Since I returned to fitness after my accident in April, there are not many days where I haven’t been biking.
In June, I spent three weeks mountain biking in Tuscany, Italy. After the Tuscany trip I was at a photoshoot with a bike magazine in Bregenzerwald and Tirol, Austria, and a nice MTB & diving trip in Tessin, Switzerland. I made it on the cover of the Magazine Up Down, with a photo from Harm Spoelstra. In September I’m spending five weeks in Southwest France to explore more trails.

But most of the time I have been riding at home, where Bas Elhorst and I created our bike school, MTB Tours and Trails, www.mtbtousandtrails.com. We love to ride nearby Bludenz in Vorarlberg, which is exactly why we chose this place to be our base. Bludenz is perfectly situated in the middle of Vorarlberg, Austria. From Bludenz, we can drive to five different valleys that are full of great trails with uplift, to explore beautiful mountain landscapes and the Bikepark Brandnertal to improve airtime and downhill techniques.

CABRE PERDU

Now I am at Cabre Perdu, a little paradise in the south of France. I’m helping repair an old stone roof. About 20 years ago, my parents sold their house in the Netherlands and bought Cabre Perdu, a terrain with five ruins.

Cabre Perdu is a old Quercy farm which, as the name ‘Lost Goat’ indicates, is hidden in the midst of silence and nature, a magical place. www.cabreperdu.com This is work we completed over the past 15 years with stones and wood from our forest.