September 14, 2025

 Sunday. Left at 9:50. Blacksmith. Sunny, but, as became clear within the first kilometer, wet roads everywhere from overnight showers. Southwesterly winds at the back toward de Bilt, Zeist, Woudenberg. People out, but not busy. Some corn fields now bare, but it still didn't feel like fall, although early on it was on the cool side. Griftdijk, Haarweg to Amerongen. Hill quiet, except for motorcycles from both directions at the same time. Almost as bad as being passed by one of those stink diesel cars. The two fields between Amerongen and Leersum. Ginkelduin back to Haarweg. Company for the second time. Hoogstraat, Ruiterberg, wet and dirty. Maarn to Zeisterweg and back home. Wind making itself felt after de Bilt. On tv protests cancelling the final stage of the Vuelta. Apparently, the protesters are "pro-Palestinian," whatever that might mean exactly. There are many ways that can be defined. Apparently, they are also anti-Israel Premier Tech, one of the teams sponsored by a supporter of Israel. (But what does that mean: supportive of Israel's right to exist, or perhaps of anything the current government does?) The protests have been an ongoing phenomenon during the race almost since the start, and obviously, there's nothing the cyclists can do to stop the war. But the race is on tv every day, and interfering with the race (even at the risk of endangering the riders) gets you attention. Perhaps the idea is that this attention will add to the pressure on governments, especially the one in Spain, to take (more) measures against the Israeli government and its warfare in Gaza and, might as well add it, the West Bank. Perhaps there is no clear idea about what these protests should accomplish; perhaps in the end they are primarily an expression of the anger and desperation people feel watching the horrors from Gaza every day, and of the urge to do something, no matter how inconsequential for the course of events in Gaza. From the perspective of the bike race and those who like to watch, it is a drag, because it affects the racing, or even cancels it. But that's the world we live in right now: you may think (especially in this part of the world) that you can just live your life while other regions burn, but you really can't. In some respects globalization has been beating a retreat in the past decade, in other respects it remains a defining characteristic of our time.