Bombatour

BOMBA 2 - UNFINISHED BUSINESSIt was around nine o’clock in the evening (this whole journey was planned around evening curfews), when Stefan and I arrived at Camping De Swetteblom. The reservation of a camp spot was loosely confirmed only half an hour before. For 10 euros, we could sleep next to the Zwette, a name you might remember from the Elfstedentocht. It is the first waterway between the starting point in Leeuwarden and the first checkpoint in Sneek. This is normally where the racers are still skating in the early morning dark with their headlamps on. In our case, we used the headlights of the campervan to find our way.Of course we immediately hit the campground, although we remembered someone saying we shouldn’t, because of the blah blah blah… as you all know from our podcast series, listening isn’t our strongest game. We learned the hard way, because within minutes we got stuck in Frysian mud. This journey started with mud all over the place, just like the last one ended. We looked around us. A couple of trailers, a yurt, a circus wagon. Curtains that were opened just enough to see what all the fuss was about. Old cars overgrown by weed, roosters on the loose and suddenly from across an old farm, the reincarnation of writer Jan Wolkers approached us. Hij kept his distance and watched us patiently from underneath his big wild grey hairdo. ‘’Seems y’all be stuck here for a while’’, he said. His name was Jochem, the owner of the campground. ‘’You better put that roof up and go to bed. Tomorrow I will arrange a tractor.’’ No Latin in that advice, so we obeyed and started unpacking our sleeping bags. That night we slept at the track of the Elfstedentocht, because that is were it all started - two weeks ago. Team LSRF was unapproachable during the small ice age of the Covid winter of 2021. There were no responses to emails and the design of the summer collection (stay tuned) was delayed seriously. I mean: who thinks about baggy surf shorts and tank tops when temperatures stay below zero? There was ice on Dutch waters, skates were sharpened and the first ice skating tours were made. In the heat of this ice cold fever, we tried planning our second Bomba trip. Bomba 1 was shortened with a day, because of sudden Covid lockdown measures. But there was unfinished business. We needed to refill our Live Slow Ride Fast hip flasks with local moonshine. During the Bomba Tour we soften the throats, we met new people and we get to enjoy the beauty of Holland by riding our bikes. But there is one thing better than riding on gravel and that is skating on natural ice. We decided to call it Bomba 2 - Elfstedentocht and planned a route in Komoot over water. Ambitious? Ridiculous? Both. But when ice skating fever hits, there is no holding back at LSRF headquarters. Check out what we planned to skate here: komoot.com/collection/1095115/-bomba-on-ice-and-road-friesland-editionSadly, the ice age only lasted 5 days and was by all means not cold enough to justify a Bomba trip on ice skates. But we were certainly up for an adventure. Where to go? In stead of taking the bikes to the Veluwe, where there is little to non booze industry, we packed our bikes for a Beerenburg extravaganza in Friesland. Eleven cities, eleven types of Beerenburg. That was the plan, inspired by the Elfstedentocht. While planning, we got a mail from a listener of the podcast, suggesting a visit to the ‘Texas of Friesland’; the Friese Wouden. Texas? Sounds interesting, but there was one problem. None of the eleven cities are even close to these woods. Flexibility is key, when working at LSRF, so before we knew it, we went from eleven to four cities, but, including a large off-road detour to the Frysian woods. That Bomba needed to be filled. At eleven o’clock we left for a 180 kilometer trip. The pulling out of the campervan took 6 hours of our scheduled time of departure. Precious time, that was needed to complete the whole tour before the curfew would set in again at nine. Reasonable doubt made us stop after only 10 k, in the town of Boazum. A real friendly dude had been waiting for us from 7.00 am with ‘Oranjekoek’, a traditional Frysian pastry, and counterfeit whiskey. Our breakfast turned into lunch, and telling by the effect of the whiskey, right so. With our bellies full, we headed to the mother of all Beerenburg in Friesland. Weduwe Joustra (Widow Joustra) is the subject of many discussions on birthday parties in Friesland. Sonnema or Joustra, which one of the two brands makes the best Beerenburg? We have no clue, but we know this: a Bomba trip without a visit to the Joustra liquor store, that hasn’t changed since it started in 1864, would not have been complete. If you want to know more about this famous Frysian drink, the people in Sneek will love to explain its history. After 25 k we left the eleven cities route to take a turn to the woods. A follower on Instagram pointed out that no ferry would leave before the 1st of April. So we rerouted (again) and added a few extra kilometers, why not. But before we could even hit the go button, somebody offered to take his boat out to help us get across the river. In Sneek, Taeke Opperwal had joined us. He ran into us during our tasting session at Weduwe Joustra and it took him 10 minutes to get himself ready. We were pleased to see that our route along the Sneekermeer even had gravelicious surprises for him, who was born and raised here. The private ferry took us to the amazing Friese Wouden and Veenwouden, a part of Friesland we had never seen before. Woods, heathlands and small lingering streams. Halfway, we were stopped by someone who had parked his car next to the bike path. And although his private label limoncello called Limoonshine was not Frysian at all, it tasted great nevertheless. After saying goodbye to Taeke, it got dark and we ran into Frank. Frank is one of the best friends of Pieter Weening, the Frysian cycling hero. Everywhere we came, people mentioned ‘their’ Pieter. Frank would join us all the way to Dokkum, the most northern point of this Bomba trip and the 3rd city on our route (or 2nd, after numerous tastings we lost count)In Dokkum we were treated as kings. In the local ‘brewpub’ they had filled the whole counter with hamburgers, spare ribs and nachos. The brewer told us the story about how he started this pub, in memory of his dad in law. He insisted we tasted all his specialties. The curfew made us do this even a little bit faster than assumed healthy and fairly lightheaded we rode back to Leeuwarden. Along the Dokkumer Ee and the Bonkevaart, the last waterway stretches of the Elfstedentocht, we ended this Bomba trip in honor of this famous Dutch ice skating tour. At least, we like to believe so.Read on about LA BOMBA I at liveslowridefast.com/stories/2020/12/23/la-bomba-tour