2021 was an interesting cycling year for me.
At the beginning of the year I relocated to Heerlen in South Limburg.
This is in the far south of the Netherlands and only a few km from both the German and Belgian borders.
It is also a very hilly region in contrast to the extreme flatness of the landscape further north.
The whole year has been affected by un-seasonal and extreme weather conditions.
This makes planning for recreational cycling very difficult while also ensuring my personal safety.
This year I took 83 outside rides, totalling 4434 km and 288 hours of great cycling adventures.
My longest ride this year was 101 km to Havert on 16th September.
The most elevation gain on a single ride was 794 metres on 18th September.
I make the distinction between outside and inside rides because for the last two months of the year I used my newly acquired indoor spin bike.
In November and December I completed 32 indoor spin sessions of exactly one hour each and cycled the equivalent of 1003 km in total.
Although this is a completely different experience to cycling out on the road it is still a valuable form of exercise.
It also enables me to keep very fit in all weather conditions and will prepare me well for my many planned outside rides in 2022.
