It seems ages that I have made a ride on my road bicycle. Due to a persistent groin injury, I haven’t been able to cycle for a long time. The last time I rode my bike to work was in February, when it was still around freezing.
But after having taken the necessary rest, The recovery process is going the right direction. After consulting my physiotherapist, I was allowed to go for a ride again. Not too long and not too fast, but hey! I could ride my bike again 🚴🏻‍♀️💪🏻

The flower bulb region

I live in the western part of the Netherlands nearby the so-called flower bulb region. This region is famous for the large number of flower fields. During spring thousands of tourists from all over the world visit this area to view these lovely colored fields (and shoot photos for their ista posts 😂).
And I'm so lucky to just grab my bicycle and ride in between them. Can you really ride in between them? Yes you can!

Hyacinths

Normally I would have cycled along the field quite quickly, but since I had to take it easy, I took the time to take some pictures.
At the moment it are the hyacinths that are blooming. These come in many different colors and smell delicious!
Some farmers create fields of just one color, but some of them make multiple rows of different colors, like the one below.

Daffodils

But there are more flowers than just hyacinths. There are also loads of daffodil fields. Daffodils don't come in many different colors. You only have yellow ones. There are some different shades of yellow, but they are all yellow. I actually don't know why these don't come in other colors.
In contrast with the hyacinths, the daffodils don't have that scent. I actually didn't smell anything while cycling along this field.
But the yellow 'sea' looks very nice.

Tulips

It is just a bit too early for the tulips. You can see a couple of them unfold, but most of them are still closed.
People often think that tulips are from the Netherlands, but they actually originate from central Asia. It have been the Dutch that have imported them from there in the 1500s.
The popularity of tulips quickly grew. By the 1600s, they became a symbol of wealth and beauty. This led to “Tulip Mania,” a period when some tulip bulbs were sold for crazy high prices. Some rare bulbs costed even more than a house.
Then the market collapsed causing the first ever known 'price bubble'.

Tulips also come in many different species and colors. Here in the area we have 'De Keukenhof'; an outdoor flower show. The gardeners ofnde keukenhof create very nice fields of all different flowers, mostly tulips.
This show attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world. But the park is only opened a few weeks a year while the flowers are in bloom.

Flower bulbs

There are some small unmanned flower stands alongside the fields where you can buy some flowers, but most flowers aren't sold. It's the flower bulbs itself what the farmers want. The flowers create offset in the form of small bulbs that are attached to the main bulb. After the season the bulbs get digged up, seperated so they can be sold.

On the way back I cycled past this giant art flower bulb. I've seen more of these in the neighborhood. They are placed in the town surrounding the flower fields as promotion.

Windmills

When people think about The Netherlands, they often think of tulips and windmills. And I can check both, since I also cycled past this old windmill. It is not effectively in use anymore, but it is still preserved as a monument.

The ride

The ride itself wasn't very long and my average speed wasn't very fast. Just as my therapist advised. It was good to be back on the bike. Especially on a sunny day an in such an environment.
There was quite a bit of wind, so I was a bit scared if my groin would get irritated, but luckily it didn't.
This was a nice trial run to see if I could cycle to the office again next week. But since I haven't had any pain in my groin, that should be fine.

Thanks for reading my blog!
Comments are appreciated!

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