Medebach

Hochsauerland 2023

Up next: Hel van Klimmen and Hochsauerland 2023.

Last year, I participated in the Hel van Klimmen for the first time in its new format.

This is a cleverly organized “Gran Fondo” where you are never far from start/finish and (thus) there’s no need for extra refill/stop stations along the route, since you pass it 3 or 4 times.

As last year, I’ve opted for the long course – duh – but this year it’s 10 kms longer.

If I do not feel up to the task halfway – or whenever – it’s only a short struggle to get back to where Paula will be waiting in the team car 🤣

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Hochsauerland 2022 – Recap

With the Epilogue ending in a complete cluster fuck, our first (short) trip of this year came to an end last Saturday.

But that stage is not representative of the whole week we spent there.

As before (in 2014 and 2016) I mostly enjoyed cycling the area.

And I say “mostly” because the roads and climbs are always there – and I’m getting familiar with the area by now – but the weather is unpredictable and had a somewhat negative effect on the overall experience.

On the other hand, the apartment was even better than we hoped for and definitely the place we’ll book again the next time.

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Hochsauerland 2022 – Epilogue

The epilogue of my Hochsauerland Tour 2022 turned into a complete cluster fuck.

Not (only) because of the weather: mostly foggy and back to near freezing temperatures, which is not nice but you can dress for that.

But while I usually meticulously plan and (double) check my route, I completely dropped the ball on this one.

And when I (finally) gave up, I managed to not save my ride 🤦‍♂️

I pushed the stop button, put my Edge in my back pocket to get the bike in the car, then changed clothes, only to find that the touch screen had received “input” that discarded my ride…

We ended at the Brilon Wald railway station we used for a break before, but even they had nothing to offer today, so no strudel to finish off the tour…

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Hochsauerland 2022 – Stage 6

Final round trip stage today, as tomorrow we’ll head home.

Although the temperature was a bit lower today than yesterday, it was actually pretty good and I think it featured the least wind of all my stages this week.

I picked and reversed a 2014 route again, but didn’t want to get over 100 kms, so I shortened it to just over 80 kms.

And where the 2014 ride is mainly remembered for the freezing cold and a hot bath afterwards – considering I never take a bath, that was special – I also noticed the nice scenery back then.

Today was much the same and it was also the one with the most quiet roads I rode over this week.

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Hochsauerland 2022 – Stage 5

Today would bring us the best weather of the week, so I took a shot at a long stage.

Not long enough to push my luck, though, and I had a plan B, cutting off the far end of the loop.

This stage was the Rothaarrunde I did back in 2014, but in reverse direction.

With the little detour I knew I’d have to make approaching Medebach, this would be around 115 kilometers.

I didn’t want to make yesterday’s detour, as that lead me over a goat trail, which was bad enough going up, but best avoided going down…

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