Mergelheuvelland2daagse, Limburgian thunder
In April this year we rode the Amstel Gold Race in Valkenburg. A roadie classic that turned out to be a real good time on a bike. We looked for other events in Limburg and one that came to mind was the Mergelheuvelland 2 daagse, one we did last year. We quickly assessed out options and split the difference: a mountain bike day and a roadie day. Both of our beloved bikes would have equal time outside. Everyone was happy.
At the same time Annemieke had already started her training regime for 2015 and appeared on the starting line saturday aching with muscle pains. So much for our effort to ride the 70km, this was a baaaaad idea. We turned around after 30km and headed back and worked on the website. Which was actually a very good idea.
Thunder…
We had a very, very tasty diner and we fell asleep just before midnight only to be crudely awaken by the thunder-stroke from hell. I mean, I seriously thought Russian airplanes where shot right above our heads and we where in the center of a Nuclear explosion. You’re laughing now but my skin was inside out from the shock, try to fall asleep after that! OMG still can’t believe it. Even my car had electrical problems the next day. No kidding!
After thunder… rain! A lot of rain, so much we turned around on Sunday morning en slept in. After breakfast we decided to head out anyway, got into our rain jacket and straight onto the course. We skipped going to the start in Sint Geertruide but rode off from our hotel in Slenaken, straight on the Loorberg Col… pffff no warm up.
Onto the wall!
Our legs actually felt good, the muscle pains where gone and we’d continue until we had enough of the rain. Had a few ‘walls’ along the way, Eyserbosweg was one of them. And the Vrouwendelweg too, one we ‘fondly’ remember from coming home after the Amstel Gold Race earlier this year. Because of the organizations’ birthday, we drove through the Valkenburg Mines and continued up to the Cauberg, after that we navigated back to our hotel with 70km under our belts. We had expected more, but where very pleased and had a lot of fun as usual.
Laden
Moeilijk fietsen met een hand en op een te zwaar verzet 😉 grotten van Valkenburg
