Personal message by Ralf van Heugten.
It will be a different year in every way. Organizing the Dutch Cycling Week without the inspiring input of Ernest van den Bemd. I will never forget our first meeting either; we presented a first draft and his familiar words immediately sounded like inspiration: "You suffer from ambition, but that's fine! So do I! And this is exactly how I see it too!" sounded Ernest immediately overenthusiastic.
Burden of ambition was Ernest to the full
We first came into contact at the end of 2022. Through a mutual friend, Martin de Ruiter (Central Events/Velotours), Martin arranged an evening that afterwards kicked off the organization of the first Dutch Cycling Week. At the office of Cor Jansen (Utrecht Marketing), a motley crew gathered, including the above, Lucas Harms (Dutch Cycling Embassy), Laurens Hitman (SportUtrecht) and us (Ruben Hoogland and Ralf van Heugten).
From that evening on, it became a life of ambition with Ernest. We were taken into Ernest's world as if in a warm bath. He brought public and private together, was often the connecting factor between individuals or agencies and already had an impressive career behind him, in which his Utrecht Bike Community was the ultimate connecting tool between all networks.
Travel & Cycling Vacations
We also shared our passion for travel and beautiful cycling locations. As a former cycling guru and founder of CycleTours, Ernest was the old skool man of how today's cycling tours have now become. His commitment to cycling and health is more than commendable. Like no other he knew how to enthuse everyone for this. Not knowing that he had had the terrible disease himself just a few years before, there was little looking back; we had to look forward and live the day! We enjoyed our 'sparring sessions' together with all the ideas and suggestions and every now and then beautiful new initiatives arose, such as the first Cycle Mobility Summit. One for which we actually planned another coffee with Ernest next week.
Believing in yourself
You thrived on all the attention you generated with your ideas, and when you came up with the Bicycle Museum, I even frowned for a moment (what had you thought of Kaspar, you could see me thinking). But what you then saw happening again and again: Ernest let the idea live, and within a year the seed not only germinated, but sprouted into a real tree. When I asked him about that, he always said very wittily, "Sometimes you have to land a self-fulfilling prophecy and then see what happens." And so it happened.
Those great moments of sharing ideas, brainstorming about our beautiful industry, the people, the connections we made together and the wonderful network you will leave behind: it certainly won't be the same without you, but I'm sure you will live on in everyone who has ever had the pleasure of working with you.
So there won't be that cup of coffee next year. I will leave the appointment in the calendar, though, just to take a moment to reflect on all the wonderful initiatives you will leave behind and that we will honor. Man, how we will miss you next year. We're going to try extra hard for you here; explain to them up there that you're still suffering from ambition.
Colophon message
As director, Ernest was a driving force behind Utrecht Bike Community and was behind several valuable cycling projects and initiatives that emerged from his network, such as: Dutch Cycling Week, Cycle Mobility Summit, Cycling On Recipe, the Expert Panel on Cycling & Health of the Society for Sports Medicine (VSG) of Sports Medicine Netherlands, Oncomid-symposium 'Movement in Treatment,' combining Cycling Four Days with program Pierce, the Cyclists Museum Utrechtand The Bicycle Practice.
If you would like to do something, please donate to Oncomid/Movement in Treatment, the project Ernest was so proud of. Your donation will benefit scientific research on exercise and cancer: IBAN NL51 RABO 0123 6425 15 in the name of Foundation Friends of the UMC Utrecht. Subject to: In memory of Ernest van den Bemd - Oncomid.
