Arno Gerretsen : Cycling

My Cycling Log

arno — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:32:00 GMT

For a few years already I keep track of the rides on my racing bicycle on the computer. I like it to see how much I have cycled at the end of the year (or sometimes not, when it is not so much). And since I cycle to work in the summer, I also keep track of those trips on the computer.

But since I have more than one computer now and some of them run both Windows and Linux, I got a bit annoyed by the fact that I also had to load that one computer to enter the data. So I started to look around for some better way to keep track of my rides and I found this nice website, MyCyclingLog.

I am still in the process of putting my old rides on there as well, but I like the fact that I can now see and enter my rides from any computer and from anywhere. This is my profile, but I should not tell you this actually, as then you can see that this year I have hardly driven on my racing bicycle or cycled to work. Hopefully that changes soon as the weather improves again.

See you in two weeks

arno — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:05:00 GMT

My vacation is now really getting near. Tomorrow morning I will have to leave very early to get to Schiphol and fly to Malaga, Spain. I am really looking forward to get cycling again in an area that is not so extremely flat as the Dutch polder landscape I live in.

I have also been able to put an updated version of ModelConverterX online. It solves some of the problems the first alpha release had, so that should allow you to convert more objects without trouble. Of course it is still an alpha version, so I am sure you will be able to find some more bugs while I am away. But that is something for me to worry about when I get back.

So, see you in two weeks time and don't expect me to reply to forum posts or emails until then.

Vacation is getting nearer

arno — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:13:00 GMT

It is Thursday morning now and I don't have to work, that's a nice feeling. Or maybe I should say I am not sitting in the office, as there is some hard work ahead. I'll have to try to pack all my stuff for my vacation that starts this Monday. I am going to Andalusia (Spain) this year and just like last year I will be going to do a combination of cycling and camping again.

But where I travelled by bus last year, we are going to fly this time. So how do I get my sleeping bag, mattress, cycling helmet, and all those stuff you need in one bag of less than 20 kg? It is good that I have some time now to try how to get that done.

And the first alpha version of ModelConverterX has also resulted in the first bug reports, so I hope to get an updated version done before I leave. But let's first pack all the stuff.

Got a new bike!

arno — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:24:00 GMT

I had been looking around for a new bike for weeks already and today I finally bought one. And to prevent some confusion right away, with bike I don't mean such a thing that has an engine, but a bicycle. Now that spring is coming around again, I am looking forward to take the bicycle to my work again. Hopefully the weather will be good enough already in two weeks time when my current monthly train ticket ends.

For those people from abroad where it might not be so common to use a bicycle, I tried to find some statistics. Here in the Netherlands we have around 18 million bicycle (for 16 million people), so I guess you can say that they are very common here. Giving the fact that the country is so flat, they are a perfect way to travel for short distances of course. Yearly about 14 billion kilometers are travelled by bicycle, so that is around 900 km per person per year.

Personally I guess I am helping to keep the figures up. Including my new bicycle I own three now for example. I have one racing bicycle I use to make trips with during the weekend (you know, the kind of bicycles they drive the Tour de France with as well). And I have two normal bicycles now, as I will keep my old one as a spare. I use these to go to work in the summer and most other local travel.

Also for the amount of kilometers I help to keep the statistics up a little bit. Last year I drove around 3000 km, which does not even include all short visits to the local shop, etc. Let's see if I can improve on that this year. Given the fact that from home to work is already 20 km, so 40 km a day, it should be possible to get a nice amount of kilometers again this year. Hopefully the weather will be fine this spring/summer/autumn, so that I can cycle to work often. At least I find it a very good method to combine a bit of sports with the travelling that I have to do to get to work anyway.

Back home

arno — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:55:00 GMT

I am back home and had a great vacation on Corsica. It is a really nice island to cycle around (although we only saw the northern part of it), with a lot of nice hills and mountains to climb. And every time a fantastic view on the landscape and the sea.

So now that I am back I am trying to catch up with everything I missed. An interesting FsX demo seems to be one of those things.

Ready to go...

arno — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 17:53:00 GMT

It is summer again, so that means it is also time for a vacation. The next three weeks I am free from work and tomorrow my two week vacation to Corsica starts. I have booked a group travel and we'll be cycling around the northern part of the island. Luckily I will not have to carry all my stuff (like a tent, sleeping bag, etc) on the bicycle as well, the group leader will carry that for us with a van.

I am really looking forward to this vacation. It is very nice to be totally away from work and computers for two weeks. I find it very relaxing to cycle around, enjoy the landscape, the food, the weather, etc. Of course cycling in a country that is not as flat as the Netherlands will be more tiring, but that is part of the fun. At least you have a nice view when you have climbed a hill or mountain.

I am sure I'll meet some nice people again in the group and I will have a good time. So see you again in two weeks time and in the mean time I won't see a computer, so I will not post anything or read any emails.

The image below is from last year, when I cycled in Navara (Spain).