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The launch of a new cycling collection can be celebrated in many ways. But what better way to do it than by hosting a social ride? Not one in Amsterdam this time, a city that is already the centre of many universes, but a bit further away. Unknown territory. So, we decided to go east. The city of Zwolle could not have been more welcoming. Roderick, Klak Af! member, had invited us to host our party at his grand café Lübeck. After days of gusty wind, snow, hail and rain, the sun decided to show herself again on Sunday 24th. A weird meteorological phenomenon took over and made this day probably the warmest Sunday in late November ever. On the day we were going to present the new LSRF Fall Winter collection, we were able to ride in shorts and short sleeved jerseys with armwarmers, which, although being a weird fact, definitely added a bonus to this day. Gravel or road, about 100 cyclists found their way through the city, into the wide open and off to the woods.   But why did we call it the Bomba Tour? What’s up with that name? To explain the Bomba, you have to know a little story about a man called Eros Poli. Eros Poli is from Italy. And when he was a pro cyclist in the 90s, he was the type of guy, that, besides being dead fast on a bicycle, could squeeze lemons between his biceps and underarm. Not to mention his impressive length of 1.94m.. Not really your typical modern day skinny cyclist. When he succeeded in winning a big mountain stage in the 1994 Tour de France, after a long solo on the Mont Ventoux, he became instantly famous. Laurens and him met during an InGamba cycling holiday trip in Italy, long after Eros had retired. Laurens was still a pro cyclist back then and Eros was curious to know what Laurens was taking in the final hour of the big stages. Not really sure what to answer and maybe a bit overwhelmed by this question, Laurens responded: ‘’I don’t know, nothing special really. A bit of caffeine and maybe some painkiller, if needed.’’ Well, that was when Eros smiled and let him in on the big Bomba secret.  ‘’That is not enough. Let me tell you. What you should take, is this: for the grand finale, you need some strong stuff. So you take two egg yokes, right? You mix them up, you add two espressos, you add a shot of grappa and you mix in some sugar. Or a lot, if you like that. Shake well and bottoms up. That, my friend, is what we Italians call a Bomba.’’  Of course Laurens tried it himself, when he got back home. He did not dislike the taste of it, but the idea of having raw eggs in a warm bottle in his jersey was just too much. Not much later, the team at LSRF designed a hip flask and named it the Bomba, after Eros’ recipe. We filled it up with many things, but no egg yokes were included. The Bomba was our friend on camping and bike trips, all-nighters and 5 to 9 adventures. At one point, the Bomba Tour was created, which was basically yet another excuse for Lau and Stefan to go on a little cycling adventure and to check out the local moonshining business. That Bomba needed to be filled, right? Do check out the movie of that trip later - it’s linked here.  So, back to the story, halfway our LSRF Bomba Tour route, all the riders were asked to stop. In the woods, there was a little stand from Distillery Blauwvinger. They had joined the party to let everybody have a taste of their product and to fill up those hip flasks. Their coffee liquor was highly appreciated by the group. The ride continued after this little break and back in Café Lübeck, it was time to relax and watch the cyclocross World Cup of Antwerp on the screens. Everybody was free to check out and try on the new LSRF collection or get personal sizing help from Willem. Burgers and bites were provided by The Bastard, who had set up their cooking tent in front of the café. After a live Live Slow Ride Fast podcast, the day had ended in style. We had a lot of fun and we want to thank everybody who joined us.    The LSRF Bomba Tour is definitely here to stay, if it is up to us. We are already looking forward to discovering new routes and meeting new people. What city is next? What region is ready for more cycling? And most importantly; where can we fill up those Bomba’s? Local moonshiners of the Netherlands and Belgium, home distillers, legal or illegal brewers, let’s hear from you!

I now have five years of experience with Bodi (who has recently turned ten years old) doing bike-pack trips. I can safely say we did the best trip we’ve ever done this third week of October. I used my lessons from those earlier trips in order to make this trip one to remember.  I must admit I kinda burned out his older brother Jens on one of our first bike-pack trips five years ago. I plotted an ambitious route containing a fair amount of kilometers on the beach, and the only way we managed to reach home was the promise that he was allowed in the ferris wheel in the distance if he would make it. He did, but didn’t want to bike far anymore for months. The following year we went bike-packing, Jens agreed on joining me and his younger brother on a trip, but only because this was going to be a trip just five kilometers away from home. So we did. And we had fun. You really need a goal for a trip, but that goal doesn't have to be far away.  Lesson learned. Don't overdo it when they are young. For my kids it was about spending time together with dad on the bike, camping out and having fun. The distance wasn't important. At least not when they are young. Jens, who is now twelve and getting stronger, suggested to me the other week to do a trip “Tour Divide style”. I told him dad wasn’t ready for this yet and asked him to go easy on me, haha. Secretly, I am planning this one already :) That one year we did a bike-packing trip with the three of us, only five kilometer from home, I learned another lesson: a one-on-one trip is better. I too still remember like yesterday that one weekend a year I camped out with my dad without my siblings. One weekend a year, you’ll experience pure harmony. With two or more siblings fighting for attention (or just fighting each other for fun) it won’t work as smoothly as a one-on-one trip.  This year, it was the first time me and the youngest did a two-nights trip. Not only because I had the time to do it, it was also to balance out the week in late November, when I will be away with Jens in Tenerife where he has a baseball tournament. After a two-minute discussion, in which Bodi expressed the ambition to do a difficult mountainbike course, we decided to bike towards Texel, an island in the Dutch Waddenzee, where you'll have a mountainbike course like that. The set-up of our bikes was of course matched to our strength. Bodi just him, a water bottle, a snack-pack attached to his handlebar and his stuffed monkey. In my Tailfin bike bags, I carried the tent, mats and sleeping bags, as well as a very light backpack with spare clothes. The fact that we went to an island, made up for a ferry trip too. We biked the full 50 kilometers to the ferry on day one. It was the biggest distance we ever biked together and he told me he was so proud of himself, but he had a sore ass too. In anticipation of our night of camping in “the Dutch wild” I made sure the boat arrived in the twilight. After about 10 kilometers we found a quiet spot for our tent and I could prepare our traditional bike-pack dinner - dried pasta bolognese heated up with hot water from the Jetboil. The teamwork setting up the tent, preparing dinner and ‘beds’ was unmatched and after our dessert of a lot of chocolate, I read a long bedtime story before going to bed around 8.30 pm.  Day two was our 'mountainbike day'. So we biked to the course, did a nice lap, but I remembered the 'don't overdo it' rule and I googled not only a swimming pool, but also some seals to watch. On our way back, we even found an empty tennis court, where we could rent some rackets and a ball. Changing activities keeps the fun going and your kid will not be too focussed on the biking, which can be a little monotone. At the swimming pool we decided to book a hotel, because, as Bodi described, his tired bones needed some well deserved rest… Apparently, I had not slept very well because of my snoring. I personally looked forward to a nice dinner at a restaurant after the dried food we had the night before, but Bodi insisted on a simple snack dinner at that hotel room. So we did and after two days of biking, swimming and tennis, the amount of food he ate was impressive. Remember, they eat like wolves on those trips. At 08.30 pm, we were both ready to go to bed and we slept for 11 hours.  Day three was about getting home. We raced the 10 kilometers back to the ferry and we were proud of ourselves again for not missing it. And, with the sweat on my back, I doubted for a minute to bike the whole 50 kilometers back from there to home, but I looked at his face and decided we were going to take the train home. Don’t overdo it, Laurens. Do make sure there is an achievement to accomplish, but keep it fun. This way, they will probably want to go every year and the distance you will cover, will grow organically.