Hell
The Jan Janssen Classic has been a tour for road bikes for 28 years, but the last few years mountain bike routes have been added, 'the hell of Ede-Wageningen'. Today about 6000 mountain bikers and road cyclists took part. So that made it quite an event! The weather was perfect (except for the strong wind); not too hot or cold and the rain held off until I was already finished. It has been quite dry here, but in the last couple of days there has been some rain, so the ground was just about perfect. For the mountain bikes there is a choice of 56 or 95 kilometers, but 56 was quite enough for me. The tour was very well organised, with efficient signing in using bar codes, clear and comprehensive signposting, a nicely chosen route and cuckoos and sky larks to listen to as we went along. Of course seeing it started in Wageningen I knew most of the paths, but nevertheless there were a few sections that were new to me (perhaps in the areas not normally open, I'm not sure). There was a nice friendly atmosphere - stopping for a wine-gum break it was surprising how many people asked if everything was all right and did I need any help? Even with nearly 1000 mountain bikers, it was not crowded in the woods, people set off at different times, so we were all spread out and it was only at the start and breaks that you got a sense of just how many participants there were. All in all a great tour. Maybe if I had attempted the 95 kms it would have been different, but this was more like heaven than hell!
Official website: http://www.janjanssenclassic.nl
