Efficiënt kachelen 🐺⛓️‍💥

I've been trying to think of a way to connect the two parts this ride's story consists of, but I can't hack it. So I'm just going to write two parts. To hell with structure, haha.

PART 1
This day was going to be the second day of test-riding for RatN. The goal was to mostly work on being more efficient in my breaks and eating. If I substract the time I needed to repair my chain (1h15m) from my total inactive time, I'm left with ±55 minutes, while having cycled for 11 hours and 15 minutes. So, job well done!! Gives me confidence for the challenge ahead.
I also on purpose brought some extra stuff, to simulate the extra weight I would be riding with during RatN. The weight could probably be devided a little better if I try, but overall I think I can conclude I will be fine with carrying everything in the front. And that this is definitely my bike of choice for RatN 🌞✨️

LESSONS/IDEAS for RatN;
✨️ Trying out what it feels like to attach some of the weight to my fork, instead of just throwing everything in the crate.
✨️ Put on an extra jacket before starting to fix mechanical issues, not after ☃️
✨️ Bring a smaller chainring to install for getting through the climbs in Limburg
✨️ Find stretching exercises/routines for shoulders and hips, to do after big rides or full days of work.
✨️ Ask (sever)a(l) mechanic(s) what parts/tools I should always bring on any long trip.
✨️ Pat myself on the shoulder because I'm doing GREAT.

PART 2
One big thing I've always struggled with, is leaving my house by the time I said I would. This applies to every type of meeting/appointment, and I'm currently learning this appearantly also applies to solo cycling.
Today - actually almost per schedule - I left an hour late. What was I doing in that time? Watching the Legend of Korra (Avatar the Last Airbender's sequel). Not a bad reason, I'd say 🌞.

There wasn't much special going on during the first 110kms of the ride. I was actually feeling good, didn't struggle much with the wind, and found it very easy to keep going. Until suddenly my chain snapped. I was just cycling up a dyke, but not pushing hard in any way, nor was it a steep 'ascent'. In the three years that I've been cycling, I've never had any real mechanical problems. Just two flat tires and one break issue that was an easy fix. So here it was, my first real (cute!) mechanical problem.

I have to admit I've always been a little scared of something 'really' breaking, while being alone and not knowing how to repair it. And that's exactly what happened; I was alone, my bike wasn't rideable anymore and I was practically clueless. I immediately sent a text in two groupchats asking if there was anyone I could call to help walk me through it, and opened YouTube straight after to get myself started. Turns out there's plenty of YouTube videos on how to clean/replace/quick-link your chain, but none (easy to find) on how to re-link a chain you still want to use. I watched a few videos, distilled the information I could use, and removed another link from my chain. Then Jelte called me to help me out. Exactly at the right time, because I had missed an important detail while removing a link, and was on the verge of giving up. Now I could fix it, continue my trip and had learned a new trick. Thanks Jelte!!!

I continued with the same easy flow, mostly singing along to some newly rediscovered songs. After 2 more hours I started to realise I still had to cycle at least 3 hours in the dark, and my mood started to shift. I had once sworn I would never do Drenthe in the dark again, because it's just too dark and spooky - even in the little townships - for me to stay calm and feel safe when I'm by myself. But I also wanted to arrive at my mom's place as soon as I could, as she was waiting up for me. So I thought: "How bad can it really be? Cycling 60kms is easy, it's just 3 hours, they will pass by automatically if I just keep pedalling." Maybe things would get difficult, but that would also mean I could learn something from it. So into the darkness I went, sticking to my original route, because that would be the shortest and probably fastest.

I won't lie, I've been absolutely terrified for a big part of those 3 hours. My (new) lamp works great in cities and urban areas, but the light is too bright and not wide enough to properly see in really dark areas. The contrast between what surface was lit up and what surface isn't, is too big to properly see your surroundings. So, I could only see a very small part of the road the whole time, also after readjusting the lamp's angle.

The first sketchy part was a field where there was possibly cows on the road. Now gladly there weren't any, but having to be wary of something you can't see coming... not great. I felt like by the time I could see them, I would have already cycled into them. I somehow thought that after getting through this field, I would have done the worst part. So I proceeded with caution, 'survived' the 3 long kms with a slow pace, and let out a loud sigh of relief after.

Unfortunately I soon discovered the roads in between the field and the following townships were poorly lit as well, and that I had two forest-y parts to go I had forgotten about. I still wanted to be at my mom's fast, so I decided to suck it up and keep going. I'd feel uncomfortable, but I asked myself: "What's the worst that could happen?” I thought it too cold for creepy dudes to be roaming about outside, so my answer was: "Run into a wolf, but that's never going to happen, Wendy. You'll be fine. Just keep pedalling."

In the forest, the path I was on had a sand road parallel to it, that would sometimes cross the paved road I was cycling on. Occasionally this was near corners. Since I could still only see a small portion of the road, sometimes it was not visible when the road would make a turn. I would look at my Garmin to check the road for turns, only to suddenly almost crash head-on into a tree. (Because, turn.) Reflexive braking caused me to slip three times in the sand. Twice I managed to stay up, and once I fell off my bike. Fortunately, this was a soft landing that didn’t result in any physical damage.

After I calmly checked the ground for any stuff that could have fallen out of my bike - which I had to convince myself to do in a calmly fashion - I heard something rustling through the leaves behind me. I got on my bike as fast as I possibly could, starting to move while I didn't even know where the road was yet. Thank god I found the road straight away, because the wave of panic that followed this moment couldn't have been combined with also still having to locate the road. Got my breathing under control pretty quickly and continued by counting down the amount of distance I had left to go until the next turn. The next turn that would lead me out of the trees.

After this part there was only one small part with trees left, and with that being one that I had cycled through many times already, I promised myself I would be fine. About ⅓ in I saw something move. A creature that was first moving towards me and of which I then saw its tail disappear into the bushes.

There it was. The wolf I was never ever going to run into. Now the wolf very clearly wasn't bothered by or interested in my presence, but I of course went through a full wave of panic again. Partly trying to convince myself it was a dog and that I had yet to encounter an invisible owner (but how creepy would that have been?) partly telling myself how ridiculously stupid my plan to keep going had been. After a minute or so, I suddenly completely calmed down. As if my mind had realised it couldn't get any worse than this, or as if I had just run out of panic. After this it was just 10kms left of roads with street lanterns, which I followed home to be warmly greeted by my mom, my childhood cat and a pizza.

The day after, I've mostly been frustrated with myself for pushing myself to do something I really wasn't comfortable with. Even if I hadn't run into the things I did, I still really wasn't comfortable with continuing the route this way. I need to learn to accept that it's okay to sometimes be afraid and struggle with things. But that paradoxically, of course, also means that it's okay to struggle with knowing when it's the right time to push myself and when it isn't.

Now, lastly, to come back to what I started this day with; this morning's episode of Korra brought some noteworthy wisdom (Iroh!!!), that I decided to take with me on my trip, as to see what it would mean to me at the end of my day. The quotes are as follows:

"If you look for the light, you can often find it. But if you look for the dark that is all you will ever see."
[...]
"Many things that seem threatening in the dark become welcoming when we shine light on them."

Well, as you've read, this day was eventful enough and had plenty of (cycling through) darkness to reflect on. Which I will do in my own spare time 🌞✨️