Michel van Hagen (MRA-Founder)
"Blog MRA Iron Curtain Trail (part 1: the idea)"
Part 1 of my blog about the preparations for the MRA Iron Curtain Trail. How did I get the idea? How did I get the routes? I want also ride the trail myself, but how? And many more relevant and irrelevant issues.
Blog MRA Iron Curtain Trail (part 1: the idea)
24
2020
Everything starts with an idea...
During 2019 we organised the Navigaton Grand Tour. A 2nd World War themed event in which the participants individually rode 4 routes during the calendar year. The 127 participants carried out various assignments and recorded their rides with MRA Navigation. Points could be earned from each assignment and ultimately Rob Scheepers won a GoPro Fusion with the most points. Fans can read the report of this event here.
We at
MRA would currently also like to organise an event for 2020. What and how?
The
first thing that came to mind was 'borders' as a number of European borders
were redrawn following the 2nd world war. Perhaps it would be enjoyable to ride
as close as possible to the old border of east and west Germany. When I was in
the Harz mountains, I sometimes drove to the Sorge border museum which was
quite interesting.
Sorge
Border Museum in the Harz mountains, 2011
Sorge
Border Museum, from a bunker, 2011
Searching on the Internet for information on exactly how the border ran finally brought me to the Iron Curtain Trail website. And I was like 'boom', I want to do it as well! Unfortunately, this trail turned out to be a bike trail. After an hour of searching, I could not find if there was another route for cars and motorcycles. So , I have a big challenge ahead of me.
The
Iron Curtain was a border that extended from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea.
Following this (cycling) route which stretches for over 9,950 km is a lesson in
living history, but also offers a welcome reminder of peace and reconciliation
after the fall of the 'Curtain'. Riding this route seems like a great
experience so let's just go for it!
MRA
Iron Curtain Trail overview
We are going to create a fantastic event by first digitally converting the routes for cars and motorcycles, creating an event in MRA as well as a separate website and reward structure for people who have driven and completely tracked the MRA Iron Curtain Trail by using MRA Navigation.
And equally importantly, I also want to ride it myself. Not in one go as I cannot and may not leave for that long, but a bit every year for years to come. June 2021, if life and health allows, I will do the first 2,000 km from Murmansk, together with Serge, the house presenter of MyRoute-app, who doesn't know him...
In
the next blog you will find out how we plan to convert the routes and how we
will organise the 2021 trip. I'm really looking forward to it, what about you?
Michel van Hagen
-
Gave uitdaging!! Succes
2020-01-25 22:54:43 by Menno Houthuijsen -
Gaaf, ga ik ff volgen, maar 10k km ga je niet redden.
2020-01-26 08:50:10 by smuiger -
Prachtig Mooi idee Blijf het volgen en wellicht ook rijden en tracken
2020-01-26 11:47:01 by G Beuving -
Dit wordt geen lange afstand uitdaging zoals de Iron Butt die ik gereden heb. Dit keer zo'n 250 of 300 km per dag, in 10 dagen rij ik dan ongeveer 2500 km. De hele trail duurt dan ongeveer 4 jaar, elk jaar een gedeelte van 10 dagen.
2020-01-26 14:10:51 by Michel van Hagen (MRA-Founder) -
Ziet er mooie rit uit, zou ik ook wel willen rijden
2020-01-27 20:25:44 by Willy Reusen -
Very Good Idea, we have a similar Idea at least to ride the former inner German border from Baltic See to Czech Republic. See: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1OfOoTQPprj7L5lzop-diEweeD5o&hl=en_US&ll=52.42869687341778%2C11.536673500000006&z=7
2020-01-27 22:00:18 by Jörgen -
Leuk om te rijden als je 2 maanden tijd hebt
2020-01-27 22:36:19 by klaas van der heide -
Super idee. Dit ga ik volgen.
2020-01-29 13:06:35 by Cas Renooij -
Ik heb in Finland en de baltische staten de route wit dichter bij de grens gebracht. https://www.myrouteapp.com/route/open/2723574
2020-01-29 14:06:24 by Cas Renooij -
Wat een gaaf idee! Ik volg de ontwikkelingen graag.
2020-01-31 15:53:14 by Consigliere M4 -
wordt een hele uitdaging
2020-02-10 15:15:50 by W.Smallenbroek -
ik volg en wie weet ooit eens rijden als ik wat meer tijd heb
2020-04-12 18:42:28 by Marc Van de Vijver -
Hi Michel, you should visit https://pointalpha.com/ at your trip.
2020-04-12 22:34:09 by Jörgen -
Mooi initiatief. Ik blijf dit opvolgen en waarschijnlijk ook stukjes van rijden. maar alles rijden word wat veel wat veel.
2020-05-29 10:18:31 by Ruige Ronny -
Interesse, volg het op
2021-01-25 09:41:06 by Stefaan Meys -
Mooie uitdaging, ik ben 3 jaar geleden bij het museum in Mödlareuth geweest, dat zit zeker te weten ook in de IJzeren Gordijn Route, kijk maar een naar de foto's: https://www.habven.nl/fotos_details.php?id=15
2021-01-25 09:41:48 by Hans van de Ven (Mr.MRA) -
Kicken, ik blijf even volgen.
2021-01-25 15:22:26 by Rob Herman -
ik ook
2021-01-25 18:30:42 by Carmans Marc -
Ik volg, maar is voor mij te hoog gegrepen. Veel respect!
2021-02-10 17:15:21 by Van Geirt John -
Ik volg misschien een idee voor 2022
2021-02-10 20:52:34 by Ad Remkes -
mooi plan en zal er zeker ook een stuk van gaan rijden. Hopelijk zijn de landen binnen afzienbare tijd weer te bereizen. Alvast suc6 voor jullie deel 1
2021-02-13 10:07:19 by G Beuving -
waar kan ik de route downlouden
2022-12-09 14:02:48 by rietjens
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