Not a PBP qualifier, just a "regular" brevet: the
Around Luxembourg BRM 1000 from Maastricht.
At 18:00 one DF, one Snoek an M5 CHR plus 25 uprights set off after feasting on a big pasta buffet at the Maastricht youth hostel.
And although the name of the brevet was “Around Luxembourg”, it could also be named “follow the water” as perhaps 80% of the time we would be riding along a river or canal. Which makes for nice cycling, especially when riding a velomobile, as it’s mostly flat or very gently climbing.
But first we would go cross country over the Belgian hills to Namur. It still being rather warm made the climbing rather sweaty. Still, I could make good pace, helped by the fact that the roads were quite reasonable in quality. Something that could be said for the entire brevet, most of the road surface very acceptable to buttery smooth, some bits of rough and coarse asphalt and very few patches of bumpy cobbles.
In Charleville-Mézières, the next control, I had a brief encounter with Les Polices Municipales when I was waiting for a traffic light. They were very curious about what was going on (already having seen the other velomobile, and a bunch of cyclists at 01:45...) So we did have a nice chat in the middle of the road They did speak excellent English btw and not a word on me using headphones...
I'm always amazed by the number of cats I see at night (well, mostly their reflecting eyes), but besides those I did see a lot or other animals during the next stretch: a racoon (Waschbär), a big marten (Marden) and several beavers. I didn't know that beavers are nocturnal, nor that they are so big! I had to come to a full stop once to wait because a branch/tree as thick as my fist with all leaves attached was "crossing" the cyclepath...
Towards Verdun it actually got a little chilly, but not enough to keep my eyes open and the pace up; at 4:15 or so I decided to grab a 20m powernap, comfortably reclining in my Snoek (note to self: buy one of those inflatable neck cushions used for air travel). The nap helped keeping my eyes open, but I very much needed caffeine to return to normal! Coffee and croissants served by Bar Le Terminus opposite the Verdun checkpoint made a welcome breakfast at 8am.
It was quickly getting hot and when I arrived in Nancy at 12:30 I was cooking and desperate for some chilled air conditioning. Which the McDonalds close to the checkpoint (the train station) didn’t have, it was almost as warm inside as outside At least the drinks were iced! Eating lunch I had a first row seat from across the street watching people reacting to the velomobile, always fun
The route to the next control in Gondrexange is following the “canal de la Marne au Rhin”, most of it on a lovely bike path. Then at Lagarde it goes over the hills (and on some rough roads); it appears that the bike path along the canal continues all the way to Gondrexange so that could make a next edition even nicer. The control at the boulangerie at Gondrexange was a welcome stop for ice and cool drinks before we continued along another canal (downhill ) to Saarbrücken where I had booked a room at the Premier Inn. Next time, prepare a route towards the hotel instead of relying on Google maps, its routing for bicycles sucks in German towns. Checkin at 21:00, proper Italian pizza around the corner, refreshing shower then to bed.
An early start the next morning. Not because I was running short on time (far from, Saarbrücken being at 570km and 6am would have been 36h after the start), but I wanted to avoid most of the heat while riding the next section, which had most of the climbing of the event (still only 1400m in 87km). Actual start a little later though as a pair of cleaners from the hotel wanted to know all about my velomobile and staged a photoshoot of them cleaning this weird bicycle. At least I hit the road with a spotless Snoek
The climbing was slow but not too awful (still: 4h30 for 87km). The descent to Mehring was fast (I hit 82kph) with some twisty bits. I was worried beforehand about overheating the drum brakes, but no funky smells so all ok. Oh I do wonder how much sports will happen during the “sportsfest” in Beuren this month of if the sport is actually hoisting as many liters of beer from the table to your mouth
To the controls in Zell and Koblenz we’re back to riding (downhill) along the river. This time the Mosel. Past Koblenz the route turns away from the river in Bad Breisig and heads over the hills to Bad Neuenahr. This because the Ahr cycling path is still inaccessible after the floodings a while ago. Still, I wasn’t too thrilled about this. I was already close to being overheated every time I stopped and I didn’t see it ending well having to push hard uphill in the heat, and being too slow to get some airstream for cooling. So, improvisation and some swearing at Google got me through Sinzig to Bad Neuenahr; it was a bit longer, some of it on a main road, but very little climbing. From Bad Neuenahr to Niederdrees it was just undulating hills and I could keep the pace up enough for cooling.
The last control, number 10 in Niederdrees, was the only mandatory control. Hosted by German randonneurs (and velomobile/recumbent enthousiasts) Gabriëlle and Achim, there was drinks, ice cream, pasta, chilli, a shower and a bed. Too good not to sit down and enjoy. And decision time: what was I going to do next, with riding another 200km to Amersfoort in mind? Ride to Maastricht finish at around 2am, then sleep? Or sleep here? Quick inquiry made that decision easy, 140 euro for a room at the youth hostel???
After leaving Gabriëlle and Achim at around 02:15 (a good thing I had not noticed the two Cruzbikes until then or I would have stayed talking even longer ) I headed for the Netherlands, and for good measure I made a small detour to Valkenburg on the way to Maastricht. I mean, you can’t come down to Limburg all the way from Groningen and not climb the famous Cauberg, right? (besides, I needed those Veloviewer tiles )
Arrived back at the youth hostel in Maastricht at 7:45 (total brevet time 61h45m for 1028km and 5500m climbing). Then, after coffee and breakfast, climbed into the Snoek again to ride the 200km back home hoping to stay ahead of the predicted thunderstorms;failed in that, but it was only 5 minutes of heavy rain / strong gusts and thunder.
All in all a brevet I enjoyed a lot and (if it gets organised again in the future) can recommend to VM / recumbent riders