When I rode out today I wasn't thinking of riding far. I could feel my legs were well recuperated but I imagined an hour or 2 would be more than enough. I rode towards Sint Agatha Rode and Ottenburg and then decided to descent into Basse-Wavre to climb out of it again towards the road to Perwez. It was a while since I followed this one past Chaumont Gistoux so I decided to try that. The bikepath, which in the past was deplorable, seemed to have been remade from Chaumont onwards. Great for biking now, without any potholes and other cracks in the road. I veered to the left towards Opprebais and decided to have a look at the Opprebais water reserve. Many decades ago this was the place where I did my first deepsea diving lessons. Well, needless to say, things have changed quite a bit since then. The site which was once abandoned is now completely filled with houses and it took me some time to find the entrance where we used to ride though to get to the clubhouses. There is only one clubhouse left, the one from DDT Tienen. The carriere is completely surrounded by a fence and there is a walkers/bike path going around it. Here and there you can catch a glimpse of the bluegreen water reserve captured in between the rocky walls. There is still diving going on here, but on a far lesser scale than 20 years ago. Access is limited and this has provided peace in the area as well as in the water itself. In my days it was not uncommon to have hundreds of divers visiting the site during the day and until late in the evening. Needless to say, the noise and light pollution did not go unnoticed and the Opprebais councel decided a while back to close the site as a diving spot and develop more houses next to it. The site has been opened again, but with strict limitations. When I rode around the pond it struck me that I remembered it to be bigger.

After that I followed the blue M markings for a while, taking me towards Dongelberg - another sweet water reservoir and dive-site - and Lathuy. I noticed that my bottom bracket had moved towards the left. Probably because I let some oil onto the axis a while back. When I shifted on the big ring in front, the front derailler cage rubbed against the middle chainring. First I taught one of the crankarms was getting loose but after a while my right crankarm began touching the right side of the frame. A sure sign that the axis itself was shifting. Ah that Tune Bigfoot crank , it is a very light crank but it has its peculiarities. One of them is the continuously loosening of the crankarms on the axis and another is the shifting of the titanium axis itself, moving through the bearings. When I got home I gave it a couple of jams with a heavy hammer and surely enough it moved back where it should be. I must change the bearings soon because the crankarms turn very badly. I finished my ride looping over Sart-Melin and back towards Hamme Mille. The weather was calm and with 23 degrees C not too hot. The sun came through during the afternoon making it alltogether a very enjoyable ride.

Ride Stats : 66K and 550/598 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h2mins

5934/57045

It took me exactly 45 minutes and 16K to reach the edge of the Sonian Forest. The weather was clouded but no rain was forecast and things were looking good. Normally I do this ride in the winter but due to the fact that the Ardennes were being flooded with rain I chose to do a long ride closer to home. So the Sonian Forest springs to mind. Whenever I reach its edges and disappear beneath its foliage my mind wanders off toward Moster Blond. She taught me the way in this massive forest. Thanks to her and the scouting for ride-able loops she did for BigM, I learned my way around. Pity she is prioritizing other things at the moment, I would have loved us to hook up for a part of this ride. But I understand her choice and I respect it. We'll meet again in due time.
When I'm here in the Sonian Forest I usually combine two of her loops with the Nero BLOSO route. First I ride in the Rouge Cloitre area for a short but rather hilly couple of K's. When I reach Trois Fontaines  I switch to the BigM Beginners' loop , which meanders up and down the slopes before reaching the Nero BLOSO route near the railroad. There I could enjoy the famous railroad singletrack again. It had been closed for a couple of years due to expansion workings on the railroad track it follows.

The singletrack has been restored and re-inserted on the NERO loop. It offers a couple of nice steep climbs and a technical descent with a couple of steps and tight switchbacks. You then have to cross a wooden bridge and get ready for a very steep climb. With the tracks being dry this did not break a lot of sweat - provided you are in the right gear - but I can imagine this track being very difficult when it is wet. The Nero route then offers its usual succession of easy trails and a couple of singletracks. These were dry and bumpy. Especially the singletrack next to the Avenue Dubois was a blast. The Avenue seemed to be closed for all traffic because I didn't see a single car when I followed the trail running parallel to it. Nice.
Back on the Beginners' Loop to close it at the Trois Fontaines. Then another tough section of the Rouge Cloitre Loop - where I managed to miss a turn only to arrive down at the ponds again and having to do a tough climb all over - and then back home over Duisburg and Korbeek Dyle. Along the way I was charmed by a trail that looked very inviting. Unfortunately it was in a bad shape and some thorn bushes next to it made me fear for my tyres. And indeed, a bit further I could feel my front wheel become wobbly - flat.

After having fixed the flat I continued my way home. A very satisfying ride, the sun was out on the way back and I had to stop in Duisburg centre to fill up my drinking bottle again. Nice cold Coca Cola got me home in a flash. The heightmeters difference between my Polar - which was set at 5 second intervals - and the Garmin Edge 705 was rather big. I'm beginning to think that I should accept the Garmin figures as my reference, after all they should be the more correct ones.

Ride Stats : 99,5 and 860/1092 (Polar/Garmin) in 4h44mins

5868/56495

08-08-2009, 19:19 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Another very hot summer day and at first I wasn't sure if I should ride out, but when I got home I just went for it. Pace was relaxed of course but the stiff northeasterly breeze didn't make it unbearably hot. At least when you rode with the wind in your face. I had the wind in my back during the first part of the ride, making my way over Heverlee and Egenhoven towards the field roads above Leefdaal. Following that I took a right towards Vossem and then rode all the way to the Tervuren ponds. Here a welcome shade from the outskirts of the Sonian Forest offered some relief. Turning towards the east I began to feel the wind when I rode towards Eizer and Huldenberg. The Smeysberg - I took the Huldenberg city climb, less steep but longer - had me gritting my teeth but on top the dry wind blew straight in my face. Making my way towards Sint Agatha Rode and later Sint Joris Weert, the sun was burning a hole in the back of my helmet. The Zoete Waters offered some relief and I saw the big fish gasping for air at the surface. That surely is a sign it is hot and the water lacks oxygen.

Ride Stats : 50K and 340/379 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h13mins

5769/55635

The weather was very hot today and the sun was making overtime when I left home around 20 to 4. I planned on riding to Beauvechain and pick in on the 100K loop of the Chaumont Gistoux ride. Having followed the 50K version a few days ago I wasn't expecting too much. And indeed, the ride followed mainly big roads towards Tienen, Hoegaarden and Jodoigne. I stopped in Zetrud Lumay to take a picture of a beautiful chapel in the fields. A bit further the ride turned left but due to the heat I decided to take a right turn towards Wavre. Another busy road that I followed until i could turn towards La Bruyere and then I returned home over slightly less busy roads passing through Beauvechain, Opvelp and Bierbeek. The sun had disappeared behind some clouds by now but the temperatures were still close to 30 degrees C. High Summer as we call that here.

Ride Stats : 63K and 320/349 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h41mins

5719/55295

First I planned to ride towards Overijse and do some BLOSO routes over there, but the warm weather made me decide to stay closer to home and in the forest. So I set out into Meerdael Forest, crisscrossing the part East of the Naamsesteenweg. The average temperature in the forest was 6 degrees less than out in the open and the tracks were still damp from last Sundays' rain. I did venture out into the fields towards Gottechain all the way to the Chapelle Sainte Corneille in Tourinnes la Grosse before returning towards the forest for a last couple of K's back to Blanden. In all I had a fine relaxing ride, not too hot and no insects to bother me either.

Ride Stats : 30K and 290/391 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h36mins

5656/54975