Feb 4: Bananas in Utrecht
The new bike didn’t come with pedals, so I had to do the first weekend endurance ride on my old one. I thought I should go for something small since this is the first time I've gone out in ages: so I went to Utrecht for a banana.
Stay with me! This is wiser than it sounds. Utrecht’s bananas are 35km away, so there and back adds up to 70km, half the daily average distance I'm aiming for. I tried to go at a pace I could keep up long term, so the time would be a good guide to how attainable that 140km is.
So if this took (say) 5 hours, it means I'd need 10 hours per day to go 140km at minimum - it'd increase with rough roads and climbs and getting lost and gear problems all the other things that happen out in the wild. So if it took 5 hours it’d be a good reason to scale back the goals... something I really don't want to do. 4 hours or less is what I wanted.
This is my first ride in months so it took ages to find my gear and get the bike ready, I didn’t leave until 1415. I thought I'd try just riding along the canal to Utrecht which really annoyed the route app, I was off the route it had chosen and it really didn't want to accept my choices and nagged me continuously which I believe is a sign of emotional immaturity. This thing isn't even an AI, and it's still got issues.
Unfortunately, I hadn't eaten properly for breakfast and lunch. So my mission to buy a banana in Utrecht turned into a very hungry shopping expedition, where besides the banana I got three different kinds of chocolate. The banana was really good, but that chocolate muffin did not go down well; it felt like it was going to give me cramps. And all the rubbish bins were full! I cycled along the road with a banana peel and muffin wrapper checking every bin, but each one was so jammed so I figured I'd go on to the next one. Eventually there were no more bins so I had to give up and stash them in the pannier. Not impressed.
The way wasn’t too bad though, the drizzle mostly stopped but because I left late it got dark. The highlight was the bridge over the canal with someone who was (I guess?) a boat-spotter. They (I?) got honked at by a passing freight boat. I think it was friendly though.
Anyway, the trip took exactly 4 hours total, which means 8 hours worth of riding to go 140km! Which is what I was hoping for. It was on good surfaces without hills though; but assuming the actual route isn't too evil it shouldn't add that many hours, right? If it's under 12 hours/150% time it's still a doable daily ride.
This outcome makes me a bit more optimistic, but those elevation graphs for Spain and France are going to worry me until I'm past them and on the German plains...
Because I hadn't eaten properly all day I was in bad shape when I got back, way more tired than I should have been. :( I suppose that's a good lesson, I'll have to find good food options for camping days, so I don't end up too wrecked to ride the distances needed.
And if we look a little more deeply, there’s clearly another takeaway message here. The right choice for my camping food is obviously… Utrecht bananas. :)
