Day 1: Coffee, Chaos & Köln

Den Bosch → Cologne | ~166 km
What a way to start an adventure. Saturday morning in Den Bosch, families and colleagues lining the street — and yes, Jeroen pulling up in the Emixa Mini for maximum send-off energy 👏. A proper farewell, complete with fresh coffee from the Emixa Den Bosch office. You can’t ask for a better start, thanks Annet for arranging.
Three colleagues joined us for the opening stretch: Aida, Feike, and Rienk — making us a cheerful peloton of five as we rolled out into the morning. For about an hour, everything was perfect.
Then, somewhere around Beek en Donk, Adem’s bike decided it was done. Not a flat, not a puncture — just done. Fortunately the cycling gods were watching: right around the corner appeared Fietsvakman van den Berg, a local bike shop that helped us out completely free of charge. It wasn’t a simple fix, looking at the picture, but they made it happen. That kind of generosity deserves to be shouted from every rooftop between here and Istanbul. 🙌
Back on the road, the five of us found a solid rhythm. Feike and Rienk waved goodbye at the 60 km mark — thanks guys, the company meant a lot. And Aida? She was supposed to head back to Amsterdam. Instead she kept going… but eventually rolled into Utrecht after 195 km. Apparently the spirit of adventure is contagious. We suspect she’s on a terrace somewhere, not remotely sorry. 😄
With the crew gone, it was just the two of us — and the road opened up beautifully. Rolling German countryside, great weather, and a pace that felt almost too good to be true. We pushed further than either of us had dared to plan, and somehow found ourselves rolling into Cologne as the sun dipped low.
A bowl of Vietnamese pho later, we were horizontal. Day 1: done. Istanbul: still a very long way away. But today proved we can do this. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️
And before we sign off — thank you all so much for your donations. We’re at €5.860, which is absolutely incredible. Every euro is a reason to keep pedalling. 🙏

❤️ Donate to the Oncode Institute: https://tinyurl.com/PJ-Adem-on-trip

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