← All eventsFietselfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Cycling Tour)
~235km flat, wind-exposed recreational tour of Friesland's eleven historic cities from Bolsward. Effectively no climbing — the difficulty is wind, distance, groups and fuelling. Ridden on Whit Monday; finish before midnight earns a medal. Next date ~2027-05-17 is approximate (moveable Whitsun).
A 235km loop of Friesland's eleven historic cities, from Bolsward on Whit Monday. Fifteen thousand riders roll out in groups from 05:00. Finish before midnight and you earn the medal.
It looks flat because it is: barely 100m of climbing all day. The real difficulty is the wind, relentless and unsheltered across open dykes and the Frisian lakes, with no descent to ever recover on.
That makes it a rare thing: a bucket-list distance a well-trained rider can genuinely complete. Pace it steadily, stay in the groups, keep eating, and the day is yours.
Is Fietselfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Cycling Tour) for you?
- Endurance riders drawn to a bucket-list distance. A flat 235km is about durability, not climbing, so patient diesel engines outlast punchier riders.
- Anyone comfortable sitting in a bunch. On this exposed course a working paceline saves 20 to 30% of your effort, so holding wheels beats going solo.
- Steady fuellers and pacers. There's no hill to conquer, just a long flat day that rewards riders who keep moving and keep eating.
- Riders who respect a headwind. Nothing out here blocks the wind, so staying calm and efficient into it beats raw power.
Training plan for Fietselfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Cycling Tour)
A training plan for Fietselfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Cycling Tour) isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- 235km of flat road with no descent to ever soft-pedal or recover on.
- Open, unsheltered dykes where a North Sea headwind turns a spin into a grind.
- A genuinely long day: even strong riders are moving for seven-plus hours.
- Fuelling for hours from the gun, or the southern dykes empty your tank.
- Progressive long rides building from 120km toward a 200km-plus peak two to three weeks out.
- Deliberate windy long rides and into-wind tempo efforts, so a headwind feels normal, not frightening.
- Paceline group rides rotating turns, the single biggest time-saver on this course.
- Long tempo blocks (2-3x30min at 78-88% FTP) plus full fuelling rehearsals over five-hour-plus rides.
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
