Who is the best at slow cycling? That’s what the NK Slowbiking is all about. One of the preliminary rounds was held in Breda on Thursday morning. Top times were not driven: the best time was actually just too fast. Paulien Willems once started the championship as a joke: “To let people slow down and to let the slowest win once.”
But the NK is serious, says Willems. “It’s about who is the slowest in eleven meters. You are not allowed to touch the ground with one part of your body, you are not allowed to get out of your lane and of course you are not allowed to go backwards with the bike.” And so a record was set at a previous Dutch Championship of 37 minutes.
Few bicycles
At that time, all the times that were driven in Breda on Thursday morning pale in comparison. Jasper manages to set a time of 33 seconds. And with that he gets a place at the Dutch National Championships in October in Utrecht. “I think my tactic is that I don’t cycle much,” Jasper responds.
Paulien Willems started slow biking ten years ago. “My personal best after all these years is 2 minutes and 36 seconds. So it is really very difficult.” She herself started through an acquaintance. “He had seen it in China. They competed in the schoolyard there. And the Netherlands is a cycling country, so we have to do this too.”
spot two
Mentally it is really a struggle, Willems knows. “You really have to cover that eleven meters completely. Mentally it is a game, because you stand still with the danger of falling over or do you continue and set a time too fast. Those are dilemmas.”
Back to today’s game. It is a difficult day, because the cobblestones on the Kasteelplein in Breda are not ideal. The top four advance. In addition to Jasper, this, completely unexpectedly and unintentionally, has become our reporter Noël van Hooft. He also wanted to experience slow riding for a video. After 24 seconds he crossed the finish line, a much too fast time actually. But during the preliminary rounds in Breda good for a second place.
“It’s fantastic”, Willems laughs. “You now have a few months to really practice for the Dutch National Championships. Make an eleven-meter lane in front of your house and practice every day.”