Pre launch rides: Het Nationale Park De Hoge Veluwe

In a series of pre-launch rides, we traveled to Het Nationale Park De Hoge Veluwe in the Netherlands to ride with Dennis and Sjoerd, who live in Ede. It's not the first time we have shared the road; the last was in Mallorca in April when they were visiting.

Zipping up our Connection long sleeve jerseys, we headed out en route to De Posbank, full of winding roads that gradually take you up through a dark forest. The wind gently rustles the colored foliage, and various birds sing their songs. Before we could even do that, we had a puncture. After a quick fix, it turned out that the tire had also ripped, so we patched it with an inner tube patch kit for safety and headed to a bike shop 5km away, which just so happened to be Dennis's second home, as he describes it.

A welcome Espresso Dopio, two new tires, and the use of their workshop got us ready to carry back on our way. Setbacks can be a part of riding, and although it wasn't ideal for our first visit to the area, it makes for a great story. We pressed on into the national park and were greeted by its beauty instantly. We climbed and descended, which seems to be a myth in the Netherlands, through beautiful forests and heathland as far as the eye can see. While we did not see it, there is a wolf in the national park, which shows the diversity that this area has in terms of animals

The winding paths led us through this beautiful, wolf-free park all the way to our lunch stop, where we all had a Broodje and some time to relax together. We talked shop about everything before the last 55km back, which was a fast one as it was mostly downhill, believe it or not. The Netherlands is known for its flatness, unless you head towards Limberg where the real climbs are, but surprisingly just 1 hour from Amsterdam, we have discovered a place that rolls up and down, which if it weren't for the connections we make, we would have never known.