2025 - 3 DAY TOUR TO THE VELUWE (NL)

On the way back from a cycling holiday with my wife, the idea grew to return on my own. Just me and the trike. Plenty of space for all my luggage on the back. Especially for just a week. While my wife knows me for 30 years, she was still skeptical. I was talking about 3 to 500 km on my own. At this time, I only restarted riding about 6 months before, and the furthest I went on a single day, was about 100 km. Depending on how things went, I would be riding more each day, for days on end. I had never done anything like it. Conditions were great though. End of July usually means sunny weather in the lowlands. And the cycling paths in the Netherlands are legendary. I got to experience that once more over the weeks before.

As soon as we got home, and the camper was unpacked, I started preparing. Lists of gear. What roads would I take? Where would I sleep? How far could I ride in a single day? All questions, few answers. I learned a lot from other peoples experiences. The internet turned out to be a source of helpful blogs. A lot of crap too. I would just have to go for it and find out for myself.
So there I was. Sitting on my trike, fully loaded. Saying goodbye to my wife and my cat. Ready for the first real adventure. This one would be about finding stuff out. Testing my ideas in the real world. And probably failing massively in the process.

I started riding north. The first 30 or something Km’s were on very familiar paths. I knew them from my day rides. But soon after that, I was exploring uncharted territory. The adventure really started. And my pace was good. Even with the heavy load on the back, the trike was riding like a knife through butter. The roads mostly took me through rural areas. The city of ‘s Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands being the main exception. But to me that place always feels like a big town. Especially when you keep to the old city walls. The Dutch cycling paths lived up to their reputation. Smooth like a billiard stable and wide enough to ride a bus on them. Late in the afternoon I encountered my first problem. My executive disfunction, part of my autism, made me postpone the search for a sleeping place. I planned to use the Welcome to my garden app. I contacted some of the local gardens, but I found out they don’t usually answer immediately. I got caught in a circle of waiting, postponing, looking for alternatives… And I kept riding. In the end, I ended up staying in a small B&B over a garage. A hot shower and a decent bed would get me ready for day two. My dehydrated meal did the rest.

On day two, I passed through the city of Nijmegen. I aimed for a nice pancake restaurant I knew from earlier visits, just to top of on carbs. As a type 2 diabetic, it feels counterintuitive to eat plenty of sugar, but I found out earlier that a hypo is a real possibility when doing endurance sports. Again, the ride itself was pretty smooth, until the day came to an end. It was pretty clear I should plan ahead. But again, I didn’t. In the early evening, I was riding in the “Veluwe National Park”, when I came across a horde of wild cows. They were blocking the path, and since some bulls in the horde seemed pretty nervy, I didn’t want to risk crossing such a large group of cows. I experienced some cows in the fields actually running along the trike when I passed them, and I didn’t want that to happen without any physical barrier shielding me of. So I had to backtrack a little. Fortunately, I didn’t have to ride the 25 degree climb I did just before. Instead, I rode around the national park. By the time I got to the town of Loenen, it was close to 10 PM. another 130 Km under the belt, but getting darker pretty quick. Again, no place to sleep yet. There was just a single hotel in the town center. I found two very helpful ladies at the back of the hotel, willing to book me in so close before closing time. And I broke down. It was a mix of things. The accomplishment of riding 230 Km in two days. The stress of not finding a place to sleep until the very last moment. Knowing I could do better. And finally, realizing this was the hotel my parents stayed at years before, on a holiday in this part of the Netherlands. Feeling them so close, and the warmth with which the ladies from the hotel tried to help me, just was overwhelming.

The next morning, the weather had changed. It was raining a little, but the forecast promised some drie spots for at least most of the day. I started riding further north. Further away from home. Still keeping to the plan of riding 4 or 5 days in a row, so I could actually reach the most northerly point of the holiday just weeks before. I entered the national park again, for a coffee and a snack at the restaurant. The idea was to spend some hours in the park, before riding even further north. During that brake, my mind changed. I had learned a lot already, and it felt like it was becoming enough. So I turned south again. The idea was to start riding back home, and see how far it would get me.
Turns out, it got me all the way home. All 175 km’s. I only turned around somewhere around noon, so you will understand it was quite the ride. And again, I broke down. Nothing mechanical. Just me. At 30 Km’s from home, I found out I couldn’t make it back home in time to see my wife before she would have to go to bed. She had to work the next day, and she already stayed up late to send me messages. Just like a friend of ours did. They kept pulling me in. They kept believing in me, while my believe in myself hit rock bottom.
A long physical challenge can mess with your emotions. I knew that. And it didn’t scare me before. It doesn’t today either. I know my autism will make things hard sometimes. But at the same time, it’s what pulled me through. Because when I actually hit rock bottom, I go in survival mode. It seems my brain shuts down everything I don’t need at that point. It just focusses on what I need to keep going. It kept me riding. It kept me going on. I should have done the last ride in two days instead of one. I should have split it and found a place to sleep. But at the same time, this ride thought me that the mental barrier of 150 Km in a single day was just that. A mental barrier. It also thought me I could ride in rain, cold and the dark. Those things aren’t scary anymore.