pics I want to share (part2)
 

I brought the camera along w/ me today, so I thought I'de share some pics of the ride..

The ride is 35km (roundtrip), w/c includes an 8.2km steep 500m climb.

tough climbs coming up...

nature....

more climbs.... taking the pic is an excuse to make a stop.. :D

At last!!! this is the point where I turn left and go back...

down the best part of the trip... going down!!!

Beautiful documentary, dexmax! How is the traffic on that route?

nice shots, although the photos can't do the "climbs" much justice - in the photos looks pretty flat.

ok, so i have to admit i didn't know where "Perlas ng Silanganan" was... but it looks a lot like places i've been in Indonesia...

and looked it up and that's in the Phillipines, right?

is that just sarcastic or are there really any Dutch "mountains" (i don't think so) or does that refer to mountains somewhere outside of the Netherlands, like a former colony?

:D Nathank, FYI: the Netherlands are full of long, steep climbs. They are all in my head. :rolleyes:

'In the Dutch Mountains' also happens to be the title of a nice (and, yes, ironic) song by The Nits (a Dutch, sort of artsy, pop band).

thanks.

never heard if the song (or at least i don't know it by name)

i really like the Netherlands and it was on my list of choice places to move in 2001: southern Germany (Munich), Switzerland (Zurich/Basel), Austria (mainly Salzburg), Holland... and i really think it's a cool place and the Dutch culture has strong support for the environment and cycling and is internationally aware... but i just *have* to have mountains nearby!! (i lived in Texas for 26 years _longing_ for mountains... my parents had moved back to Texas from Colorado a few months before i was born and i visited the mountains of CO a lot as a kid)

i spent a few days up in Leiden as well as Amsterdam in summer 2000. maybe even better for cycle-commuting than Munich!? ... but i love my mountains!

you're right.. it does look flat in the pictures.. But its steep enough to make stand(at full power) just to make the bike move.. In my fitness level and gearing(52-42T -- 12-21T), it was impossible to spin it.. ;)

Anyway, I didn't take pics where the climbs were steep, i was afraid I won't be able to make my bike move if i stopped. :D

and, yup, philippines...

:D... Thanks!

traffic? what traffic? when going up, I didn't even see any car.. Only 1 truck installing powerlines, and it was parked..

These are remote roads.. Hardly no-one uses it..

I wasn't able to shoot much scenery, I was on a road bike.. This was as far up as I could go.. Maybe on one of my MTB trips, I'll bring my camera along.

Beautiful Pics thanks for sharing. You spin a 12 - 21 in the Philippines geehs man!

:) As a matter of coincidence, Leiden is where I work. The commute has been reduced to 5km when we moved to a town nearby. I am clocking my miles now on 'dedicated' training rides.

But... No mountains. :mad:

cool! it's a cool university town, huh? i was visiting a friend i had met in Chamonix (Paul de Boaer - hm, i should contact him again...) and my ex-girlfriend and i rented a Dutch tandem (man was that a HEAVY beast) and one day rode down to the beach... not sure, Paul was our guide and we rode LOTS but i didn't pay much attention to the routes... oh, we rode by the Heinicken brewery...

i did visit the old Roman tower or whatever that is (have some pictures there) as well as the bar right there. i did not previoulsy know the Romans had been SO far north.

you should come down and do some MTBing the Alps with us! we're going to be 4 days in Lake Garda Italy for the Bike Festival and Marathon (104km 3600meters climbing) May 1st weekend.

I'm planning a move to Europe (haven't decided exactly where yet) in the next few years. I had been planning on Switzerland or France, but I seem to be hearing a lot of good things about Germany at this point in time. I hadn't realised Southern Germany was close to the mountains (I myself have discovered a love of climbing in the surprisingly hilly (by Australian standards) Gold Coast hinterland). How's the job market for accountants over there?

hey Chris... as to accountants in particular i don't know (i'm a software developer dreaming to be a MTB guide and ski/snowboard instructor full time...), but the economy in most of those areas Europe (France, Switzerland, Germany) is about the same. Germany supposedly had a recession that started a little later than the US (started about Fall 2001) and also supposedly better sice fall 2003... but it's nothing like it was in 199-2001...

France is a great place - the climate, the culture, although i'm not a fan of the French language... Germany in also great and probably a little more open to integrating foeigners and definitely much more accomodating of English-speakers (there are actually lots of jobs in the cities in Germany where you don't have to speak German - like my first job here in Munich)... Switzerland is a different animal as it is not part of the EU. it in general is open to highly educated foreigners although i have heard the integration can be difficult and people are not open and outgoing. it is also a unique place with 4 official languages (french, german, italian and romanisch) and 3 busines languages (english, french, german)... that said, it has a very interesting government and culture and has pretty much the highest standard of living in the world - but it is also expensive.

i would personally guess that Germany would be the easiest to get a job, 2 followed by Switzerland and then France... and Switzerland might be the most difficult to adapt on a personal level. but i'm not speaking against Switzerland as it is still a possibility for me personally.

but yes, Southern Germany is close to the mountains, although much of the area is relatively flat (Munich itself is on a flat plain at 510m and on my in-town rides i get about 400m of climbing on a 3hr ride - not alot). Munich is about 50km from the small mountains (my girlfriend currently lives in a valley at 780m nestled amoung 1800-2000m peaks and she is 60km from Munich) and about 80km from "big mountains" like the Zugpsitze at 2900m... and then about a 2-hour drive from the 3000m+ peaks in Austria. now if you are talking about REALLY high mountains (>4000m) then Munich is pretty far as these mountains are all in the Switzerland/Italy/France region but then there aren't any regualr cities close to these mountains (Zurich is the closest). other cities in Southern Germany are often in/near small hills/mountains (say Stuttgart or Karlsruhe) and 50km or so from small mountains (1400-1800m)... and then 200km or so to the Alps. then there are some really cool small places near the Austrian/Swiss border like say Freiburg which is a great place in small mountains not too far from the Alps, but there are few jobs there. basically anything not in the north of Germany is not completely flat (i.e. hills directly in the area) and not THAT far from the Alps (i.e. for a weekend trip, although Munich is one of the few close enough for a weekend DAY trip to the Alps - i do it ALL the time).

anyway, if you need to knwo anything more about the area let me know. I would think if you looked at Munich, Zurich, Geneva which are the most "international" places in this region and then maybe a few other smaller places (say Basel, Bern, something in France, sorry no map here and i can't think of which French cities are near the mountains) your chances would be pretty high. one thing to remember though: although there are a lot of similarities (as a foreigner) and they are not far away, despite the EU, there is still a strong division between each -- parlty language but also historical business relationships so that for example, in Munich i have contact with companies all over Germany (many 100s km to the north) but not to Salzburg or Innsruck that are 100km to the south or to Basel that is about 300km away so closer than most Germany cities.

and cycling is very possible and supported in all three countries... probably in different ways to different levels, so hard to compare... Germans love their cars but there are bike accomodations EVERYWHERE and you don't need a car (i was car-less for 2 1/2 years to no disadvantage and we bought a car mostly since my girlfriend has a new job WAY out of town 10km from where the train line ends and she's not as dedicated a bike-commuter as you and I - 60km or 1hr train + 10km)...

of course the language is a big factor: do you prefer the German culture of Germany/Austria/eastern Switzerland or the French of France/western Switzerland? "ich kann kein Franzosich" (i can't speak French), so for me it is clear.

Green Trees? Geesh, that is wierd. :D

Geez, so many things to think about, I might bookmark that post and refer to it a little later, thanks! As far as the climbing goes, most of the hills around here are in the 500m-1,000m class, but all of my climbs start from sea-level. I took things up another level in Tasmania just for a taste of it (Ben Lomond was 1,450m on dirt roads), and I want more! When I'm looking at a climb, I tend to focus on height gained as much as anything else.

My main motivation for wanting to move over there is that I want to do some touring in Europe at some point (those climbs!), and Australia is just too far away from the rest of the world to use as a base (airfares alone would hit $2,000 each time!). I'd also be keen to experience another culture - been in Queensland for almost a decade now!

As I said, it's still a couple of years off yet, I need to get some money behind me first, and there are still a few areas in this region of the world (particularly New Zealand) that I'm keen to explore. I'd also need time to learn the language of wherever I decide to go -- given that I only speak English right now. In anycase, thanks for the info -- it's given me a whole lot to think about.

Incidentally, apologies to Dexmax for hijacking this thread. There are some nice pictures among those. Actually, some of those trees are similar to what grows in the Tweed Valley not far from here.

dexmax,

I always read about the wonderful rides from those on this forum, but I'm visual and left with only the ability to imagine what it was like.

Thanks for sharing your photos. It really gives me a sense of "being there." I hope that you will share more with us in the future.

Thanks,
Dan