Very stormy weather last night with lots of rain and heavy wind gusts. This morning I couldn't be coaxed to go offroad, not did I want to really with all the mud and debris that was sure to make the going very tough. Instead I settled on what I hoped to be a long slow distance ride along the Red BLOSO route that starts in Heverlee and loops over Sint Joris Weert, Sint Agatha Rode, Terlanen, Neerijse and back over Egenhoven to Heverlee. The wind was still fierce and I was taking it easy, not wanting to burn to much calories. In Ottenburg I saw the participants of the yearly organised ride enter , their bikes a very muddy brown and their clothing painted along the same lines. For the 3rd year in succession the organisers of this fine ride have not been blessed by good weather. Either it rained heavily on the 11th itself, or, like this year, it rained heavily the night before turning the parcours into a difficult succession of climbs and mudpatches. A bit further, whilst tackling the Keyberg, disaster struck for me. I felt my rear tyre lose air and had to switch tyres. I had a suspicious inner tyre with me that I mounted instead of the punctured one, and 10 minutes later I was back on my way. Not for long because during the fast descent of the Smeysberg I could already feel that the tyre was not holding air properly. I tried to inflate it a bit more but upon exiting Neerijse I had to change tyres again. I looked for, and found, the hole in my first inner tyre and after fixing that I could finish my ride without any more troubles.
Ride Stats : 51.5K and 495/468 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h20mins
8943/87915
11-11-2008, 14:57 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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