The letter
Mid November I got the letter: “congratulations, you are one of the 4.200 potential candidates. This implies that if there is an Elfstedentocht you can participate”. I hadn’t had (due to my work, frequent travelling) enough time to train! I had to improve it at once: that evening I went jogging, the following evening 5-wheel rollerblading, than jogging and so forth. From that date I trained four to five times per week about 3/4 of an hour, on business trips I took my jogging gear with me.
The first tours
With the falling temperatures we got ice on the canals: that gave me the possibility to get some ‘ice-kilometres’, much more fun than the monotonous laps on the ice-rink “De Uithof” in The Hague. The first tour I did was the “two Provinces tour” of 40 km This one was followed by three other, of which I did the 25 km‘Lansingtocht’ in Stolwijk with friends and kids (aged 13 and 12 years then). My friend Laurens and myself did it for a second time while the kids were having a hot drink in the clubhouse.
Shortly after that my self confidence was badly damaged. On New Year’s day I decided to do the ‘Westlandtocht’, from Schipluiden to Vlaardingen. Once again, a very strong wind: the tour took me 2,5 hours, for a mere 30 km... I felt terrible. This implied that the Elfstedentocht would take me 17,5 hours at this speed...
The announcement
On New Year’s Day it was announced that the tour would be held. The date had to be fixed yet. On January 2nd, the date was announced for three days later: Saturday, the 4th of January 1997. I would sleep in Heerenveen (Frieslān, approximately 30 km from the starting point Leeuwarden) in the house of friends.
Please note that in a mere three days, the Elfsteden-committee had to organise everyting!!My outfit
The media had warned for the extreme wind-chill effect. It would be similar to -28 deg C (-18 F). I decided to wear exactly the same as on the other tours. Once I had made the mistake of putting on too much: I started sweating and when I stopped the icy wind got hold of my sweaty body.
So what did I wear?
Normal underpants, thermo-underpants (special material), thin socks, shin guards, pieces or floor-carpet on the knees, bicycle pants (because of the chamois leather to protect the crotch) plus my skate-legging.
For the upper part of the body: thermo-shirt (special material), cotton T-shirt, ski-pullover, sweater and skate-jacket.
For the head: thermo-balaclava (special material), thick woollen hat and ski-glasses.
Over my skates I had neoprene covers to protect me from the cold and the (snow)water.
To get an idea of what this looks like, please refer to the photo on the previous page.