9 crazy skaters and 2 cyclists skate the ’11 City Tour’ in Holland (207 km)

The ‘Winterbike 11 City Tour on Skates (207 km)’

Leeuwarden, January 19, 2025

With a group of skaters driving the winter 11 city tour! Tension in advance: we choose the right material (right wheels, right bearings, not too much, not too short clothing … is it slippery? …). We skate an optimized route for skaters, slightly different from the “official” route of ‘Friesland Moves for Cyclists’ who also participated with 900 people this day.

Everyone got up early in the morning to be at the 11 City Hall in Leeuwarden at 5:30 am. Some still have a cup of coffee in the car, some a breakfast package in the hotel. When everyone was there we picked up the starting ticket and the stamp card. On to the starting point. The orchestra played us. Then hilarity everywhere. The bell was lost and the door did not open … Eventually we found the bell and still opened the door and we could leave for Sneek. It turned out not to be slippery … except on the bridges. At the first Jan Bart went down as Bambi and Gerard went on his knees over that bridge.

The temperature was not too bad in the morning, even though it was below zero. We had the wind against the first part and we noticed that well at the pace. Fortunately we had the wind after Stavoren, although it went hard on the many cobblestones. Much more than during the Summer-11-Stedentocht from Bantega for skating people. Now we really had to enter the center of all cities over the legendary cobblestones. Nice to see all those cities. Hindeloopen with the beautiful harbor, houses and the (extremely slippery) bridge. Along the way it became colder in the course of the morning. The hoped sun really couldn’t get through. The landscape became beautifully winter: Ice crystals continued to grow everywhere all day long.

At Workum we had a good lunch at Frans in the house (thanks to Frans, who also had an extra refresh post for us at Franeker, delicious!) After Franeker, Stients, the last city to Dokkum, or ‘the hell of the north ‘. Not hot and full of sulfur fires but cold and above all: Earth dark. Nowhere was a light to be seen, no house you came by. A small piece brought hope: the famous (but now slippery) bridge of Bartlehiem (of course in the after movie). A bizar sensation and especially mentally heavy for many. In Dokkum we were able to stamp in (cut) and consume a piece of sausage. After that it was about 25 km.

In Leeuwarden the red carpet was out: a fantastic super smooth red cycle path on which it was good to drive back to the 11 city hall. We arrive at 8:30 PM. Here it was just as well with kale with balls and a drink. Then we said goodbye and everyone went home.

It was a powerful experience for everyone, which perhaps comes closest to a ‘real’ Eleven Cities Tour. The fact that I had to drop out after a small 100 skating gauge did not detract from that experience. I already suspected that after a two -week period I would struggle with my health and the abdominal cramps on the way, I would not make it to the end.

Thanks to our group, the organization … and special: Frans Wiersema. He managed to bring 9 crazy skaters and 2 crazy pre -cyclists together again!

Duration Movie: 12:08 minutes

Music: different appropriate songs

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