2000KM in 6 Days! - Race Around the Netherlands 2022

The Race Around the Netherlands is a 2000km bicycle race around the coasts and borders of The Netherlands.
Race around the Netherlands is a fully self-supported bike packing race. The RatN is a do-it-yourself challenge. You are your own ride organizer. Understand that this is a personal challenge against the clock. Not against others!
The Route:
The start and finish is in the village of Amerongen, located at the Utrechtse Heuvelrug at the famous cycling cafe De Proloog. The route takes you first along the rivers Neder-Rijn and the Waal to the historic cities of Nijmegen and Arnhem (known from the film “A Bridge Too Far” about the Operation Market Garden). Next you leave the beautiful river landscape and the historic cities behind and the route takes you through the National Park Veluwezoom. The National Park is known for its endless heath fields, imposing country estates and of course one of the most famous hills in the Netherlands, the Posbank.
You will pass through the heart of Enschede and along the Dolmens in the province of Drenthe, prehistoric burial chambers where the cycle route passes by. After which the route leads you through the city of Groningen.
The wind starts to get stronger along the coastline. Instead of crossing the Ijsselmeer overone of the icons of the Dutch flood defense, the Afsluitdijk, riders will ride around the Ijsselmeer and will pass scenic harbors in the towns of Enkhuizen and Hoorn.
den Header the route takes you south along the Dutch coast. Beautiful beaches and dunes with little to no buildings, towards the port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe. First you will cycle through the city of Rotterdam and across the Erasmus bridge towards the Maasvlakte.
The route takes you further south over the Delta Park Neeltje Jans, which is part of the Dutch flood defense, in the direction of Vlissingen. A historic city due to its strategic location. In the Eighty Years’ War between the Netherlands and Spain, the city was in Spanish hands for a while.
You cycle along the Belgian border towards the hills in the province of Limburg. Where you hit one of the iconic Dutch hills, the Keutenberg with a maximum gradient of 22%.
If you have conquered the hills you cycle back through the beautiful river landscape of the Maas towards Nijmegen. Via the southern side of the rivers over the dikes you will finish at the cafe De Proloog.
Race Around the Netherlands will be returning again in 2024 so if you want to join the race look out for further updates in the second half of 2023. Keep on training!
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[@thedoginside]

Wow, that looked absolutely brilliant. How good is the Netherlands for cycling,, top county.

[@BikepackingAdventures]

Yeah it's unreal you would lose the 'Grumpy' from your name if you lived there.. or maybe not! I love everything about the place, it's a model for how the rest of the world could be.

[@ce17ec]

Congrats for completing the tour trough my country! Nice video and good music too.

[@BikepackingAdventures]

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it. A place to return to again and again =)

[@ImranShaikh-gh2wd]

great memories - motivation to train for ratngx

[@BikepackingAdventures]

Good luck with your training, had I had the foresight I could have entered! I do find it a strange concept riding off-road in the Netherlands because the cycleways are perfection!

[@l139x3]

Great effort and fun video ! If you don’t mind me asking Richard, for such a long ride, what is your avg HR bpm, and do you manage it or just go by the feels? Thanks and cheers!

[@BikepackingAdventures]

Feels. I haven't worn a HRM for best part of the year now after the last one broke. I ride much of my rides with little in the way of technology, I use to always ride with HRM and a Cadence sensor but it's easy to get lost in the numbers. And to be honest - the kind of riding I do - endurance - the necessity doesn't always seems to obvious.

[@l139x3]

@@BikepackingAdventures Thanks for your reply . I do shorter audax rides (no 600 yet), and for me keeping a rather low hr means much better rest afterwards. That’s why my curiosity. Also I’m not sure yet whether it’s better to aim for a no-sleep 600 or plan a proper sleep of couple of hours.

[@BikepackingAdventures]

@@l139x3 I've not ridden a 600 without sleep yet - I always try and sleep - 3-5 hours at least.

[@JoeriVanGinneken]

How do you fuel during RaTN? Do you have gels/bars or stop regularly at supermarkets/cafe/... . I'm starting my first ultra in the 2023 RaTN GX

[@BikepackingAdventures]

Real food, don't remember any cafe stops although I could be wrong. Stuck mainly to the supermarkets as better range of food /cheaper. Ah yes the GX version - I can't imagine you will be going anyway remote! The remotest place I found was in the far NE along the coastal strip.

[@JoeriVanGinneken]

Thanks ! Your view on the RaTN inspired me to do it myself ! Keep up with the great videos!

[@richardgate1571]

I’ve been curious to do this race, but wondering if the route is interesting or boring! It’s certainly different, but I usually enjoy the rides for the scenery. How did you find it?

[@BikepackingAdventures]

Hi Richard, clearly it's very flat so no way up high scenic views apart from in the SE sector near Vaals, some climbs around that, but that's like the very final day or thereabouts. There was a little boredom along the top mostly due to the rain at the time and the sheer number of gates controlling where sheep go which maybe lasted about 3-4 hours one morning. In the main I found a very beautiful country, clearly 99% of the time your riding on cycle tracks, but not always beside the road, there were also sections through parks and spaces. Even a sand pit going into the first control which was definitely hike a bike. Mostly I found it fascinating how diverse the landscape was across the Netherlands, especially the dunes, they were exceptional as was the coastline. Bikes everywhere of course.

[@petersteinmeijer519]

It's even faster in an Aston Martin.

[@BikepackingAdventures]

Maybe, but many places we visited a car cannot go. Plus exploring an entire country is best enjoyed on two wheels, you miss so much having to drive safely.

[@petersteinmeijer519]

@@BikepackingAdventures You're missing my point; you can't do any sightseeing when you're racing around.

[@BikepackingAdventures]

@@petersteinmeijer519it really depends on whether you are on the pointy end of the race, but I take your point. If I was touring I'd certainly be able to take my time, nevertheless I saw plenty and have many great memories! If nothing else, it makes me want to revisit.

[@collectioneur]

Didn't you even feel like you belonged here, because you look quite Dutch to me...

[@BikepackingAdventures]

With the quality of the fietspad I wish I did live over there!