It may be (very nearly) flat here, but flatness means nothing to get in the way of the wind, and headwinds are much worse than the odd hill. They're like an eternal uphill - you don't get to go down the other side.

On the way I came across this family on the way home from somewhere. They have three children. Dad was giving the youngest child on his own wheels a bit of help while Mum had the very youngest on a seat in front of her on her bike.

I've not idea how much of the 30 km from Groningen to Assen they were riding, but they felt safe because the cars were on the left of the trees.

5 comments:

JGF said...

Looking at this as an American parent, my very first thought was ... where are the helmets?!

We're into them over here ...

xxxxxxx said...

Sweet picture. Separate path from cars so they felt safe. They were actually pretty safe too right?

álvaro said...

I do a 30K commute every day on my fixed wheel bike, and I love it. Friends back home (Spain) keep telling me I can do it because I live in such a flat country, and I always try to explain to them just this, that permanent head wind is like going up a never ending hill...

spiderleggreen said...

I think winds can be worse than hills.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean, I think hills are like subjective safety though: you can see them so they make people think cycling would be awkward and hard work, so they get the car out.

Of course to ass insult to injury, hills and valleys create wind too.