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Cycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer Care
  • Peter-Jan Simons
  • Peter-Jan Simons

Cycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer Care

It started with a question. Adem asked: “Shall we bike to Istanbul?” Peter-Jan said yes without thinking too hard about it. And here we are, with a connected cause
Donations https://tinyurl.com/PJ-Adem-on-trip Læs mere
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  • Start på rejsen
    9. maj 2026
    Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons
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    12112

    Day 1: Coffee, Chaos & Köln

    9. maj, Holland ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    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

    🗺️ Follow the journey live: https://tinyurl.com/Follow-Emixa    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons
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    Day 2: Height Metres, and a Lot of Kilom

    10. maj, Tyskland ⋅ 🌩️ 16 °C

    Day 2: Height Metres, and a Lot of Kilometres
    Cologne → Sulzbach | 180 km
    Day 2 kicked off under a beautiful Cologne sky, cruising alongside the Rhine. Smooth roads, great weather, good vibes — we decided to take it easy and not push the pace. A perfect start.
    Then reality kicked in. We stopped at a bakery to grab a bite and charge the bikes. No luck — nothing worked. We tried multiple times, gave up, and rolled on.
    Eventually we stumbled upon Big Boy Pizza in an industrial area. Plenty of plugs, plenty of pizza — what more could you want? Except, again, some of our extension cables refused to cooperate. At one point we were genuinely considering taking a knife to the wire, cutting it open and taping it back together. Thankfully, before we did anything we’d regret, we tried one more plug — and it worked. The wire lives. We live. 😅
    Our nicest stop of the day was a pizzeria that was actually closed, but let us charge anyway and sent us off with ice cream. Unexpected, generous, and exactly what tired legs needed. 🍦
    The Indian restaurant in Limburg also let us charge up, though they made it fairly clear they found the whole situation… puzzling. Friendly was not exactly the word of the day there, but we’re grateful either way.
    The final stretch into Sulzbach was the reward — winding through beautiful medieval towns with sweeping views. The kind of scenery that makes you forget you’ve already done 150 km.
    180 km in the legs. Time to sleep. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 3: From Sulzbach to Kitzingen — Wet,

    11. maj, Tyskland ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Sulzbach → Kitzingen | via Marktheidenfeld & Würzburg
    The hotel in Sulzbach set the bar high. Our bikes spent the night in a conference room, and at some point we may or may not have cycled through the corridors. No regrets. We felt like kids and we’d do it again. 😄
    A quick note on how we ended up there: we’d booked what looked like a normal hotel, only to arrive and find the lift was too small for the bikes. The staff improvised magnificently — bikes in the conference room, charging included. Lesson learned: always ask about bike storage before you book. And always check the lift dimensions.

    Before the ride report, a massive shoutout is in order. Marritta made a deal: for every kilometre she ran in the Wings for Life race in Breda, she’d donate €7.50 to our trip. She then went out and ran 10.81 km — a personal best. That’s €80,-, and she’d already transferred it before we even got back on the bikes. Extraordinary. 🙏
    And Marritta — getting passed by the Catcher Car driven by Robbert Doornbos and Churandy Martina is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. That’s basically a podium finish. Good luck with the muscle ache.
    You can still donate too — the link is here: https://tinyurl.com/PJ-Adem-on-trip

    Back to the road. We rolled out of the hotel feeling great, right up until we didn’t.
    The Frankfurt weather forecast said: fine. The Frankfurt sky said: hold my beer. We got absolutely drenched — proper biblical rain — and of course our rain jackets were buried somewhere at the bottom of the bags. This is becoming a theme.
    Here’s a confession: when preparing this trip back in the Netherlands, the weather was gorgeous. Sunny, warm, the kind of days that make you feel invincible. So naturally, waterproof gear didn’t top the packing list. Rookie mistake. PJ’s particular oversight: no Gore-Tex shoes. Wet feet, cold feet, complaining feet. Fortunately Adem spotted a running shop exactly 110 metres away. PJ walked in and walked out with a brand new pair of Gore-Tex trail shoes. Feet: saved. 👟

    A few dispatches from the road that deserve their own mention:
    Finding a place to charge the bikes remains a daily puzzle. Even when you’re happy to sit down and order food, a surprising number of places say no. The hospitality gap between words and reality is real.
    German drivers are, in general, impressive. Highways, roundabouts, merging at speed — all handled with surgical precision. Cyclists and pedestrians going straight on, however, appear to fall outside the scope of the programme. We were manoeuvred onto a 100 km/h road today. Not ideal. 🚗💨🚴
    The cycle paths deserve a special mention too. Beautifully paved one moment, then — without any warning — they either switch to the other side of the road or simply cease to exist. Navigation becomes an act of faith.

    Once properly kitted out in rain gear, we settled into it. Adem made a thorough detour through Lidl, stocking up on an aggressively healthy selection of gluten-free supplies.
    The climb toward Marktheidenfeld was long and beautiful in equal measure. At the top: a small miracle. The local church let us charge the bikes, warm up, and look around. Cosy, quiet, exactly what we needed. ⛪
    Then a push to Würzburg — a genuinely lovely city — for dinner and the daily flag photo. Final stop: Kitzingen, another charming town to rest our legs.
    Another day done. Still wet, but still smiling. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 4: Kitzingen to Pasberg, Cold Finger

    12. maj, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    Kitzingen → Pasberg | via Veitsbronn

    A relaxed start for once. We slept in, took our time, felt almost human again. Then we checked the temperature. Five degrees. Five.
    Gloves were not packed. Gloves were needed. A quick trip to the local shop saved the day, they still had winter gear in the basement, bless them. New gloves, warm base layers, and a coffee later, we were ready to face Germany in early spring. 🧤

    The ride was cold but genuinely beautiful. First proper stop: a Turkish restaurant in Veitsbronn, and this is where the day got special. Adem’s Turkish came out in full force, the staff loved hearing about the trip, and before we knew it they’d offered us the entire meal on the house. Salad, fries, doner… the works. Incredible hospitality. 🙏
    We may also have a lead on Vienna: Sahin’s brother runs a restaurant there, and apparently it’s worth a visit. We’ll be holding him to that.

    Less good news on the medical front. Adem’s knee has been giving him trouble, and the brace we picked up yesterday isn’t doing enough. We’re currently weighing our options:
    • More painkillers
    • A sixt brace
    • Amputation
    If anyone has actual useful advice, we are genuinely open to it. There are at least 2,100 km still to go. 🦵

    The rest of the day settled into a rhythm — charging stops, calls, snacks, kilometres. We’re getting the routine down now.
    Then came the finale. With about 16 km left, we realised we hadn’t booked a hotel. A quick search: everything full, except one room, at a place we had to reach by 20:00. The time: 19:15. The route: uphill, through woods.
    Required average speed: 22 km/h. Uphill. Through a forest. On e-bikes that had been going all day.
    We made it. Of course we made it. 🚴‍♂️💨
    We arrived at Hotel Toscane, slightly breathless, very relieved. The lovely lady at reception then calmly mentioned she’d actually planned to stay until 21:00 anyway.
    We would have had plenty of time.
    😅    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 5: Work, Rest, and …

    13. maj, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Day 5: Rest, Laundry, and the Great Bike Naming Debate

    Pasberg | Rest Day
    After four days and somewhere north of 600 km, the legs got a day off. With Adem’s knee still grumbling, a rest day wasn’t just nice, it was necessary. The area around Pasberg isn’t exactly a tourist hotspot, but for two people who needed to disappear into their laptops, it was perfect.

    First: the medical update. Yesterday’s knee appeal generated an impressive response. Herrald shared local addresses, Annemiek called directly, Peter offered taping advice, and Karin Braune consulted both her son and husband before passing on their combined expertise. Then Karin went one step further and set up a live online bike fitting session with her husband Dirk — and we learned a lot. We are genuinely moved by the mobilisation of this much orthopaedic and bike-fitting knowledge on our behalf. Tomorrow will be the test. 🦵🤞

    The rest of the day was, in the most honest terms, a full working day. The weeks before departure were hectic, and the backlog didn’t pedal itself away while we were gone. Apologies to all colleagues — we’re catching up, and we’ll get there.
    For Jeroen our IT guy: yes, we are using a VPN. You can sleep soundly. 🔒
    We also squeezed in a quick call with the team helping us with social media and trip logistics — Lauren, Marla and Jeroen, thank you. You’re doing more for this trip than we can properly explain from a hotel room in Bavaria.

    In between calls: laundry. We’ve invested in washing bags, which work remarkably well. The room was converted into a full drying operation — every chair, door handle and surface pressed into service. Adem showed particular creativity in this department. We won’t elaborate further, but the man has a gift. 🧺
    Tomorrow we ride in clean kit. Small victories.

    Now, to the important business. The bikes need names.
    At PJ’s house, all vehicles have names — Nelly, Theo, Troopy, Betsy. The bikes clearly deserve the same treatment. Two candidates are on the table:
    PJ has been considering Reese — a nod to the brand (Riese & Müller). The drawback: “PJ is riding Reese” is a sentence that could be misread in several directions. Still under review.
    Adem is leaning toward Consta, short for Constantinople — the historical name for Istanbul, and their destination. Poetic. But he’s not fully committed either.
    Suggestions welcome. These bikes have carried us through rain, hills, medieval towns and at least one 100 km/h road — they’ve earned a proper name. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

    On the fundraising front: our Emixa colleagues have already logged 158 hours of sport on Strava. That’s €790 for the cause, just from people sweating on their own time. Keep it up — every hour counts.
    And donations are still coming in, but we’re not at our goal yet. Please share the link and consider donating. As we write this, people dear to us are fighting this disease. That’s why we’re doing this. 🙏

    The day closed with a gourmet dinner at the Golden Arches. Fries. Vegan salad. No regrets.
    Back to work, and looking forward to the road tomorrow. 🍟    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 6: Knees, Ferries, and a Man in…

    14. maj, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Parsberg → Passau | via Regensburg

    An early start with a mission: get to Regensburg and find Nick, son of Karin and physiotherapist extraordinaire, who’d agreed to take a proper look at Adem’s knee. We were optimistic. The knee was less so.

    Thirty-six kilometres in, almost there, and then: the Donau. The ferry doesn’t run until 13:00, it was 10:00, and every navigation app on every device agreed there was absolutely no alternative. Nick, however, knew better: the train bridge. Turns out local knowledge beats four satellites and an algorithm. Crisis averted, dignity intact.
    The check-up was thorough, professional, and ultimately a massive relief. Diagnosis: nothing structurally wrong, just a touch of overuse. On a bike trip from the Netherlands to Istanbul. How that could possibly have happened remains a complete mystery. 😀 Some massage, taping and a brace adjustment later, Adem was cleared to continue. Thanks Nick, you were brilliant, and we are choosing not to think too hard about what the alternative would have looked like. 🙏

    From Parsberg it was downhill, and from here the route hugs the Danube, flat, scenic, and a glorious change from what Bavaria has been doing to our legs. We celebrated with coffee and apple cake in Regensburg and promptly stumbled into a mini Oktoberfest for Father’s Day. Lederhosen, beer, brass bands at 11am. Perfectly normal Sunday. We also stopped at a small church to light candles for the people we love, the ones we miss, and those going through difficult times. A quiet moment that the day very much needed. 🕯️

    With that thought, your donations are at an al time high😁: €6.980 but we are not there yet, let us see what this will bring, if you haven’t it is still possible https://tinyurl.com/PJ-Adem-on-trip

    Then, five days into the trip, a genuine breakthrough: we figured out how to add e-bike charging points to our navigation. The method is baroque in its complexity and cannot be explained in any reasonable number of words, but it works, and we felt like we’d cracked a code. First reward: a charging stop at a railway station. Adem was so thrilled that he immediately dropped an AirPod into a large gap in the floor. We found a panel. He opened it. He climbed in. He retrieved the AirPod. The man is nothing if not committed. 🎧

    The station also provided excellent free entertainment in the form of several Lederhosen-clad gentlemen who had taken Father’s Day very seriously indeed. Much stumbling. Much bravado. Zero regrets on their part.

    After that final charge it was a relaxed stretch into Passau, with a generous helping of Donau mosquitoes along the way, apparently thrilled to meet us. Passau itself is beautiful, three rivers converging in one city, and a Turkish dinner around the corner closed the day perfectly.
    Tomorrow: early coffee in Passau, back along the Danube, and hopefully our first kilometres on Austrian soil. The weather has been informed that it is expected to behave. Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 7: The Donau, Dinkel Bread, and…

    15. maj, Østrig ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Day 7: The Donau, Dinkel Bread, and Two Men Who Cannot Stop

    Passau → Grein | 157 km along the Donau

    The day started productively, a good desk, solid wifi, genuine work getting done. Before we knew it, it was 09:00 and the bikes had been waiting long enough.

    First stop: a quick tour of Passau, or “Passed Out” as our UK colleague Mark insists on calling it. The city was absolutely heaving with tourists following guides holding little flags, which made navigating the market an adventure of its own. Worth it, though, because at that market PJ found something close to a miracle: coffee bread made from spelt, Dinkel in German. For anyone with a wheat gluten intolerance, this is the kind of discovery that deserves its own moment of silence. PJ bought three. No regrets. Energy secured. ☕🍞

    Then we hit the bike path along the Donau, and honestly, what a day.
    After 42 km we found our first public e-bike charging point, which rewarded us with two hours of laptop time at a convenient spot with good wifi and decent tea. At this point in the trip we have learned to measure happiness in plugs per kilometre.

    The Donau path was beautiful and, contrary to all expectations, almost entirely empty. No peloton of retirees, no traffic, just river and trees and the occasional castle on a hill. Exactly what you want. Peaceful, scenic, the perfect day for taking it easy and doing a sensible 120 km.

    Reader, we did not do 120 km.
    Here is the thing about travelling with someone equally stubborn and competitive as yourself: every thirty minutes, one of you asks how much battery the other has left. Or how many kilometres they can still make. Nowadays neither of us gives a straight answer, because we both know what it means. It means the other one is trying to figure out if they can push further. It means neither of us is going to suggest stopping first. It means 120 km becomes 157 km, and you roll into a hotel in Grein in the rain, in the dark, at 21:30, having once again outwitted absolutely nobody except yourselves. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

    We regret nothing. We are also very tired.

    On a genuinely wonderful note: donations have passed the €7,000 mark. That is extraordinary, and every single one of you who contributed or shared the link is part of this trip in the best possible way. If you haven’t donated yet, or know someone who might want to, the link is in our profile. Every euro funds research that genuinely matters, because as we write this people are fighting this disease right now.

    Tomorrow we ride to Vienna, in the rain, already looking forward to it. Sleep well. 🌧️    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 8: For Teri

    16. maj, Østrig ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    A Week on the Road. Vienna Tonight.

    We are a third of the way to Istanbul. It is Eurovision night in Vienna, the city is buzzing, and we are sitting with something that is hard to put into words.

    This week we lost a colleague. Teri Skolnik passed away on 13 May. For those who knew her at Emixa: you know. Always warm, always bright, always the kind of person who made the office feel like a better place. PJ could barely keep up with her on skis. The idea that she is no longer here is simply incomprehensible. That this disease took her is devastating.

    Her family has asked that, instead of flowers, people donate to our campaign in her memory. That gesture means everything to us. We did not expect this trip to carry this kind of weight. But it does now, and we are grateful for it.
    We started cycling to raise money for breast cancer research at the Oncode Institute, research into better treatment timing so that existing medicines work smarter and reach more people. We knew it mattered. This week made it matter in a way that is very close to home.

    Teri, we will carry you with us on every kilometre still ahead. 🌸

    If this resonates with you, please consider donating or sharing the link. Not just for the research, but for Teri, and for everyone still fighting this right now.

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

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 9: Vienna to Győr, via Bratislava

    17. maj, Ungarn ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Day 9: Vienna to Győr, via Bratislava, Giovanni, and a Restaurant like a Sauna → Győr | Country count: 3

    Vienna delivered right until the end. The Arte Hotel let us bike through the lobby, park in the lobby, and charge in the lobby. At this point in the trip a hotel that understands bikes is worth its weight in gold. The Croatian restaurant next door was authentically Croatian and entirely empty, because the whole of Vienna had gone to Eurovision. We checked Ticketswap. No luck. We watched our bikes charge instead. Almost the same atmosphere.

    Morning came, and before hitting the road PJ made one critical adjustment: pumping his tyres up to the same pressure as Adem’s. The hypothesis was that softer tyres meant more battery drain. After 157 km, both bikes landed on exactly 17% battery remaining. Hypothesis confirmed, mystery solved, PJ vindicated. Adem was silent for the rest of the day. Science. 🔬

    First stop: Bratislava. Country number three, a castle photo, and lunch at a restaurant that was perfectly pleasant until the sun came out and turned it into a greenhouse. Adem sat there in full thermal winter underwear with 3 extra layers. PJ was in a polo shirt and shorts. Two men, same temperature outside, entirely different internal thermostats. We did not resolve this. We never will. 🧊🔥

    On the road we kept spotting a man on a regular city bike, heavy bags on the back, enormous rucksack on his shoulders, just absolutely grinding along. We saw him before lunch. He passed us during lunch. We caught him again after. We stopped for a chat. His name was Giovanni, he had started in Pompeii, and he was heading to Budapest. Look at the picture. You will understand why we were impressed. Some people make our trip look like a leisurely weekend. 🤝

    Then: Hungary. The border was marked by a man named Robbie, who was friendly, thought we were completely mad, laughed with us about it, took our flag photo, and pointed us in the right direction. Robbie was great. More Robbies, please.

    What followed were some of the finest cycle paths of the entire trip. Smooth, wide, occasionally doubled up, one on the dyke and one at the bottom, running in parallel for no apparent reason other than generosity. Somewhere, a European infrastructure budget made a decision, and we were the direct beneficiaries. We have never felt more grateful for EU taxpayer money. All €620 million of it, apparently. 🇪🇺

    We rolled into Győr quickly and in good spirits, which is exactly what great infrastructure does. Two nights planned here, with a rest day in between.
    The legs have earned it. So have the bikes. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Dat 10: the Great Bosch Injustice

    18. maj, Ungarn ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Day 10: Software Updates, Hotel Shuffles, and the Great Bosch Injustice Győr | Rest Day

    The plan was simple: two nights in the Nest, a full working day, legs up, backlog demolished. Then PJ came back from his morning run with news. One night only, we had to move. By 09:00 the plan had changed completely.
    Fortunately, Adem's booking operation runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and within minutes a new hotel had been located, negotiated down on price, and confirmed. We relocated between meetings without breaking stride. Genuinely impressive work. 🏨

    The rest of the day was heads down: client calls, Emixa actions, backlog items that have been patiently waiting since Den Bosch. Good progress all round.

    And then Bosch dropped a software update.
    Twenty percent performance improvement for the e-bikes. Promising easier climbing, better range, exactly what two men about to tackle the hills of Serbia desperately need. Fantastic news. PJ's bike received the update immediately. Adem's did not.

    You can imagine the atmosphere. 😶

    To be clear, the update does not actually appear to be working yet on PJ's bike either. This is irrelevant. The principle stands. Adem is in full despair. Bosch has received an email. The bike manufacturer has received an email. Dinner conversation covered little else. We are now praying the update arrives before Serbia, because those hills are reportedly steep, long, and entirely merciless, and nobody wants to find out what they feel like on standard firmware while the person next to you has a theoretical 20% advantage. 📧⛰️

    In between the drama, Győr revealed itself to be a genuinely lovely city. Comfortable, pretty, the kind of old city centre that makes you slow down and look around. We are sad to leave, but the road calls.

    On the fundraising front: so many of you have donated that we have decided to raise the target. The research deserves it, and your generosity has made it possible. If you haven't donated yet, or want to share the link, please do. Every contribution helps, and the responses from friends and clients this week have been truly heartwarming. Thank you. 🙏
    Early start tomorrow, heading into the middle of nowhere, Hungary. Győr, it was a pleasure. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

    https://tinyurl.com/PJ-Adem-on-trip    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 11: A Hidden Bakery, and …

    19. maj, Ungarn ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Day 11: Hungary, a Hidden Bakery, and the Wrong House

    Győr → Middle of Nowhere, Hungary | 184 km

    Back on the bikes, and Hungary had big plans for us. Over 170 km of open countryside, no major cities, no Budapest. We are skipping the capital entirely, which is fine, and also gives PJ a perfectly valid excuse to go back with Penny for a weekend at some point. Crisis turned into opportunity.

    We left Győr after 10:00, with calls scheduled at times that can only be described as optimistic given what lay ahead. Today also delivered a small mathematical reality check: 47% of the route done in 44% of the days. Not even halfway. The road to Istanbul is long and it is starting to feel every single kilometre of it. We looked at each other. We will push on. 💪

    Finding charging spots in the Hungarian countryside is something between a sport and a prayer, but the town of Mór came through in spectacular fashion. A bakery, run by a wonderful woman called Andy, with proper barista coffee, fresh pastry, actual plug sockets, and a little side room to work in. In a small village in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Adem located a chair, opened his laptop, and achieved a state of complete contentment. The picture says everything. Places like this are why you do a trip like this. ☕🥐

    Bosch update, because we know this storyline has kept you on the edge of your seat. Riese and Müller responded: the update is coming, please be patient. Adem accepted this, largely because PJ cannot use it either, which is the next best thing to actually having it. Then the Dutch bike dealer delivered the final verdict: Dutch regulations have decided it will not come to the Netherlands. No update. For anyone. The hills of Serbia and Turkey will be conquered on standard software, powered entirely by legs, stubbornness, and the occasional pastry. Honestly, probably how it was always going to go. ⚙️🤷

    At our second charging stop we also started hunting for a place to sleep, which led us to a spot a little further down the road, which led to 184 km for the day. We arrived just before dark, feeling pleased with ourselves, right up until the entrance situation.
    The address: a normal house on a normal street. No sign. No reception. No obvious door. We went into the garden and looked through the window. A man was doing push-ups on the floor. We agreed this was not our room and decided not to knock. A woman then appeared from the house and calmly explained that the accommodation was next door, which shares the same address because Hungary. Inside, locating the key and then the apartment involved a sequence of steps that would not have looked out of place in a detective film. We solved it. We are in. The door is locked. Nobody is doing push-ups. 🔐

    And now the part that makes 184 km feel completely worth it. Donations have passed €10,603. That number is extraordinary and every single person behind it deserves to know it matters deeply. Thank you. 🙏

    Tomorrow: Serbia. Our next country, and on Thursday we hope to meet some some colleagues joining us for lunch. Something to genuinely look forward to.
    Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 12: Crossing into Serbia

    20. maj, Serbien ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Day 12: Crossing into Serbia, a Dog, and the Cheese Thief

    Kiskörös → Novi Sad | 166 km

    First, the numbers: 54% of the trip done. Which means roughly the same distance once more and we are in Istanbul. Easy. 💪

    Also: Serbia. Bulgaria. Turkey. We looked at the map this morning. Those are very large countries. We looked at each other. We push on.

    The border was 50 km away and the plan was to cross early. We crossed at 14:00. This is fine, this is who we are, and we have made peace with it. What mattered is that we crossed, and that is a genuine milestone worth celebrating. 🎉

    Then: internet. The border police pointed us to a nearby petrol station. Simple enough, except everything at the station was in Serbian. The leaflets, the signs, the two people running it. No internet meant no Google Translate, which meant no way to get internet, which is exactly the kind of situation that makes you stare blankly into the middle distance. We solved it eventually by borrowing the station’s own wifi long enough to sort ourselves out. Catch-22, defeated. Connectivity restored. The world made sense again. 📶

    Another 110 km ahead, and somewhere along the way the Bacardi Bar in Feketic appeared as a charging stop. Great place, good energy, and one very enthusiastic rescue dog who took an immediate shine to Adem. The pictures are wonderful. The dog was sweet, friendly, and absolutely wolfed down all the cheese we had packed for our sandwiches. We then learned he was apparently aggressive towards other dogs, which made our exit feel both timely and justified. Goodbye, beautiful cheese thief. 🐕🧀

    Somewhere in the middle of all this, Adem’s rear light gave up for the second time. The rougher roads of the past few days had finally taken their toll. A roadside repair job sorted it, because at this point we fix things on the move and barely break stride.

    We rolled into Novi Sad right on time, 166 km done, and found a fantastic wok restaurant in the centre to end the day properly. Great ride. Great day. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 13: What is wrong with #13

    21. maj, Serbien ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Day 13: What is wrong with #13
    Novi Sad → Somewhere South of Belgrade | The Less Said About the Km, the Better

    The day started with promise. Calls done, bikes ready, destination: Belgrade and a proper reunion with Marko and Aleksandar from our Serbian team.

    Just outside Novi Sad we met Klaus. Same bike setup as ours, heavy bags, heading south. We asked where he was going. He said China. He is 78 years old. We nodded, said something polite, and then spent the next few kilometres quietly reconsidering whether we have any right to feel tired at all. Look at that picture. Remarkable does not cover it. 🙏

    They had done everything right. Table reserved with a direct view of the bikes, charging cables already laid out, food ordered, atmosphere excellent. This is how Marko and Aleksandar run their projects and apparently also their lunch reservations. It had been 15 months since PJ was last in Belgrade, and being back felt good. Great food, even better company, and just the right amount of local knowledge to help us refine the route south. We looked at the map together, made some adjustments, and headed out feeling confident.

    The confidence lasted approximately ten minutes. Our navigation had taken the local knowledge, processed it carefully, and decided that what we really needed was to bike through an open field. Not a path through a field. The field itself. Grass, bumps, and absolutely no indication that this would end any time soon. Adem spent the entire stretch convinced his rear light was about to fall off again, which given its recent history was entirely reasonable. We checked the map. More grassland ahead, at least another hour of it. We looked at each other. We turned around.

    What followed was a series of increasingly creative attempts to find a way back to the actual road. If you ever look at our GPS track from this afternoon it reads less like a cycling route and more like a diagram of two people losing their minds in a field. Eventually we found our way south, slightly rattled, significantly delayed. 🗺️

    Behind on kilometres and out of energy, we started looking for somewhere to stay. Option one: a lovely house with a Danube view at a good price. Booked immediately. Then came the message: water damage, cannot receive guests. Of course.
    Option two: found, booked, and then something about the whole situation felt off enough that we decided to keep looking. Sometimes you just know.

    Option three: perfect on paper. We biked the route, arrived at the address, knocked on the door. Wrong house. A man named Zorn answered, took one look at us, called the actual rental on our behalf, had a good laugh about the whole thing, gave us the flattest possible route back, and sent us off down his street shouting Max Verstappen after us.
    We cannot explain this. We chose to accept it as a blessing.
    Finally, Igor was waiting at the correct address with the correct door and a very welcome lack of drama. Bikes parked, food eaten, bed reached. 🛏️

    Some days you cover the kilometres. Some days the kilometres cover you. Tomorrow we make up for it.
    Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 14: Hills and a Cup of Mint Tea

    22. maj, Serbien ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Day 14: Hills, Strangers, and a Cup of Mint Tea for Teri

    Belgrade surroundings → Aleksinac | 175 km

    New day, new chances. But also the day we said goodbye to Teri, from a long way away.
    Consta, Reese, or Atlas, whatever we are calling the bikes this week, slept well in the garage below the apartment, fully charged and ready. So did we, which after day 13 felt like a minor miracle. We needed it.

    Serbia delivered something unexpected today: beauty. Proper rolling hills, wide views, the kind of scenery that reminds you why you do something like this on a bike rather than in a car. It felt like the Ardennes, but quieter, and with better coffee surprises waiting around the corners.
    In one small village we stopped at a café where a group of older men were doing what older men in small Serbian villages apparently do on a Thursday morning: sitting on the porch, drinking coffee, putting the world right. No English, no Dutch, no common language whatsoever.

    What followed was twenty minutes of hand gestures, Google Translate held up to faces, and a conversation that somehow covered football, coffee, and careers. One had been a football coach. One had been a professor. The third remains a mystery, and honestly that feels right. The professor insisted on paying for our coffees and would not hear otherwise. Extraordinary hospitality from people we will probably never see again and will not forget. ☕

    While we were riding the hills of Serbia, back in the Netherlands the farewell ceremony for Teri was taking place. We were sad to be so far away. We kept pedalling, because that is what this trip is for, and because Teri would have understood that better than most. Tonight we made mint tea, a small and quiet way to feel a little less far away. Our thoughts are with her family, her friends, and every colleague who will feel her absence in the weeks and months ahead. 🌿

    One hundred and seventy five kilometres later we pulled into a hotel in Aleksinac that looked familiar, because it was: we had seen it in another Istanbul cyclist's Instagram post. The host Ourosh remembered that cyclist too. That is when you know you are in the right place. Some hotels are just coordinates. This one felt like a waypoint on a longer story. 🏨

    Donations are still coming in and every single one matters. The link is in our profile.
    842 km left on the route. 69% done. Bulgaria potentially tomorrow.
    Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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  • Peter-Jan SimonsCycling into the Future - For Smarter Cancer CarePeter-Jan Simons

    Day 15: Dogs, Data Theft, and..

    23. maj, Serbien ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Day 15: Dogs, Data Theft, and the Peak of the Whole Trip

    Aleksinac → Sofia, Bulgaria | The Big One

    Today was always going to be serious. Sofia ahead, almost no places to stay before it, and some genuinely heavy hills in between. Alarm set for 06:15. No negotiation.

    First stop: Niš, 30 km in, for Adem's first coffee of the day. This is not optional. Adem without morning coffee is a different and considerably less functional person, and we had a mountain to climb. We charged the bikes while we were at it. Every percentage point counts today. ☕⚡

    Somewhere along the Serbian roads we also confronted a new and recurring feature of Balkan cycling: dogs. Not friendly curious dogs. Large, fast, committed dogs who have decided that two cyclists are either a threat or the most exciting thing to happen on their road in weeks. Spraying water helps, sometimes. On the descent into one particular valley, three enormous dogs launched themselves at us from the bottom of a hill. We already thought we were reasonable climbers. Turns out the right motivation makes you significantly faster. Personal bests were set. No further comment. 🐕🐕🐕

    Adem has also requested that the following story be included in the blog, and he is absolutely right to do so.

    When we crossed into Serbia, we each bought a local data SIM to avoid the kind of phone bill that ends friendships. Earlier in the trip, Adem had generously shared his mobile hotspot with PJ in parts of Germany where the signal was unreliable. A kind gesture, warmly received.
    In Serbia, PJ quietly burned through Adem's entire data bundle in a single day. When this came to light, PJ confidently maintained he had been using his own data the whole time. They checked. PJ had 5GB remaining on his own SIM, untouched, still in his pocket. The silence that followed said everything. 📱😬

    The Bulgarian border had a long queue. For cars. For two cyclists on e-bikes with a story about Istanbul, the border guards waved us straight through with something approaching enthusiasm. We will take it.

    Just inside Bulgaria, Adem spotted a Turkish truck stop and we pulled in out of the rain to charge. The place was, to put it diplomatically, not winning any cleanliness awards. It was grimy in the way that only a truck stop on a rainy Bulgarian hillside can be grimy. But it was shelter, it had sockets, and outside it was absolutely pouring. You take what you get. We ordered soup and bread, looked carefully at the rest of the menu, and decided that soup and bread was plenty. Some decisions make themselves. 🍞

    One particularly talkative gentleman then proceeded to share, in considerable detail and entirely in Turkish: a period of imprisonment, a departure from Turkey under pressing circumstances, and several other chapters of a life that had clearly been eventful. PJ understood none of it, found a corner that looked cleaner than the others, and fell asleep. Adem, trapped by politeness and the Turkish language, listened to every word for an hour and a half. Eventually he woke PJ up and said, simply: we go. 😅

    Then the climb. Almost 900 metres of altitude, the highest point of the entire trip. It was hard, it was long, and when we reached the top it felt like something worth celebrating, because it was. From there, Sofia was downhill all the way. Exactly how a day like this should end. 🏔️🎉

    We closed the evening with a wok dinner and ice cream in Sofia. Both deserved.

    Tomorrow: a rest day. Work, recovery, and a little exploration of Sofia. If you have any questions for us, drop them in the comments. We are very happy to answer, as long as they do not involve data usage statistics.
    Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 16: Sofia, Silence, and the Knob

    24. maj, Bulgarien ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Day 16: Sofia, Silence, and the Knob That Must Not Be Touched Sofia | Rest Day

    A proper rest day. It started with a proper breakfast, followed by a speedrun through Sofia, which turned out to be well worth the effort. Roman ruins, grand squares, beautiful orthodox churches, a city that has a lot more to offer than we had expected. Tick. ✅

    At breakfast, however, something became clear. After 16 days on the road together, you reach a point where words are not always necessary. Which sounds poetic, until you realise what it actually looks like: two men sitting at a lovely café, surrounded by people chatting and laughing with each other, both completely silent and entirely absorbed in their own phones. We were not ignoring each other. We were catching up with the people at home we have been missing for over two weeks. Still, it must have been quite a sight for the other guests. 📱📱

    Sixteen days together also means that when tiredness sets in, the stubbornness gets worse. Navigating through Sofia we each independently decided on our own route, and then, without either of us acknowledging it, quietly raced to see who would arrive at the hotel first. Neither of us mentioned how hard we had pedalled. Neither of us needed to. We both knew. 🚴‍♂️💨

    Back at the hotel it was heads down into the work backlog, emails, documents and all the things that had been patiently waiting. In between: laundry. Wet clothes from last night's washing round were hanging across every available surface. Adem has developed a remarkable talent for finding creative drying spots in any hotel room. Today he asked the cleaning lady for extra hangers. She brought fifteen. The room looked like a very small and very determined laundromat. 🧺

    And then there was the knob.

    Next to PJ's bed: a small knob that, when accidentally nudged, turns off every single light in the entire room. All of them. Instantly. In the dark. This knob was accidentally nudged multiple times throughout the day. Each time, Adem made his way around the room turning everything back on. Each time, PJ was very sorry. Each time, the knob waited patiently for its next opportunity. 🔦😅

    Rested, mostly dry, and ready for what comes next. Less than 700 km to go. We are getting close.

    Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 17: Canyon, Chocolate, and…

    25. maj, Bulgarien ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Day 17: Canyon, Chocolate, and the Book of Waiting for Adem

    Sofia → Plovdiv | 173 km

    A big day on paper: climb to 1,034metres, then nothing but downhill into Plovdiv. We knew about the climb. We did not know about the first 80 kilometres.

    Cycling through a canyon with mountains rising on both sides, snow still sitting on the distant peaks, the kind of scenery that makes you forget you are also going uphill. It felt like Austria. It was Bulgaria. A genuine surprise, and one of the most beautiful stretches of the entire trip. ⛰️

    Somewhere in the middle of all this beauty, PJ asked Adem whether he had remembered to take the chocolate and cheese from the minibar before leaving the hotel. He had not. This is becoming a pattern, and we have a working theory: Adem had not had his morning coffee before leaving the room. The routine may need adjusting.

    The morning packing situation also deserves its own mention. Adem has a system: everything comes out of the bags, gets organised, and goes back in. Structured, thorough, complete. PJ operates on a different principle: if it does not need to come out, it stays in. The result is that PJ is consistently ready first, which has given him valuable time to work on his book. Current title: Waiting for Adem. It is coming along well. 📖

    The temperature management question continues to fascinate. Adem sets off in full winter layers, fleece and all the rest. PJ is in a polo shirt and shorts. Same weather, same road, completely different internal thermostats. We have stopped trying to explain it.
    A small correction is also needed from Saturday's post, when we celebrated reaching the highest point of the trip. Today we climbed to 1,030 metres, which is about a hundred metres higher than that. We will not be updating the previous post. Newspapers print errata too, and nobody reads those either.

    Lunch charging happened at a coffee tent in the middle of nowhere, run by a man who turned out to own a mountain e-bike and therefore immediately understood what we were about. Bikes welcomed, tables available, plugs in the wall, room to work. Exactly what you need at the halfway point of a long day. ☕

    Around six in the evening, as usual, we started working out where we would land for the night. Plovdiv was within reach. Adem pulled up his pre-prepared favourites list on Booking, because of course he has one, and we started calling ahead. Not just to check availability, but to ask the two important questions: can the bikes come inside, and is there any room to negotiate on the price? Today the answer to both was yes. A stunning hotel room, Jan des Bouvrie style throughout the whole building, €71 including breakfast. If you ever find yourself in Plovdiv, we can recommend it without hesitation. 🏨

    Back in the Netherlands today was also the Cycling Elfstedentocht, and we know Martine was riding. Hopefully plenty of other colleagues joined too, because every hour on Strava adds to the total for the cause. Speaking of which: 246 donations and almost €13,000 raised. We are not stopping there. 🙏

    Tomorrow: Greece, possibly. Or maybe still Bulgaria. We will see what the road decides.
    Have a lovely evening. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

    #FindPenguins #DenBoschToIstanbul    Læs mere

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    Day 18: Greece, Turkey, and the Slipper Connoisseu

    26. maj, Grækenland ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Day 18: Greece, Turkey, and the Slipper Connoisseur

    Plovdiv → Edirne, Turkey | The Furthest Ever

    Breakfast at the hotel started with a small adventure. The bikes had spent the night parked in the restaurant area, which the staff found more amusing than concerning. When PJ asked for gluten free bread, someone disappeared to the shop and came back with a full loaf of delicious fresh bread. PJ felt too grateful to leave any of it. He left very little of it. 🍞

    Course set for the Turkish border, with no firm plan beyond seeing how far we could get. On the way a new type of road kill, snakes, check out that picture. First stop: Gym Buddies, a healthy food place that let us charge while we ate. Adem was, once again, adopted by the owner within minutes. This particular owner had a passion for Japanese swords, knives, and an extensive collection of related stories. PJ disappeared into his calls. Adem tried to do the same, but every gap between calls brought the owner straight back to his table with another chapter. Adem eventually wrote the man a glowing review, partly out of genuine appreciation and partly as a diplomatic strategy to buy himself enough time to finish his emails. The pattern of Adem attracting people with very specific and enthusiastic interests continues. We have no explanation. It just keeps happening. ⚔️

    Thanks to what we are calling our brilliant charging strategy, which mostly means Eco mode and a lot of patience, we made it all the way to Edirne without stopping to charge again. The furthest we have ever ridden in a single day. The legs were aware of this.
    On the way: Greece. A proper Schengen border, which meant no queue, no drama, and not even a proper welcome sign. Just a line on the road and suddenly: Greece. We had never planned to go through Greece. It was a bonus country, and we will take it. 🇬🇷

    Then: Turkey. Adem had a plan. Border crossings mean military guards, and military guards appreciate snacks. We stocked up properly: Oreo, chips, Coca Cola, and assorted extras, because that is simply how these things are done. We loaded up the bags, got thoroughly attacked by mosquitoes in the process, and rode to the border.

    The border was empty. One person on the Greek side, one person on the Turkish side, a handful of travellers, and absolutely no military reception committee to speak of. The entire snack collection came with us to the hotel instead. PJ is currently working through the chips and cola. He accepts this as his fate. We did manage a proper flag photo at the border, mosquitoes and all. 🇹🇷

    Edirne delivered a good restaurant, almost. They had gluten free options for PJ. They had vegetarian options for PJ. The overlap between these two categories turned out to be empty. PJ took his anti-gluten pill, ordered bread, and ate it under the increasingly disillusioned gaze of a waiter who had clearly decided that gluten free people were more trouble than they were worth. We sympathise with him. 🍞💊

    The hotel was a hit, particularly for one of us. Adem discovered the slippers. Hotel slippers are, it turns out, something Adem takes seriously. Very seriously. There was inspection. There was testing. There was quiet but genuine satisfaction. If you ever need a professional assessment of hotel slipper quality, you know who to call. 🥿

    Turkey. 250 to 280 kilometres to Istanbul. We can almost see it from here.
    Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 19: Horn Honking, a Bee in the Helmet, and…

    27. maj, Tyrkiet ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Day 19: Horn Honking, a Bee in the Helmet, and a Woman from Den Bosch

    Edirne → Çorlu | 2,675 km from home

    First, a word about the chains. PJ has been carrying two heavy-duty bike chains for the entire trip, 4 kg of dead weight across 2,546 kilometres, just waiting for a moment when the bikes would need to sleep outside. Last night in Edirne was finally that moment. Consta and Atlas slept safely chained to something solid. The chains had earned their place. Every gram justified. ⛓️

    Out on the Turkish road, something immediately felt different. Cars were honking. Constantly. In the Balkans, honking generally meant one of two things, neither of them friendly. Here it turned out to mean something else entirely: enthusiasm. Drivers passing two heavily loaded cyclists apparently feel compelled to express their appreciation. After several weeks of Balkan dogs and indifferent traffic, being honked at in a good way was a genuinely lovely change. 📯

    Turkish dogs also appear to be considerably more relaxed than their Balkan counterparts. Only one gave chase today. We are choosing to see this as progress.
    The highlight of the day arrived in Babaeski, a small town with a coffee shop called Point Cafe, which was exactly that. We asked to charge, no problem. PJ ordered a çay, and the owner asked where he was from. The Netherlands, said PJ. Den Bosch, she said. She was born there.
    Let that land for a moment. We started this trip in Den Bosch. We are now in Turkey, 2,546 kilometres later, and the woman making PJ's tea grew up in the same city we waved goodbye to three weeks ago. Her name is Nihan, the tea was excellent, the chocolate soufflé even better, and the photo with her is one of our favourites of the entire trip. Check it out. 🫖🍫

    The landscape through this stretch of Turkey was stunning in a quiet, rolling way. Fields of barley, wheat and sunflowers as far as you could see, the kind of scenery that reminded us of driving through the south of France in summer. Beautiful and generous and warm.
    Then a bee flew through a ventilation hole in PJ's helmet and stung him directly on the head. PJ removed the helmet, assessed the situation, and confirmed it was a honeybee. Adem removed the sting, pressed out the poison, and normal service resumed. The wildlife was not finished, however. Later in the day, a second creature flew straight into PJ's eye at speed. He is writing this post with approximately one and a half eyes. We hope it does not show. 🐝👁️

    The final stretch of the day was, in honesty, less inspiring. The D100 road is functional but not enjoyable. Tomorrow we find a better route.
    One more thing worth mentioning. It turns out there were people who had placed informal bets on which country Adem would quit in. We will not name names. What we will say is that those same people, having lost their bets. Others have even donated again of respect we made it so far. We are deeply grateful. If Istanbul makes even more people reach for their wallets, we welcome that too. 🙏

    Approximately 150 kilometres to go. Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Day 20: Istanbul. We Actually Made It.

    28. maj, Tyrkiet ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Day 20: Istanbul. We Actually Made It.

    Çorlu → Istanbul | The Last Kilometres. Finally.

    We woke up this morning knowing Istanbul was within reach. Mixed feelings getting on the bikes. Do we do this in one go or stretch it into two days, purely to avoid it being over? We were not ready. The bikes, however, had opinions. Specifically PJ's bike, which since yesterday's trench incident has developed a habit of honking every time it is switched on. After 2,800 kilometres of Turkish drivers honking at us enthusiastically, the bike has simply decided to join in. We cannot argue with the logic. 📯

    The D100 again, not the road of dreams but the only real option. Leaving Çorlu we stopped for coffee, which meant Adem was immediately spotted by a local, Turkish was exchanged, and a conversation began that had its own schedule and was not going to be rushed. See the picture. This has happened in every country. We have stopped trying to explain it. ☕

    In Silivri, lunch at the seafront, calls made, bikes charging with the sea in front of us. The further south we came on this trip, the easier charging became. Nobody ever made it a problem. We will genuinely miss that.

    Then Istanbul appeared on the horizon. Wonderful. Except we still had 44 kilometres to go. Inside the city. Let that number explain what Istanbul is. It is not a city. It is a geographical event. 🌆

    The traffic operates on a system we can only describe as organised chaos with the organisation removed. No lanes, no rules, just collective forward momentum and absolute mutual trust that everyone will figure it out. After three weeks on Balkan roads we felt completely at home. On the busiest urban motorway in the city, where cars were standing still in traffic not going anywhere, we were overtaking everything on two wheels feeling like we owned the place. Genuinely one of the best moments of the entire trip. 🚦

    The route occasionally sent us through parks, which today were completely packed because of a national holiday. Bikes through crowds, crowds around bikes, everyone cheerful, nobody moving particularly fast. More chaos, different flavour.

    Then, with 4 kilometres to go, a miracle: a quiet, empty cycle path running straight toward the Galata Bridge. To reach it we had to take a lift that fitted exactly one bike. We went up one at a time, met at the top, and looked at each other. Nearly there.

    Five hundred metres from the bridge, Istanbul had one final joke to play. Eid al-Adha meant the streets were so overwhelmingly full of people that we could barely see the bridge we had spent twenty days cycling toward. We pushed the bikes through the crowd like two people trying to swim upstream at a very friendly but very determined music festival. Completely bizarre. Absolutely unforgettable.

    For the last stretch we called home. Families on the phone, the people who waved us off in Den Bosch three weeks ago, riding the final kilometres with us in the only way they could. We have missed them every single day. A special thank you to our wives Penny and Fatma, who kept everything running at home with the kids for three weeks. Without their support, none of this would have been possible. And to every single person who donated, sent a message, or cheered us on along the way: thank you, from the bottom of two very tired but very happy hearts. ❤️

    And then there was the bridge. Half dazed, ears still ringing from the city, we took our photos, made our videos, called our friends and colleagues, and stood there in the middle of it all trying to take it in.

    Den Bosch to Istanbul. Twenty days. Nine countries. One knee scare, two bee attacks, three wrong hotels in a single evening, one man doing push-ups behind the wrong window, one 78-year-old cycling to China who made us feel almost modest, one data bundle quietly emptied by someone who shall remain PJ, one colleague we carried every single kilometre of the way.
    Who would ever have thought we would actually make it. 🌉🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

    Tomorrow: the secrets. The dirty laundry. Everything we did not tell you on the road. You have been warned. 😉

    Sleep well, for the last time from somewhere that is not home. 🌙    Læs mere

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    Almost the Final Post

    30. maj, Tyrkiet ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Almost the Final Post

    We made it to Istanbul, and then we stayed a little longer than planned. A few extra days in the city to meet dear friends, visit the graves of relatives, and of course, keep riding.

    As it turns out, we have genuinely fallen in love with cycling in Istanbul. The city has an surprisingly extensive network of bike paths, and we made good use of them. We also confirmed, once again, that Istanbul is not so much a city as a small country that happens to have one name. It keeps going. Every time you think you have seen it, there is more.

    We even took the bikes to one of the Princes' Islands. Explored every corner of it. No cars, quiet roads, the Bosphorus all around. A perfect way to spend one of the last days of the trip.

    Then came the practical reality: packing the bikes for the flight home. For this we needed boxes, proper ones, and finding packing material in Istanbul on a Saturday turned out to be its own small adventure. Every shop was closed. We ended up at Decathlon, where a wonderful woman called Özge took one look at our situation and simply sorted it. She tracked down boxes, arranged more from another Decathlon branch, and made sure we had everything we needed. Check out the pictures. Özge, you were brilliant. Thank you, and thank you Decathlon. 📦🚴‍♂️

    Tomorrow we wrap the bikes. Tuesday we fly home. We are very much looking forward to that.
    In the meantime, thank you all once more for the donations and to our Emixa colleagues for continuing to log hours on Strava. We are heading for an all-time high, and every hour and every euro still counts. 🙏

    Almost home. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️    Læs mere

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    Back Home

    2. juni, Tyrkiet ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    And just like that, it is over.

    The last days in Istanbul were everything a final chapter should be. We cycled around the city, worked a few hours each day to avoid arriving home to a mountain of backlog, and caught up with friends. The highlight for PJ was a dinner with Nihat, an old friend from Izmir who somehow managed to fly in from Canada just in time to share a table in Istanbul. Old friends, warm company, a perfect way to close twenty days on the road. Some things are worth crossing an ocean for. 🥂

    Then came the journey home. We had hoped this part would be straightforward. It was not.
    The bikes were repacked three times. The flight was rebooked. Things went wrong in ways we had not prepared for, and for a brief moment it felt uncomfortably like day thirteen all over again, which those of you following from the beginning will understand means a very specific kind of chaos. We will spare you the full details. What matters is that we made it, bikes and all, and that our families were waiting at the airport when we landed. That moment made everything worth it. Everything. ❤️

    One thing we have not yet mentioned about the Balkan stretch of the trip: the diesel. Trucks, buses, cars of various vintages and various attitudes toward exhaust emissions, all sharing the same road with two cyclists breathing deeply at exactly the wrong height. By our own rough calculation, somewhere over the course of the Balkan roads we each inhaled the equivalent of around 400 cigarettes worth of diesel fumes. We are not doctors and this is not medical advice, but we are fairly confident the lungs will recover. Eventually. We are choosing to think of it as a character-building experience and are currently getting a lot of fresh air. 🫁💨

    And then the number. The final donation total came to more than €19,000.
    We are still slightly in disbelief about that. When we rolled out of Den Bosch three weeks ago with fresh coffee and Jeroen's Mini as a send-off, we hoped to raise something meaningful. What you all did was extraordinary. Friends, colleagues, clients, and people we have never met, every single donation and every shared link and every encouraging message added up to something that will genuinely change outcomes for people fighting this disease.

    We are looking forward to handing the full amount to Jacco at the Oncode Institute, and we will do that together with Cor, Teri's husband, because his family made this fundraiser what it became. Teri was with us on every kilometre of this trip. She still is.

    To everyone who followed along, donated, cheered, sent messages at Ty the right moments, and kept logging hours on Strava: thank you. Genuinely. You were part of this from day one.
    It was a marvellous adventure. Sometimes very heavy, always worth it.
    Den Bosch to Istanbul. Done. 🌉🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

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    31. maj 2026