Today I rode to Hell and back. Well, I never found a sign confirming it was Hell but the map and area I was in seemed to match up, so I’m claiming I rode to Hell and back!

What the hell are you talking about hippy?

I can hear you all saying. Okay, let me explain:

At breakfast (which was lacking the croissants today!! Noooo!!) I was looking at the map of the area trying to work out where to ride. I spotted a place named ‘Hell‘ west of Apeldoorn so of course that was decision made! Ride to Hell and back..

Rode through Stroe, Voorthuizen, found Hell, then onto Nijerk, Putten, took a wrong turn and hit Ermelo, corrected course and landed in Speuld, then towards Udel and towards Nieuw Milligen and finally I arrived back at Apeldoorn, via the same way I arrived from Amsterdam. All very nice scenery again and often with stacks of choice: road, path or off-road.

I confirmed the presence of hills on the final run into town (for those doubters!). It was freaky! It looked downhill with a big dip at the bottom and I almost took a photo to prove that hills exist here. I took off and my speed dropped from mid-30’s to mid-teens!! WTF?! I looked to my left and sure enough.. I was climbing a frickin’ hill! Looked straight ahead and it looked like I was going downhill again.. like I said.. freaky!

I was killing myself to get back in time for the Tour and I did. Make it, I mean, not kill myself! Watched from about 6k before the top of the Col du Galibier. Pfft.. too easy I reckon! 😉

Bought a half-loaf of bread, some nice chicken slice, some cheese, lollies, Coke and bananas for lunch. No, I didn’t actually consume the whole lot for once!

The ride ended up being over 90k, 4hrs with an average speed over 23kph!!! That’s pretty good when I think about how many times I dawdled to check stuff out, checked maps, look at signs, sometimes I even slowed down before busting through intersections! ;P (Sorry officer, I’m a tourist, I didn’t realise red means stop..)

I’m just happy I decided to wear knicks today instead of jocks like yesterday.. eek!