Don’t make the mistake of neglecting the cake and focusing only on the icing, because that will soon all be over without you having used this time to the fullest. Enjoy nature, the foreign cuisine. That message is Vintage and I came across while reading back my diaries . I must have read and written it somewhere. I don’t remember it anymore when it was and where i had it from , but it does fit the way I think now when I go out…. this is the reason why i ride my bike. Go to places not very much people would go with a bike.
Cycling like an adventure, not knowing what’s behind the next corner. Here in particular the Alps you drive from postcard to postcard. The planes, the straight ahead, the boring rides where I am so familiar with from the Netherlands, I have forgotten here what that feels like, ok i admit, here is always climming,. Turning, like a rollercoaster in a fantastic landscape is what I get here every day.
It’s an amazing country. A sublime region. The variation is the absolute asset. Long climmings, short steep slopes. Gravel, gravel everywhere. I use the paths as passes to get to the top of the mountains. There is a pass over every mountain, although it may not be visible from the valley, I like those passes the most. Especially at the beginning of winter when nature shows its color palettes. The melagolic that brings silence- and that is magic pure
A few people that I meet have way to the pass look at me with a look that I can guess the thought. A wonderful feeling get over me, a smile on my grim face, a blunt motivation to hit the pedals harder. It’s nice, forgetting for a moment that you drive in the redzone of your limits. Where do you get the energy- the man ask me, The Alps, the beautiful passes all the way up, I answer.All this makes the region even more beautiful for cycling. Nothing is impossible as long as I do not know if it is possible. You can’t drive everywhere, there are signs telling it’s not aloud too, but he, i’am dutch and that means you have to tell me that it isn’t..( wink)
I am not competitive by the way,only for myself, I want to shift grenades. For a while I recorded small pieces during my trips and later placed them on strava. I soon got the feeling that I was no longer doing it for myself, that, while cycling, I was no longer busy with everything around me. It didn’t give me a good feeling to be “judged” by others, since then the data are only for myself. I enjoy again my rides. And absorb the environment like never before
The Wild West may be a thing of the past, but in this way I discover the promise of the open land, tucked away above the mountains. My experiences here are so positive. They inspire me to preserve these areas for the future.
My legs are burning, my heart is beating in my throat. It turns black around the edges of my field of vision. I want to stop pedaling, but I can’t, it’s not allowed. I suppress the pain. They call this suffering. I notice that I am good at it.The gradient fluctuates between 15% and 20%, I struggle. The voice in my head argues with my legs. Suffering is subjective. you cannot deduce how much pain you experience. Yet not a moment has occurred to me to give up and walk. When you struggle, you think about nothing at all, you are completely inside yourself. I love that, I embrace these moments, just as I embrace the climbs that are still ahead of me. Pain is nice now and then. In the distance I can see the sun shining through the trees, it looks like I have reached the top of this climb. Despite the hardship, I cycle faster, as if my legs know they will be released for a while.
Strange, I could have just sat on the balcony in the sun at home. Still, I really enjoy this, I don’t hike up the mountain but cycle it up. After all, this is what I do it for, discovering places where no other person dares, let alone wants to cycle there.
On the Road 