Erwin and Erwin, also known as the Mountain High Chasers, regularly report on outright cycling classics in their adventures for Cycling Destination. Our section Classic Rides by now knows a lot of great climbs. That you can also send this duo (sometimes in a different formation) out for other adventures, as this story of a gravel adventure in Limburg proves. The province of Limburg is beautiful for cycling. That this province is more than Keutenberg and Cauberg, Erwin R (and this time his companion Jetze) show in this story very nicely. Will you also be graveling in Limburg soon?
Text: Erwin Reijneveld Photos: Erwin Reijneveld and Jetze van der Veen
The Amstel Gold Race tour version, the Mergelheuvelland 2daagse, nine times Limburgs Mooiste,
tig holidays and countless single cycling days have left their mark. A purple trail in
this case. My personal heatmap on Strava shows almost every road in South Limburg in purple
colours. This region I have played out you could say. Although South Limburg did not surprise
more, it never got bored either. But this played-out game turns out to have another hidden level with gravel. This crackling surface has simply been laid out here in abundance to provide the
gravel bike hype. Or it was already there, that's also possible. Of course, I could have known this, but cycling is
also allow yourself to be amazed.
Mechelen, and surroundings
With less than a two-hour drive from Utrecht, we arrived in Mechelen. The beautiful Airbnb house
is right in the city centre. The local supermarket is hidden in a residential house; we step in
another time. "Don't pinch me (we pinch back)" can be read with the fruit and bread. The
cashier makes small talk a hairdresser could learn from. After lunch we get on the
bike for 80 kilometres, with mostly gravel. The sun smiles down on us, illuminating
Autumn-coloured Limburg.
My buddy prepared the routes, so my orientation has a
tough day. Every time I recognise a little restaurant or village we turn down another unfamiliar path
in. Topping it all off was the Camerig, a climb where, with eyes closed, we would have a fair bit of
come. But a nice little loop surprisingly brings us to a little road close to Buitenlust
coming out. Where was that all these years? To still have a bit of a handle on it, we take there
but familiar coffee and flan.
And unpaved again
On day two, we ask for more of everything. More mileage, more technique, more holes and more
surprisingly big rocks in surprisingly fast descents. We also get more in return, in the
form of punctures. Four for the inner tube rider and zero for the tubeless rider. The tip, it seems to me, is hereby given. This route goes largely through Belgium and the phrases
hitting for this on that stretch of the route. How it is still possible for a bike that is so much like a
road bike seems over such trails can look so much like trails purely for mountain biking,
we increasingly wonder.
Maybe, on your gravel bike, you should leave these loops as well. Because, on day three, the feeling of Friday is back. We stay in Limburg today and bike and cyclist notice it. Long empty stretches over hillsides, suddenly across the busy market
of Valkenburg, between mountain bikers (from the Bart Brentjens Challenge) through a beautiful forest
on the flanks of the Cauberg and right along the marl walls near Bemelen; what a wonderful ride!
Away from the pavement
The cyclist is not exactly the national pet bear. Too often the misunderstanding between cyclist and
non-cyclist visible, to the point of collision. How different is the gravelling in southern Limburg. Where we
literally be away from the pavement. We hardly meet anyone. If we meet anyone at all
it goes in harmony. Admittedly, our mood is right and we approach the other person
with a gentle pace, smile and a thank you, but we only meet well.
A breath of fresh air!
Blijvertje
Gravelling gave us a three-day taste of another world in the same Limburg. The
environment continues to evoke a holiday feeling, now enhanced even more by the tranquillity and
vastness of the gravel paths. With the tried-and-tested hospitality industry always within reach. And that, because
we've known for some time, so close to home. In short, the tubless 40 mm tyres will still often
carried across the A2 heading south.
