Preparing for Limburgs Mooiste

Longer ago than I care to remember I participated in this organised bike event around Valkenburg. I wanted to go again but a few years the hockey season was still ongoing on the weekend of the event and then we had covid. Now, finally there are no conflicts so on June the 3rd I will participate again. I will take my twelve year old son with me who just got his new (second hand) Cannondale CAAD9 racing bike last weekend. He had completely outgrown his previous 26cm bike which had been sitting in the shed unused. Looking for a gift I came across the Cannondale for a reasonable price and was pleasantly surprised when I saw it that it was in mint condition. So this was a good incentive to register for the ‘race’ on June 3rd. Unfortunately I haven’t touched my own racing bike for years so (from before covid) so I really need to get into shape fast. Today we went for a first ride and we picked the Wijnlandschappenroute which is nearby. Only 47km but with getting there and back we ended up doing 72km in total. Weather was far from nice with constant drizzle and we weren’t well prepared so left without snacks. Also we had to get back by 2PM and didn’t take a bike lock. All that together with closed bars along the way ment no food and an empty energy tank for me at km 55. Luckily we had past the last hill (380m climbing in total) by that time so I could coast the last 17km back home fairly easily. We did stop at a sports center and got some sugar out of the vending machine for the last 10k. Still, it went not too bad considering I hadn’t ridden a bike for such a distance for more than 5 years minimum. One or two more rides with a bit more climbing and I should be able to survive the ride on the 3rd without too much suffering. My son is in a lot better shape than me so he will have no problems with the 70k and 620 meters of elevation to bridge. Luckily I was smart enough to consider my lack of biking and went for the shortest distance.