The members of student’s mountainbike and cycling association Dutch Mountains in Maastricht are in for sports and a sociable time. Cycling and mountainbiking is possible on any level, from starter who never rode on a racing- or mountainbike before to experienced competitive riders with a license. Besides sports, there is also more than enough time to be sociable. We have monthly activities, three member’s weekend a year and more than enough fun in between.
Members’ Weekend in Malmedy
Dutch Mountains spent last weekend in Malmedy, Belgium, cycling up and down the hilly Ardennes. It was the first members’ weekend of the new academic year, allowing old and new members to get to know each other on and off the bike.
On Friday afternoon, members headed south from Maastricht on their bikes against a strong headwind. Most managed to get to the hostel in Chôdes before nightfall, with a few arriving slightly later. A delicious Nasi Goreng was served at dinner, after which new members were asked to introduce themselves. While some cyclists went to bed early to recharge for Saturday, a fair number stayed in the main hall, playing card games and telling tall tales past midnight.
Saturday started off a little cloudy, prompting members to wear warm clothing on their rides. All in all, there were five groups; the MTB group, and the 60 km, 100 km 140 km, and 200 km road-cycling groups. While the distances varied, all groups encountered steep climbs and had to push themselves to reach the hilltops. After conquering each summit, they were rewarded with breathtaking views of the Ardennes. After a tasty pasta dinner that evening, most members went bowling in Malmedy, whilst a few others stayed at the hostel and played board games. One of these games took considerably more time to explain than to actually play. Similarly to the night before, some people stayed up late and sang songs together.
On Sunday, while some members were still in bed, a small group walked down the hill from Chôdes to Malmedy after breakfast and had coffee in the morning sun. After all members had eaten breakfast, everybody packed their belongings and helped clean up. The weather (25 °C and sunny with a small tailwind) was perfect for the trip back to Maastricht, allowing people to reach new speed averages on Strava.
Owing to the fantastic weather and with no reported accidents, this members’ weekend was a definite success and a lot of fun!
New years diner at Haselderhof
Dutch Mountains went to Valkenburg on a snowy Thursday. Why could you ask? Well we had a diner at the restaurant of one of our sponsors: Haselderhof. Everyone was dressed fancily and excitement was all around. Also some hungry bellies, but that would be taken care of as soon as we entered the restaurant. The food was great, the atmosphere too. There was a lot of laughter, interesting conversations, delicious meals and even a speach from Thijs to top it all of. It is save to say that we all enjoyed the evening and some of us also the night, because they kept on going until the small morning hours, when the sun rose almost. The evening was a complete succes, we cannot wait until the next time this many members are present to celibrate an event. Hope to see you all soon!
Thanks to all our sponsors for a great 2018 and hopefully an even better 2019!
Weekend in Moelingen
Last weekend (16th untill 18th of November) our members had a weekend packed with fun and games. After the very succesful weekend to Malmedy we didn’t bring our racing bikes to cycle this time. Instead we enjoyed snacks, drinks, games and of course the magnificent company that all members provided. Even some Classics, who live miles and miles away, decided to join this weekend. We left Maastricht on Friday evening and cycled on our city bikes to the infamous Koestal. Arrived, we played some games and had a lot of fun. Everyone could have had a good night’s rest on Saturday morning. So everyone completely refreshed the activity in the afternoon was really enjoyable. The dropping was planned later that day. A dropping was something that we had wanted to do for ages and we finally could do one. The only downside was the cold outside. So everyone put on a lot of winter clothes and quite warm gloves to prepare themselves for the approximately 2 hours walk. We split up into two groups, one was dropped on top of ‘de Plank’ and the other one near Dalhem. One group was a bit better prepared than the other and managed to get a ride back to the Koestal, a shame to play it this way, but better than walking for hours in the cold probably. The others managed to complete their way back in a reasonably good time. After the exhausting night some more games were played and more drinks were drank. The toughest part of the weekend was the Sunday morning activity: Cleaning the whole place. But with good teamwork we managed to do just that in a good fashion and left back for Maastricht, because another week of studying was waiting. We hope that all of you enjoyed the weekend and see you hopefully soon!