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1908 is the year my grandfather's cycling career began. Soon he would also be driving here. But not yet in 1908.
Start of a race on a Sunday in early July at the Scheveningen track.
For more on these three stayers: see their album.
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Frits Wiersma at the start somewhere in Germany; probably in the Ruhr region. Wissmann will win this race.
Frits is then still at the top of his cycling career on the track. On the road, in the meantime, things are already slowing down.
My grandfather in this picture will then be married on the cusp of a month and a day. Not a strange situation for him or my grandmother, in the middle of the cycling season.
On his wedding day, for instance, he arrives from Germany in Amsterdam barely two hours before the ceremony (how that journey went is a familiar story in the family), and will leave for Germany again the next morning for a race in which he comes second. A place that earns him good money.
Unfortunately, the card is in very poor condition. So I had to do a bit more to it than just sharpen and lighten it. Something I prefer not to do.
This is the first 'German' postcard with Frits that I know of. There are some Dutch picture cards with him, though.
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My grandfather rode his first ever road race a month earlier on the reverse route (Utrecht - Amsterdam - Utrecht). To do so, he had to cycle to Utrecht first.
He would have won the race too if he hadn't punctured just before the finish. Now he came third on a borrowed women's bike.
He was 13 years old, 13 years and 9 months to be precise.
Bystanders gave him a train ticket to Amsterdam-Weesperpoort station, enabling him - along with his bike - to get home.
For a second edition of a booklet on Frits Wiersma's 60-year cycling career, I am currently researching his early years as a cyclist again.
And that is how I came across this newspaper clipping; a beautiful photo.
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54-BF-5
Cycling track in the Belgenkamp in Harderwijk during World War I. At 400 meters, it was the largest cycling track in The Netherlands at the time.
My grandfather, then a cyclist (Koprs Wielrijders) in Dutch military service, would sometimes go there on weekends to watch the races with some comrades.
He also made lasting friendships with some of the riders. In fact those Belgians teached the young Frits some important tactical racing lessons.
Background:
During World War I, nearly a million people fled from Belgium to the Netherlands. Among them also about forty thousand soldiers. Because of Dutch neutrality, those soldiers were obliged to be disarmed and interned. The largest camps built especially for these Belgian soldiers were in Harderwijk and near Amersfoort-Zeist.
1216
Start road race in important street of an unknown city. Right in front of a streetcar rail. Advertising on column also illegible when enlarged. Except for five women only men.
Found a sixth woman: standing in the row of spectators in the upper left, the seventh person behind that kid. (Thank you Fraser Pettigrew)
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Start road race in important street of an unknown city. Right in front of a streetcar rail. Advertising on column also illegible when enlarged. Except for five women only men.
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Start road race in important street of an unknown city. Right in front of a streetcar rail. Advertising on column also illegible when enlarged. Except for five women only men.
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Start road race in important street of an unknown city. Right in front of a streetcar rail. Advertising on column also illegible when enlarged. Except for five women only men.
1207
Start road race in important street of an unknown city. Right in front of a streetcar rail. Advertising on column also illegible when enlarged. Except for five women only men.
Found a sixth woman: standing in the row of spectators in the upper left, the seventh person behind that kid. (Thank you Fraser Pettigrew)
1209
Start road race in important street of an unknown city. Right in front of a streetcar rail. Advertising on column also illegible when enlarged. Except for five women only men.
1208
Start road race in important street of an unknown city. Right in front of a streetcar rail. Advertising on column also illegible when enlarged. Except for five women only men.
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