Spring is in the air, start of the NL / BE riding season

[bluenova]

Hey Martin et al,

It looks like a good route to me. I think you are planning anti-clockwise? Would you (and others) mind going the other way as I think the east side is nicer, as it's more country and less town (I think) then I can ride up to Breda on the motorway and as the route goes passed my front door almost I will disembark at that point rather than ride all the way up to Breda again. If you want you can all stop at mine for a cup-a-tea as I live about 10kms from Heist-Op-Den-Berg.

Martin, you have a Garmin is I remember correctly? Can you send me the final route so I can load it into my Zumo?

 

[Drinky]

I hope the weather changes before sunday, right now it looks like its gonna be raining and around 8 degrees I'm looking forward to the ride but I don't think I'm gonna ride about 100km's to breda, 250 km's having fun, and 100 km's back to nijmegen if it's a rainy day (I was with 10 ppl last saturday, it was godlike sunshine and a great ride through "the backcorner" (achterhoek)

 

[Unseen]

So far you can count me in. Though a little more spring in the air would be nice

For the people coming from the North maybe we can meet up at petrol station on the A27 near Houten?

 

[Cloggy]

Hey Martin et al,

It looks like a good route to me. I think you are planning anti-clockwise? Would you (and others) mind going the other way as I think the east side is nicer, as it's more country and less town (I think) then I can ride up to Breda on the motorway and as the route goes passed my front door almost I will disembark at that point rather than ride all the way up to Breda again. If you want you can all stop at mine for a cup-a-tea as I live about 10kms from Heist-Op-Den-Berg.

Martin, you have a Garmin is I remember correctly? Can you send me the final route so I can load it into my Zumo?

I changed the direction and changed the route (slightly) so it looks like we'll be having a cup of tea at your place :thumbup:

I hope the weather changes before sunday, right now it looks like its gonna be raining and around 8 degrees I'm looking forward to the ride but I don't think I'm gonna ride about 100km's to breda, 250 km's having fun, and 100 km's back to nijmegen if it's a rainy day (I was with 10 ppl last saturday, it was godlike sunshine and a great ride through "the backcorner" (achterhoek)

Well I've cut the route down to 225km's, if it's monsoon rain we'll take a shorter route :thumbup:

So far you can count me in. Though a little more spring in the air would be nice

For the people coming from the North maybe we can meet up at petrol station on the A27 near Houten?

Well the weather forecast at the moment is for scattered showers but not much rainfall, there will also be a bit of wind so it should dry up nicely between showers :thumbup:
It sounds like a good plan to meet up at a petrol station, I'll have to take a look at the map.

I put some stuff in the social group about the new route.
Looking forward to seeing you all :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

By popular demand the starting time has been changed to an hour later, so we'll all be meeting at 10,30 (instead of the proposed 9,30) at the AC restaurant in Oosthout.
Don't forget the clocks are going forward an hour on Sunday morning :thumbup:

I've sent Matt a Garmin file for his zumo, do others want either a garmin file or a google earth/maps file, let me know if you do.

See you all tomorrow :thumbup:

 

[Drinky]

well I did remember to change my alarm clock, but I completely slept through the alarm itself, and my phone was on silent so I didn't hear your call.. Just heard the voicemail, I decided at 12 am that I was too late already so I went to take the dog out to the forest.. sorry guys!

 

[thulst]

It was a realy nice day, very good weather and a great route.

Thanks Martin for all the work you've done. I enjoyed the day very much.

Thanks guy's. See you next time.

 

[Unseen]

As posted in the discussion:

Hey guys, it was a lovely day. Great that I could join you afterall

I've put my photos here:

http://unseen.motorstek.nl/album/1416

Take care,
Andre

 

[mastakilla]

looks like a great day indeed. Too bad I had something else planned already, but I really hope to join you next time!

 

[Cloggy]

I too had a great day out, it turned out to be good weather apart from the occassional light rain shower we had a lot of sun.
Many thanks to everyone for such a great day :thumbup:
I'll do a write up this evening, I was too tired last night when I got home.


Thanks for the photo's Andre :thumbup:, mine are at home so I'll post a few later on.

 

[Rev-A]

nice pics, hope to join in next time

 

[Cloggy]

I met up with Ton at the AC restaurant in Enspijk on the A2 and after a chat we headed off on a little route I prepared. On the map it looked like nice windy dike roads but these turned out to be strewn with lots of mud and loose gravel, but it did make sure we were awake despite loosing an hour in the night
Anyway we then headed off for our rendezvous in Oosthout, on the highway, after a couple of Km's we waved at a cameraman in an unmarked car, luckily he didn't take any pics
We arrived at the restaurant (a couple of minutes late) to find Matt hanging around the entrance, probably looking for us, he came across when he saw the bikes park up next to his naked beauty . He had come up from his home near Brussels, Belgium for the meet.
We all went inside for a mug of coffee and a chat.
After waiting for a while I decided to check my telephone messages, better late than never, I saw that Andre had texed to say that he had over slept or should I say over partied the night before in Amsterdam but he still fancied a ride and we had soon arranged a second rendezvous point in Reuzel de Mierden.
Anyway Matt, Ton and myself headed off and to our dismay the very first road on our planned route was shut off .Anyway we decided to head off in the general direction of the route and to pick it up later. Anyway this was my first real experience with my Zumo and we found out after riding around for about 15 minutes that it wanted to lead us to the starting point again sorry guys . Anyway after resetting the Zumo we set off on our route.
Most of the roads were nice country roads, but with quite a few junctions.
It didn't take the guys long to get used to my erratic style of riding but it took a while before I got used to my Zumo and I regularly rode past the turn off and have to double back again
Here we are somewhere in Holland:

View attachment 14664

One time it directed us down what looked like a farm track, really muddy with gravel and puddles, real Ewan McGreggor kind of stuff Luckily it didn't take too long before it turned into a proper track and then into a road.

As we rode into Reusel de Mierden we passed a restaurant and saw a gleaming FZ6 standing outside, and Andre standing next to it so we did another one of my (by now famous) U turns. Turned out that he had just arrived, what timing
Well we were all in agreement to chat over a bite of lunch. After we were finished eating we decided to head off as the weather was really good. Anyway then (I think he was) the owner started talking bikes, helmets and GPS stuff with us, turns out he was also a Bike rider (OK a BMW but that counts too) , small world.

We headed on over the border into Belgium and rode through some nice wooded roads. Anyway we came to this place in the middle of woods, turns out to be the Postel Abbey, where the Postel trappist beer is brewed :thumbup: It was a shame we were on the bikes as we would have otherwise partaken of a few swift ones.

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We took a nice ride down to Matts house once again hitting a real muddy track on our route just to keep us sharp.
We went down to Matts house for a cup of tea in the garden (as it was really great weather at this time), his house is at the end of a real country lane in the middle of the woods, really nice.
Oh and a couple of empty bottles of Trappist beer from the Abbey we had visited earlier.
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[Cloggy]

We met Mrs Bluenova and Baby Bluenova too.

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Afterwards we said our goodbyes to Matt and his family and headed on our way.

The route which I used from the internet took us down a Bridleway, a bit unnerving with a horse galloping towards us, but luckily he just ran past.
Later the same route took us along a Canal Towpath, there was a sign saying that only bikes of "catagory A" were permitted to ride there, I somehow doubt that 600cc fitted into that catagory. Well I thought it was just a "cut through" to another road but we were riding it for a good couple of Km's with no turn offs

The route took us through the old town of Lier, really nice place, it was just a big shame that we didn't have time to sit down and enjoy it.




The Belgian roads aren't the best in the world, and where they are not riddled with pot holes they add speed bumps on country roads. note to self, change rear suspension setting so I don't keep bottoming out with my weight. Here we stopped so I could check there was no damage, and a pic of Andre with his bike:
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Later we decided to cut off the last part of the route and head for the motorway, we stopped at a nice service station and had a bite to eat and a chat. We all then went our seperate ways heading home :thumbup:
I was really tired when I got home, and I slept like a log.

Thanks guys for such a great ride :thumbup: and Ton have a great trip down to Spain :rockon:.

 

[Unseen]

Nice write-up Martin! Thanks for the pics too, I certainly look as sleepy as I felt

I'm contemplating a ride to the Nurburgring this month, aiming for Monday 20th. Will post a new topic for that (realize that monday means less people joining, but it's much less crowded on those days).

Anyhow, rock hard, ride free :rockon:

 

[Cloggy]

well I did remember to change my alarm clock, but I completely slept through the alarm itself, and my phone was on silent so I didn't hear your call.. Just heard the voicemail, I decided at 12 am that I was too late already so I went to take the dog out to the forest.. sorry guys!

Well at least the dog got a run out. :justkidding:

looks like a great day indeed. Too bad I had something else planned already, but I really hope to join you next time!

Hope you enjoyed your own ride Matt.

nice pics, hope to join in next time

Did you have a nice weekend in Berlin ?

Hope you can all join us next time :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

Nice write-up Martin! Thanks for the pics too, I certainly look as sleepy as I felt

Andre I was really pleased you made it, even after a night of partying in Amsterdam, :rockon: Respect

I'm contemplating a ride to the Nurburgring this month, aiming for Monday 20th. Will post a new topic for that (realize that monday means less people joining, but it's much less crowded on those days).

Anyhow, rock hard, ride free :rockon:

That sounds great, I would love to ride the Nurnburgring but unfortunately I won't be able to make it (this time) .