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| Tales from the Woods |
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| 29-10-2006 |
 Bierbeek Meerdael 2000 TT |
Rise and shine , it's 6am and I have to leave at first light, or even just before that time, to ride to the start of the Bierbeek TT, organized by the Meerdael 2000 team. I help the organisation and as usual I get to pre-ride and check the longest distance, making sure no arrows are missing.I leave at 7.15 am with two other riders who very quickly take one of the shortest routes, leaving me on my own to ride through the awakening forest. I was not very awake myself because I manage to fall off only 250 metres from my home, a root hidden under some autumn leaves tripped my front wheel. I fall on my left hip but besides some pain there doesn't seem to be much damage done. Will be stiff next morning though. Still, no time to get stiff now, I ride on and the movement of my legs keeps the blood flowing. It is amazingly warm this morning, 16° C , and I begin to sweat a little bit under my long pants and long sleeves. Still , having to stop frequently to put back an arrow that seems to have developed legs during the night, I am glad I have some protection from the wind that blows quite happily from the west.
After about one hours drive I am back at the shorter loops and pass some bikers that have either left very early or are riding the loop without inscription. Oh well, it's a common road, not private, so they have every right to be here. I don't have the guts nor the glory to try and climb the very steep section after the first rest stop and walk with my bike until halfway up. Then I mount the bike and grind my way up the steep reminder of this short climb. There will be a long queue forming here later on., that much is obvious. At Nethen there is a whole sections with missing arrows, and I have a bit of work to make sure the riders won't get lost here. After some 28K the track leaves the forest to go out in the fields of Hamme Mille , gently meandering up and down. The second rest stop has the Red Bull girls waiting.. The blonde one, whom I recognize from last years rides , comes over and hands me a Red Bull. I ask her to pour it directly into my bottle and she does so, adding "This will up your taurine levels for the next 3 hours". I smile and tell her I won't be biking for the next 3 hours.. She replies "No problem, when you are at home, you will still be very vital". I look at her from behind my shades and think to myself that I feel very vital right here and right now , just looking at her .. She looks back and seems to understand what I am thinking . Smiling from ear to ear I get back on my bike and set off to tackle the last 20K of the ride. Some faster riders pass me now and I'm always pleased when that happens. I up the speed and soon leave them behind. Then a really fast one comes along and I have a hard task keeping him in my sights. He is very strong on the uphills and my hip gives out a pang of protest so I stop the chase and let him ride. The arrowing is perfect now, I am on the smaller extra loops now and they have been checked by other guys. Just after 10am I am back at the start. Judging by the amount of cars that are parked along the roads, this is gonna be a succes for the organisers. Someone tells me they already have 1200 inscriptions with still 30 minutes to go. I take my bike over to the bikewash area and clean the little bit of mud that clung to it. Overall , the ride was fast, with a nice section in Meerdael and Heverlee forest. A few muddy patches but only 2 where riding though them couldn't be avoided. Ride stats : 66K and 615 heightmeters.Some pictures taken before and during the ride
29-10-2006, 20:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 28-10-2006 |
| LIght and shadow |
Damn, damn damn. Just as I had planned in a morning taking some wildlife photographs , the one thing absolutely necessary to take good photographs; photos ie light, is absent.
This morning woke me up in dark and gloomy weather and not the october sunshine I had hoped for. What a contrast with yesterdays' sunny bliss. But then I had to work, moping behind the glass about opportunities lost. Life's a bitch, sometimes.
Even some light rain so taking the bike out is no option either. I still hope it will clear out this afternoon and maybe then I can go out with my camera after all, but for the biking part I will have to make do with the rollers, again.
So I got on the rollers around 11am , which today felt like a compulsory ride, not something I was looking forward to. Armed with Alanis Morissette, Nightwish and KMFDM tunes on the MP3 player and enjoying Robert E.Howards "Black Colossus" I let myself drift away into the rhythmic sounds in my ear with the rollers' noises droning far in the background.
I did not feel particularly well throughout the ride, sweating more than usual and even though my average heartrate was just over my aerobic treshold I did not feel the release of the endorphins this time.
Stats: 37K in 91 minutes
28-10-2006, 13:48 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 27-10-2006 |
| On the rollers again |
Today I received some very sad news which left a profound impact on my state of mind and will do so for some time to come.
What I usually do when I feel sad is to get on my bike and ride to clear or order my thoughts. This evening I did not feel like going out so I stayed indoors and did an hours' ride on the rollers.
Stats: 27k in 61 minutes
27-10-2006, 19:10 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 26-10-2006 |
| On the road again |
Even though it was still windy this evening, it was dry so I decided to go out for a quick spin, making a 28K loop on the road adding 195 heightmeters to my total. Took it easy and was only bothered by the erratic behaviour of my Polar transmitter. Seeing a heartrate of 42bpm one second and 120 a few seconds later is not really funny. I have had this problem for a few months now and I think my belt is ready for the dumpster.
Stats : 28K and 195 heightmeters in 1h10 minutes.
26-10-2006, 11:49 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 24-10-2006 |
| Roller time |
Another stormy and wet evening so back on the rollers I went. This time I did 50 minutes , adding a gear each 10 minutes, and cooling down for 2 minutes afterwards.Legs felt good and my average heartrate was 113 bpm, which was 6 bpm lower than yesterday even though today's rhythm and average speed were higher. I recovered well it would seem.
Stats : 23K in 52 minutes.
24-10-2006, 20:25 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 23-10-2006 |
| Roller time |
Weather was unstable and it was dark when I arrived home so I decided to go for a quick spin on the rollers.
Started real easy and upped a gear every 10 minutes. After 30 mins I really started to get a good feeling in my legs so I decided to add another 6 minutes listening to my favorite Roxette tunes on the MP3 player.
Stats : 15K in 36 minutes.
23-10-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 22-10-2006 |
| Accro Bike 2006 |
Today I did not ride myself, but helped my club, the Blanc Gilets, with the organisation of their annual Accro Bike mountainbike race.
This is a 32K race starting in Hèze near Grez-Doiceau , this time it consisted of two 16K laps.
Due to the marvelous weather the tracks were dry, something we do not experience a lot in this period of the year.
I had my camera with me but because I had to stop traffic I could only use one hand to make the pics. Still I'm pretty pleased with the results.
Click on the picture next to the text to watch the gallery
22-10-2006, 18:24 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 16-10-2006 |
| Ottignies |
Rode towards Ottignies today to check if the organized ride yesterday included the Bois des Reves, or not.
Seems that indeed the arrows
pointed to the left , leaving the bikers to follow the bikepath that
runs along the Bois des Reves, but the loop itself was not indicated
and not arrowed so I presume the Rando d'El Botroul skipped the Bois
des Reves this year. Managed to get lost when riding towards Wavre, but
then found my way again to ride over Tombeek, Terlanen and Ottenburg
towards Sint Joris Weert and the back home.
72K and 605 heightmeters for this Long Slow Distance ride that cleared all traces of yesterdays thoughie out of my legs
16-10-2006, 17:57 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 15-10-2006 |
| Soumagne - Challenge GHF |
The Ride:
The last few days had been dry and the temperature was quite good for october. That made me decide to go to the Ardennes area instead of doing a ride closer to home. Better get some nice Ardennes rides in while the getting is good.
Well, actually Soumagne is not the Ardennes yet, but is on the fringe of an area called the Land of Herve, gently rolling landscape with thorny hedges beaconing green and lush meadows. It looks a bit like a big patched quilt. The climbs are generally very steep and there are lots of rocks in the ground, making traction not always obvious. I had been in this region before, the first time during an LCMT some years ago so I knew what to expect. The area can get very muddy during the winter months and you need some spare inner tyres because of the high probability of a flat due to the thorn hedges.
So 10.45am and I'm at Soumagne. Quite a crowd judging by the full parking lot, but an advantage of starting this late is that there always are some vacant spaces close to the start. Simply because the early starters were already back in. 3.5 for all distances (20. 30 and 40K on offer) and 3 reststops for the 40K. At least we wouldn't die of hunger and thirst. The ride is part of the Challenge Gileppe and Haute Fagnes, which usually delivers very good and tough rides with high standards for arrowing and rest stops.Made a digital picture of the map, always handy to have around in case you get lost. The first K's were easy, some tarmac getting out of the town of Soumagne but gradually the road got smaller and worse until all of a sudden we were on a wet trail strewn with rocks and some muddy patches. Yikes, this was not what I came here fore. I mounted an NBX Lite which is some kind of semi-slick but with very good grip in corners. Luckily there was no more mud to speak of later, but the rocks would remain wet. Even at this hour the morning dew was still present (it IS october after all) so I prepared for some tricky wet downhills and hopefully steep ascents. I was not going to be disappointed on either account. Some nice little technical section; a step here, a rocky descent there , got me into the rhythm quite quickly and I was glad to be here. After some 10K into the ride , the 20K distance split off from the other 2 distances and this meant things were getting more interesting fast. First a steep climb towards Magnée after which we had a long drop into the Fonds de Foret. This was immediately followed by a 3K uphill back towards Foret. The steep bits were REALLY steep and had me cursing a few times that I left my chain on the middle ring, leaving me with a 34/34 combination which really had me grind my teeth at some parts of the uphill. At Foret we got the first rest stop, around 17K into the ride. Rest stop which was well stocked with Isostar or water, cookies and some fruit, and had me drink and eat quite a bit to restore lost forces.
After that we had a nice section of tarmac during which the food could settle into our stomach. We more or less stayed on the plateau until the 30K split from the 40K distance.
All of a sudden we were on a wonderful singletrack that meandered into a forest. At one point there was a very dangerous turn to the left, just behind a right turn. The track was really bad here and I saw that a lot of people had bailed out here, judging by the tracks going into the rift.. A little 'Danger' sign might have done a lot of good here. We kept on losing height all the way to Nessonvaux, along the way enjoying some beautiful views of the Vesdre valley deep below us. In Nessonvaux the arrowing, which up until now had been really good, was really bad. I had to doubletrack a section because for a while there were no arrows. This is very annoying since you have no comfirmation you are going in the right direction. We passed at least 3 streets were no arrows were indicating whether we should follow the main road, or take the side-street. I followed the main road and after about 600 metres was awarded with an arrow indicating a right turn.
Another long and steep climb took us up on the plateau near Bois d'Olne were I found a 2nd Rest Stop. This one was only for the 40K. and had only water and some assorted sweet stuff. I conversed a bit with the two old-timers which manned the stop, mentioning the dangerous section without warning and the Nessonvaux arrow scarceness. They nodded and asked me what I thought of the region. I had to agree the region was "fantastique" .
And it would remain so for the remainder of the ride, going towards Olne. Leaving Olne we had to drop down again and did so on a track that had steps in it. I was surprised by them so dismounted and ran the first batch with my bike next to me. But I was thinking that the steps were not that bad, only about 20cm high and between 30 and 40 cm long, so I got on my bike and made the remaining drops riding. Care had to be taken because at some points the steps were replaced by wet rock, but then the steps were back again and I could hobble down on them all the way into Vaux-sous-Olne. A great section this one.
Now we were climbing back towards Foret were we had the 3rd rest stop (which was the same as the 1st actually) Some 6 kilometers to go from here but there was a very tricky, and sometimes outright dangerous rocky downhill waiting for us about 1.5 K from the rest stop. Had to keep the concentration up on this one and at one time I bailed out, judging it was not worth taking the risk to try and ride this.
Another steepish climb, at one time I had to walk , too steep and big rocks making it nearly impossible to keep on riding. The last few K's were on tarmac taking us back to Soumagne and the finish.
I had 45,7K and 1105 heightmeters on the Polar. That makes for a Hill Factor of 24.
The Lowdown:
What I liked:
+great region
+steep climbs and lots of them
+tricky downhills and lots of them
+nice singletrack sections
+well-stocked rest stops, 1 on the 20K, 2 on the 30K and 3 on the 40K distance.
+fair entry price
+arrowing was sparse but sufficient (except at a few places - see below )
+
What I did not like:
-missing arrows in Nessonvaux and near the end of the ride.
-arrows were paper without support so sometimes bend making it hard to see in which direction the arrow pointed
-wouldn't like to find out what rain would do to said paper arrows
-no danger signs at a few very tricky spots
-sometimes long tarmac sections (500-800 metres ) between trails.
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no comment on the after-ride facilities (bike-wash, showers, ...) since I did not use them.
Synopsis:
A very good ride, accumulating a fair bit of heightmeters in a great region, well worth the displacement. Tracks were moist and could be hell during rain or after a wet period. Hill Factor is indicative enough, this is a tough ride, due to technicality of both the uphills (steep and sometimes not much traction due to rocks) and the downhills, which were to be taken with full concentration , easy on the front brake .
Entry price of 3 was a steal considering the 3 rest stops. It was the same for all distances though, so 20K or 30K riders might not agree. The region is not as deeply cut as a bit further south, heights varying between 100 and 280 metres, but as you can see on the rides' profile, there were some long climbs anyway. This one is on my list for next year.
There is another ride starting in Soumagne (not the same organisers) which goes towards Banneux and also delivers about the same distance and heightmeters. That ride starts in the St Joseph school while this one started at the local Football field.
The Bare Facts:
map:
Profile of the Ride
A series of pictures taken during this ride
15-10-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 14-10-2006 |
| Work in Progress |
Due
to the stir that has gone though some bikers concerning the
'destruction' of a valuable trail on the Hoeilaart BLOSO route, I
decided to ride over there and take a look myself. The work had been
announced for over a year now, so we were kinda expecting it. The trail
runs next to a railroad and they will add another track to that
railroad, thus broadening it some 20 metres.
Therefore they need to do some
work, which will interrupt the singletrack. This work has now started. The
promise has been made to restore the mountainbike track after the work
for the railroad has been done.
It is indeed impossible now to
follow the last 100 metres of the track, and their is a sign at both
sides indicating that entrance to the trail has been shut.
The markers have been changed so
the route takes a little shortcut over tarmac instead of descending and
ascending again via trail and singletrail.
No big deal in the greater picture
of things, and some people who were already announcing the end of all
mountainbike trails in the Zonienwoud should reconsider their wordings
and return with both feet on the ground.
I made some pictures while I was
there and you can compare them to pictures as it was before by clicking
on the link behind the picture next to this text.
I returned home with 64K and 390 heightmeters more than when I left.
14-10-2006, 16:01 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 11-10-2006 |
| Climb It ! |
Today
I felt like doing some hill training. Nearby Meerdael has a few climbs
which are very well suited for this purpose. So I set off and quickly
regained the first hill, a tricky downhill with lots of roots bringing
me from 70 to 35 metres, followed by a long uphill, some 500 metres
regaining 35 heightmeters, 7% average . The climb was easily manageable
on the 34/34, good moist sandy track with some roots and other stuff to
keep it interesting. I did this uphill/downhill combination 5 times.
Every time I hit the downhill I went a little faster, proof that you
gain confidence by doing technical sections, and also that you learn
from doing a section a few times.
I then moved on to the next downhill/uphill combo. The uphill was
situated on the BLOSO trail (but in the opposite direction) and the
downhill was a quick fall with a few good curves and even a little
uphill bend before dropping in a gully and reaching the bottom at 45
metres of altitude. The following uphill brought me in 400 metres about
32 metres higher, so averaging an 8% slope .
I did this climb 10 times, with every round I lost a bit of daylight
and when I was nearing the 10th climb, I met 3 bikers , one of them had
a torn chain and since neither of them had any material to break a
chain or mend it, it was their lucky day I passed when I did. I gave
them my chain tool and an SRAM link so that they could be on their way.
I hope for them it is a lesson learned. Never leave without having the
necessary tools to perform basic emergency maintenance.
Oh well, I rode on and when I got home I counted 27K and a nice 600
heightmeters. That a Hill Factor of 22 for you My average speed
was a whopping 13kph :).
11-10-2006, 19:56 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 09-10-2006 |
| Haasrode tour |
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Today
I did a road ride I call the Haasrode Tour. It's a ride that starts in
Haasrode and it is signposted with white "H" marks and an arrow on
the tarmac. It roughly runs over Bierbeek, Willebringen, Oorbeek,
Tienen, Hoegaarden and then back towards L'Ecluse, Pietrebais, Cocrou,
Grez Doiceau, Eerken, Pecrot , Nethen and Sint Joris Weert. I know it
by heart which is nice because in some regions the arrowing is gone.
It all added up to 67K and 485 heightmeters and I rode 2h39 on the Hilset.
Pace was good and I had a nice intensive training pushing hard on the hills and (relatively speaking) relaxing in between them
09-10-2006, 17:23 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 05-10-2006 |
| Road ride |
So
as was forecast, during the early part of the day the rain disappeared,
making it possible to get a decent ride in. No offroad ride since I
didn't fancy cleaning a bike, but instead I set off on a 50K loop which
is arrowed by BLOSO and starts at Heverlee, passing through Blanden,
Vaalbeek, St-Joris Weert, St Agatha Rode, Ottenburg, Terlanen,
Huldenberg, Leefdaal , Korbeek Dyle and back to Heverlee.
The route passes close to where I
live so I ride it regularly. There is also a 30K version . Rode the
Hilset again, which had been sitting idle these last few months because
of the emphasis on offroad rides I always put during the summer months.
The Hilset is only used for road
training and the occasional winter offroad blast. Nevertheless I
already have more then 5600K on it this year. Average temperature of
16°C made me reach for my long sleeves. The occasional sunray put a
smile on my face though.
The ride stats: 56.5K and 505 heightmeters.
05-10-2006, 15:13 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 04-10-2006 |
| Going nowhere but at least I was fast |
Damn
weather keeps me inside. I wanted to go out for a quick 1h offroad ride
or even a 2h road spin, but the rain decided otherwise.
So I
stayed in and spend an hour on the rollers.. a bit boring but I got a
good workout, warming up reading the latest Mountainbike Plus magazine
for about half an hour and then riding just under my aerobic treshold
for another 30 minutes. My legs felt good. I hope the weather stays dry
tomorrow so I can get a road ride in.
04-10-2006, 20:02 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 01-10-2006 |
| Mazy |
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The Ride
So
I decided to go to Mazy and ride the 5th 'Vallee de l'Orneau' organised ride. After last nights' thunderstorm I wasn't sure
if Braine would've been spared (it wasn't ) , and since I hadn't been
in Mazy for a while and I knew that organized ride was bound to be less
crowded , I made a last minute decision to ride there.
Had
a bit of trouble finding Mazy ( I really need to get out my map sooner
instead of just riding along in the wrong direction ) but I
arrived around 11am and found some parking space very close to the
start. The first riders were already back at the start and I heard some
complaints about the last 10K being a lot of tarmac.. Oh great.. :(
But
then I had been here before, for the "Randonnée des 5 Chateaux" ,
a classic ride passing - you would never have guessed - along 5 of the
areas' very beautiful castles. I also did the "Sauvenieroise" , another
race starting in not-so-far-away Sauveniere and I knew I would be hard
pressed to get a Hill Factor of more than 10 out of this ride.
Payed
5 at the start and soon enough I was on my bike and ready to go.. All
of a sudden someone comes riding up next to me and I am pleasantly
surprised to see an old friend. Someone I was in the LCMT with a couple
of years ago.
Also a titanium freak we take some time checking out each others'
Litespeeds while he also informs me the last 15K are rather flat and
dull.. Great x 2 .. :(
On
my way then and there are some nice tracks straight away. No rain here
so most of the trail is dry and bone-hard. The Orneau is a small river
we will see quite a few times. The offroad sections near that river -
and the trails descending towards it or climbing away from it - are
really nice. Pity that there is also a lot of tarmac, or dull
fieldtracks, to get from one nice trail to the other. I more or
less ride together with a guy with a Cannondale Rush and I am amazed at
his ability to really make speed on the heavy pothole-ridden field
tracks. He can remain seated and really put down the hammer while I
have to get up from time to time to avoid being hammered in my back.
This is the kind of ride that makes even the most ardent hardtail freak
long for a full suspension bike. I really have to look at that Titus Racer-X I have been thinking about for a while now.
On
the uphills I have the advantage though, due to my lighter bike I can
power away from him. So we kept on passing each other during the entire
ride. As was being mentioned, the last 10K or so was on the plateau,
and the wind was blowing fiercely in our faces to even make it more
tough. Only one last quick descent towards Mazy and we are back at the
start, only 2h35 after I left.
As was to be expected, after 54K there are only 590 heightmeters on my Polar (Hill Factor of 10.9 ) .
Still there were some really nice sections and I am not alltogether unhappy I chose this ride.
The Lowdown
What I liked:
- 2 well stocked rest stops, spread evenly along the ride, friendly people.
- arrowing was sufficient, white background plaques with red tip indicating direction, some chalk and arrows on tarmac.
- some nice sections along the river and at least one great downhill just before the 2nd rest stop
- police at busy roads stopping traffic , making crossing these roads very easy and safe
What I didn't like:
- long tarmac sections or dull field tracks between the more interesting sections
- no discount for licencies.
- could have used some more offroad sections near the end. Looks like they concentrated on distance, not on content.
Synopsis
The area has potential, but between the interesting sections, and there really
were some very nice tracks around, there is too much tarmac or field
roads to really make this ride (or this region) stand out. The
Randonnee des 5 Chateaux is better but they get permission to pass on
privately owned trails, something the organisers of this ride did NOT
get. Also note that this region is to be avoided after heavy rainfall ,
the dull field tracks then becoming sticky with mud.
The bare facts
I have uploaded the ride's profile HERE
and you can find a map of the 52K distance HERE
01-10-2006, 16:28 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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