Last Saturday, I participated in the ‘Hel van Klimmen’.
A cycling event in the hilly south of my country, like the Amstel Gold Tour or Limburg’s Mooiste.
But without the masses that those ‘granfondos’ attract…
There’s a 250 participants limit, which means that even on a low (cycling) activity day, this event will go by unnoticed for the local residents.
However, the weather this weekend was fantastic, which means large hordes of people on foot and on all sorts of transportation vehicles swarming the hills.
e-Bikes and (electric) scooters galore and there were at least two other cycling events that crossed or shared paths with mine.
I had prepared my Émonda and taken it out for a spin on Thursday and everything seemed to be in order.
I ran some updates on my Sram components, which finished fine, so I thought I was good to go.
And I would have been – for an event in my backyard…
For the hilly south I need my small chain ring, though, but sadly, the front derailleur had stopped working.
I didn’t panic, because I would have time on Friday to have my favorite not-so-local LBS ‘down south’ sort it out – I was convinced it was a user error that caused it.
On our way down there, I suddenly remembered that they always take a long weekend off this time of year – Thursday being Ascension Day – and that they would not be in.
Not to worry, there are other LBS’s to turn to, right?
Well, yes, but as it turned out, none of them could fix it, nor did they have a replacement.
Apparently, this is a known problem, caused by an update that, in fact, does not complete successfully.
You can ship the derailleur to Sram and they will replace it under warranty.
Which wouldn’t help me very much for Saturday’s ride.
By now, I was panicking, a bit anyway…
The Shimano Experience Center in Valkenburg offers test bikes, but I didn’t think I’d get away with using one of those for the ride.
You can probably test a bike for the whole day, but as you need to make a reservation – and it was busy AF – I’d probably not be able to pick up a bike before opening at 9:30 on Saturday, which would be too late.
However, there’s a rental store next door called Cycle Center and – luckily – they had a bike in my size.
An old(er) model Merida Scultura fitted with Shimano 105 – many a rider would be happy with that, but I had my doubts.
It beats nothing, so I took it out for a – belated – spin Friday afternoon, making adjustments where needed, until I figured it wouldn’t get any better.
And to be honest, despite my doubts being able to cycle the full 150 km ‘Hell’ on it, I actually did.
Not without a few extra sore spots, but without feeling my knees or other joints giving in 😂
And while it was ‘hot’, I didn’t exhaust myself either and I even extended the ride to make it a full Century.
Then again, I had very little energy left yesterday and the 65+ km I squeezed out was about as much as I could without falling apart.
This was my 3rd participation – out of it being organized three times – and it’s a granfondo I will continue to put in my calendar.
The route is – mostly – quiet, also because it includes roads and climbs that are not in all those other ones.
Where necessary, there’s a signal giver at intersections or other more tricky spots.
At 150 km and with 2,000 m of D+, it’s tough, but not over the top – both numbers are in line with the more popular routes of the other events in the area.
It doesn’t hold any surprises for me, as I know just about every inch of the area, which doesn’t mean I know all climbs by heart.
Also because I prefer to avoid some of those during my other activities, as you can blow up on them easily 😎
The start and finish location of the organizing club (WTC Klimmen) also makes a good rest stop where you can replenish your bottles and enjoy local food and pastry.
(There was also a rest stop at around 42 km, but I skipped that. Given the weather, I would have liked one after 115 km or so, though…)
I’m already looking forward to next year – as I told the organizers: the route is perfect, don’t change anything!
