I’ve visited and lived in more than forty countries in my life. From Australia to Nicaragua and from India to New Zealand. But I still have one dream: Kyrgyzstan. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll go there on a gravel bike. With PlugPlug travel.
Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria, Belgium, Wales, Sweden, United Kingdom, Scotland, Germany, Spain and of course The Netherlands. Twelve countries. My trail running shoes have taken me places. I said it before and I’ll say it again; trail running is the perfect way of sightseeing. But … but… I found another option as well; gravel biking.
Ultra runner on a gravel bike
See, I’m a trail and ultra runner, but there are only so many ultras I can do in a year. So the amount of kilometres I can cover, the amount of sights I can see, is limited by my trail running shoes. That’s where my gravel bike comes in. When my running legs need a break, I just grab my cycling legs and I’m off again. Playing outside. In nature. Being that kid, that doesn’t want to go home.
RELATED: Every trail runner needs 4 pairs of legs
I discovered the gravel bike last year, when I struggled with a torn hamstring. I couldn’t run, but I could bike. As you know, I’m not a roadrunner. Too boring. So I’m not a road biker. Too boring as well. That’s why I bought a gravel bike. I have to admit, I didn’t expect it to be as fun as it is.
Don’t worry, I’m still a runner. That’s my first passion. Yoga is my second, but the gravel bike for sure opened new doors for me. I can make more kilometres, see more sights, and go on more adventures.
Where to start?
The only question is, where to start? Even here around me, I sometimes wonder where to ride. I know all the single tracks, all the gravel roads, all the small paths I can run on. But would I be able to bike on them? Some aren’t meant to be biked on. Some are sand. If I already have problems finding the best gravel paths here, how will I ever find them abroad? Sure, I can find a lot of information about cycling in Italy or Spain. But in Mongolia or Kyrgyzstan; the countries that are still on my bucket list, I wouldn’t know where to start.
Luckily, my dream is shared by PlugPlug Gravel. A Belgium company that offers gravel rides in groups and solo. Whenever I’m in need of some inspiration, I check their website to find a route I can ride. Here in the Netherlands, or just past the border in Belgium.
PlugPlug Travel
But now, now PlugPlug is starting something new. Something that just might bring my dream and their dream together. See, PlugPlug Gravel from now onwards has a little brother: PlugPlug Travel. A joint venture between PlugPlug Gravel and travel agency Zuiderhuis. You can safely call it exotic travel. I mean Vietnam, Nepal. South-Africa, Argentina and Kyrgyzstan, to name a few, aren’t directly next to the door. Well, at least not mine.
What I always like to do is what PlugPlug is going to do with these journeys: staying off the beaten track. “Tourists go from one attraction to another. By bike your rhythm changes. You’ll see places other tourists will never see”, says PlugPlug owner Heidi De Koninck. “You’re travelling slowly. You’re meeting the locals. See how people really live.”
Biking in Colombia
Niek is the man behind the trails. He acknowledges the difficulties to find the right paths abroad: “The Netherlands and Belgium have endless roads. The challenge is to choose the right ones. Abroad it’s a different story. There are fewer roads for starters. To know which ones are suitable to bike on, you have to be there and see it with your own eyes. Luckily that’s my work.”
His favourite country to bike so far is Colombia. “I was surprised by how many people are cycling there. I never expected that. Nature is amazing. Because of the altitude, it constantly changes. And the birds … everywhere you go you hear them chirping.”
Rwanda
Simon De Schutter has another favourite: Rwanda. Also, not a country I would directly link with biking. Although I do know the World Championships road cycling will be held there later this year. “Rwanda is crazy about cycling”, De Schutter says. “They have their own tour. The Tour du Rwanda. Every year, a million people are watching that race.”
That’s road biking, but Rwanda is a paradise for gravel bikers and mountain bikers, according to De Schutter. The Belgian bike fanatic already organises the Rwandan Epic, a mountain bike event. Now he’s setting up the gravel journeys for PlugPlug Travel. “Rwanda is as big as Belgium, but when you cycle through it, every day offers new views and new trails. From cobblestones to gravel and from small hills to mountains as high as the ones in the Pyrenees.”
Wine and mountain biking in South Africa
For Ben Elst and Paul Dielen South Africa is the best country to bike. Dielen got to know the country when he started to import wine. Seven years ago, he stepped on a mountain bike. Elst went once to South Africa and kept coming back: “In no time you bike from the mountains to the sea. It’s incredible how the landscape and the trails change over relatively small distances. The food, the wine, the hospitality; it’s the perfect place to bike. Plus; when it’s winter in Belgium, it’s summer in South Africa. What more can you want?”
Kyrgyzstan
Well, to be honest, Kyrgyzstan or Mongolia. Two countries I know so little of that they fascinate me. Luckily, PlugPlug is going there as well. So maybe one day, my dream will come true and I’ll bike from yurt to yurt across endless gravel plains. The only thing I have to do now, is getting a little better at biking.
