Hi, my name is Jeroen and I live in the center of Haarlem (near Amsterdam).
Father of two beautiful girls (11 and 9 years old) and for almost twenty years together with the love of my life.
For a moment I thought, why didn’t I start this 30 years ago? But that quickly gave way to the possibility that I will hopefully be able to ride my bike in good health for the next 30 years.
Inspired by a friend of mine who had switched from a mountainbike to a gravelbike, and encouraged by my wife to get outside and enjoy cycling in the middle of the corona pandemic, a few weeks before my 40th birthday I gifted myself a gravelbike. Hopefully she’s still happy about that. 😉
As I never really understood cycling, I hesitated for a while. On Sunday mornings I always saw a group of men cycling, often wearing matching outfits, and some just a few kilos overweight. The fun completely eluded me. But fair is fair. I needed to get on my new bike.
As soon as I started cycling, I was immediately hooked. As a brand spanking new MAMIL 😉 I quickly came across beautiful places close to my house that I had never been in all the years I’ve lived here. Cycling has so many sides for me that are really awesome; for example, the athletic and competitive elements. The satisfied feeling after a ride of 100 km or more is incredible. But also the relaxed rides with friends or just going for a ride alone is fantastic. In addition, cycling for me is very mindful, almost therapeutic. You are completely zen, in the moment. Just you and the bike. Being outside and in the middle of nature with no one around you. Seeing the sunrise in the morning in combination with the morning dew on the fields is truly magical. I have learned to appreciate nature more because of it. It really is beautiful and we have to take good care of it! Recently I also got a roadbike. Very different in comparison to a gravelbike, but I found that I like that too!
I am still a rookie in the cycling world and almost everything is new to me. But I am sure I want to ride for years to come and there is still so much to discover. I have also noticed that there are a lot of people who share the love of cycling with me, but everyone has their own unique story of why they ride. I am very curious about all those stories. I have hopes that this can become a platform to share stories and build a community of cycling fanatics. And that you can invite each other for a ride from which new friendships are born.
Additionally, I would like to use this platform to encourage folks to use cycling as medicine and to make it more accessible to people who have a little more difficulty making the first step towards getting on a bike. In my experience, nothing is more healing than being active in nature. Therefore, my plan is to eventually start a foundation with the aim to motivate and enthuse those with mental health struggles or who find it harder to keep up in today’s society to go cycling. Introducing the sport to the youth and getting them outdoors, away from cell phones and tablets, and moving early for health and fun is also on my list of possibilities for the foundation for the future.
But first things first. In the coming time, I would like to cycle with well-known and lesser-known cycling fanatics and get answers and hear the stories behind Why we ride.
