She wrote a message explaining why there's a person on a motorcycle featured on the card:
Hello, this coming week is TT-week in Assen. Every year during the last weekend of June we have the Moto-GP at the TT-circuit. Thousands of motorcyclist fans visit the city at this time. All week long there's a festival, music lots of beer and of course lots of motorcycles. It is THE week of the year.So I figured out that it had something to do with motorcycling races, but still had no idea what TT stood for... Off to Wikipedia I went.
TT stands for Tourist Trophy, and is part of the MotoGP World Championship. The Assen TT-circuit is known as "The Cathedral" of motorcycling, and since the first race held in 1925 it has been held every year other than 1935-1940. Everyone who knows a little bit about main events in European history will probably understand that's because WWII was in full swing. That makes it the longest running event on the MotoGP calendar.
The original races weren't held at the circuit like it is now, but people were racing on country roads through several villages in the area, which they later changed to a road circuit through some other town. In 1955 they built a whole new circuit close to the location of the original race and about a third of the length. Through it all though, the finish line never changed.
Now a little bit about the town for those of you who are curious. Assen is the capital of the province of Drenthe. They got their city rights in 180, but can trace the towns history until as early as 1258 when a monastery was planned to be built there, the town developed around it. All that is still left of that monastery is the Abbey Church, the terrain and bits and pieces of the wall.
What struck me while reading about the town is that the whole city center is closed off to motorvehicles! Pin It
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