Thursday, April 23, 2015

Metric Century Ride 106.6 km

Century Ride of 106.6 km.  See the green outline above.

I suppose I should have read the information Butterfield and Robinson sent regarding the bike trek.  Then I would have known about the Metric Century Ride.  Apparently, in the biking world, a Century ride is kind of a big deal.  And today, I have an opportunity to ride over one hundred kilometers across Holland.  

Today's trek 106.6 km.  I look pretty happy, eh??

 Four out of our group of 12 hit the road at 9:15 this morning.  The ride starts out to Yerseke, famous for it's mussels and oysters.  That's where I lost my traveling companions, Stevie, Ellen and Susie.  They opted to stop and enjoy an oyster snack, while I peddled on, determined to finish the 100 km ride.  

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I'm posting a copy of our typical "route notes" so you can see how we find our way.  The bike has an odometer, so when the odometer reading matches the mark point on the route notes, we know which way to turn.  OR, you can do what I did and just follow the guide.  I stuck to Abby like glue, because some of the notes can be confusing and I didn't want to be like Forest Gump peddling across Europe for years.

Thirty miles and 3 hours 15 minutes later, riding through the beautiful lowlands and deltas, we stopped in the charming town of Veere.  

 Veere Town Square

Veere is a very small but stunning Dutch town.  The town square is divided by a garden island.  Brick streets are lined with outdoor cafes ad quaint boutiques.  A beautiful church stands proudly at the entrance to the square with bells playing Dutch tunes on the hour.

We found a lovely restaurant call t'Waepen van Veere.  I ordered a tasty sandwich of ham, cheese, hard boiled egg, greens and onions on brown bread.  After riding 30 miles, cardboard would have tasted good, so you can imagine how tantalizing and satisfying this sandwich was.  

At lunch, half way through the ride, our guide, Abby told us that she has never brought a group to Veere before because nobody wanted to do the 100 km ride.  We are her very first group.  NOW she tells us, having reached the half way point and still facing another 36 miles yet to go.  

After lunch, we stopped at a shop to buy a birthday gift for another guide, Alice.  I found a beautiful little blue and white tea pot with a warming bowl.  A candle goes into the warming bowl and the tea pot sits on top.  I had the store clerk carefully wrap the pieces as I was riding a bike.  She did a great job.  I strapped the bags on my bike and away we went.  

As you can imagine, the afternoon ride was a bit more difficult than the morning trek.  And of course, remember what I said about the winds in Holland, well they picked up this afternoon, which REALLY made the ride hard.

Riding alongside the dike blocked some of the wind.

I couldn't figure out why it was suddenly impossible to keep up with Abby, when suddenly, I glanced down to see that I had unzipped my vest, which made a perfect sail to catch the wind, holding me back.  So I zipped up and caught up.  

About the 89 km mark, Torrey and I were really getting tired.  The delicious sandwich had worn off, our water was running low, the winds were getting stronger and we still had a long way to go.  So we signaled Abby that it was time for a rest stop.  Abby pulled off the road and brought out a bag of trail mix and began to munch.   I drained my water bottle and then began to salivate as I saw that trail mix bag.  I figured Torrey and I could easily take Abby out and split the trail mix.  Just about the time we were preparing to make our move, NIRVANA!

Alice and the B & R Van to the rescue!!  Good thing for Abby.

The B & R van pulled in.  Alice to the rescue.  She unloaded snacks and drinks.  Her timing could not have been more perfectly timed ... especially for Abby!  She had no idea how close she came to being robbed of her trail mix snack.

Torrey and I enjoy a few snacks and a much needed break.

Later, when we refilled our water bottles and bellies, we set off again for the final stretch.  It's amazing how refueling the body can work wonders.  The last 17 km was surprisingly easy.  

Tired, hot and happy!  I completed the 106.6 km Century Ride.

When we arrived back to the hotel, there was much appreciated fan fare with horns honking, feather boas,  cards of congratulations,  hats and I was so thrilled to see Stevie there to welcome us back.

It was a very challenging ride for me, especially since my bike training consisted of the 4 previous rides.  But I was so happy that I was physically able to accomplish this biking milestone.  This summer, my goal is to do a US Century Ride, which is 100 miles.  That would have only been another 34 miles further than today's ride.  Only difference is, Aspen is NOT flat.  We'll see.  Might be a good goal to set for myself and maybe I'll rediscover my waist line in the process of burning those calories!!

I usually shower instead of taking a bath, but that tup looked so inviting after the ride.  I climbed in and soaked for about 20 minutes.  I felt revived afterwards and was excited about our 5 course meal tonight.  

Alice, Claudia and Jannes Brevet and Abby.

Chef Jannes invited us into his kitchen tonight before dinner to see the inner workings of a Michelin Star restaurant.  

The kitchen is filled with every kind of gadget known in the world of cooking.

The kitchen was huge and spotless.  I was amazed by the different shapes and sizes of his serving plates, all of which he designed and had made especially for his dishes.  

Different dishes for specific foods.  Much more impressive looking when they contain food.

Each dish served tonight was properly paired with the perfect wine by Jannes' sommelier.  His enthusiastic description of each wine was so informative and interesting that we waited with anticipation to try the dish and wine together.  Sure enough, the perfect match.  Standing alone, I would not have ordered any of these wines, but when matched with specific foods, they were quite good.

After dinner, we retired to the lobby where a slide show of our trip was playing.  We gave Alice her birthday gift - which arrived undamaged after 36 miles strapped to a bike.

Alice's birthday tea pot.  

We all exchanged email addresses and said our goodbyes with promises to keep in touch.  I think we all have good intentions of doing just that, but I must be the world's worst at reaching out to folks I've met when traveling.  I do think of them often.  Like Paddy from Australia, or Monte and Karen from Richmond, whom I met last year on my New Zealand cruise.  Perhaps I'll slow down long enough to drop all of them an email greeting.  It's the people we meet along the way that makes traveling so interesting.  People touch our hearts and minds.   All the rest is just bricks and mortar.  

Time to turn in.  Tomorrow, we head to Bruges.