Autumn Meeting XII

Oct
4
Submitted by XL-Network on Tue, 2011-10-04 22:37

Last Friday I traveled to campsite De Woensberg in Huizen. This time I took the train and didn't bike there because I could not get a day off from work. Around 8 PM I got off the train in Hilversum and found my way to the campsite. It was dark but my Busch & Muller Ixon IQ Speed illuminated the road perfectly and on my way there I only took one wrong turn. On arrival the BBQ was still burning but unfortunately I forgot to bring food. Fortunately there were enough people who would share a sausage, pieces of chicken and some bread. So I didn't went to bed hungry. Frank also showed us some pictures and told us a story about his journey to/though Iceland. Very nice and impressive to see and hear.

The next morning I first went to the supermarket and the ATM to get some food and money. Once I arrived at the ATM I found out that my wallet was still at the cabin at the campground. Good for me that I first went to the ATM and didn't go shopping first. After getting breakfast and some other stuff it was time for the tour. This was actually the same as in 2009 (and 2010 according to some). How do they say it? Don't change a winning team? Just over half way on the tour we got some delicious pancakes at De Smickel. A big pancake like that... real good!

In the evening Gerold and Maartje made their famous 'flapjes' and also a very nice desert. Then it was time for my ROAM presentation which I quickly put together in the afternoon. With the projector and a piece of white sheet everyone was sitting at the campfire watching and listening. After that I sat by the fire and then went to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day.

I woke up around 8 AM and a hour later I finished breakfast and packing my stuff. Now it was time to wait for Harry and Peter who I would be riding back to the High North. I took my rowingbike and it's a hassle to attach navigation on your steer. And it was pretty warm, so putting the GPS in my pocket of my (warm) shirt didn't seem like a nice idea. Cruising behind someone else seemed like a better idea. Around 10:20 AM we left... but after a few hundred meters Harry got us lost. A quick look at the map and once we left Blaricum we were cruising.

Every now and then we had to stop because riding on my rowingbike I couldn't reach my water bottle (my panniers were hanging against them) and riding with one hand is also a bad idea because you'll hit the road in one second. Fortunately we had plenty of time. So much that I could point out to Harry that his right wheel was wobbling. Turns out he had five broken spokes. Doing 5000 kilometers of ROAM with bad roads was no problem at all, but going to the Autumn Meeting gives you broken spokes. After the repair we went to Dronten to get some food and then continued our journey. The route was very familiar after the ferry at Zwartsluis. I got home just after 8 PM.

On the way back I did some 175 kilometers on my rowingbike. It went pretty well, actually. My abdominal muscles did their best and I only felt my arms a bit. A couple of days later and they don't 'bother' me anymore. I think it's called training.

Speaking about training. Tonight I did my final training for the 4 mile of Groningen. The total amount of training comes down to three, but still I'm confident. I did a 10 minute run twice and ran almost at the same pace as last year. I think my time will be below 30 minutes this Sunday. And with a little luck even below 27 minutes (my goal).

PS. I didn't feel like taking any pictures but on Ligfiets.net you can view multiple photos and videos.