Meinweg and Roer(-mond)

Friday afternoon i needed to be in a meeting in Roermond. I took the opportunity to load the bike in the car, and around 17:30 i could go! The weather again was amazing, light breeze, not so much clouds and along the way the most stunning sunset views.

The route was through the beautiful 'Meinweg'. A nature reservoir on and over the German border. It's known for the uphill part and in Strava that is visible through many segments. Back along the border is again nice forests and later on along the Roer. I switched back coming into Roermond for some extra mileage to end worth lovely 61 km and a very good average speed (for me personal that is).

Just before entering the hills of Meinweg, i overtook another rider who came by me a few minutes later. I said in Dutch: "comming from work or just enjoying the view?". It appeared that talking German worked better and we started chatting about riding, strava, training, gps, tourrides and hill climbing. Just any chat one does when having a common hobby. Up until Niederkrüchten it was good riding together and for me it helped for sure to ride up the small hills in meinweg. But still it's amazing to see how fast many riders are when checking segments in strava. And not only on the meinweg parts.

After splitting up i really enjoyed the ride back to the dutch border and keeping a good stable pace all the way to the car. Forests, fields, but not that much views of the Roer itself. 

Flat riding

I was tired because of some things during the night involving Luc that made me reconsider my 'during the week ride'. Instead of going for 50k with 12 hill attacks around the house i opted for a flat ride around the Teverener heide and Schinveldse bossen. A lot of it was on and around the 'groenroute'.

Groenroute

A bike route of 360-something kilometers from Germany through Limburg to Belgium, connecting the old cultural and industrial heritage of the region.
I drove most parts in earlier years, so some segments were known roads. But still iswas good to try to keep some decent speed in the ride and still keep the average heart rate low. I quit succeeded in that and it was a good recovery ride, ending with the area i already went by on last Saturday. In the end i could pull some small hills on tempo to have the feeling i did something today! With the evening sun in between the rain it was a good recovery ride over quite bikelanes, along forests and small villages.

Too short to be fun

Due to family thingies i couldn't put in the time to go a big ride today. But again nice weather and motivated by the last ride i gave it a go! small and easy climbs around the house were the goal. This part of Limburg is really a 'forgotten' and neglected part, and so nice to ride (or walk) through. Up and down around Merkelbeek and Doenrade i tried to keep the speed going uphill. The long and not so nice (traffic!) kleijkuilenweg was a firsttimer and brought me to Oirsbeek for a quick last hill before i was forced to head home to be just in time to jump under the showers. I hope next week i have some more time for a longer (70+k) ride. But the legs for the hills still needs to be build up!

Evening ride (the parkstadroute still is alive!)

(click image for strava activity)

The classic evening ride of the season. I found the signed route a few years ago. The small hexagonal signs were old and i thought the route was not maintained anymore. But to my surprise on places the signs were wailing last year, i see new signs again! cool that the city is making an effort to keep this nice round intact. It's a bike route on the border of Heerlen with a lot of parks and forests to cross and pass by. Just how to show how green parkstad Heerlen is. You also pass a few nice castles.

Today i wanted to push it a bit to try to do a good average. I succeeded. Climbing was still not as i hoped although i made some good sprints on some short hills. I extended the route around the Brunssummerheide to have a nice evening view. I tried this version also last year as my first ride, and it was something different!

This evening it was amazingly nice, good weather. All in all a lovely ride and a good training exercise.