RatN – Day 2 – Take the Wind

One way to get a good start on the day in an event like this is to get an early start. It’s light at 6am and the wind hasn’t kicked up yet usually. So yeah, that’s a good plan! The bad plan? Stay at a small hotel where the owner so badly wants to offer breakfast but 7:30 am is as early as they’ll go. We were inclined to just skip breakfast, but they were so disappointed that our Midwest nice agreed. So today it was 8:30am on the road.

Still a beautiful morning, nice temps. We started with a relatively long climb (!) into parkland that we’d never have expected to find in the Netherlands. Overlooks, switchbacks, hiking trails, mountain bike trails. We zipped through and then popped out the other side with a fun, fast descent.

It being Sunday morning, all of the road riders were out doing their club rides. I bet we saw 100+ roadies by 11am, let alone the hundreds of other cyclists throughout the day. Really great to see! It certainly helped that the weather was gorgeous.

We stopped to enjoy a fancy automatic pay toilet on the outskirts of Doesburg. €0.50 paid by tap-to-pay on the phone like everything else here, which was rad. (So far we haven’t even touched an actual Euro on this trip!) Unfortunately something went awry and the “failsafe” mode kept the sliding door locked open.  Thankfully there weren’t many observers around. Liz and her toilets! We got a 2 for 1 deal.

The winds started to pick up as mid-day approached. Most of the time it was a crosswind, ranging from 15-25mph with gusts even higher. The route, which is not designed to be the most efficient way between any two points but rather to highlight the best roads and features of the country, varied enough that it was quite enjoyable. Ok, sure, later in the day we were having trouble riding in a straight line because the wind was so strong, but we just took it slow and made it through.

Around lunchtime we started adding some northerly components to our route, which was nice because we could enjoy the blistering tailwind. And the roads are just all in perfect condition. Simply amazing! Nothing like cruising at 20+ mph, barely pedaling, with no wind noise to speak of.

Our northward progress came to a halt and we had 40km to cover, heading back west, followed by 15km north with a tailwind, if we could make it. That 40km was saved, in large part, by fun routing again. Tiny little roads and bike paths winding through the countryside and small hamlets made the wind less difficult. Only a few times did we find ourselves hunkering down and gritting our teeth as we plowed into a headwind.

Our last stretch was through another national park-type thing. Not sure we fully understand how these are organized. Mostly people were out for Sunday drives but we got passed by a few roadies out enjoying the late afternoon.

Finally, we found a hotel after our first choice was full up. Of course, it was one last climb but they were super friendly. And we just happened to pick a hotel with a Michelin-rated restaurant, so yes we ordered room service for Dinner #2:

Totals for the day, 110 miles (177km). We’re pretty much in last place and we’re not on track to finish by next Sunday, but damnit we’re having a lot of fun!