Gelukkig Sinterklaas
December 6th is possibly the biggest holiday of the year for the Dutch. We put out our shoe, we write gedichten, we play pranks on each other, and we exchange gifts. As luck would have it, the good old Sint made a stop by the Velominati Headquarters in Seattle and left me an absurdly large bottle of dry lube; the the point where I felt like I need to explain what it is for. (I use a lot of that stuff, you know, on my chain – because I ride in the rain every day this time of year. I swear.)
Take a dive into the archives and have a look at our 2010 article on the subject for a full background on why December 6th is the real Christmas and why the Dutch (and I assume at least the Belgians) rule so much harder at holidays than the rest of the world, except maybe the Jewish community, since they figured out how to make the gift-giving last an entire month and everyone knows that’s pretty hard-core.
In any case, from the bottom of my heart, thanks to everyone in our humble little community, and I wish you each a Gelukkig Sinterklaas.
Back at ya!
And the best of the season to you and all the Velominati too!
Definately starting to feel the Christmas spirit now it has turned colder here….watched “Its a Wonderful World” last night…..still absolute quality!
Feliz Navidid (that’s how we say it here in Southern California).
Thanks man. Happy holidays to everyone.
@farzani Brilliant! Here in the UK we have to wait another 19 days! (cue sobbing)
Merry, merry Frank and all the Dutch infected Velominati (and I say that with love)!
And that is just the best image of you drafting Sinterklass in the pro elf kit… ( or whatever it might be in the convoluted Dutch mind).
Sinterklass brought some green from Amsterdam this year:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/06/us-usa-marijuana-washington-idUSBRE8B506L20121206
farzani – a Craft headband?!
Ah yes, the holiday season! I’m actually excited about it this year for the first time in a few years. The past few I’ve been in a foul mood because the year was ending & I had to face the music and accept that again I’d done more bike riding than graduate work. This year I’ve found a nice balance & it feels great. Oh, I’m not Peaking, but for me it’s kind of “Who gives a fuck?” I’m finally closing in on finishing, graduating, and getting that all important well-paying job to afford bike goodies! Went to a Christmas concert at the uni on Tuesday night & got lucky and sub taught yesterday and it was their yearly holiday concert. Nice! The VMH and I also constructed a holiday tree out of bamboo since we live near a local copse of trees. Free & looks pretty good, since she did the work.
Oh, and my housemate pal is having a dual birthday/End of World party on 12/20 and into 12/21. As good a reason as any to get lots of work done in the next couple of weeks!
Happy holiday season Followers! And Keepers!!
@Ron
Does your VMH know about this???
Buck! Ha!! Funny you should ask. The real reason I went to this concert was because the in-laws were in town over the weekend & aside from the many reasons I was pissed, they brought their little yippie dogs. Our cats had to stay outside or hide under the bed.
Anyway, I wasn’t “sweet & kind” over the weekend so to patch things up I suggested we go to the concert. She loves carols & the holidays.
She was there though! And, on my way in is where I spotted a Raleigh Record Ace. Never heard about or seen one. Pretty sharp bike, despite the Rasta bar tape that owner thought would be cool.
@Ron Oh man. I have a week of the in-laws to look forward to over the holidays. Who comes and stays for SEVEN frick’en straight days at another persons house anyways??? Haven’t they ever heard the old Ben Franklin saying about fish and company going bad after three days???
Yeah, not feeling the Christmas spirit on that one. Most likely coal for me!
@Frank – Gelukkig Sinterklaas! Dry lub?
@Buck Rogers
Suggestion: change the locks after three days. It’s usually effective.
Bedankt, en Prettige Feestdagen, Frank, with lots of pepernoten and taai-taai – and Happy Holidays to all you other Velominati out there, too.
@Ron YES I love my Craft headband! het is koud hier in Belgie!
Festivus for the rest of us
Happy Dutch Christmas, Frank. And a happy and prosperous New Year too.
ahhh, as the weather is getting nicer, I’ll jump on my bike, ride to the beach, and wish all of you northern hemisphere folk a very merry Christmas.
@Buck Rogers I hesitate to even broach the subject, but I’ll be visiting my parents in Poughkeepsie over the week of Christmas. Keeping in mind that [1] I’m six months away from peaking, [2] will be riding an ancient Bianchi (circa ’90), and [3] won’t have the proper gear for true cold-weather riding with me… Want to try to meet up for a ride in order to get out of the house? I assume you’re still near West Point, given your former cogal.
Everyone — enjoy the holidays! May you get time to ride, and just enough bad weather to be badass.
@cognition bad weather? It’s 8:30pm and 28 degrees Celsius here
Yeah, yeah, happy christmas, seasons greetings and all that stuff. Whatever. I like December for another reason: it’s review of the year time. Come on Frank, Brett, Marco, Gianni… it’s been a cracking year. When is the ‘ride of the year’ coming out? When is the Official Velominati Review of 2012 being published. Don’t tell me you can’t believe it’s December already. What, you didn’t get the memo?
Stop bickering about it, as we know you are, and either agree Wiggo/Boonen/Trott/Gilbert/Pendleton/Sagan/Hesjedal/VdV/de Gendt/Vos* is the man/girl or just let Frank go and write what he wants to write anyway and publish, dammit. (You can tear him to pieces afterwards online, in public, just like every year – God, I love Christmas).
* delete where applicable
@roadslave525
Wiggo & Trott for me.
Us Scots are grim Presbyterian types – when I was a kid there was a mail delivery on Christmas day the village shop would open and the buses ran a “Sunday Service”. Hence the New Year was the big occasion for liver damage at this end of the island as it wasn’t a religious festival but the result of 1599 bookkeeping change in Scotland to make New Years day the 1st of January 1600 and not the 25th of March as it remained everywhere else until 1752 or thereabouts. Some Presbyterian groups in the Western Isles still use the Julian calendar (albeit with a 1st of January New Year’s Day) as they don’t hold with fancy modern ways especially those associated with 16th century popes.
Its being so cheerful that keeps us going.
@the Engine
8 words, and I need a new keyboard – have just spat diet coke all over it was laughing so hard. Please stop.
@the Engine
Aha…so you are talking high curch…brrrr sends shivers down my spine. Used to go up to Lewis twice a year as a child. Sundays….no playing…no watching TV….cards (nope thats gambling!)….I mean what are 3 boys supposed to do. We used to have to go to church for 2hrs in the morning and be berated in gaelic. Then another hour in the evening!! Christmas….that was a time for reflecting on the misery and pain Jesus suffered and how misearable sinners like us should not be permitted to laugh! No wonder they drink so much!
All good now, I am chaging sides when it comes to Christmas and going Dutch!
@Deakus
If you can hack 2 hours of unaccompanied psalms (organs being sinful) in Gaelic then Rule #5 holds no fear…
@Deakus
Given the somewhat fierce nature of the ladies and the alarming amount of bicycle abuse – they’re all upside down, have been chopped in half and are being used for domestic chores – I’d have been quite happy to shuffle off to the kirk for three hours of fire, brimstone and guilt each Sunday.
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@minion & @marcys might have been OK though.
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fuck it, DM albums have done it again. Two of the those photos should have been after the last paragraph.
Zo komt hij bij ons binnen…….Gelukkig Sinterklaas!
@the Engine Deep section wheels, maybe. Hand turned wooden spokes, no.
Too much tweed, daft head wear, dodgy shaving habits and wooden components – are the Scots responsible for the birth of the Hipster?
@roadslave525 There have been boardroom meetings and the deliberations are going smoother than one might think.
@Marko
@roadslave525
The lack of a good Schleck Bros screw up, or any performance by the two of them has helped, besides a positive urine sample and being back amongst the cars at the foot of La Redoute in L-B-L.
Gelukkig Sinterklaas.
Did you get something in your shoe?
If not, you have to sing louder.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all the Velominati !
And could someone please explain to this American, who is unfamiliar with Dutch holiday traditions, why Old St Nicks “assistant” is wearing blackface?
@San Tonio
No doubt an edam-eating dopehead in clogs will be along in a minute to give further explanation, but that is Black Pete. He is essentially Sinterklaas’s servant and helper in the way that the elves help Santa Claus.
I don’t believe they were quite so PC in the 17th century so I guess they figured it was OK, indeed natural, for his servants to be black. There’s also a connection with Sinterklaas arriving from Spain so perhaps there is a Moorish aspect to it originally.
@G’rilla
Nipple Lube………(without admitting anything at all of course).
@Chris From the recent visits. It’s not all bad!
Has anyone ever ridden a bike on St Kilda? Now that would be a Cogal – admittedly quite a short one.
@the Engine
You could quite easily MTB your way round the island but the tree hugging shepherds would probably lynch you for disturbing the Soay sheep which are apparently indigenous and very rare…
@Deakus For a moment … I thought Chris Froom had joined us!
“@Chris From the recent visits. It’s not all bad!”
@ChrisO
See #2.
@DerHoggz
“he leaves a pack of Kools beneath your pillow”
Hilarious!
@Chris
Correction, pilot error has done it again.
@the Engine
Well, yes.
We even have Amazons to take cars of errant drivers.
@mouse You might need to explain that, you have lost me there….it’s probably me being dim but it has been a long week and I am stuggling to make the connection….so feel free to point out the bleeding obvious and make me look an idiot! (cue the ever reliable emoticon….wink!)
Ah.
There be a place in Aus named St. Kilda. Has probably the busiest road cycling traffic volume in the world.
@mouse
Er…yeah…not quite…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland