11 oktober, 6.30 time to get out of bed and to pack my stuff for the bart brentjens challenge. Today I will go to Eijsden together with Mario. For Mario it is his first mountainbike event. I’m at Mario’s place around 7.15 and we put the bikes on the back of the car, and off we go. The last days the weather wasn’t really good so we hope the track is not to muddy.
We arrive at Eijsden around 9:15 – 9:30 together with 3000 other bikers.

At 10:00 the competition riders will start after 10 minutes the amateurs for the 100km at10:30 the amateurs for the 75km and finally the 55km can start around 11:00, and thats the distance Mario and I will try. After the first 5km Mario is really going fast and I decide to let him go and take my own speed, still need to ride 50km.

The first km after the start

After my second flat tire, mountainbike walking.... 🙁

After 10km I’ve got a flat tire, fixed it fast and continued the trail. I’m now riding a bit faster and my legs are feeling fine…. at 2km before I reached the first stop  I noticed that I have another flat tire…. but I don’t have anything to fix it only got 1 spare and I used that one after 10km so I had to walk 2km towards the 35km point. The worst of all is that while walking I’ve got an SMS telling me that Mario just passed the 35km point 🙁

So when I reached the 35km point Mario was already gone for the last 20km. I waited there a while until I’ve got a new tire and could continue the track.

a lot of mud

A nice action picture

Then it also started to rain, so the muddy track was getting worse and the last 10km where really hard,but I made it 4 hours and 41 minutes, not a fast time but I’m happy I finished ! Mario was waiting at least a half an hour for me and when I found him we went back to the car and home. It was a really nice day and Mario and I decided next year we will try the 75 km (but that time I will take 2 spare tires)

And for the record, Reli and Ernst also participated, but they went for the 100km, and finished in 5 hours…. hmm I definitely need some more training to keep up with those two….

And of course the one and only mountainbike champion of the netherlands Bart Brentjens himself was the winner of the pros  in 3 hours and 31 minutes…. (So Reli you can still improve, cycle 100km in less than 4 hours 🙂

Bart Brentjens the first one to finish 100km after 3 hours and 31 minutes...