A last training for the Elfstedentocht 1985
Finally in 1985 it was so far that after 22 years it was
possible to organize the “Elfstedentocht”. Because the ice was thick enough for
a tour with more than 15.000 participants, one may think the ice in the whole country
is good enough, for a skater alone. The weekend before the tour would
be held, I decided to do my last training. Early on Sunday morning I went alone
to the north of Amsterdam and got there on the ice. Everything went fine.
Skating on the canals once in a while one has to go under a bridge to continue. Under the bridges the ice is always a bit weaker. Therefore people are afraid to pass bridges.
One of these bridges became fatal to me. I went through the ice but I got only wet feet. It was not so bad as the other time. I put out my socks, dried my feet and went on. I tested myself for another two hours and then returned home. Unfortunately I had made the wrong decision because this time I caught a severe cold and due to this illness I could not participate in one of the easiest Eleven Cities tours in history.
This story illustrates how stupid fanatic skaters can be. I was skating weekly 2 or 3 times on the Jaap Eden Baan in Amsterdam. Due to that it should have been no problem to finish the tour ( like all my friends did) but I thought that I needed an extra test on natural ice. Fortunately, I got another chance the next year because in 1986 the tour could be organized again.
Skating on the canals once in a while one has to go under a bridge to continue. Under the bridges the ice is always a bit weaker. Therefore people are afraid to pass bridges.
One of these bridges became fatal to me. I went through the ice but I got only wet feet. It was not so bad as the other time. I put out my socks, dried my feet and went on. I tested myself for another two hours and then returned home. Unfortunately I had made the wrong decision because this time I caught a severe cold and due to this illness I could not participate in one of the easiest Eleven Cities tours in history.
This story illustrates how stupid fanatic skaters can be. I was skating weekly 2 or 3 times on the Jaap Eden Baan in Amsterdam. Due to that it should have been no problem to finish the tour ( like all my friends did) but I thought that I needed an extra test on natural ice. Fortunately, I got another chance the next year because in 1986 the tour could be organized again.