Ten percent - Amstel Gold

The spring classics continued today as Amstel Gold was raced in the Netherlands, sometimes also known as Holland. The winner was Damiano Cunego of Team Lampre. The 2004 Giro d'Italia winner was strongest of a nine man sprint towards the finish at the top of the Cauberg, the infamous hill which the Amstel Gold climbs three times. The climb is only about 1.5 kilometers long, but with a grade averaging 12 percent with a maximum of 16 percent.

I passed a key milestone in yearly mileage today. Every late fall when bicycling ceases the possibility always exists that it will never begin again. However, today I passed 10 percent of my annual mileage goal. Having ridden 400 miles it seems quite clear that the obsession has returned and that there will, in fact, be bicycling again this year.

At 400 miles I am pleased to report that a semblance of fitness is beginning to return. Today I felt strong, I felt fast, even on my low pressure and wide tire winter bike.

The day dawned with the remainder of yesterday's too cold weather still hanging on. It was 42 this morning and only 52 when I headed out at 12:30. But the change was clearly on and the weather website said 61 by 1pm. So I went in shorts, even at 52, although I did have arm warmers and a jacket to go with a short sleeved jersey. It was brisk at first but shorts ended up being the proper choice. By the end of the ride the temperature was nearly 70 and I was riding in short sleeves with the arm warmers pushed down. I felt strong, I felt fast.

The wind was mostly from the east with uncertainty about whether it would be NE or SE. There was divergence of opinion on the weather websites I use. I wanted it to be NE because I wanted to go north again. I was determined to check on this "ice out" thing at the most northern lakes. It was pretty much straight east at the start and stayed that way for most of the ride although it did end up coming around a bit to the SE towards the end making a slight head wind on the way home. But it was OK, I felt strong, I felt fast.

The ice was completely gone from Snail and substantially changed at Sucker. As you can see, Sucker Lake is not so much ice as it is slush.The ice sheet is coming apart.

I headed back up towards the Vadnais gate and discovered, as I expected, that the gate was still closed. But I noticed that a couple and 2 small children were walking down the road towards the lake. A closer examination revealed that the pedestrian gate was open. I had tried that once a couple of years ago and was rudely surprised to discover that it was only open at one end. But the worst that could happen to me was that I would have to ride down to the lake and then ride back out the same way. By now the temperature was surely above 60, the sun was out, in fact, it was such a nice day that young couples were taking their small children on long walks to Lake Vadnais. A ride down to the lake and back out didn't seem like a bad option at all.

It was a good choice. When I arrived at the lake the slightly freshening SE wind was breaking up the slush and piling it up on the NW shore. I could hear the tinkling of the ice chips as the wind pushed them into the shoreline. It was a wonderfully charming sound, well worth the ride.I continued on through and got this image which is the reverse of yesterday's photo.Clearly there is still some ice but the lake has large areas of open water and what ice there is is the consistency of slush. I am guessing that it will be all gone by sundown. The other bit of good news was that the pedestrian gate was also open at the bottom end of the lake.

I am officially declaring "ice out". I even noted it in my bike log.

I found this bit about "Holland" on Wikipedia:

Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. A maritime and economic power in the 17th century, Holland today consists of the Dutch provinces of North Holland and South Holland.

The name "Holland" first appeared in the sources in 866 for the region around Haarlem and was by 1064 being used for the name of the entire county. By this time the inhabitants of Holland were referring to themselves as "Hollanders". "Holland" is derived from the Middle Dutch term holtland ("wooded land"). This spelling variation remained in use until around the 14th century, at which time the name stabilized as "Holland" (alternative spellings at the time: "Hollant" or "Hollandt"). Popular, but incorrect, etymology holds that "Holland" is derived from "hol land" ("hollow land") and was inspired by the low-lying geography of Holland.

But I bet everyone already knew that.

Finally, a couple of brief football notes. Carquefou today scored a 2-0 home victory over bottom standing Saint Brieuc in Group G of CFA2. The points moved Carquefou out of the relegation zone. In Ligue 1 yesterday, Paris Saint Germain, the Coupe de France conqueror of Carquefou, lost 3-0 at Caen. PSG is 3 points from safety, very firmly in the relegation zone, with only 4 games remaining to play.