First Finish--Mountain Biking Near Volkel

Sunday, 17-February-2008 - Volkel - It was a super sunny day to go mountain biking. It was minus 7 Deg C with no wind at 0830 when I left home to bike to the village of Volkel about 10 km away. This was the starting point of today's trail ride. I signed up for 30 km. The route was marked with tape streamers: red-turn left, yellow-turn right, white-go straight, you're on the right trail. The ground was frozen hard. The route took us through Uden, the neighboring town, to the artificial ski slope of de Schans, where we got to climb the back side of the hill. The route also took us along the Peelrand fault line (we feel light earthquakes here from time to time). When I got to the route's halfway point, the temperature had risen to plus 2 Deg C. I was warm sitting in the sun drinking boulion and eating a raisin roll that was provided. This was my third trail ride, and the first one that I finished. I was real proud of myself. http://picasaweb.google.com/dale.weiss.planet/Volkel_20080217