In Toto Now that we are a bit removed by space and time from our Race around the Netherlands adventure, perhaps we can look back with rose-colored glasses. For a different look at our complete ride, you can check out this Komoot collection. If you’re coming to this blog late, you can find all of […]

Read More RatN – A Look Back

Here’s something for you to consider: did we bring a bike lock (or two?) on our trip? The answer? Not really. We brought a very lightweight (something as thick as a USB cable) combination lock for situations where we want to discourage the most casual of thieves. We did not bring a lock that we […]

Read More RatN – Day 8 – Schoorl to Wassenaar

Liz has a Zwift racing buddy from the Netherlands (shout-out to Manon!) who can’t believe the run of good weather we’ve had for this race, particularly given how bad the weather had been leading up to it! So we were just waiting for the real Netherlands to show her face, and today? Well, let’s just […]

Read More RatN – Day 7 – Will the Real Netherlands Please Stand Up?

Today’s route has us dropping down  along the Markermeer into eastern Amsterdam and then heading back north east up the coast into some very tourist-heavy regions of the Netherlands. It started out pretty chill, with breakfast in the room from careful shopping the night before. Six days in, we’ve started to develop a routine. We […]

Read More RatN – Day 6 – North Holland

Ferwert to Lelystad, 170km or 106 miles. I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread Bilbo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring You and us both, Bilbo. I was just too tired to even put a thought together, yesterday. It wasn’t any harder but the cumulative strain is building up. […]

Read More RatN – Day 5 – The Morning After

The day wasn’t abbreviated. In fact, it was quite long. Just the post will be abbreviated. Our WiFi is a bit lackluster so uploading many pictures isn’t working so well. About an hour from our landing site in Ferwert, as we were passing through a town named Moddergat, we encountered this RAtN dot watcher/supporter. All […]

Read More RatN – Day 4 – Friesland, Abbreviated (is FR)

Things are starting to happen to us. We are (well, I am!) making more mistakes. Blowing past turns and doing a few hundred extra meters. As a result, Liz has started to pay attention to the map, which has been very helpful. FWIW, I’d like to point out just how many turns I don’t miss!Forgetting […]

Read More RatN – Day 3 – Hellendoorn to Anderen

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 […]

Read More RatN – Day 2 – Take the Wind

Quick note: we had prebooked a hotel in Rozendaal which is about 155km into the race route. With today being a national holiday (King’s Day) we were worried it was going to be tricky to find a place to stay. The race started out fun, with three waves spaced out 10 min starting at 8am. […]

Read More RatN – Day 1 in the Books

This morning we woke up to a still-chilly but mercifully sunny day. Our AirBnb has a nice little kitchen space but we hadn’t had time to shop so we were left with only a few crumbs for breakfast. Already off to a good start with the planning! We had been planning under the assumption that […]

Read More RatN – Early-bird Registration