Preparation

About a week before leaving we found out that the weather would finally break so we dropped everything packed our bikes and did a 250km loop around our neighborhood. We wanted to visit the Eifel again, so we rode East to Aachen, than headed in a southerly direction to Monschau were we stopped for the night. In the morning we headed in a westerly direction for about 80kms to Bomal, Belgium were we stopped for the second night. And on the third day we followed the river Ourthe to Liege were we got on the canal that runs next to the river Maas back home to Maastricht. Riding along the river Ourthe is very pleasant with many camping's and very nice cycling paths.
It was a fantastic ride and we will be heading into the Eifel again, when we have more time that is. The weather was perfect if a little hot for the climbs (around 33c), but with enough water and rest stops we managed pretty good. The only bad thing about this ride was the very busy and noisy campsites.
We met up with this Belgian couple that have done some quite amazing tours in the last 11 years, and we had a very nice chat with them. Here is a link to their site, www.susennieke.be We wished them safe travels as they were heading to Trier the next day with no time limit to their tour. Whenever they tire they head home, nice if we could all do that.

     
Left to Right:
1- Monique checking out Monschau from the road above.
2- Small man made lake right after Monschau. We rode uphill along the road on the right.
3- Posing next to another man made lake near Robertsville.
This whole area is very beautiful to ride in, and we couldn't have chosen a better day.
They have printed several books on bicycle routes of this area, we will be investing in one also. There are signs everywhere of these routes with names of towns and the kms.

Tuesday 28/08/07
We are slowly putting our stuff together again, we have about two and a half weeks to go for our next ride and are really looking forward to it.
We haven't done much training, mostly because of the weather and other obligations but riding along the Donau would be flat, unless we take a detour to see something in the hills. We will be doing +100kms per day and we'll have extra time.
We will most likely take a detour and check out Bodensee or Lake Constance, we have heard its a great place to cycle to and it'll only cost us an extra day, so we'll add it to our tour.
That's it for now, we'll be adding more before we leave.

September 5
Weather has been crappy for the last several days and could not get on our bikes. It's only good for changing our plans for this tour.
Last week I crossed another milestone with 4000kms on the clock this year it now reads 4200 and I plan to hit 4500 before this tour. I will try and make it 7000kms before years end. This will be by far the most cycling I have ever done, and loving it ;-)
This coming weekend the weather will be good  and we both have time to put a couple hundred kms on the clock.
I will be making one more update before this tour starts so, cya later :-)

September 14
The time has come, after a couple warm ups and an accident we are ready to go. The accident was my fault, while looking at this nice house I drifted off to my right and bumped into Monique, and we both went down pretty bad. My biggest bruise was my pride while Monique had a large black and blue mark on her right thigh OOPS   I also had to replace the water bottle cage, crank and pedals on Monique's bike.
Anyway we had a couple milestones this past week I've cycled over 4000 kms this year and Monique just passed 3000kms and we are starting our fall 1500 km tour. I think we'll pass the 6000 km and 5000 km marks this year.
The bikes are tuned up and tested, and we're putting our stuff together now for tomorrow morning start. We will be a bit heavier on this tour as it will be a bit cold and wet.
This is our last post for now, cya when we get back ;-)

Update October 07/2007
We are having an unseasonably nice weather in the last several days and are taking the opportunity to do some chores (and more fall rides) before winter comes.
Another milestone crossed today, I have reached 6000kms for this year, this is the longest I have ridden in one season in my whole life WOW!!!