Prologue

In the spirit of going out with a bang we decided to organize a 'so long, and see you next year' pick-nick in the Oosterpark in Amsterdam. Naturally we were quite nervous about it - what if it rains or nobody shows up? - but it turned out real nice and we enjoyed it immensely. To all the good friends that came and waved us off, 'thank you, thank you!'.

Two weeks of sunburn and frostbite

The first half hour we are both very silent and a little sad. This is it. What have we done! A whole year of not seeing anybody suddenly seems like a very long time. Just as we are about to get a little sentimental we are suddenly hit by the effects of drinking a few farewell beers and some champagne. We are struggling all the way to Zeist and have to make a few stops. We are so out of shape!

Just to disprove the theory that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line we decide to zig-zag from Zeist to Middelburg and then on to Luxembourg. We leave in tropical temperatures with a tailwind. Things are going really well and we are making excellent mileage. After a few hours in the sun my legs are starting to feel a bit painful from the sun. The cycling is going so well that I decide not to waste any time applying sunscreen. "I will do it at our next stop, let's keep going", I tell Suzan.

That night we arrive at a campsite near Breda, called the "Katjeskelder". It's huge and positively awful. The noise factor from screaming children and motor scooters is extreme. Everybody seems to be staring at us, and we feel very much out of place. This is 'camping life'. Suzan and I are culture shocked immediately and we're only 110 km from home! "We must immediately find a guide to small campsites ", I tell Suzan. If not, I will not last a whole year!. Lesson 1: finding nice campsites requires preparation. The unprepared will be guided to mass campsites and have an awful time. After taking a shower Suzan leaves her cycling shorts unattended for a few minutes. They disappear. Lesson 2: your stuff will disappear if it is not constantly watched.

That night I practically cannot sleep from sunburn. The next day I feel extremely weak and we are only able to do 44 km. That night I feel like a have an extreme hangover and actually throw up. After that I feel fine again. Lesson 3: always apply sunscreen, even if the sun is not shining. Recumbent bikes should also be sold as tanning salons. Lesson 4: never postpone anything that has to do with keeping in good shape.

In steady good weather we cycle to Middelburg to have our bikes checked out one last time by M5. The spokes of my Shockproof have not been fitted tightly enough and Bram Moens, the owner of M5, re-spokes my wheels himself. Finally the bikes are blessed by M5 and we're all set to go.

We're doing better with campsites and spend two beautiful days on a great mini-campsite on a farm near Middelburg. The campsite is basically run by the farmer's 10-year old daughter named Lenneke. The atmosphere is very friendly and on the second night we are invited by the farmer to have a few beers with him and his wife. How can we refuse? In the meantime we've become good friends with Lenneke. She brings me one of her kittens and tells me I can hold it for a while. Feeling honored I take the small cat. Clumsily I let it escape and watch as she climbs a tree and starts to meow in horror. Lenneke runs off and tells her father that I have let the cat escape. I feel the pressure mounting. It's obvious, I must climb that very high tree and save that kitten. After risking my life at a high altitude I return the kitten to Nelly. Lesson 5: be careful with animals when cycling to India.

After our first tropical week the weather has turned bad. We're having to deal with a lot of rain and cold temperatures. In the Ardennes people are wearing thick coats and I actually spot a guy on a bicycle wearing gloves. This is mid-July! What's going on here? I've never been so cold in my life. Global warming is definitely not happening in Belgium.

Mountains! In the Ardennes we encounter mountains for the first time. It's incredibly hard work riding our packed bikes uphill. Soon we're in lowest gear and are wishing we had an even lower gear. Our legs are burning. These hills here in the Ardennes are incredibly steep we keep telling each other. We curse a lot on some of these climbs, especially when after another curve in the road we find that we are still not at the top.

Okke: "Damn, still not at the top!"
Suzan: "This hill just keeps going."
Okke: "The top must be there after the next curve."
Suzan: "I have lost all hope, this hill is tricking us, it will never end!"

The downhill parts are very scary. We put our helmets on for the first time after reaching speeds of almost 70 km per hour.

In the town of Bastogne we run into a couple that is riding on a Challenge Tai-Fun and an Optima Dolphin. They are heading for the south of Spain. We laugh at the coincidence. It feels great to meet recumbent colleagues and we immediately start inspecting each others bikes and packing methods. Afterwards we are quite pleased with ourselves. They actually seem to have more stuff with them then we do.

From Ettelbruck to Donaueschingen

After a few days of rest at Okke's aunt we are ready to go. We're packed and we make our first meters. Then we hear an awful squeaking sound coming from Suzan's front wheel. We spend the morning pondering the cause and decide it must be the spokes again. A technician from the local bicycle shop confirms they are indeed loose and tightens them again. He assures us that the spokes will be alright from now on.
In spite of this we are quite worried. Why is this happening, what might be the cause? Could it be that the spokes cannot take breaking at the high speeds we reach when going downhill? Do they overheat?

With silent wheels we follow the Mosselle river and make some easy kilometers towards the Vosges region in Northern France. We keep telling each other how beautiful the countryside is. Our happiness is increased even more by the courteous way French car drivers treat us and other cyclists. They drive fast, but slow down when approaching you and leave a lot of space when passing you.

Suddenly all our joy ends when we hear those damn spokes squeak again. This problem must be fixed, we will not reach India with loose spokes! We decide to call M5. Unfortunately they don't have a solution to this problem. The spokes should be o.k. they tell us. It's clear to us now: this problem can only be solved unscientifically. We start feeling the spokes, we pull them, push them, turn them, twist them, and listen to the sound they make. We decide that they all have to sound and feel equal and keep tightening them until our spokes are in perfect harmony.

We have no idea if we are doing the right thing, but our method seems to be working. Everyday we twist and turn and with perfectly silent wheels we reach Xonrupt at the foot of the Grand Ballon mountain. To celebrate our successful engineering we decide to put ourselves and our spokes to the test by climbing this 1350 meters high mountain the next day. We leave early in the morning and apply the lessons we've learned in the Ardennes:

Loosen your shoulders

Tighten your abs

Turn the pedals, please don't push and never ever forget to flex your butt.

Steadily we climb up the mountain, complimenting each-other with our style and technique. Our chatting suddenly stops: we've reached the last two and extremely steep kilometers before the top. We grunt and are forced to switch to a more unsophisticated technique: just push the pedals as hard as you can! We reach the top of the mountain and burst out in laughter simultaneously. This must be a natural high. We calm down and enjoy the incredible view. The German Schwarzwald mountains can already be seen. We have to take those to reach Donaueschingen, the place where the next episode of our journey will start.