Personal experiences
In this part I like to report about my own experiences with skating as far as they are funny or informative. I will do it in temporary order starting with the years I was learning to skate, made my first tours and participated for the first time in the most famous 200 km tour in the Netherland, the "Elfstedentocht". This will be presented in the first past.
In the second part I will report about the period between my first and second "Elfstedentocht".
In the third part I will report about my preparation for my first "Alternatieve Elfstedentocht".
In the second part I will report about the period between my first and second "Elfstedentocht".
In the third part I will report about my preparation for my first "Alternatieve Elfstedentocht".
Preparing for my first "Elfstedentocht"
In sequence I will show below how a young Dutch boy got adicted to skating, participated in tours and looked for his ultimate tarea: participating in the "Elfstedentocht"
Preparing for my second "elfstedentocht"
After the "elfstedentocht of 1963 it took 22 years before the next "Elfstedentocht" could be organized. Below I show in sequience what I did to prepare for the next tour. Not all these steps were very wise.
Preparing for the "Alternatieve Elfstedentocht"
Disappointed of my second "elfstedentocht" I was looking for an alternative which I found at the Weissensee where from 1989 onwards the "Alternatieve Elfstedentocht" has been organized
From ice skater to inline skater
rAn accident during a cycling tour btought me to stop with cycling and start with inline skating. This turned out a good choice when we moved to Spain.
From tour skater to speed skater
Being a member of a club for speed skating on inline skates I automatically had to change from a tour skater to a speed skater and this while I was already more than 60 years old.
A retired skater
In 2013 I becamw 70 and decided that it was now time to stop working. In that year I was invited to give a key notespeech at a conference at a conference in Ljubliaja for a scientific organization I had created in 2005. I gave my speech but my last remark was that I now will retire and concentrate on speed skating. Below is the picture I presented