Amstel Gold Race Tour Version

ajkerr73

I have a place on the 200km version of this.

Does anyone know where I can see a route and profile?

Any recommendations on the best way of getting there from Scotland and where to stay?

JoostG

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19736446#p19736446]Ajkerr73[/url] wrote:

I have a place on the 200km version of this.

Does anyone know where I can see a route and profile?

Any recommendations on the best way of getting there from Scotland and where to stay?

All the way from Scotland, by car, plane? I guess most straight forward would be flying to Amsterdam/Schiphol and than the train to Maastricht (approx 2 hours and 15 minutes). Valkenburg is an extra 12km.

If you come by car, the ferry Newcastle-IJmuiden is an option. From IJmuiden it will be a 3 hour drive to Maastricht/Valkenburg.

The tour starts in Valkenburg: a smaller and very touristic village. There are plenty of hotels etc, but they will fill up rapidly as the pro's are riding on Sunday and most Dutch competitors see the province of Limburg as 'abroad', and will have a night over as well. Other option would be staying in Maastricht: beautiful city center, much bigger than Valkenburg (but less cycling orientated), very good restaurants and nice atmosphere.

Third option: one of the many smaller villages close to Valkenburg. All have hotels.

The info of the 200km version can be found here: http://www.amstel.nl/evenementen/amstelgoldrace/toer/informatie/routes/200km
In general can be said that the first 80km will be more or less flat. The other 120km will be up and down (some easing ones, and some steeper ones (especially the Eijserbosweg and Keutenberg can hurt).

Keep in mind that you will be 1 out of 15.000. Where the different routes emerge, it can be crowed with a lot of lesser trained 'colleagues'.

Let me know if you have more questions.

ajkerr73

Fantastic Joost

Thanks for the info.

Definitely flying, just wanted to check which airport was most suitable. Cheapest direct flight will be into Amsterdam, but I might be able to get something not too much dearer into Liege (a couple of mates have flights booked for L-B-L the week after this).

May hire a car at Schipol and drive down.

Sounds like Valkenburg is the place to stay.

durhamwasp

Consider flights to the German side of the border too, for example Cologne, as its not that far and you can easily take a train from there.

Ferry wise, Hull-Rotterdam was a lot cheaper than Newc-Ams, especially as you can buy a single bed in a shared cabin. It was cheaper onboard too, we drove 2hrs from Newcastle due it working out so much cheaper.

Valkenburg is a fantastic little town, but theres several nice towns nearby too.

We went there last June and did the signposted routes ourselves and couldn't rate it any more, class! Theres some info and photos here https://snookcycling.wordpress.com/amstel-gold/

itboffin

this

Keep in mind that you will be 1 out of 15.000. Where the different routes emerge, it can be crowed with a lot of lesser trained 'colleagues'.

the very poor riding drove me insane and that was in sub zone wet conditions, i'd hate to think what it would be like if its warm.

ajkerr73

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19738525#p19738525]itboffin[/url] wrote:

this

Keep in mind that you will be 1 out of 15.000. Where the different routes emerge, it can be crowed with a lot of lesser trained 'colleagues'.

the very poor riding drove me insane and that was in sub zone wet conditions, i'd hate to think what it would be like if its warm.

Same rules with all Sportives I guess. You're never going to get a 15,000 person club run going!!

Latest plan is to fly into Brussells and drive over. An hour closer than Schipol and cheaper flights.

ridgerider

If you can fly Ryan Air to Maastricht you will be right on the doorstep of the event.

ridgerider

No hire car required in nl either!

ddraver

Other flight options (will need a car) are Eindhoven (RyanAir) and Liege

Note that Eindhoven is miles from anywhere though and has zero transport links. It is a classicly awful Ryanair destination...

durhamwasp

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19739720#p19739720]ddraver[/url] wrote:

Other flight options (will need a car) are Eindhoven (RyanAir) and Liege

Note that Eindhoven is miles from anywhere though and has zero transport links. It is a classicly awful Ryanair destination...

Eindhoven is a good option if hiring a car on arrival though, pretty easy/shortish transfer to Valkenburg.

ajkerr73

All booked up. Cheers for the various advice

Flying into Amsterdam and hiring a car.

Hotel in Maastricht

peppern123

Anyone else ridden this before? First time this year and wondered what other people's experience was, is it particularly tough in terms of the climbs?

Thanks

JoostG

peppern123 wrote:

Anyone else ridden this before? First time this year and wondered what other people's experience was, is it particularly tough in terms of the climbs?

Thanks

Plenty of time I've been in the South of Limburg. What you can is expect is a lot of short climbs (in most cases you will be up in 6 minutes) and in some cases steep (up to 21%, Keutenberg, Kruisberg en Eyserbosweg). In case of the Keutenberg you should start with the right gear: immediately steep, and a sort of bottleneck. You will be there with 15.000 other cyclists and quit a lot in poor shape and without any skills, so take care. The night before (in Valkenburg) and after the sportive there's a great atmosphere. So stick around and have fun.

peppern123

JoostG wrote:

peppern123 wrote:

Anyone else ridden this before? First time this year and wondered what other people's experience was, is it particularly tough in terms of the climbs?

Thanks

Plenty of time I've been in the South of Limburg. What you can is expect is a lot of short climbs (in most cases you will be up in 6 minutes) and in some cases steep (up to 21%, Keutenberg, Kruisberg en Eyserbosweg). In case of the Keutenberg you should start with the right gear: immediately steep, and a sort of bottleneck. You will be there with 15.000 other cyclists and quit a lot in poor shape and without any skills, so take care. The night before (in Valkenburg) and after the sportive there's a great atmosphere. So stick around and have fun.

Thanks for the response, looking forward to it !!

durhamwasp

Keutenberg is a killer!

peppern123

So I will be heading off on Friday to do this, any other words of wisdom?
Weather looks like light rain at the moment but hoping that changes.