Amstel Gold Race Tour Version

[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.

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/

No hire car required in nl either!

[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.

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 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 !!

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.