Giro d'Italia Bike Race

The Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) is an annual multiple-stage bicycle race. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1909. Along with the Tour de France (France) and Vuelta a España (Spain), the Giro makes up cycling's prestigious three-week-long Grand Tours. The Giro is usually held during late May and early June. While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same, with the appearance of at least two time trials, the passage through the mountains of the Alps and the finish in the Italian city of Milan. Like the other Grand Tours, the modern editions of the Giro d'Italia normally consist of 21 day-long stages over a 23-day period that includes 2 rest days.
All of the stages are timed to the finish. After finishing the riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times. The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race and gets to don the coveted pink jersey (who needs yellow!).

So why is this story even here?

The Netherlands will host the first three stages of this year’s Giro d’Italia. Amsterdam celebrates the tour’s kick off on May 8th. (today!)

Pink bicycles placed just above the water in Schalkwijk (just south of Utrecht), in the Netherlands, celebrate the arrival of the annual Giro d'Italia bike race. Pink is evidently a theme.

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Holland is just a step away

When life gives you lemons make green tea lemonade. So, when one lives in the midwest why not make the best of it and explore the sites in this area? You don't need a lot of money or even a passport. That brings us to Holland, Michigan a Dutch settlement in America. Obviously the city is very proud of its Dutch heritage, as shown in the klompen picture at the top. Klompen is the name of the Dutch wooden clog dance. There are many dutch settlements in Michigan but what makes Holland so distinctly Dutch are its two festivals: the tulip time festival in the spring and the winter festival. The tulip festival is held in mid-May and lasts for 8 days. The festival includes tours at the local windmills, tulip farms, local dutch houses, as well as dances, concerts, street scrubing, and a dutch marketplace. One interesting thing about the Dutch costumes that are presented during the festival is that they are from the 8 out of 12 different provinces of the Netherlands. Here is...

Ohhh the red, white, and blue

If you were given the job of creating a flag to represent your country, how would you design it? Myself, I would probably think of some symbols of your country then hand over the design portion to an artist, with the plan of choosing colors that aptly represent where you live. What have most countries of the world done? Three bars filled in with color. Lets talk about the Netherlands flag. This "orange" country has a drab flag, but not only is it drab it's deceiving. So many countries use red, white, and blue that it is confusing. + A little sun bleaching, Luxembourg +Sea sickness France + Dyslexia , Russia ...

de Vries, Hans de Vries. Almost.

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