While the Tour de France is starting today in France, the starting signal also sounds in Tonckenshuys in Drenthe. Not for the pros, but for the residents of the nursing home in Zuidwolde. They cycle their own round: the Tour de Tonckenshuys.
Over the next three weeks, residents, together with volunteers and family members, will run their own tour on two specially available duo bikes. Each participant takes a piece, after which their kilometers are added. With the aim of cycling 500 kilometers together before July 27.
“We have calculated that we will end up exactly with 20 to 25 kilometers a day,” says employee Riëtte Krikken-Leffers.
Inhabitant Hennie Emmink (86) does not necessarily have anything with the Tour de France. “Not at all,” she shouts laughing. Yet she is one of the first to step on the duo bike. “It is great fun, you can talk on the way. I am always alone on my scooter and then this is much nicer.”
If she is asked if the 500 kilometers are going to be reached, she answers: “In a few days. If I have a cyclist, I will do 20 to 25 kilometers.
Inside the tour is just as felt. The corridors of the Tonckenshuys are decorated with cycling shirts, and at the entrance there is a doll on a racing bike. Even those who cannot or will not go outside participate. There are some pedals on the ground and there is a television for that. “That way you can cycle virtually through Meppel or other places, and those kilometers also count.”
“I am now sitting on a normal chair, but it is also possible from the wheelchair,” explains employee Henny Oost. “This way everyone gets some movement and you also see something on the way.”