Riding time: 5:06 h
Total ascent: 138 m
Avg speed: 16.6 km/h
Max speed: 28.1 km/h
Route: Geldermalsen - Culemborg - Leerdam - Geldermalsen - Utrecht
Weather: Sunny, not a single cloud and really warm, 26 C
New all time record for me, 87 km cycling in one day! And actually apart of my buttocks I am feeling pretty fine. Luckily enough they only started hurting in the train back and the last km back home was a pain. The problem seemed to have been the stitches in my cycling shorts. I hope Nivea will do its work.
I met up today in the morning with a group from Meetup at the station in Geldermalsen for a leisurely ride through the Gelderland, a region which seems to be very well known for its fruit fields. Not only cherries as today, but also apples and other fruits, like currants and raspberries.
We pedalled at a perfect (for me) speed through the fields, and after protest of some of the participants stopped at a cherry vending place, where we all bought like half a kg cherries. Mine are already save in my belly. The last I ate in the train back from Utrecht.
I met up today in the morning with a group from Meetup at the station in Geldermalsen for a leisurely ride through the Gelderland, a region which seems to be very well known for its fruit fields. Not only cherries as today, but also apples and other fruits, like currants and raspberries.
We pedalled at a perfect (for me) speed through the fields, and after protest of some of the participants stopped at a cherry vending place, where we all bought like half a kg cherries. Mine are already save in my belly. The last I ate in the train back from Utrecht.
The organizer of the ride had thought up a nice route through of about 50 km through a somewhat different Dutch landscape. Less (or maybe even no) polders, much less dairy farming, and a lot of fruit trees.
Close to the cherry spot and actually already quite close to Geldermalsen, we ate in a very nice relaxing garden restaurant on the shores of this river-cum-lake. Food was Dutch. But that can't be helped.
At about km 45 there was an other fruit farm, where they also had many fruit trees and bushes for show and tasting. Like these red currants. A long time I haven't eaten them... probably since picking them last in the garden of my parents many, many years ago. (Not even sure if those bushes are still there... need to check next time I go).
And after about 49 km we were back at the station, where the ride officially ended. However 3 of us thought that it was a great idea to continue just a bit further (well, "just" an other 30 km) to Utrecht. So we left half of the group at the station and rode to Utrecht at pretty much the same leisurely speed, following one of us and his Google Maps. Google Maps brings you (at least in the Netherlands) safely on official bicycle lanes to your destination, BUT it does not necessarily choose the nicest routes. Pretty much the same what Garmin does, when you just give it the destination. I recently downloaded an other app, Komoot, where apparently it is possible to plan a trip following the knooppunt system, which normally runs on much nicer cycling paths. (I am getting totally spoiled here. How am I ever going to be able again to ride in a country like Japan, without a perfect cycling infrastructure???) But no time yet to really look into it. And even if I had, I am still having the problem that my Garmin does not want to connect to my iPhone via bluetooth. Strangely enough it connects perfectly fine to its mobile internet to UPLOAD rides, but not to DOWNLOAD anything. Mysteries of technology (or technological ignorance).
Riding into town we came by this perfect habitat of mussels...
... and this very cute houseboat.
Getting close and closer to Utrecht but not quickly enough for one of the three of us, how had her husband returning today around 18:00 from a business trip, and she still needed to get home. Lucky me ;-) my husband only comes back tonight from his business trip, so I could continue riding at the perfect speed.
At Utrecht station I arrived just perfectly in time for the next train to Leiden. Actually I felt perfectly fine as long as I was on the bicycle and could have easily continued for an other 10 km or so... But Utrecht Centraal it was.
So really a PERFECT DAY. Nice weather (a bit hot, but not too hot), lovely people, great ride, new personnel distance record (the previous one was riding from Bentenjima to Irago in Japan, which however was also coupled with ascent record (for me), good cherries, reasonably nice landscape, and no hills, which I obviously appreciate.
Close to the cherry spot and actually already quite close to Geldermalsen, we ate in a very nice relaxing garden restaurant on the shores of this river-cum-lake. Food was Dutch. But that can't be helped.
At about km 45 there was an other fruit farm, where they also had many fruit trees and bushes for show and tasting. Like these red currants. A long time I haven't eaten them... probably since picking them last in the garden of my parents many, many years ago. (Not even sure if those bushes are still there... need to check next time I go).
And after about 49 km we were back at the station, where the ride officially ended. However 3 of us thought that it was a great idea to continue just a bit further (well, "just" an other 30 km) to Utrecht. So we left half of the group at the station and rode to Utrecht at pretty much the same leisurely speed, following one of us and his Google Maps. Google Maps brings you (at least in the Netherlands) safely on official bicycle lanes to your destination, BUT it does not necessarily choose the nicest routes. Pretty much the same what Garmin does, when you just give it the destination. I recently downloaded an other app, Komoot, where apparently it is possible to plan a trip following the knooppunt system, which normally runs on much nicer cycling paths. (I am getting totally spoiled here. How am I ever going to be able again to ride in a country like Japan, without a perfect cycling infrastructure???) But no time yet to really look into it. And even if I had, I am still having the problem that my Garmin does not want to connect to my iPhone via bluetooth. Strangely enough it connects perfectly fine to its mobile internet to UPLOAD rides, but not to DOWNLOAD anything. Mysteries of technology (or technological ignorance).
Riding into town we came by this perfect habitat of mussels...
... and this very cute houseboat.
Getting close and closer to Utrecht but not quickly enough for one of the three of us, how had her husband returning today around 18:00 from a business trip, and she still needed to get home. Lucky me ;-) my husband only comes back tonight from his business trip, so I could continue riding at the perfect speed.
At Utrecht station I arrived just perfectly in time for the next train to Leiden. Actually I felt perfectly fine as long as I was on the bicycle and could have easily continued for an other 10 km or so... But Utrecht Centraal it was.
So really a PERFECT DAY. Nice weather (a bit hot, but not too hot), lovely people, great ride, new personnel distance record (the previous one was riding from Bentenjima to Irago in Japan, which however was also coupled with ascent record (for me), good cherries, reasonably nice landscape, and no hills, which I obviously appreciate.
Nice job! And you actually passed where I live, down the road from that houseboat.
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