The Limburg BBQ ride

Yesterday, Johan C. from the Limburgse Liggers organized a 75 km ride followed by a BBQ. Since we've been having hot summerdays these last few weeks and I wanted to meet some old riding friends again, I decided to join them for the ride. So in the early morning yesterday, I left with my XP. Rode along the towpath near the canal until I reached the bridge between Munsterbilzen and Zutendaal. There I followed the N730 to Wiemesmeer, the place where Johan C. lives.
Around 21 recumbent riders showed up, 2 of them even with a velomobile. I have to admit that it slipped my mind to take my own Strada for the ride, but with predicted temperatures of + 35° Celcius, I decided to go for the XP. Weather forcasts warned for heavy rain -and thunderstorms, but in the last few days, we did not see any of these, so I preferred an open bike.

It was hot, real hot. The route was beautiful as usual, the province of Limburg is like heaven for cyclist : lots of bike paths through beautiful sceneries, guided by their famous knooppunten-system. Anyway, we did several drink stops (thankfully, since it really was too hot for some riders) and a lunch stop where the most of us ate a plate of spaghetti. After lunch, a small group of riders decided to take a short route back to Wiemesmeer, where as most of the riders wanted to complete the ride as planned. So the last group with Johan C. was back in Wiemesmeer around 6.15 p.m., where everybody welcomed the garden hose to freshen up with open arms ;-).
BBQ was also terrific, Johan C. and his wife Elke are perfect hosts and nobody left with an empty stomach.

Around 09.15 p.m. I decided to ride back home. Jonathan A, who came with his rowing bike, accompanied me. As we decended the bridge and came on the towing path heading north, a strong head wind was blowing us right in the face. Wow, that would be no piece of cake ! Honestly said, I had hoped that the wind would go down in the evening -as it had the days before- but not this time. Looking at the skies, we knew that the weather was changing and that I would not get home without getting wet. We had to work hard to keep our riding speed around 25 km/h. When we reached the bridge between Beringen and Diest, Jonathan took off and I kept on fighting against the wind by my own. A couple of minutes later the first drops of rain started to fall. I stopped to cover my panniers with rain covers and put on my rain jacket. Within 15' the sky turned completely dark and I got caught in a real thunderstorm. I saw lighting wherever I looked and it rained heavily. Now I'm not really scared from lighting, but let met tell you that I was pretty nervous to say the least. I still had to ride about 50 km before I was home, so stopping was no option, I simply had to ride on.
I did stop about 3 times to hide underneath a bridge since rain was falling so heavily at that time that I could not see where I was going.

Somewhere halfway between Kwaadmechelen and Mol, I picked up Teun G. with his rowing bike. He was also on his way home, but did have no lights on his bike and was hiding for the storm. Since my headlight was strong enough for the both of us, he joined me until we reached the bridge between Ravels and Oud-Turnhout. I was home around 00.50 a.m., soaken wet but happy to be home. Total milage for yesterday was 245 km.