Saturday the 5th of September I wake up early and get ready for another adventure. The first sunrays have yet to penetrate the darkness. The nearly participants are preparing themselves - at 1.5 meters distance. Today it has to happen. Four dirty climbs, not a meter flat in between. No... I am not talking about the Marmotte Gran fondo about to start. About 1000 kilometers north I am getting ready for the TT Posbank of NL Tour Rides.

It is a unique concept as far as I know, for several reasons. First of all, it is a time trial accessible for anyone who wants to try it. Regardless of level or whether or not you own a time trial bike. The main event is even a TTT (Team Time Trail) of (friends) teams of 4 people. Before that, the individuals start their fight against the clock. Secondly, the course on and around the Posbank is closed off from other traffic over the entire length of 13 kilometers. So you don't have to take anything into account other than yourself and the person in front or behind you. The individuals are allowed to show their skills in this beautiful, purple heath-packed area. Two laps for individuals, the teams have do it 3 times.

When I turned into the parking lot at 07:00 am I thought - fanatically as I am - to be pretty early. I could pick up the starting documents from 7:15. However, there were already enough even more fanatical cyclists on the rollers to warm up. I'm not that professional. In addition, a bit of swimming is normally my warm-up for a bit of time trial (and running my cooling down for that matter). Anyway. I Prep the bike, eat some small food and head off to the visitors center on top of the Posbank. I parked at the foot deliberately, that way I could at least recon Posbank once already. I reckoned this would be a proper warm-up...

At 7:42:00 I am neatly shot away by the speaker and the course glows across the moor and through the woods. I can handle the straights nicely, but steering on the wet and narrower paths is still not my cup of tea. It is immediately clear to me why pros explore the course so well. Exactly halfway the lap, the first climb of the day starts, the Zijpenberg. Okay, it's not the Glandon. But if you're already suffering, it's 2600 tricky meters. Trying to keep pace and recover a bit in the descent and then on the Posbank. The first 400 meters my gear was way too heavy, I ended up with legs that were completely full... 

I wasn't Unsatisfied  exactly halfway through anyway. Okay ... I have been overtaken twice by people with a number which told me they had started 1:30 and 2:30 behind me. That hurt. But I had the course in my head for the second lap and still had some power in my legs. As I started my second lap, the last individual time trial riders were shot underway. Because of this, I had some more targets which secretly helps anyway. However, some of the targets got smaller quickly, but still.

Such a shame the weather was rainy. It's a pity that becauss of COVID-19 there was no award ceremony. It would have been nice to stick around and chat with others. Furthermore, it was really a fantastic event on a beautiful location and with a challenging course... I think I should challenge the entire CycloWorld.nl editorial team for next year to make a team (or two) and participate in the TTT!

In 2021 the TT Posbank will be part of the TT Series of NL Tour Rides, besides the Posbank you can also race against the clock in Rotterdam and Soesterberg. For all time trials see of course our calendar (and filter by time trial)!