The Ride
Today
saw another ride in the Ardennes region, not far from Theux or the
Ninglinspo for that matter. So I was pretty eager to get over there.
The weather looked good, 21 degrees on average during the ride,
as I saw later, scattered showers were possible but not a drop
actually fell during the ride. Dropping down from the N25 into the
Ambleve valley one cannot but be in awe for the sheer height of the
wooded cliffs surrounding this river. I was expecting a lot of
climbing, at least getting out of this valley should prove quite a task
and one hell of a warmup.
I was not disappointed. After inscribing
(2 I think it was ) I got a little sticker for the rest stops,
with on it a phone number in case of emergency. A good point this one.
Especially in these areas an accident is practically waiting around
every corner and it only costs little to provide each and every
participant with a working emergency number. But not all is good, read
on.
This ride was organised by the "Velo Club de la Redoute" (a
well-known hill from road racing ) and fell under the Adam Smol
Challenge. It was obvious when I entered Aywaille that there was a lot
of attendance.. not a parking space in sight in a 500-meter radius from
the Inscriptions, which where at the Espace Sports at the rue de la
Heid. Luckily one of the regionals gave me the golden tip to head back
into Aywaille and park in the neighborhood of the train station. It
added an extra K to my mileage but who cares.
So, lets ride. The
arrowing consisted of yellow fields with black arrows, no arrows on the
ground. The arrows are very visible and I can safely say the arrowing
was first class. What I did not like was the fact that there where no
'danger' signs before the really 'bad' downhills, nor were there any
signs indicating a road crossing, and we did cross a few very busy
governmental roads.. Very dangerous
As I expected (hoped for
actually) the first climb was a masterpiece. After about one K of
gently following the river, all of a sudden things got serious pretty
quickly. Up it went and very steep, coupled to some wet rocks and other various
slippery stones. I saw a lot of people already pushing their bike. Oh
dear, this was gonna be a long ride for them
I should at this point
mention that there were 4 distances offered. An 8K "kids" ride, and the
bigger distances, being 15K, 30K and 45K. Or as it would turn out, 1 , 2
or 3-hour rides if you were fit enough.
After a climb which took us
in 6 kilometers and in 3 stages all the way up to 320 metres (from 150
metres at the starting point) things just kinda flowed one into the
other. A climb along a meadow in slippery grass was followed by a wet
downhill and not far into the ride, the 15K already took its own way
back to Aywaille. The pushers from the first climb will be happy with that I'm sure.
A 30K-45K split took the 45K into what I consider
to be the most hazardous of descents I've done this year. Dropping down
some 80 heightmeters in about 800 running meters and on wet rocky underground ! I remember thinking to
myself a few minutes before, "where are the rocks?" , so I was being
served, and well served.
The rocky-wet-hollow-road drop into
Flagothier was awesome, and I admit at one point I walked a little bit,
not being helped by seeing a guy losing it and smack down against the
rocks. He was OK (at least, he said so ) but he made me loose a
bit of my mental drive. I had to pull out all registers, and NOT
pull too much on the brakes to make it down.. wow, this is the
real stuff.
After that drop, I had to climb back up a parallel
hollow road (which accounts for the wetness of the rocks) and again I
had to put a foot down when the sheer steepness of the
climb, combined with the slippery underground stopped me in my
tracks. Walk a few meters to a dryer spot, saddle up and 'hop-hop-hop'
there we go again. Marvelous.
Not far after this one we came back on
the 30K loop and the first rest stop arrived just in time for most of
us, with 17K on the counter.
It was well stocked and very friendly
people gave me something to drink while I helped myself to some cake.
No power bars like last week in Theux, but I brought my own so I gobbled
one down while drinking some powerdrink.
I was getting into the
rhythm now and I had the impression the height differences were
mellowing down a bit . Mellow down, yes, but they were steep
still, and care had to be taken in the downhills, each and every
time.
The track made a big loop around Aywaille , clockwise , going towards the
North now as far as Dolembreux and Gomzé Andoumont (home of the
"Bataille des Ardennes" ) . Rocky stuff, and some nice views, but watch
it, keep your eyes on the trail !
Some nice passages in the forest
followed here. Great downhill followed by a real teethgrinder
uphill. Mellowing out again as we arrived at the second
reststop, some 30K into the ride.
Here, again, I was handed a
drink and helped myself to some cake. I tried all the flavors, some
green, red and yellow beverage - the yellow tasted best - and got going
again.
Another 45K-only loop brought us all the way east to
Adzeux and here we got our second great rocky downhill of the day.
Being dry, I had no trouble whatsoever and kept the speed high, internally screaming with joy.
They reserved a really great finale for us, after rejoining and
leaving the 30K loop again, we went into the Bois de Wernoumont for
a long uphill, not very steep, but in the forest we could meander
through the trees to avoid the only water puddles I saw during the
entire ride. We were not far from the top of the famous "La Redoute" but
we followed the forest rim on a really nice track with (dry) roots and
lots of them. It amuzed me I had no trouble whatsoever following a full
suspension rider (I was on my Litespeed hardtail) who speeded along
trying to get rid of me, which he couldn't , roots or not.
Then
came an a-w-e-s-o-m-e rocky downhill, dry and with big lacets dropping
steeply down all the way back into the valley. This was really the
best downhill of the ride, and I wouldn't mind riding it in the other
direction (ie uphill) , just not today thank you.
I passed a few more bikers on
full suspension bikes, which only made me grinning more. All the way
down I noticed I used up to 75mm of travel from my 80mm fork, which kinda
indicates how fast it went, and with the rocky drops this really was a
great downhill. I would NOT want to ride this one in the rain though,
as most rocks go, they become very slippery with only limited room
for deceleration.
After we were back at the river Ambleve, a
2K ride along some footpaths and over some meadows saw me safely
back at the start.
The lowdown
What I liked:
-great tracks, one really long uphill, some great rocky downhills, especially that last one - wow
-arrowing was without fault thoughout the entire ride
-distance splits were very well announced, as well before as after the split, confirming the distance you were on.
-everyone got a sticker with emergency number on it
-rest stops where reasonably stocked
-friendly people at rest stops and at inscription
-enough choice of beverages at rest stops ; water and various powerdrinks, Red Bull ( + girls) at first stop
What I did not like:
-no danger signs before downhills
-no danger signs before road crossings
-no powerbars or bananas at rest stops
-not enough really long climbs
-why not go towards Nonceveux and get an extra 300 heighmeters there , on a 55K ride ?
Synopsis
In
all, this is a great ride , as you will see from looking at the
profile, the climbs are of moderate lenght (except the first one) but
mostly pretty steep and sometimes very slippery, on grass, on rocks or
on roots. Hill factor of 20.6 really tells the tale.
We are in the
Ardennes here, so the underground is of the rocky kind. This means some
suspension and fat tyres (I was on 2.25 Big Jims) are handy. Downhills
are always to be treated with respect on these rides, as they can
change from a gently dropping meadow road into a rocky nightmare
behind every corner.
The bare facts :
47.3K and 975 Heightmeters (Hill Factor 20.6)
More Info:
Organisers Website
GPS track on Google Earth
24-09-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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