#17 Real Men wear Pink

The Giro d'Italia has started yesterday with a prologue in Amsterdam.Monday the third leg of the race will start in Amsterdam and the finish is in my home city, Middelburg. The main sponsor Gazetta dello Sport is a news paper, which only writes about sports. It is printed on pink paper.

The cities Amsterdam and Middelburg (historically these cities have a lot in common) are coloring pink in many ways. Our landmark, the Lange Jan (Long John) is colored pink at night. That's rare occasion must be put on camera. Yesterday night I went woth my friend Bleephead into the city center to take these night shots (Canon 17-85 1:4-5.6 , f=22, IS turned off, 120 seconds exposure).

Yesterday I rose the Giro d'Italia tour ride of 80 km (50 miles). I tried to find a Maglia Rosa (Pink Jersey) for some time, but I could only find one in the US. It was a bit expensive, specially considered I have to add shipping and taxes. I saw  one yesterday for sale in the Netherlands for a good price. Unfortunately I would have liked it if I could wear it on the tour ride. Well, I think there will be a lot of merchandise Monday, so I try to get one there (I suspect that Dutch jersey was bought somewhere along the route in Amsterdam too).

Actually I had a bit of bad luck today. For the first time since I have bought this bike in 2006, I got a flat tire.There was a very small thorn in it, but it was very hard and sharp. Luckily I had a spare tire and two CO2 cartridges with me. Eva and Bram met me, just outside Westkapelle so I could adjust the tire pressure up to 4 bars.

I was quite surprised I didn't spend all my power on the ride. I even had enough power for a final sprint on the dam. The flat tire had drastically influence on my final time. The transponder that I got from the organization registered a time of 4 hours and 9 minutes.

Luckily I have my Garmin GPS mounted. When I bought mine about 4 years ago, it was a new phenomenon, but today I have seen a lot of bikes equipped with a Garmin Edge 705. Since the distance from my house to the start and finish was about 2 kilometers, it seems the route was about 3 kilometers shorter than 80 kilometers. It was quite a surprise to see I rode 80.8 kilometers in 3 hours and 46 minutes with an average speed of 21.4 km/h (it was 22.1 km/h at the finish, but I didn't did not drive very fast home).

You already have seen it, there was only one watch I had which was appropriate to wear this ride. It was my pink Crazy Colors DW-6900CS-4DR, which I also reviewed in September 2008. It was clearly visable over my white Boulanger top layer.

It wasn't a handy watch at the end of the ride. There was a little bit rain falling, so the sight through my Oakley sunglasses wasn't perfect. Also the sky was dark and gray. When I was riding along the canal between Vlissingen and Middelburg I became curious what time it was. The digits of the display need a bit light. They light up white then. Unfortunately I couldn't tell time on my watch, but luckily I could see the time on my GPS too.

Not only the cities of the Giro were pink actually. Earlier this week our newspaper was pink and as you can see further above, even out TV guide is printed on pink paper.

I was in a good Giro mood for a while. I found this classic pink Campagnolo cycle cap (in Belgium called a "Klak"). When I was collecting my starting number and transponder last Friday, I also got this nice pink bidon (drinking bottle). I didn't use it for the ride. I used one with a larger content.

After a long shower I thought it was a good idea to get into something appropriate. How does this look?

An Italian pizza baker and his wife, who designs hats had an idea to make a modern hat, based on the traditional cap of our island. It has two sides, orange for Queen's Day (April 30th) and pink to support the Giro. Thousands were sold, but the demand was even several times bigger. We had a bit luck to get one (Bram wanted one). I think it looks a bit silly, but for a quick pic...

Well, I'm still pretty tired (I actually wrote this article on Saturday evening), so I need something to relax. I poured myself a "Rochefort 6" to celebrate I made it to the finish. Azrael was happy to see me and set himself besides me on the couch. It was delicious.

Well, I'm sorry my article is a bit unorganized today. I just didn't have much time to prepare something. I just realized I had to do an article while I was on the bike, but had no idea what to write about. Well, the most logical one was about the one I was wearing. Still I hoped you enjoyed todays article and photo's.