Got to Herentals and it was seriously hot and our hotel (De Zalm) was even moreso. Naturally, no air conditioning but I finally found that if I kept both my windows and door open there would be enough of a flow through breeze to cool it down a bit so I could sleep.
The Herentals is an interesting ride going from Belgium through Paris, Reims, and Orleans passing by the tourist landmarks (Eiffel tower, Champs Elysee, Notre Dame, etc). Riding in the cities is urban riding to the max with all the attendant hazards (traffic, posts in the middle of the road, up/down sidewalks, pedestrians, cracks, ...) but you go to the most famous landmarks in each city on your bike - how cool is that!
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| Those cobblestones - Ouch! |
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| Notre Dame under construction after the fire |
The ride is organized and supported by Jan Geerts and one helper which is really pretty remarkable that two people can support almost 50 people for 1200K. I will say though that if Jan's camper broke down we'd have been well and truly screwed! It's essentially a "no frills" ride - basic hotels, bag drop support and breakfast in the parking lot cooked in Jan's camper.
The ride itself was seriously hot and the roads were a mixed bag. The rough sections were tough on my broken coccyx/sacrum but the cobblestones - of which there were several long and very rough sections - were pure agony. I got through it but only just.
Dave, Hamid and I rode together for the vast majority of the ride and the company was great. We were joined by a Frenchman (Del ?) for days 2 and 3 which was fortunate because we ran out of water in the afternoon on day 3 and Del was able to knock on farmhouse doors and beg for water. The people were very friendly and accommodating but it would have been a bit more of a challenge crossing the language barrier.
I also rode with my friend Simon Maddison part of the time. Simon was riding his fixed gear in preparation for doing the same at PBP and rode strongly, as always.
Overall, I really enjoyed the ride (except for that cobblestone part!).
After finishing the Herentals, we drove to Munich and had dinner with Wolfgang then next day drove to Markovci Slovenia where Mark had gotten rooms for us in a very nice agritourismo - the Tourist Farm Mali Raj (highly recommended!).
The Prague ride was completely unsupported but we'd brought our own support in the form of Hamid's wife Shab and she was wonderful, as always.
We had a pre-ride briefing with Andrej and that was the last we'd see of him, he wasn't at the start or finish. The ride start was 3 days after finishing the Herentals (with 2 full days of travel in between) and the first day was just over 200 miles with 10,519 feet of climbing including a number of 15+% grades.
Long story short, I got up on the second day and just didn't feel well. I won't go into details but stomach issues and general tiredness which persisted all day so I decided not to continue.
Shab took me to Linz Austria where I rented a car and drove back to Markovci. Since I didn't really have anything to do until the end of the ride I decided to go to Vienna and do some sight seeing and I'm really glad I did. I stayed in a nice hotel, toured the historic district and even went to a concert in the Musikverein which is one of the worlds great concert halls.
Here are some shots from Vienna:
After my whirlwind day in Venice, I drove back to Markovci where I met Mark, Dave and Hamid finishing the ride. We compared notes then Dave, Hamid and I left the next morning to return to Munich then Frankfurt where we would fly back to our respective homes.
So all in all, a good trip. Disappointed that I didn't finish the Prague but at peace with the decision. I don't know if 3 days between 1200K's is just too short a turn for me or if it was something else but I do know that I'm glad I didn't continue as I really didn't feel well on the second day.
