“There’s a cycling event taking place here tomorrow which has a gravel option. If you’d like to take part, I can organise a place for you” said Sharona Meertens, marketing and comms officer at the Shimano Experience Centre (SEC). This seemed like destiny staring me straight in the eyes. I’d been planning on going out on a ride to see what the waymarked trail network was like near the SEC, so the chance to try the wider network was too good an opportunity to turn down. 

I had come to Valkenburg, located in the south of Holland, close to the Dutch border with France and Germany, to visit the SEC, before I joined up with the 150 participants of the inaugural The Ride Gravel event, which was convening there before the journey south into France. Opened by Shimano in 2019 and visited annually by 100,000+ fans of cycling, fishing or rowing (the three sporting disciplines for which Shimano create products), the SEC is as close to a cyclist’s Mecca as you can get. 

Even before you arrive at the building itself, it’s obvious lots of thought has gone into the location and the wider infrastructure. There’s a cobbled driveway leading up to the main building. The car park is labelled “Par’course” on Google maps – based on the term given used for the route of a cycling race. 

The surrounding area is landscaped with eco-friendly flood prevention measures built in and is linked into the omnipresent Dutch cycling network. There’s parking for significant numbers of bikes right outside the front door and as well as the SEC’s own cafe, there’s a restaurant on one side and a 4* hotel on the other. They also have on-site bike hire, service centre and bike wash facilities. Someone has obviously sweated the details. 

Once inside, two immediate thoughts come to mind - one, it’s huge and two, it’s got an impressively modern, light and airy feel - it feels more Scandi than Dutch. I’m met by head mechanic and font of tech knowledge Roger Smeets and Sharona, who rushed back from cheering on a Shimano-sponsored rider at a one-day women’s road race which coincided with my visit. Later as they were showing me around, a helicopter flew overhead and Sharona said it was the TV heli for the race coverage, so the race must be close by again. Such is a typical day when you live and work in a land with such an amazingly cycling rich culture. 

The majority of the SEC is given over to public space, but there are also extensive behind the scenes and corporate space too, all of which I was allowed to see during my tour. The public space starts off as all good visitor attractions do, with a cafe and a shop. But unlike most standard shops, all around were bikes and paraphernalia from cycling culture. 

Here was Wout Van Aert’s race winning Cervelo road bike. Over there are CX and XC MTBs from Mathieu van der Poel. Just there is Ineos-Grenadier rider Egan Bernal’s Pinarello fitted out with the latest DuraAce 12 speed groupset. The focus of the majority of the bikes is road-centric, but just seeing the bikes in the flesh is still an impressive experience. It makes you realise the incredible difference in relative heights of former Giro d’Italia winner Tom Dumoulin (who was born in nearby Maastricht) and current world champion Julian Alaphilippe - the former with a typically tall Dutch build, the latter diminutive. 

It’s not all the latest generation of bikes and equipment either - there’s a display of older road bikes dating from the 1970s onwards, showcasing some of the technological leaps which Shimano have pioneered. 

Roger pointed out the timeline of Amstel Gold Race winners which runs around the inside of part of the building at head height. With the final climb of the event, the Cauberg, less than 1km away from the SEC, it’s no wonder they’re keen to showcase the winners. The Shimano sponsored riders are highlighted in the brand-correct blue of course. 

Once you’ve finished ogling the pro bikes, there’s a full range of Shimano goodies to fondle - shoes, clothing, helmets, glasses and perhaps most importantly groupsets. It’s not all behind glass either - it’s designed to be touched and tried. There are displays where you can test the functionality of different shifters and brakes, you can have your feet digitally measured and advice given about which shoe from Shimano’s impressive range would suit your physically stature and riding aspirations. 

And if all these bike goodies have inspired you to get out and ride, Shimano have thought of this too. They have a huge fleet of bikes which you can rent by the half day and day - everything from a sit-up-and-beg city bike to a top of the range carbon gravel bike fitted with their latest GRX Di2 groupset. 

They have vast stocks of bikes in all sizes and you can choose from no-name OEM bikes (black painted and with Shimano logos) to the latest models from Orbea and Canyon. For fans of Canyon bikes in particular this is of note, as they are an on-line only brand, so getting to try before you buy is reason enough to come and visit. 

As well as the test bikes, the SEC has changing and shower facilities, a bike-fit business, a full workshop and perhaps most importantly, a local trail network. The trails and road routes are signposted, but they will also loan you a GPS unit with routes pre-loaded on them. After you ride, there is a bike wash area and showers for the rider too. Plus, a licensed restaurant and 4* hotel next door. I’m going to sound like I’ve been brainwashed, but it really is an amazing set up. 

While the public areas are impressive, peering behind the metaphorical curtains into the business side was equally impressive. Sharona and Roger first took me up to the conference and training areas. The first room felt like the board room of a high-end tech company with bleached wood floors and floor to ceiling plate glass windows overlooking Shimano’s own carp-filled lake where you can try out their range of fishing equipment if you fancy a change from cycling. 

The meeting rooms are frequently hired by businesses keen to put their staff through ‘meet and move’ training, where traditional death-by-PowerPoint meetings have been superseded with combined indoor and outdoor sessions of physical activity. With capacity for 400 guests, on-site catering facilities and an Amstel Gold Race themed lounge, we can see why this is a popular choice of venue for businesses to utilise. 

Downstairs was the part that interested the tech nerd in me the most - Shimano’s on-site workshop. It was immaculately clean and tidy and fitted out with the biggest range of Park Tools (whose colours handily match Shimano’s own blue) I’ve ever seen. Perhaps the most impressive part were the drawers (and drawers) of tools nestled into laser cut foam, all of which opened and closed with an expensive-sounding swoosh. 

With such a wide range of bikes on site all requiring maintenance, it wasn’t surprising that the workshop had a crane-like electric workstand, capable of whisking the heaviest e-bike up to the appropriate height without a single breach of H&S regulations. It wasn’t just the bikes which needed maintenance though - there was a dedicated workstation set up for Shimano’s fishing products range too. 

I turned the dial on my journalistic rigour up to ten and casually asked Roger if they could have a quick look at my rear Di2 derailleur which needed a slight adjustment to the clutch mechanism. Within a few minutes, my bike was retrieved from my car and was electronically elevated to the correct height. One of the team of on-site mechanics soon had it apart, diagnosed and repaired. I couldn’t have asked for better service. 

With eyes still wide in full-on #fanboy mode, my tour came to an end and Sharona handed over my rider number for the following day’s sportive and I headed off to my overnight hotel, busy hatching plans of how I could come and take up permanent residence at the SEC without anyone noticing. 

The following morning, I realised there had been a slight translation error when I arrived at the startline at 7.15 - what I thought was 15 minutes before the event was due to start. Roger and a team of Shimano staff were there, but there was barely a trickle of riders in the early morning sunshine. It transpired that my event was due to start at 9.45 rather than 7.30, so I turned my slightly premature arrival to my advantage and went out to try the local trails before the sportive kicked off. 

The first climb was 500m long and was surprisingly challenging, especially considering that it took place within a few minutes’ riding of the start line. The surface was dry, but had a decent covering of loose gravel, pebbles and small rocks and the gradient was around 10% in places. It meant line choice was critical and I imagined there would be quite a battle for the “clean” line when the event kicked off and the trail was full of riders. As I arrived at the top, blown away by the fact that Shimano had such great riding within a few minutes’ ride of the SEC, the sun beamed down on Valkenburg below, nestled into a small, wooded valley and looking just like gravel riding nirvana. 

I peered at the screen of my bike computer and quickly put together a rough route plan. I wanted a short loop with some road, some gravel trails and some singletrack and made a silent prayer to the trail gods that I’d got it right and would arrive back at the start in time for the event. Luckily my route worked out perfectly and by using a combination of digital mapping and intuition, I managed to find a great network of trails. I was blown away by the quality of the riding - the woodland singletrack in particular flowed sweetly and was just technical enough to add some early morning pizzazz to my day. 

We’ll gloss over the fact that on one particularly ace bit of woodland singletrack that I hit an errant piece of sharpened flint, half submerged in the trail surface and consequently blew a small hole in my front tyre. Luckily, the sealant did its job and I headed back to the SEC, trying out the Cauberg road climb and some epically good waymarked MTB trails in the woods next to the SEC. There was one section of singletrack hairpins that was so fun I went back up and had another go. Perhaps not typical gravel bike terrain, but perfect for my #monstercross bike and my MTB background. 

When I checked out the event website the night before, it said that 2022 was the first year they were offering a gravel version of the event and that they were expecting around 1000 riders in total across both disciplines. Looking around the riders at the start line, it was immediately obvious that the vast majority were going to try the selection of road routes on offer to participants. 

There was an eclectic range of bikes and attire on view - everything from the latest #fullteamkit and top of the range bike combo, to 1990s road bikes and Lycra worn to the limit of its structural integrity. What was most heartwarming was the sheer number of ‘normal’ riders there, either using their own electric hybrid/leisure/city bike or one hired from Shimano. It made me realise again how ingrained cycling culture is to Dutch citizens of all ages - I saw more riders of pensionable age at the start line than you would see in a British city in a month!

As the time for my 65km ride to set off approached, it became pretty obvious that all the other gravel riders had already left - perhaps because they had signed up for the 95kms option which departed earlier? I waited for the appropriate time and set off, heading down Shimano’s own section of kaissen before turning onto a small gravel cycle path and heading for the first climb. Apart from a group of slightly surprised looking pensioners out for a day of walking, the trails were empty and my worries about the first climb being chaotic were unfounded as I had the whole thing to myself. 

The next 60 or so kilometres were some of the finest I have ever ridden on a gravel bike. The route planners had done an outstanding job of combing tiny backroads, farm tracks, woodland trails, cycle paths and some superb sections of singletrack. With hot sunshine beating down from the sky and two “nursing stations” (a slightly strange Google translation for a feed stop) to keep energy levels topped up, my every desire was taken care of and my face hurt from smiling so much. 

My pre-conceived ideas of what Dutch gravel riding was going to be like (essentially flat and not super challenging) was blown away - this was some of Europe’s finest gravel riding hiding in plain sight in the hills of Limburg. The only slight disappointment was how few fellow gravel riders I met - I think in total I saw just a handful over the course of the event! Perhaps everyone else had set off early and we’re flying around the course, but it meant I basically had the trails to myself. 

The route finished on Valkenburg’s very own UCI road climb - the Cauberg, the scene of many a battle between pro riders at the end of the annual Amstel Gold Race which finishes at the summit of the climb. It was somewhat underwhelming if I’m honest, nothing like as steep or challenging as I had expected, but I guess if you were riding it at race pace having already covered 200kms, it would prove to be more of a challenge. 

The road surface was liberally daubed with graffiti including some great stencil paintings of “king” Mathieu van der Poel. At the top of the climb, which all the different routes tackled, I was welcomed to a finish line party and hordes of happy Dutch cyclists standing around in the sunshine drinking beer and eating barbecued food. 

With post-ride medal tucked into my jersey pocket, I headed back down to Valkenburg, but not via the road as most people did. Instead, I took to the waymarked MTB trails through the woods again, including the super fun singletrack hairpins and duly popped out at the SEC with endorphins coming out of my ears. 

The combination of guided tour of Shimano’s cycling nirvana, the beautiful city of Valkenburg and the spectacularly good riding meant my #gravelgrin was probably visible from space. This was the perfect start to a week of gravel riding and good times that lay ahead at The Ride Gravel, but more about that another time.