MIXED FEELINGS

75 kms | 2 h 41 m | avg speed 28 km/h | avg hr 145 | 6.680 kcal

Now that we have just short of 100 days for the L’Etape du Tour, I went today to Arnhem to train climbing in the elevations around the Veluwe national park. The weather forecast was for a sunny warm day and we wanted to go for around 90 kms to still have time to g0 back and watch the Rond from Flanders on TV. But the plans needed to changed due to very annoying rain and a nasty crash. See more after the link.

Agora que só faltam um pouco menos que 100 dias para o L’Etape du Tour, eu fui treinar hoje nas ladeiras de Arnhem e do parque nacional Veluwe. A previsão era de tempo bom, seco e sol, chegando a vinte graus e planajei com outros dois colegas uma volta de 90 kms. Prá dar tempo de voltar prá casa e assistir a Flanders na TV. Mas outra vez os planos mudaram por causa da chuva e de um acidente. Dá uma olhada depois do link.

From the start of the ride we were against rain and wind but I didn’t min too much. It was good to be in Arnhem and the rolling hills of the start of the route was a good warm-up. I was with Richard and Bart and together we were trying to keep the average speed around 30 km/h. We were working on turns in front and as there wasn’t much riders around due to the rain it was great to keep the speed constant.

I was feeling good and the legs were turning nicely, especially in the climbs. Good legs day, inclusive on the climbs where I could feel the power coming back, especially on standing on the pedals. At some point, around 30 kms into the ride I went in front and kept pushing around 31/32 kms/h. We were going in the direction of the steepest climb of the day and approaching the village of Coldenhove we cross a couple of traffic lights in the main road that crosses the village.

In one of them, the light was green for the cars but red for the bikes. There were no cars in the main road but for a split second I thought I saw something coming from the street and I pressed the brakes ever so slight and moved to the right. At that moment, my back wheel touched the front wheel of Richard and he crashed badly. I managed to stay up right but the sound of his crash was awful.

I turned and to see him laying down on the curb was really bad. To complicate things, he didn’t just crash into the vegetation or the road. The hit a pole with his neck and head! After some time and the help of a very nice lady that saw the whole thing, we manage to keep moving again. Richard was feeling the right leg and neck but could keep going.

That took a bit the wind of our sails and we slow down quite a lot. We still pushed to the climbs around the posbank. I pushed as hard as I could in most climbs and waited for Richard at that top as the pain got worse and he could only push with one leg.

We climbed the MariaPyramide road and on the top the rain was bitting on us again and we decided to call it a day. We road back to Pappendaal and completed the day with a 75 kms training that was nice, miserable, scary and tough. Saturday, we have Veenendaal-Veenendaal, with 135 kms. Hopefully in better situations.