Utrecht to Kijfwaard

Wednesday October 27, 2010

My campsite for the night, in a park called De Voorveldse Polder.

I woke up at 10:30 am, can't believe I slept for so long. It was probably because the sky was so grey that it was still dark inside the tent.
I ate breakfast, packed up and got going at about 12:20 pm, much later than I'd hoped because I wanted to get to Cologne in two days.
Riding was pleasant, along quiet and flat roads with plenty of deciduous trees and also some conifers.

Even on their narrow roads, they have lanes dedicated to cyclists on either side in the Netherlands (this shot was from Grotelaan, Bunnik, part of the Midden Nederland route).

A few horse head statues made of twigs, on the side of Buurtweg, Doorn, the Netherlands.

On a little track between Amerongen and Elst, in the Netherlands.

On a path track between Amerongen and Elst, in the Netherlands.

I cycled my first hill in about a week, which was a bit strange after so many kilometres on flat roads (you can see it in the distance in this photo below).

On the Midden Nederland route, on the Veenendaalsestraatweg, just out of Elst, the Netherlands.

I don't know how any Dutch people could contend in the mountains in races like the Tour de France when there are no hills to train on. They'd have to move to another country, or at least spend plenty of time training in another country.
I stopped for lunch at about 4 pm.

A lunch break - left over stroganoff, on the Midden Nederland route, on Onderlangs, the Netherlands.

Then it started drizzling, what a drag!

A little dam off the Fonteinallee, south of Doorwerth, the Netherlands.

At about 6 pm, it was still raining and I noticed my front tyre was leaking. Argh, I was so angry! I know the tyre I have on the front is crap (it's still the original tyre since I couldn't replace it in Amsterdam) but I didn't expect to get another puncture this soon, it's usually just the back one that punctures. I'm confident I won't get one in the rear because the Schwable Marathon is such a good tyre and I didn't think I'd get one in the front because it has less weight on it than the rear tyre and also has more tread left than the old rear tyre did, the one that I just replaced with the Schwable Marathon.
I'd just passed a bike shop a few hundred meters back when I noticed the puncture so I rode straight back there to see if I could buy a new tyre. But of course, as I've come to expect from the Netherlands, they didn't have the right size. The shop keeper pointed me down the road to another bike shop, which I went to, but again, unsurprisingly, they didn't have the right size either.
I stopped outside a bank because it had a sheltered area and I repaired the puncture, then found it had another puncture and had to fix that too.

Repairing punctures 13 and 14 for the trip, here on Van Voorststraat, Huissen.

Punctures 13 and 14 for the trip. I will be so glad when I can put a new tyre on it, hopefully I'll be able to find the right size in Germany.
It was dark by the time I was back on the bike. I dropped into a supermarket for milk and muesli and kept going, keeping an eye out for a camp site. I wasn't satisfied with the distance I'd covered today, but riding in the dark and in the wet isn't the best. It always seems to be the lack of hours in the day, the lack of riding time available that limits the distance I cover, as opposed to the strength/energy in the legs/body.
I had to jump on a ferry to cross a river at one point, then another ten or so kilometres further along the route (LF 3a, it's called) it went across an even bigger river, but this time there was no ferry to be seen. Not sure if it had stopped running for the day (it was 8:20 pm) or if it didn't run at this time of year. I couldn't find the answer on the signs due to a combination of darkness and my inability to read Dutch, so I decided I'd camp for the night. I'd already spotted a spot a few hundred meters back beside a table, so I went back and set up there in the drizzle, ate the rest of the stroganoff for tea (could have done with the extra jar that the hostel threw out) then went to sleep.

My route for the day, Utrecht to Kijfwaard.

An overview of my route so far from France to the Netherlands.

Ride stats:
Distance: 105.04 km
Average: 21.4 km/h
Maximum: 39.3 km/h
Time: 4:54:03
Total ascent: 383 m
Total descent: 372 m