With the upcoming “Hel van Klimmen” this weekend, the preparation for my Tour de France will start.
It will be my third participation in this “Granfondo” and I like it because it’s limited to 250 participants.
The Hel includes fairly unknown climbs in its course, or another end of the more popular ones.
The long – 150 km – course is slightly different from last year’s:
As you can see in the profile, the course is one long hill repeat.
It may not take you to great heights – just over 200 m max – but the altimeter total is around 1,800 m, which is what you get when climbing the Stelvio from Prato.
That course is a bit shorter, though: 24.3 kms 😂
In two weeks time, I’ll probably get more than I can handle in the Belgian Ardennes during the Chouffe Classic.
I have subscribed to the long – 160 km – course, which the organizers claim features no less than 3,000 altimeters.
“Piece the resistance” is the Col de Haussire, labeled the toughest climb of the Benelux, although the Mont St. Nicolas in Luxembourg gets more difficulty points…
(I’ll insert the route map when I get the GPX)
I will then squeeze in some more hill repeat days between the Chouffe Classic and our (fifth) trip to the Hochsauerland, first week of July.
This year, I will try to cycle some new roads, although the once fantastic “Bike Arena Sauerland” website is no longer featuring round trip courses.
This means I’m on my own and as I do not know the area as well as the south of my country, this may quickly get disastrous like the loosely plotted cluster fuck two years ago…
And not knowing the area means not knowing which roads to avoid, either because of traffic, or because Paula will not be able to follow me in the team car.
