NK Me-Mover

From alternative running training to sports with their own Dutch Championship: the Me-Mover clearly has fans. This first match also tasted like more.

For a long time I felt a bit insecure for the Dutch Championship Me-Mover. How fast we would drive, was totally unknown. How many people would be there – There aren't that many movers around yet – Was also guesswork. And whether I would be able to hold my own?

I have been riding the Me-Mover quite a lot in the past few months. Small bridges and hills went better and faster. Curves remained a problem, but the distances became longer, up to 50 km – with skinny dipstop –. However, I had never trained for speed before. And 18 km/h is not very fast, I feared. In short, I did not radiate with confidence prior to my first race.

Down where?

Another obstacle for the competition was the location: Beneden-Leeuwen. That is a small village in the Betuwe, near Tiel. But of course without its own station. Fortunately, Wilma from Run on Wheels offered that I could ride with her and Aad. For a moment, I doubted whether to rent a Me-Mover for the race, but it felt more comfortable to go with my own cart.

That was possible, if me and my Me-Mover would come to the Barendrecht station. Then Aad would also have a look at the adjustment of my rear brakes.

Fortunately, the folding of the Me-Mover was not too bad at all. In the metro (at ground level) I could slide it into place, in the train it took some lifting, but that wasn't too bad either. I think I might take my bike to more remote areas in the future.

Once in Ridderkerk, Aad adjusted my brakes and gave the tyres some extra air. They had 2,5 bar, while they should have 4. Not well maintained. Like a true F1 mechanic Aad set the pressure to 5 bar: less rolling resistance and therefore a bonus for the race. Perfect with the expected warm weather.

Good turnout

From Ridderkerk we left for the south with a group of Me-Movers. There were 62 participants registered for the race and tour, of which about two thirds for the race. A super turnout for a first championship and it shows how much the owners love their Me-Mover. It also resulted in a nice picture.

The start seemed exciting with so many participants. After all, getting going is something that requires skill. And then you do not want to be driven into your back. That fear was largely inspired by running competitions. So I went and stood somewhere at the back. But in cycling and related sports, things are very different. You can easily make up those seconds. So we rode away quietly.

Sprint failed

The first obstacle on the course was a steep slope right at the beginning. On my own that is not a problem. But now I had to hold back because it was not yet possible to overtake. And the guy in front of me had never done a hill before. In fact, it was his first ride (I think he'll win next year) so he didn't know the sprint technique yet and I almost had to abandon because of the low speed.

Sometimes something like that can really upset me, but in this case it gave me courage: after the climb I was able to catch up with everything that passed me on the right side of the hill so easily that I started to estimate my chances. From that moment on I was able to pick up my own speed. And in the beginning that went absolutely effortless. I passed one after the other at my leisure. I didn't even notice the wind and heat (28 plus Celsius) that everyone complained about afterwards, it was a real flow.

Refreshment centre

What helped a lot in achieving a high speed was – apart from Aad's intervention – the beautiful course. I did not think that such a large course would be almost completely empty and well fenced on all sides. This made it feel safe to take fast turns, cut corners now and then. And the corners themselves were clear. You could see them from afar and the corners weren't as sharp as in my local routes.

Whizzing over the dike, past the beautiful dike houses and with a view over the meadows, I passed more and more participants of other sections. Half an hour before us the inline skaters had left and fifteen minutes after that the kick bikers. Both groups should theoretically be faster, so that gave an extra bit of confidence.

For me, it felt like only half an hour had passed when I got to the grooming station at the halfway point. Meanwhile, there was a solid group about 100 m ahead of me. Because I was wearing my race vest with large straws, a stop was not really necessary. As the rest of the group kept going, I decided to skip the resting moment.

Dubbed

Actually, I was riding at the heart rate I normally have during a fast 10 km race. Once I passed the hour mark, my legs started to slowly sour around the 10 km to go sign. But the group was still right in front of me, so I held on. I had already left the ideas of the tour behind me in the first half, after I had overtaken so many Me-Movers that a place in the top ten could be possible.

Slowly some riders disappeared out of the first group. At a viaduct I won a place on the climb. But in cornering the group really outclassed me. I braked more at sharp corners and had to catch up all the time. That went reasonably well until I passed a group of inline skaters. Where the last skaters went right at the bell, the first thought that left was also good. The increased distance I could not make up.

With the group in front of me out of sight, I slowly felt my legs protesting again. Fortunately Beneden-Leeuwen came in sight. On the cobbled roads of the village I was doubled up just before the finish by the inline skaters who did two laps. I also felt that in my legs.

When I arrived at the finish, I saw that more Me-Movers had arrived than expected. However, my tenth place in the men's category (1 hour 26 minutes and 9 seconds at 33.5 km) was already a super achievement for myself. I didn't expect to run at such a high average speed. In terms of time, I would never have come closer to Mireille Baart (women's winner) than I did now: she was about 7 minutes faster. The day after, Mireille also won the half marathon in 1 hour 22 minutes and 55 seconds, half an hour faster than me… I therefore expect that she will be much faster next year. The male winner of the NK Me-Mover – also a runner – was again about four minutes faster.

The whole race I was running on 10 km. After the race I was exhausted for a while. Something I never have with running, also because I'm not very competitive. That biking is a good training as far as effort is concerned, is proven once more here.

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