On May 13th 2018, the second gravel series was held in Banholt. Again a great tour that crossed almost no asphalt, which is just awesome in such a populated area. I very much enjoyed this ride just as the first one. Not too many riders but just enough to find someone to hook up with for a few kms.
In the beginning I tried to keep up with the first group but I soon felt they went much too fast for me and I also had some trouble with the saddle height of the rental bike. After fixing that, I was a bit faster.
Just about half way we went into the woods around Vaals and there were some really steep climbs and some very interesting down hills. I noticed how the wired discbrakes were losing power and I almost missed a few corners because I couldn’t break fast enough. Luckily I made it and continued my way into the German part of the ride. That is when my Garmin decided to go into energy save mode and navigation became almost impossible. I waited a little and was able to follow another rider but soon he left me behind and I couldn’t find the correct route. Eventually I decided to use Google Maps on my phone to continue to the finish over the main roads.
Nevertheless I loved the tour and it made me like riding gravel even more.