Lars and the Wheely Wonders

27/09/2026

The Hase Pino effect. 😂


HASE BIKES
Willemijn MacDonald
Colin MacDonald
Lars and the Wheely Wonders

26/09/2026

Duchenne Heroes day 6. The Pink day.

A change of kit for everyone. Wearing pink for the the small amount of girls that are afflicted with DMD, but also the mothers, grandmothers, and sisters of Duchenne boys.

Riding from Theux in Belgium to Lanaken in the Netherlands. Actually a very nice route, with some interesting climbs (that was sarcasm!). 😂.

But it did finish with a ride along the Albert canal, so very flat. And a ride through the beautiful city of Maastricht. Definitely have to go back there for a more relaxed visit.

After arriving at the campsite in Lanaken we discovered that Lars had caught his very first fish. The begeleider from another DH team, Raymond (who happens to live near us), had been taking Lars fishing all day. But I’m not sure that we should mention that Lars dropped the rod in the lake and Raymond had to swim out to get it. 🤪😂🤪.

Later that evening was the celebration for everybody who attended Duchenne Heroes that week. The theme was ‘disco’, and there were some interesting outfits to be seen. 😁. Photos below.

24/09/2026

Duchenne Heroes Day 5. The main event.

Day 5 was time for some much needed fresh legs in the team. So Lars and the Wheely Wonders welcomed Willemijn and Paul into the fold.

And what a day it was. Absolutely stunning day today. Woke up to a heavy wet fog all over the camp first thing, but as soon as we climbed up the first monster climb of the day through the forest, the sun was shining and there was the sight of the fog lingering in the trees.

So, Will and Paul’s first DH, and it didn’t disappoint. No amount of training prepares you for this. It’s a proper baptism of fire, and thrown straight into the firing line. Both of them dug very deep to get up some very challenging climbs. Rocks, mud, loose earth, and more rocks. Both of them achieving many records on Strava, the main one being climbing height. 💙.

I’m so very proud of both of them. Mark and I pushed them hard, and they proved our doubts very wrong. 😑.

Another big day tomorrow. It’s pink Friday, to acknowledge the small amount of girls that are affected by Duchenne and of course the mums, omas, sisters etc.

20/09/2026

20/09/2026

Day 4 of Duchenne Heroes was all about Lars. And basically giving everybody a break. Lars had been stuck at the campsites with mum, myself and Mark were getting hammered on the trails.

So we took a day off of the official route and took Lars with us on the HASE Pino. We obviously didn’t do the whole official route, as the Pino just wouldn’t have made it, and, well, we’d probably injure somebody trying it. 🤪

We decided to ride around the campsite and were getting a lot of admiring glances towards the Hase. There has never been a bike like this at Duchenne Heroes. Then we headed off to do the first climb of today’s route, up towards the village of Cielle, on top of the hills surrounding La Roche en Ardenne.

Lots of exploring and lots of pictures yet again. We found an extended route along the other end of the valley, down towards La Roche, and met up with mummy (Willemijn) for a delicious lunch at the cyclist Cafe Sowatt.

Cycling back to the campsite there were many questions about the Pino, and lots of photographs taken of it.

After a quick change we went back into town to visit the privately built museum commemorating the battle of the Ardennes. It is incredible the collection in this place. All collected over the years by the owners. A father and son from La Roche.

All in all it was a great day to relax and restore energy for the next few days.

19/09/2026

A fabulous morning for Lars, and the rest of the family. Thanks to Wheels of Joy Lars got a ride in his all time favourite car, an amazing Lamborghini!

His older brother got 2nd choice and chose the incredible Ferrari Spider, and mummy got the final incredible car, the Porsche!! Poor dad was left in his old Dacia, to follow them to Ferrari Kroymans.

What an amazing place this is. I am in no way a ‘car guy’, but I was completely blown away with all the incredible cars in the showroom, and in the underground museum of Ferrari.

We saw cars that almost always only see in magazines. F40’s, F80’s, Spiders, Enzos, a Monza SP1, and my own new personal favourite, a Ferrari 296 GTS, a truly beautiful car. A work of art.

Lars was ever the diplomat when asked which car was his favourite. He said he loved all of them!!! 😁

Can’t wait to see the photos taken by Rideofyours - - ROY.

18/09/2026

And day 3! The Korte Versie.

Felt better than yesterday, and was doing ok before we got to checkpoint 1. After that came the post checkpoint slump.

Started with a climb! As if there’s any other way to start at Duchenne Heroes. And of course a monster climb to start. Swiftly followed by a very long and steep descent. Which Mark really enjoyed, after crashing near the top. 😁.

After that, well it was just horrendous off-road climbs after horrendous off-road climbs. 🤷‍♂️. And it really seriously was guys. I mean this is my 5th time doing DH, and I’ve never had such a continuous ride with consecutive 20% climbs.

It was again very heavy going. Weather was warmer than anticipated. Kept going until checkpoint 2, and an increasing headwind. Mark and I decided enough was enough and planned a shortcut to the next campsite. There was only 18km on the official route, and we ended up doing only 8. But almost no climbing, which was an absolute blessing.

Still almost 1200m of climbing. And the majority of that inside the first 30km. 🤪. Deliberating having a rest day tomorrow as it’s the ‘King Rides’. That translates as the most elevation for the week. 🙄