It must have been in 1984 when I was on vacation with my parents in Wallis, Switzerland. In St. Maurice we suddenly had to stop the car. At tremendous speed a “peloton” racing cyclists passed us by. That was my introduction to the Tour de France and cycling in the mountains. A love affair was born.
In the following years I cycled through the Dutch regions of Achterhoek and Twente. The Ardennes and the French Alps followed in the early nineties, after which Marieke and I took the bicycles with us to Switzerland, Italy, and Norway. What a superb feeling to climb pass roads! In 2000 our first, genuine cycling holiday was a fact: our honeymoon in Slovenia.
To suffer yet keep on going, to pitch the tent and live life simply: this gives me a sense of freedom and satisfaction. It also explains my love for cycling vacations, and for cycling in the mountains in particular. And the nice thing is: there is still so much left to see. For instance, the Balkan, Caucasus, and Pamir are still on my wish list.
