Long weekend trip from Netherlands & Belgium.

[Cloggy]

I was thinking of going on a long weekend ride sometime in August and I was wondering if anyone else wanted to come along.

I was thinking of riding there on the Friday, riding a nice tour on the Saturday and riding a nice route back on the Sunday. This will of course mean costs for meals and 2 nights in a cheap hotel/hostel.

Well Holland is as flat as a pancake so I wanted to go somewhere with some real hills, I had a couple of ideas for location:

1) Luxembourg.
2) Germany, Harz region.
3) Germany, Eifel region.
4) Belgium, Ardennes.

I have put these in my order of preference but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any other great idea's.

I can definately ride on one of the following weekends:
1) 7 - 9 August,
2) 21 - 23 August
3) 28 - 30 August.
4) and I could possibly do 31 july - 2 August at a crunch.

Sorry that it's all around the august holiday period but I'm going to be in the UK in July.

Let me know if you're interested. Let me know your location preference (put the above numbers 1-4 in order of preference) . Let me know the dates you can make it ranging from a "definately yes" or "yes", to a "'definately No" or "No" with a "don't know" or "?"

I'm also open to other suggestions, possible locations, places to stay, routes to ride etc.

In the first place the voting is open to people living in the Netherlands and Belgium (and also their partners) but any suggestions or helpful comments from other riders are welcome. When we choose the location any riders from other countries are more than welcome to join us :thumbup:.

The date of the ride will be judged on the most number of "yes's" followed by "?'s" the location will be judged by adding the position of each location (for the people attending the ride) and the lowest number wins

I think this way we can get a reasonably democratic decision, but it still remains that you can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Voting closes next Friday 19 june at midnight. I hope a few more people want to go otherwise I'll be riding alone

If you don't want to post in this thread you can also send me a PM (in English or Dutch).

OK I'll shut my mouth now and let your votes do the talking :thumbup:

 

[thulst]

Hey Martin,

Great plan; you can count me in.

1) Luxembourg.
2) Germany, Harz Region.
3) Germany, Eifel Region.
4) Belgium, Ardennes.

For the location no specific order. Every region has its plusses and minuses

1) 7 - 9 August,
2) 21 - 23 August
3) 28 - 30 August.
4) And I could possibly do 31 July - 2 August at a crunch.

As far as the dates, # 3 is when the misses has her birthday, for the rest let me know.

Ton

 

[Cloggy]

Hey Martin,

Great plan; you can count me in.......
Ton

Great, at least we can do a group ride :thumbup:

Here are a couple of the reasons I put these places in this order:

1) Luxembourg.
I did a ride in luxembourg with my work a couple of years ago, we stayed in Trier in Germany, in the centre of the historic city (we stayed at the warsberger-hof) and had a great ride in (eastern) Luxembourg, I could probably get hold of the gps file with the route from my work. If we choose Luxembourg and choose to stay in Trier we could ride through the Netherlands, Belgium, luxembourg and then Germany to get there and back.

2) Germany, Harz Region.
The Promotor has recently published nice gps routes to and from the Harz and with a days ride included. Also I have never been to the Harz so it makes me more curious than the other locations.

3) Germany, Eifel Region.
I went to the eifel last year with my work and had a great ride, we stayed in Heerlen (NL) and rode about an hour to the start of the route (which I have as GPS file) and had a great time.

4) Belgium, Ardennes.
I love the hills and the scenary but in my own experience I've had a couple of brown trouser moments due to very badly surfaced roads, this could be different if someone knows the (good) roads well.

Maybe other people have other ideas, know good routes and places to stay.

 

[Drinky]

will it be a tour ride? or is it gonna be a "pls buy new tires when you're done" ride??

 

[Unseen]

Hey Martin,

Nice idea. I'm defintely up for it. As it is I'm planning a 10 to 12 day ride already in August. My plan was to move south, same plan I had last year but then I ended up in Trier and Paris due to bad weather in the south, shouldn't have that problem in August. Anyway this looks like a good start of my trip, I won't join you guys on the way back then.

Here are my prefs in order (1 is best):

1) Luxembourg.
2) Germany, Eifel region.
3) Belgium, Ardennes.
-) [strike]Germany, Harz region.[strike], not an option too far east.
4) Voges, the area around Gerdmer is very beautiful as well, I've been cycling there, it's about 600km from Utrecht.

Hell yes on these weekends:
1) 21 - 23 August
2) 28 - 30 August.

Can't do these weekends:
-) 7 - 9 August,
-) and I could possibly do 31 july - 2 August at a crunch.

/Andre

 

[Cloggy]

will it be a tour ride? or is it gonna be a "pls buy new tires when you're done" ride??

I was thinking more of a tour ride, generally we stay together (but if you're planning to scout ahead just make sure you arrange a meet up point further down the road:thumbup. Of course if you still have the stock tyres on it would be a great excuse to get some better rubber :rockon:

Hey Martin,

Nice idea. I'm defintely up for it. As it is I'm planning a 10 to 12 day ride already in August. My plan was to move south, same plan I had last year but then I ended up in Trier and Paris due to bad weather in the south, shouldn't have that problem in August. Anyway this looks like a good start of my trip, I won't join you guys on the way back then.

Here are my prefs in order (1 is best):

1) Luxembourg.
2) Germany, Eifel region.
3) Belgium, Ardennes.
-) [strike]Germany, Harz region.[strike], not an option too far east.
4) Voges, the area around Gerdmer is very beautiful as well, I've been cycling there, it's about 600km from Utrecht.

Hell yes on these weekends:
1) 21 - 23 August
2) 28 - 30 August.

Can't do these weekends:
-) 7 - 9 August,
-) and I could possibly do 31 july - 2 August at a crunch.

/Andre

Great to have you aboard Andre, It sounds like a great staging post for your trip if Luxembourg, eifel or Ardennes are chosen :thumbup:

IMHO The Voges is a little too far for a long weekend, Trier is only 350Km and harz only 400Km (from Utrecht), the eifel and Ardenne even closer by.

We'll have to see how things develop :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

I was doing a bit of thinking (out loud), if Luxembourg is picked (it is ahead at the moment) and if some of the guys in Belgium come along we could always meet up in Liege (Luik), (this seems like a good meeting point) and take a scenic route down together :thumbup:.

 

[Drinky]

I went with the motor-forum.nl guys to the voges/vosges/vogezen last weekend,
went from thursday morning till sunday evening, I still had my original tires on, had 4 mm profile on em, after the ride to the hotel still had 3-4, after the friday run I had 1 mm left had a great time, hooked up with a honda VFR and a GSXR600, we left the others behind so many times, I barely even got under the 6000 RPM's in the corners, straight bits 12000, brake like crazy, turn in and blast off I'll never forget it, had the best time ever.

Though unfortunatly, I don't think I can make it, I'm going to the south of spain by car, just relaxing and driving south, stopping wherever we like.

 

[Cloggy]

I went with the motor-forum.nl guys to the voges/vosges/vogezen last weekend,
went from thursday morning till sunday evening, I still had my original tires on, had 4 mm profile on em, after the ride to the hotel still had 3-4, after the friday run I had 1 mm left had a great time, hooked up with a honda VFR and a GSXR600, we left the others behind so many times, I barely even got under the 6000 RPM's in the corners, straight bits 12000, brake like crazy, turn in and blast off I'll never forget it, had the best time ever. .

Sounds like you had a great time Tim, :needpics: , and it sounds like you need new tyres too.

Though unfortunatly, I don't think I can make it, I'm going to the south of spain by car, just relaxing and driving south, stopping wherever we like.

Hope you have a great time in Spain, but it's a shame you can't make it, maybe next time :thumbup:.

 

[Unseen]

Hi Martin,

When do you want to lock things down? So I can book my holiday days at the office

Trier and Luxembourg sound cool to me, I visited Trier last year and it's a very nice area.

 

[Cloggy]

Andre, at the moment it's looking like the weekend of 21st-23rd August in Luxembourg/Trier.
I did say "Voting closes next Friday 19 june at midnight" in the first post to give people a chance to look at their diaries. Uptil now only Ton, yourself and I seem to be interested so I think its pretty certain, unless there is a sudden wave of interest (which I somehow doubt).
I would prefer to leave it open for now but If you need to know well in advance let us know and I can see what we can do.

Meanwhile if anybody is thinking about it (doesn't have to be a commitment yet) please let us know ASAP, then if there is no more interest we can lock down the dates/ location.

 

[mithraen]

Heya!

I think I'll be in Belgium during that weekend, though unfortunately my license doesn't yet allow me to leave the country on the bike
If you're planning a short ride around the Belgian Ardennes for something more than 2/3 hours, sure I'll meet you guys in Luik (or around Brussels) and follow you south till the border!

Otherwise, I hope you guys have fun :cheer:

Miguel

 

[Unseen]

Friday deadline is ok with me

@mithraen, allright some touring from Luik to Luxembourg would be ok with me :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

Miguel that would be great, I was looking at some routes yesterday and it might be worth starting just over the border (in Belgium) , under Eindhoven, to give you a bit more riding time (if the other guys are in agreement.).
We'll be travelling down on the Friday. I saw a couple of routes we could use (on internet) yesterday.. :thumbup:

 

[Rev-A]

Hi guys, sorry for the late reply, I've been extremely busy. I just want you all to know that me and my girlfriend were planning on going camping in week 34 (17-23 august), so I don't know for certain if I'll be able to make it. Maybe if something comes up and our camping trip is rescheduled I will definitely ride along! So just plan on whenever is best for you and maybe I can make it :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

Hi guys, sorry for the late reply, I've been extremely busy. I just want you all to know that me and my girlfriend were planning on going camping in week 34 (17-23 august), so I don't know for certain if I'll be able to make it. Maybe if something comes up and our camping trip is rescheduled I will definitely ride along! So just plan on whenever is best for you and maybe I can make it :thumbup:

Sorry to hear that you've got something else planned Robin but I hope you can make it any way, and if not I hope you have a great time camping. Why not go camping on the bike :thumbup:
As I said at the moment that weekend (21-23 August) is the only free weekend for Andre, Ton & myself, but if more people come we'll have to put it to the vote.

 

[Cloggy]

I was thinking of using part of this route on our ride (between Liege/Luik into Germany) we would be riding it in reverse, you can see plenty of commentary (in Dutch), especially if you click on the little "Points of interest" pictures on the height chart (I think it's pretty neat).

http://www.routeyou.com/route/view/389/motorroutes-en-autoroute-vianden-gravenvoeren-luxemburg-luik-limburg.nl

 

[Cloggy]

Well now its definate, 21st-23rd August, destination Trier, ride down through Belgium (Ardennes) on Friday, stay in a hotel/hostel in Trier do a ride around Luxembourg on Saturday another night in hotel and if you're up for it Ton we could go back through the Eifel, whilst Andre continues on his own holiday :thumbup:.

 

[Unseen]

Right, sounds like a plan Martin :thumbup:

Will take that week off and start planning the rest of my trip. Looking forward to the trip :cheer:

 

[Cloggy]

Well now its definate, 21st-23rd August, destination Trier, ride down through Belgium (Ardennes) on Friday, stay in a hotel/hostel in Trier do a ride around Luxembourg on Saturday another night in hotel and if you're up for it Ton we could go back through the Eifel, whilst Andre continues on his own holiday :thumbup:.

Unfortunately Ton can't make it due to an injured wrist (I wish him all my best, it'll be operated on in October, so I hope he makes a swift recovery afterwards).
Andre is still coming and due to a project at his work which he has to finish he has postponed his euro trip until a bit later, which means we'll be riding together there and back :thumbup:
If anyone else wants to come along let me know ASAP as the hostel in Trier is already pretty full up.
I'll post routes when I've made them.