No hills/no gravel - Day 3

Route: Wolfheze - Schoonhoven - Leiden 
Distance: 135 km
Elevation: 215 m
Duration: 6:18 h
Weather: sunny and slowly getting warmer, 9 C

After two days in the “hilly” region around Utrecht and Arnhem today I cycled all the way back home. I had taken the day off, as I need to use up my PTO days before relocating to Japan (likely early May) and weather forecast was fine. Sunny and even a slight tail wind. 

This was the only hill I saw (and didn’t climb) for the entire day:

Apart from that it was a quite ride through the vast river delta of the Netherlands  seeing some old town, but mostly on the distance:

I had a few stops along the way and 2 (!) soups to combat hunger and a bit of cold. But, yeah, pretty ride, but also pretty uneventful.

Hilly & Gravely - Day 2

Route: Ede - Hoenderloo - Wolfheze
Distance: 84 km
Elevation: 485 m
Duration: 4:29 h
Weather: very sunny but cold, 8 C

Today started very close to the center of the Netherlands!

And from there the day took a turn for the better. Cycling through forests and heathers (although without flowers… who knows when those things are flowering?)

On this log in the sun I had my second breakfast … 

… and shortly after I even found this dixi in the middle of the nature…

… not too far actually from my lunch (pannekoeken). Because in this area of the Hoge Velowe there aren’t a lot of villages nor a lot of places to eat. So Hoenderloo was the obvious place where to have lunch. And  actually I arrived there just before 13:00, so also good timing. I even had time to dial in for a few minutes to a zoom call, that my Tokyo cycling friends has organized and saw a few of them. Hoping to see them in person in the next months! 

After lunch the hills waited, but actually it wasn’t as strenuous s as I had feared. Somehow yesterday seemed harder. Although today I actually made a bit more elevation. Not hugely more though. 

I actually don’t have any photo of a hill, so you need to take the Strava data as proof. Instead I have pictures of flat landscapes:

Partially the ride came through an area where I had organized a 2 day ride last year summer. 

Today I passed the same old radio station a bit farther in the distance:

In summer there were also everywhere these beautiful but deadly flowers. Today no risk to be killed by a flower. 

Hilly & Gravely - Day 1

Route: Utrecht - Austerlitz - Rehnen- Ede
Distance: 83 km
Elevation: 397 m
Duration: 4:39 h
Weather: sun and clouds, 8 C

After a long time of only riding around Leiden (albeit quite big loops), I saw that this weekend weather was going to be really nice (well, for being February always) I decided to do a 3 day trip a bit farther away and in a landscape different from the normal polders around Leiden/Amsterdam.

I knew that behind Utrecht there is the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, a hilly area, but I actually never had been there. So goal for today! 

I didn’t start though in Leiden, but got the train to Utrecht, otherwise it would have been too far to enjoy the hilly part.

The first stop was a pyramid! In Austerlitz! 

But as you can see, it isn’t a “real” pyramid, nor OS this THE Austerlitz, which Google just told me is somewhere in the Austrian K&K empire. 

But well, the village closeby was actually named after the original Austerlitz, when it was founded by the French, so yes, there is some connection. 

Until here my way was in the forest, but mainly along normal roads, but quite soon after I entered into the Heuvelrug proper and had a very nice, winding way with very light gravel.

And yes, there was a bit of up and down. Nothing too steep, this is still the Netherlands, but not as flat as around Leiden. 

For being February there were a good number of other cyclists around. So I can understand the warning in Komoot that in summer this park can be too busy with too many cyclists at different speed to be enjoyable to the faster ones. But today that was no problem.

Actually I had put the ride into Meetup in case someone wanted to come along, but somehow a 80 km +, 400 m day in February didn’t sound attractive to other people on Meetup. Who knows why?

I for my part can’t complain, but it is also true that I feel my legs way more than after a 80 km flat ride. Probably the added weight of the overnight bag doesn’t help either.

For the night I am staying in a hotel run by the Salvation Army, which however feels (and looks) like any normal hotel, with the exception that they ban alcohol and cigarettes. 

Dinner was quite nice, definitely better than in many other Dutch places.