[Leica] Nathan's PAD 28/4/2018: a brevet in central Jutland

[Nathan Wajsman]

A brevet is a type of long-distance cycling event, where the goal is not to finish first but to complete the route within the allotted time (including the intermediate controls). On Saturday, Lars and I had signed up for a 200 km brevet in central Jutland, with start and finish in the town of Herning. Earlier in the week, the weather forecasters promised dry weather that day, but on Friday they changed their mind and the forecast was now for rain in the afternoon. And so it proved. Eight images follow.

Herning is about 90 km from Aarhus (where Lars lives), so had to get an early start to be at the starting point for the 7 a.m. start:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-qZm7DMN/A

The participants receive last-minute instructions and encouragement from the organiser:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-d5PSTwg/A

There were four control points along the route, places where we had to get our route card (brevet) stamped to prove that we were there. The first of these control points was a bakery in the town of Brande, after 31 km:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-XTNG8mP/A

During the morning the cycling was easy and pleasant. The route was pretty flat, there was only a bit of wind, and the weather was dry:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-w8cCnXF/A

The third control was at 99 km in the town of Videbæk, which had some kind of street fair going on, so we had a bit of entertainment while eating the usual pastries from the bakery where we had our cards stamped (in this case, the choice of where to stamp the cards was ours to make, but a bakery was always our preferred option):
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-ZVQvfQC/A

As promised by the weather people, at about 1 p.m. the weather turned nasty. The wind picked up, the temperature fell, and it started raining. So when we stopped at the fourth control point in Ulfborg, after 135 km, the priority was to get something warm on board:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-pdBvXGt/A

There was another control at 159 km, but at that point I was so cold and wet that I was in no mood to take any more pictures. We had a coffee and a hot dog and continued the ride. After 205 km, we were exhausted but satisfied. We had completed the course with more than 2 hours so spare, and the medal was the first tangible reward:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-3k5zdkz/A

Further rewards came once we had driven home to Aarhus, put the bikes away and taken our showers:
https://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-QZHbqDt/A

This day was the centerpiece of my trip to Denmark—it combines cycling, friendship with Lars, being in my home town, and drinking good beer.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws <http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ <http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>
Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator <http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>
YNWA