Belgium

Finally the day did come to ride a long ride, and i could try out the slightly longer hills in the Belgian Voerstreek. Starting early it was still chilly so i opted for a longsleeve jacket. This was a good choice in the first 1,5 hours. But lateron i would think about shortsleeves more often.

I approached the border with no hills to speak of. It was a strange feeling going past all those known hills instead of over them. Several villages were preparing for catholic processions everywhere. It was nice to have the street to myself, seeing no riders, almost no cars and some people dressed up traditionally for the drumband or the 'schutterij' going to their days duties. Towards Epen it got slightly steepr and i could tackle my first hill but still on the dutch side. I didn';t know this one and it's a quiet road along a campsite where people were preparing breakfast.

Crossing the border with amazing views on the Camerig and Vijlenerbos, you notice the change of country. Somehow it's different in 'the other side' From Sippenaken it was uphill along chateau Beudael in the warming morning sun. down again and up on a more boring climb towards Aubel. Here the obvious road to Val Dieu and right to the apotheose of climbing for today. Les Waides is a nasty climb, and it didn't went quick but since it was the only real hard one, it was cool doing this.

In le Heydt i had planned to go directly to st. Maatensvoeren but apparently Strava plans roadroute including MTB tracks. So i had to improvise and went downhill to 's Gravenvoeren. Here a roadblock made me go to Mesch, again an improvised track. But it gave me the oppertunity to climb towards Libeek and picked up my aimed line again. Bukel and Eckelrade went by, The very small climb towards Cadier and the down to st. antoniusbank. There a fast pull on the breaks was needed. A paid sunday yearmarket was in progress and after asking around i was directed to the climb along quarry 't Rooth. It did hurt a bit going up but the climb flattens out quick enough.

At the crossroad between IJzeren and Bemelen i was forced to stop, because some 200 milion euro on cars was passing me by. Porches, Maserati's, Ferrari's and some others exotic stuff passed  by with the sound of carmusic in the ears. After 2 minutes or so i could get to Berg, down the Geulhemerberg and catch the last bigger climb towards Haasdal. After that on the flat acros Schimmert i still could keep up the pace and i wanted a 90+k ride so i went on a small detour along Schinnen. Now it was clear 100+ would be to much, because on the last climb home i cramped in the upper legs. So perfect weather, perfect views,  very good average speed, new climbs, and a surprising low average heartrate made for a very nice ride.

Swift local ride

On the weekend i try to get some time for a ride with some bigger distance. This weekend this was not possible. So in the 1,5 hour that is given me, i tried to push it on speed instead on volume or ditance. Directly outside the door it's possible to keep that 10m height per km ratio. So Krekelberg, Zandberg, Keldenaar, Stammenhof, Sweikhuizen, Hegge, Schurenberg, Zandbergsweg in short distance from each other is a challenge. It is not the most amazing in hight and diffculty/steepness, but pushing the speed makes everything challenging. Crossing the blue route of Limburgs mooiste of this year a few times, i thought that i would see a lot of riders. But this is not the truth, it was late enough in the day to have a quiet ride.
I liked it that 'Limburg mooiste' knows that they don't have to use the deep south for good and beautiful riding, also around Puth and Schinveld it's worth a tour!

As often when i didn't ride a hill for some longer time, i was making the climbs bigger and steeper in my mind. So most hills actually went very well, the new bike feels i am going easier, and only Stammenhof was a bit much. Seeing that i PR'd on 18 out of 24 sgements i had a succes in speeding the climbs.
The nice Sweikhuizerberg was a good challenge and i could shout to myself and collect some energy out of the upcoming thrill at the start, keep a  good average pace and felt i did a good climb. Keeping the speed also inbetween the climbs was what put the average speed on a surprising good level for me. But considering that this is an avarage speed many cyclers can keep up four 3 times this distance, i still feel like a really small fish in the cyclingpond.

After Hegge it was the question with the deadline i had, if it was possible to get 40km in the bucket but still arrive home on time. So i opted for some local small hills in Hoensbroek: Schurenberg and Zandbergsweg. Trying those with some max speed was a thrill, and good for training i guess.

So even without a big ride i had fun and a good endorfine feeling at the end. But still i hope to ride 100k this year a few times. Getting to Bornheim via the Eifel and maybe 2 days of MH2D could be 2 of my goals this year. We see what happens.

Kempen bij 30°

Although the weather is not the most perfect kind, still to get a ride in for this week was a must! So no big hills and to high speed but some lengthy ride over more or less flat countryside. With 70+km one can get some distance from home, so I opted for the belgian side with the well known naturepark "de Kempen". Getting there was not easy, but first a little climb on the way: Hobbelrade. Again this year a personal best. After Beek and Elsloo I made the mistake to get on the wrong side of the canal, and I couldn't get on the cycleway along the A76 to get into Belgium. A little nice detour via Stein and I could get over the border. Speed was still good, legs also and the weather was very nice with a little breeze. Following the canal towards Maasmechelen I got that specific feeling again, that you get coming in Belgian Limburg. I can't exactly describe what it is, but you know you crossed the border somehow.

Through maasmechelen was kinda fun, with all kind of people on the terrasses. Then after a suburb I got left into the Kempen area. Big forests and a confusing route that I had planned. Planning in Strava can mix up MTB tracks with roads. So i had to trust my gutfeeling and the little garmin map on my steer and follow some cycleways. It worked out well and i could get to that straight crossing over the E314 towards Zutendaal. There I was on a dangerous road and i was glad i found a cycleway again very soon after that. The view that was served to me was amazing there!

All the way to the Dutch side with the industry and in between a big chunk of nature! This is a place to explore maybe in the future with the family. It's not far away but still something completely different. During the ride there I could imagine the deer and wild hogs running around and getting lost here was something actually possible. It feels huge and wild.

From there it was due south through more forests but also some nice suburbs with houses that looked more like castles most of the time. Still keeping a good pace I got in more familiar terrain at Smeermaas and Lanaken. Along the channel it was through a not so known approach I found myself at the noorderbrug. Through Meerssen and the lange Raarberg I was home with a ride of another kind. More than I could have hoped for on this evening