MTB in the Pearl of the South
I am Martijn Verhaeg, not yet 50 years old, married, father of three adult children and owner of Cooper (a Beagle).
I was born and raised in the pearl of the south, Den Bosch. In addition to an education as a mechanical engineer, I got into the web design profession and have been working as an independent entrepreneur for the past 25 years. In the context of "doing what you like best", I have been busy setting up MTB Masters (mtbmasters.nl) for the past 8 years. With this company I focus on giving 1-on-1 mountain bike clinics and I guide athletes in achieving their goals.
In recent years, gravel cyclists have also reported to me with great regularity, and I am of course also happy to teach them the finer points of off-road cycling. In the past year, I have set up a workshop where I give workshops on mountain bike, gravel bike and racing bike maintenance.
Besides being an entrepreneur, I also like to cycle a bit myself. Nice long rides and my specialty is riding 24-hour mountain bike races.
24 hours MTB
I became Dutch champion in the 24-hour solo MTB category in 2018, 2019 and 2023 and won the last edition of T24MTB in Belgium in 2022.
With the cancellation of the NK, I had to choose other goals last year and for this year. The Hardennes Gravel Tour and The Ardennes Monster are on the agenda, among others, and I mainly want to cycle and make others enthusiastic.
What gives me positive energy is being outside and enjoying the beautiful surroundings around Den Bosch or just blasting on a flowy singletrack. Also helping other athletes, sharing my experience and writing articles about bikes, material and training.
Challenges
My sports are 'limited' to everything on the bike. Mountain biking is number one, followed by gravel biking in second place and road cycling in third place. Cycling on a beach bike over deserted Zeeland beaches is also wonderful. If you have a Beagle as a pet, you can't avoid walking a lot, so those 10,000 steps a day are never really a problem.
For next year I have set myself a few less goals than previous years and have only registered for the Hardennes Gravel Tour for now. The Ardennes Monster will probably be added to that, I want to improve my time on an off-road Everesting and the 6 Hours of 't Zand is also still fun. Further expanding MTB Masters, giving clinics and maintenance courses is also definitely a goal.
If you have set yourself big goals, are afraid of cycling or could your technique use an upgrade, please contact me 😊