After a hard time with a big renovation project at home, i finally find a small space in time to use the new bike i have waiting at home. After my dad finally was able to let go of the cycling era in his mind, and transfer the bike he had left in the attic to me, i needed to wait till sunday to finally try it.
With a birthday party in Aachen just below the 'drielandenpunt' it gave me a perfect oppertunity to do some hardcore hills going home. No big volume riding in mind, it would be some 50-odd km to get home. Being in Aachen meant i could start of with the climb to the highest point in NL from the German side, a climbing variant i dind't do until now. Finding the start of the climb was a bit of a challenge but the climb itself is nice and quiet and quite different from the other 2 variants. I chased a motorbike going downhill on the belgian side and after coming through Gemmenich in the valley it was up again towards NL. But not over the normal climb, but the alternative one behind the houses: chemin du Duc. It was not so hard and challenging as i had imagined it in my mind, but the tarmac was bad. Not a lot of cyclers want to steer over it, but still it's a good alternatvie, Carfree and good views. At the top it was downhill again to tackle climb three with only 12 km underway. The Eschberg was ok, some rythm in the moves and up it went. Down the Camerig and big climb 4 already there: the Eperheide. All went well and i searched for the nice ride towards Gulpen via Landsrade. There i went down the Gulperberg on the westside to skip the Kruisberg and Eyserbosweg as i initially wanted to ride. But with no training last month and no hill riding at all this year it was a wise choice.
The Rensberg towards Elkenrade was allready riding in cramps. But up it went in nice evening sunshine. Down and up the well known Fromberg. You can get good speed to get up the first steeper part but at the top it took some kilometers to get rid of the cramps in the quadriceps. from here it was down towards Ransdaal via the Karstraat and traight on along the golfsite of Voerendaal to home. Not an amazing avarage all in all, but an amazing set of views. The surroundings are astonishing! and after such a long time it was very good to be in the 'Heuvelland' again.
As for the new bike. It's a different ride! shorter framesize and much lighter it's set with campagnolo veloce. The breaking power is much better so more speed downhill for sure! :-p
The shifting is a bit different and something to get used to. But it's more accurate than what i am used to. Steering and handling feels quite natural and direct, almost nervous sometimes, and maybe the combination of less weight for the bike and less weight for myself, made for some nice set of PR's in strava!
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