Day 11- Monday, April 10
Another Koppenberg Day.
This time I brought the map. My story today has a twist. My home team’s Director Sportif
(we call him Pooch) made a small side wager that Eddy O and I could not get up
the Koppenberg without walking. The pressure was on…
The ride was about 18 miles
from the hotel and the wind from Saturday was reversed. A headwind all the way out, I began to think
Pooch had something to do with that (?).
Down a long straight road a small sign pointed right,
the Koppenberg.
The adrenalin began to flow as it got closer. A good natured townsman had a sign painted on
the side of his building “Welkom Op de Koppenberg”. A left at the fork in the road and up I
went. My first though was “these cobbles are horrible!”. The road began to bite as the % approached
20! These cobbles were still
horrible! Near the end of the 20% a BMW
came at me with pretty good speed. He
did stop but with no side space to go through, “Click”, foot down!?! I began an immediate investigation to see if
Pooch had sent that BMW to intersect at the EXACT (!) worst time. I walked 10 meters and remounted on the less
steep section (still 8 to 10%). Over the
top I started my tailwind return to the hotel.
Eddy O was right, the Koppenberg is tougher than the Muur.