February 14, 2012
LACE 'EM UP:
On thin ice, and a long course, with the Dutch (AP, 2/09/11)
As I lace up my ice skates while sitting on the banks of the Zijlroade river Thursday, grizzled men old enough to be my father glide past me, leaning into the bone-chilling wind and effortlessly propelling themselves across the frozen surface.I drop down onto the ice and flail my arms to get balanced. Surely my feet can't be hurting already. But it's been years since I've done a serious skating run, and this one, well ...When organizers announced Wednesday night that the Elfstedentocht - the Netherlands' mythical Eleven Cities Tour - would not be staged because the ice was too dangerous, a colleague suggested I skate the waterways that make up the course for a story.I'm not sure he knew the tour is 125 miles (200 kilometers) long.
Posted by Orrin Judd at February 14, 2012 8:23 PM
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