Day Three - Get Ready For This
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| Lovely day for the outdoors |
Today is the day of the cycle tour, the reason we had come
to Holland and for many participants the culmination of many months of
gruelling training ahead of the 240km endurance event. As part of this training some of the team appear to have read a book
suggesting the best preparation for such an event was to minimise sleep as far
as possible, it was this in mind that we met at 06:00 to leave the hotel. The same book also suggested you should add 10% to any ride of 240km or above by riding to and from the start line, this last step being particularly important if it is raining.
That said, the early start wasn’t as punishing as it could have been
given most of us had been kept awake by howling winds and rain driving in from
the sea. I awoke early and as an
experiment opened the door to my balcony only to be pummelled by rain
drops the size of large rain drops. It
is fair to say that conditions for a bike ride were not ideal. It is also fair to say that not driving in a
warm car to the start line was (with hindsight) foolhardy.
On arrival at the start line in Bolsward we were directed to
the point where we would collect our first stamp of the day. As the event covered 11 cities the aim was to
collect 11 stamps by the end of ride.
Some 15,000 cyclists take part in the ride each year on a range of bikes
from upright mountain bikes to tandems to weird sort of Dutch commuting bikes
with aero tri bars. The number of
nationalities represented by the riders was a diverse mix of Dutch and German
with the 11 of us making up the UK contingent.
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| Me with some Dutch and Germans at the startline - unaware of the horror that lay ahead |
The first leg of the ride was not too bad with the rain being limited to a strong shower and the wind being largely at our back. It was possible to maintain a decent clip which also gave the psychological benefit of making the rain less annoying. All this changed when the course changed direction such that it headed into the wind. A word that was used a lot was ‘brutal’, the flat and featureless Dutch landscape offering little in the way of shelter. In case we were too comfortable the weather gods decided to add a bit of hail to the mix which was blasted at speed into riders thanks to aforementioned wind.
At around the second checkpoint I had been ‘dropped’ by my
friends so was riding solo. To be clear
they did the right thing, I had done no training for the event and thus was
undeserving of any sympathy or support.
Luckily in the 14,990 other riders I was able to make many new
friends, for several miles at this point I rode with a couple of Dutch chaps
called Bert and Ernie (I didn’t ask their names but I doubt I am far wrong) who
were happy to ride in front affording me some shelter from the hurricane ahead. At this point something magical happened and the sun came out. But don't worry it was a blip and the rain returned about 7 minutes later.
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| Almost smiling in the 7 mins of sun |
I have taken part in many similar cycling events in the past and they have all had in common frequent well marked food and water stops for participants, these being particularly important on rides of say 240km. Whilst the organisation and marshalling of the ride was very good the provision of food and drink was utter dogsh*t with woefully few food or water stations. In the end I managed to find some warming coffee and a Marathon bar from a tent an enterprising local had set up in their front garden. Another highlight was a local apple farm who were giving out apples to every rider, I honestly can’t thank them enough and will from now on only buy Dutch apples, (unless other ones are cheaper.)
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| Detailed route map / municipal art installation |
As the 3D diagram featured on a Bolsward roundabout shows the 11 cities route maps out a figure of 8 through the Fresian countryside (named after the cows). After the second or third bout of painful driving hail I decided that the only sensible thing to do was to call it a day (a euphemism for give up). Unfortunately I was in the middle of nowhere at that point (the same being true for the majority of the ride) so made a plan B to finish the lower of the two loops, which is the longer of the two at around 85 miles. 85 miles, plus riding to the start and back would still give a healthy total for the day of over 100 miles of abject misery.
I caught up with some of my team at the loop cross over
point and they had all had similar thoughts but somewhat insanely the majority
had decided to carry on with the final 60 miles. I am both impressed with their mental
fortitude and dismayed that I hang around with such idiots. Fellow rider Jason sensibly decided to call it a day
so we rode back to the hotel, various navigation errors turning the 6 mile ride
of the morning into a 9 mile ride in the evening. This is where we return to my earlier comment
about the merits of cars with roofs, being in the warm and dry of a car at this point would have been a delight.
That said the return did make sure we had both covered 100 miles for the
day so retained a modicum of cycling dignity.
Despite my (only partly exaggerated) misery I could see that
in different circumstances, which is to say better weather, it would be rather
a fun event. The locals in the villages
we rode through were out in force to cheer riders on, albeit ‘out’ from inside
their warm dry houses in some cases. On
a warm day this must result in an even better atmosphere and general raising of
spirits. Another feature I enjoyed was
the playing of loud music in many villages, even if some of the odd Dutch oom-pah
tunes were not to my taste.
Back at the hotel I showered then made myself a coffee to
warm up. Note: If anyone ever stays in a hotel
in Holland I can warn them that the milk containers look very like the coffee
pods but even though you can make them fit in the machine with a bit of force
don’t. The resulting milk explosion
took quite some tidying. The next step was to
head to the bar for a beer, at this point I received a message from some of the
team asking me to pick them up. No beer
for me - warm car home for my team mates, a real lose / win situation.
Of the 11 of us who set out to complete the 11 cities 9
completed the course, coming in at around 20:00. The conditions and crowded nature of some of
the checkpoints meaning a decent overall pace was not really possible. The subject of returning next year in the
hope of better weather did come up at dinner but absolutely no one was even vaguely interested, reasoning the scenery was rather like the Fens near where we all live.
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| Finishers looking happy because they don't have to do it again. would be happier if they had a car waiting |
Tomorrow we drive back to the ferry and go home.
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