Jasper Aerts

Pedal to Empower

Pedal to Empower

My Distance Goal

Achieved

2,207 KM

My Goal

1,000 KM

My Activity Tracking

2,207
kms

My target 1000 kms

I’m riding Unbound Gravel 2023 to empower women and girls around the world...

I am thrilled to announce that I will be riding Unbound Gravel this year in a way to help change lives through the Power of Bicycles! 

As I cross the famous Flint Hills in Kansas during my 100 miles gravel ride, I'm raising funds and awareness for World Bicycle Relief, a global nonprofit organization committed to helping individuals overcome the barrier of distance in developing communities around the world.

Please consider supporting me as I work to empower women and girls through the Power of Bicycles. Every donation makes a difference, and a contribution of 147 EUR helps put a Buffalo Bicycle into the hands of a person in need! 

My family is fortunate enough to ride our bikes whenever we want (purely as a leisure activity), but this is not the case for many girls and women around the globe (who are depending on mobility), which is why we need to Pedal to Empower!

Cheers, Jasper

My Achievements

Updated Profile Pic

Made a self donation

Shared Page

Raised one Buffalo Bicycle

Reached Goal!

My Updates

Muddy !!

Tuesday 13th Jun
Kansas mud is sticky stuff….

Strava map

Wednesday 7th Jun
Alsmaar rechtdoor!

Unbound 1

Wednesday 7th Jun

Garmin 2023 Unbound Gravel completed!

Wednesday 7th Jun
Hi all,

This was possibly the hardest thing I have ever done on a bike….

But, I made it! An epic journey and adventure has come to a close: I finished the 100miles Unbound Gravel race in Kansas in 6hrs and 44 minutes. 

Epic it was: I slept in a tent with a deflating air mattress on a completely drenched field on the local camp ground in Emporia for 4 nights, enduring heavy thunderstorms every single day, I had to fetch my food from the famous fast-food chains since there was basically nothing else around (more generally, there is not much there in Kansas tbh :-)), air horns of the passing trains went into the ‘little hours’ of the night in such a way that you would wake up (if I was able to sleep at all due to the deflating mattress…), and above all, I was pretty nervous for the ride on Saturday! 

That being said, I had so much fun! Aside the actual riding, I engaged in some heavy networking - not only on the camp site (kudos to Brandon from Texas for abundantly stocking me with food and drinks, and for using his Joe the Blower pump :-), but notably during the Bike Expo in Emporia in the days before the race. I met so many ‘pro-riders’, famous YouTubers, and other happy people. Laurens ten Dam, The Vegan Cyclist, Pete Stetina, Thomas Dekker, Ben Delaney, Lochlon Morton, just to new a few. And obviously all the nice people of Emporia and the Unbound organization: big kudos to you all! You were so warm and welcoming: truly amazing. 

In terms of the race: all went well, until it went to hell. 

I was doing just fine until we hit the famous mud-fest section at mile 11 (or 10) which brought all of us to a hard stop. Although I initially managed to continue riding (through the grass on the side) and encouraged the riders in front of me to continue and not stop (read: shout), we all came to a halt at some point. At that moment I believe I was well within the first 20 riders of the 100 miles race and I overtook many of the good riders such as Tiffany Cromwell (pro-rider for SRAM/Canyon) and Ben Delaney just to name a few - on Ben’s YouTube post you see me passing him at 14:57 of the clip :-)). 

Unfortunately, it didn't stay like that. Soon the mud clocked my entire bike and shoes, and all I could do was walk, with the bike on the shoulders as you were unable to even push your bike. The wheels simply wouldn’t turn. I learned that the famous wooden paint sticks are a useful tool to have on you when doing a gravel race. I now know. I learned it the hard way. 

Due to the overall eagerness to get on the bike as quickly as possible, I started riding well before this was doable or possible and in that process, I ruined my rear derailleur and chain. The chain came off 5 times, completely slammed between the frame and the chain ring, and I barely managed every time to get the chain back up. The bigger issue was the derailleur: it came loose at some point, which also explained why the chain came off, as the tension was completely gone. 

I sincerely dont know how I did it, but I managed to get all things to work again after a 10 min mechanical pit-stop on the side of the road with all riders passing me again. Did I already mention that by that time the temperature was well above 30 degrees in the blistering sun, making me sweat like a good ol pig? 

The build-up of angry and frustrated testosterone made that the next hour I was flying though! I believe I averaged a good 35kms or so on that next part, until I realized I couldn’t continue like that if I were to finish at all, and to bring the body and bike home in one piece. So I backed down a bit, and tried to find a good group to ride with. However, finding such a group was hard and in fact, I didnt manage to find one. The rest of the day I essentially rode alone, which was frustrating at times when all you can see are the endless roads and are suffering in the (strong) headwinds. I forced myself to have happy thoughts! Thinking about Pedal to Empower helped as well!

In the end, I crossed the finish line as 6th in my age group, and 39th overall. In the intermediate points, you can see that I went from 151 after the mud-fest, to 73th at mile 40, to 54th at mile 64 and then 39th at the finish. As we say in Dutch: a proper inhaalrace. 

I am left to wonder: “what if” I managed to stay with the front group after the mud-section……. ? :-)

Ah well, for a first timer, it was great, and I am really happy with the end result. My legs felt (and still feel) fine, it just the rest of the body that hurts. I have 2 bad-ass blisters on my feet due to mud-walking. Little vulcano’s on each foot, but I will survive. The (lower)back pain is also gone. What remains is happy thoughts. 

I want to do it again…..

Cheers, J. 

PS: a big shout-out and thank you to my sponsors! We managed to raise nearly $900 in total (=EUR 815), which very concretely means we can donate 5 Buffalo Bikes to World Bicycle Relief/Pedal to Empower to provide to women and girls in need. Bravo!
 

GFNY done and dusted!

Monday 22nd May
The GFNY is done and dusted! A 135 kms with 2000 climbing meters in 4 hours and 12 minutes. That means I placed 23rd in my age category (40-49) and sub200 overall. Not bad at all! Next stop is Kansas for Unbound. :-)

GFNY - here we come!

Monday 15th May
As a proper prep, I also registered for the Gran FONDO New York, a 100 mile ride in NY State on 20 May. This last weekend, my bike buddy Seb and I did a prep ride of 134 kms to “just get the miles in”! All for the “biggest Gran Fondo” and the self-proclaimed World Championships and for me also as a good exercise for Unbound Gravel of course! 

Thank you to my Sponsors

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Jasper Aerts

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Jeroen Van H

Enjoy and good luck. We Dutch rely on our bikes for everything. Happy to help spread that gospel internationally!

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Paul Vlaanderen

Good luck

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Terrence Moloney

Tots awesome!

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Michael White

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Willemijn Den Boer

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Rutger Zonneveld

Succes Jasper!

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Erik

Good luck and keep the week spinning

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Tim Alferink

Good luck Jasper!

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Niels

Zet 'm op ouwe dibbes!

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Bart

Go Jackie, Nice goal!