Farawayistan

Tag: netherlands

#Festive500: The 500KM Holiday challenge

Christmas usually comes with loads of food at family gatherings. But for many cyclists the days between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve have a whole different priority: the #Festive500. The global challenge is to ride 500 kilometers in eight days. So this year we spent a big chunk of the holidays on our bikes.

We, well one of us.. completed the challenge with a mix of different rides: road, gravel and virtual in two different countries. Here’s our photo report.

Day 1: Volcano Circuit

We kicked off the challenge with a bunch of laps around Watopia’s Volcano Circuit. Indeed, a ride on the indoor trainer. Of course, cycling outside is way more enjoyable, but the Swedish climate during December isn’t really pleasant. We only had six days of time, so the head start was a warm-welcome begin. It was Robin’s longest ride so far indoors. Mentally it was actually pretty okay. Sabina rode it in two different rides, one at midnight and one during the day.

Robin: 108 km / 537 m / 3:43:14 h / Zwift
Sabina: 110 km / 542 m / 4:01:48 h / Zwift

Day 2: Frosty road ride around Häckeberga

On day 2 it was time for an outdoor ride. The route was based on a ride Robin did back in September, during much warmer temperatures. The day began with frosty vegetation, frosty roads, frosty everything. Roughly halfway in we had to shelter in a supermarket with a hot chocolate to defrost our fingers and toes. Yet again, a fairly easy ride with photo breaks.

Robin: 101 km / 556 m / 4:24:14 h / Sweden
Sabina: 101 km / 637 m / 4:26:14 h / Sweden

Day 3: Skåne to the volcano

While the cold but beautiful scenery on day 2 made up for a lot, the cold and grey during day 3 was a bit more challenging. The wind near Skåne’s coastal gravel roads combined with the wind chill of minus 2 degrees Celsius were tough. After 55 km and rain showers about to start, We decided to move to somewhere warmer – to our sweaty pain cave. Here we both rode a few more laps through the virtual lava fields.

Robin: 92,5 km / 345 m / 3:57:06 h / Sweden + Zwift
Sabina: 89 km / 317 m / 3:54:26 h / Sweden + Zwift

Day 4 Teanu island

Waking up on day 4 of the #Festive500, motivation was nowhere to be found. Opening the curtains of the sleeping room definitely didn’t help. With sore legs Robin hopped on the trainer once again. YouTube videos, Spotify, a video call with his mum and a phone call with Michael from @BikepackingSweden luckily killed the time. He managed to ride a little over 80 kilometers.

After the long ride on day 2 Sabina’s knee had started to act up. We raised the saddle on day 3 but it was too little too late. On day 4 it was still too painful to ride. After a mini warmup she already had to stop. Maybe some rest will help?

Robin: 82,2 km / 334 m / 2:59:56 h / Zwift
Sabina: 13,1 km / 64 m / 29:41 h / Zwift

Day 5: Mandatory rest day

No time for cycling today, as we flew to The Netherlands to visit our relatives! Sabina tried her sore knee out, but it was still too soon.

Sabina: 4,2 km / 11m / 11:31 h / Zwift

Day 6: Hometown ride

After the mandatory rest day Robin’s legs no longer felt like his feet were stuck in a bucket of concrete. Sabina’s knee was still a mess, which unfortunately ment she had to give up.

No Sweden, no Zwift. Instead we had a typical Dutch winters day with rain and wind. We totally forgot how densely everything in the Netherlands is. The amount of cyclists is gigantic. On a single day you see more cyclist than we see in Sweden in a whole year. Robin: “It felt really good to cycle on familiar ground around my hometown. Even more so because I was in company of my father! The fact that I came home completely soaked didn’t mind me at all.”

Robin: 71,6 km / 26 m / 3:02:55 h / the Netherlands

Day 7: South-Holland

On Robin’s sixth riding day – and the seventh day of the challenge – he was about to complete the #Festive500. A ride of just 45 kilometers was enough to mark 500 kilometers. Robin: “The weather was pretty good and I had planned a ride I rode a lot when I was still living in the Netherlands. The route follows the Waterweg (canal), the shoreline and back zigzagging through the greenhouses. I was planning to ride on New Year’s Day too, but the next morning I couldn’t be bothered. After all it was time to bake ‘oliebollen’ – a Dutch delicacy of deep-fried round doughnuts eaten with New Year’s Eve.”

Robin: 60,5 km / 70 m / 2:36:29 h / the Netherlands

Robin managed to cover 516 kilometers in six days of riding. Unfortunately Sabina had to call it quits after 318 kilometers because of a knee injury. Luckily her knee felt better after a few days of rest and soon we were able to ride together again. Not because we had to accomplish a challenge, but simply because we love to ride our bikes.

Follow all our adventures on Instagram.

12 January 2021
Iran part I – Amsterdam to Tehran

In December 2018 we traveled to Iran. This is how we got there.

It is almost hard to believe that we actually have just woken up in Amsterdam. Due to bad weather and extreme thick fog, half of the flights to Schiphol were cancelled. And that’s exactly where we are flying from today, to Teheran via Istanbul. Luckily ours wasn’t cancelled, it was even in time! What lucky bastards we are.

Being too cheap to spend way too much money on hotel breakfast, we take the shuttle bus (also free of course) to the airport and buy some food at Albert Heijn instead. Our last breakfast that isn’t bread, tomatoes and cucumber!

Next to us on our first flight, we talk to a young boy sitting next to us. He’s from Sweden and is also going to Iran to visit relatives. Before moving to Sweden they lived in Istanbul and before that Iran. We never ask where he’s from originally, but based on his facial features we guess Afghanistan. Approximately 3 million Afghans have fled to Iran since the start of the war.

Funny Dutch people

When we enter our flight from Istanbul to Tehran we already stand out quite a bit. 3 dutch speaking guys even laugh out loud when they see us. What are we even going to do in Iran, they ask us. Way too expensive, according to them.

Later, when we stand in line at the customs we speak to them again. They are also from Afghanistan and for two of them, it is their first time (back) in Iran. You can see the excitement in their eyes. Probably in ours too. Oh and guess what, when you enter the country with a European passport you don’t get a stamp. Too bad for the collectors, convenient for those who like to travel to Israel, the states and Saudi Arabia. After a long day of travelling we are welcomed in our hostel with a cup of tea, sweet dates and some well deserved rest.

Sightseeing in Tehran

Our first day in Tehran and it’s raining cats and dogs. Doesn’t matter, we can take it. The former US embassy is very close to our hostel, unfortunately we can’t go in (it’s a museum now) since they are shooting. Shooting a movie this time tho. We take some snaps in the pouring rain, and nobody really seems to care about it. Previously, the Iranians didn’t like that it’s a touristic hotspot. Nowadays they’re probably used to it.

Changes

This isn’t the only thing that has changed in Iran, over the last few years. When we take the metro to the grand bazar, Sabina joins Robin in the men’s compartment. She isn’t the only women there, and the stares we get probably aren’t for this, just for the fact that we stand out anyway. Every now and then, we get a ‘hello’ and a ‘where are you from?’ We haven’t spotted a single tourist so far.

The grand bazar is crowded, and immensely big. We wander around, and it is very nice that we don’t get pulled in to shops. At least until we get to the carpets. Apparently we look like we really need one. The vendors aren’t too aggressive, and we can easily shake them off.

Cashing it

The bazar is also the place to exchange your euros or dollars to rials. We already put our euros on our Mah card. A debit card for tourists, so we don’t have to carry around a lot of cash. The exchange rate isn’t as good, but at least we don’t have to hassle with the millions of rials. Funny thing, try entering your security code in Farsi. Most machines don’t have English numbers on them, so we have to guess the place of the numbers. Luckily, this is the same and not right to left, as Farsi writing is.

27 January 2019