I felt a bit tired this morning, yesterdays' ride had been fast and I did not feel fully recuperated. Still , I had a day off from work and I wanted to do another ride today, so around 1pm I rode out. I had this crazy idea to ride all the way to Ottignies- Louvain La Neuve. It is quite some distance for a winter ride but I decided to give it a go. If I felt it would be too much I could cut the ride short at a couple of places. It was only 3 degrees today and a nasty wind was blowing from the west. From time to time I could feel some rain or snow on my face.  But I was wearing enough protection and rode through Meerdael forest towards Sint Joris Weert and then over Nethen towards Pecrot and Archennes. Here I was surprised by some colorful vegatation . The snow had melted and the grass looked a bit dull and lifeless. But the colors in these trees - yellow and tints of red - had in them the promise of spring. I stopped and took a picture.

From Archennes I crossed the N25 and rode through Dion, Dion Valmont and Dion le Val. Crossing the road from Wavre to Perwez I made my way over some VERY BAD cobbles towards the outskirts of Corroy Le Grand before turning right and riding into Louvain La Neuve. Here, on the Boulevard Baudouin 1er I saw the red relic of an old cyclotron and took another picture. 

Dropping down into Ottignies, with the Bois des Reves on my right, I knew I stll had a long way to go. Crossing Ottignies and Limelette then passing the Walibi parc in Bierges, I had a long climb ahead of me towards the centre of Bierges. From here I followed the old markings of the Maleizen organised ride. They brought me towards Rosieres and then I crossed the language border and I was back in Overijse and Flanders.. Into Tombeek, then towards Terlanen and Sint Agatha Rode. I had the wind in my back now - at last - and it was easier to ride the bike now. From Sint Joris Weert I rode towards the Zoete Waters and then over Vaalbeek back into Blanden. Quite a ride and I was very pleased when I arrived home again. Just goes to show that you can do more than you think. All you need is some courage and go for it.

Ride Stats : 65.5K and 520/585 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h11mins

1025/11020

19-02-2010, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

After a couple of cold days with lots of snow on the roads last evening saw at last the arrival of a rain zone, and an upwards leap in the temperature which brought it to the positive side of zero. When I arrived home today I even saw it was 8 degrees C. High time to get on my bike and do a ride on the now frost- and icefree roads. Due to the higher temperatures the snow has melted which leaves the offroad wet and soggy. So I will have to wait a couple of days to let the water evaporate . Hopefully, because it might as well start to rain leaving things even wetter. Or it might just get colder again which will stiffen things up.
Anyway, today I chose the Hilset to ride on the roads , doing a medium loop around Bierbeek, Bremt, Neervelp, Opvelp and Beauvechain. On my way back I passed in Tourinnes, Hamme Mille, Nethen and Sint Joris Weert before arriving at the Zoete Waters for the last stretch over Vaalbeek back home. It felt good to be able to ride on dry roads, with just a little bit of wind and best of all, positive temperatures throughout the ride.

Ride Stats : 40K and 275/315 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h45mins

959/10435

18-02-2010, 19:46 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

It was snowing lightly this morning. I rode out with the plan to pick up on the Zoenk organised ride which passed 300m from my home, and then do the 65K loop until it got back in Vaalbeek. That way I would have the most interesting bit of the loop and since I wasn't going past the start/finish I had no right to stop at the 2 rest stops. But that didn't bother me. I hardly drink during my winter rides and with the pace I was making I would be burning mostly fatty tissue.From the start, when I joined the tracks of many bikers on the Margrietendreef, I felt that the trails would be a lot more slippery then when I rode alone 2 days ago. Due to the many tyres that passed before me, the trail became icy and very treacherous. It would snow throughout the entire ride and this new snow added to the icy conditions. Best was to ride in new snow, but this was not always possible. When I reached the first serious downhill in Nethen it proved near to impossible to brake without locking up the wheels. And of course, when the downhill is steep, you simply HAVE to brake. I tried but I slided on my left side. From then I was a bit more cautious and chose to walk the steepest parts of the downhills. Even walking down was difficult. Some bikers tried to ride but many would abandon soon and choose to walk or ride with one foot grazing the ground. When you had a good view of where you were going, you could choose to let the bike go, not touching the brakes except the rear one. And then - with a lot of luck and perhaps a bit of skill - you would make the downhill with the rubber side down. Luckily, when the 55K and later the 65K trails split off from the lesser distances, there were less bikers which meant less trails and less icyness. Except for the tarmac roads, and the cobbles, where care had to be taken. The field roads near to Bossut were covered with deep snow .

Most of the tarmac trails were full of snow as well , there was no salt used here, and your best bet is to ride in the middle of the road, between the car trails, where the snow would be looser and thus offering more traction. Luckily the very steep tarmac roads were clear of snow, it would have been very dangerous otherwise. When I reached Gastuche and got set for the long climb towards Ottenburg, I knew the most difficult part of the 65K trail was coming now. The Zoenkers have conceived a very nice succession of climbs and downhills here. The track was the same as last years' - which I had done a couple of times with my GPS - so there were no surprises for me. I knew the trails intimately which helped a lot to anticipate where the slippery parts would be. Still, sometimes even on flat trails all of a sudden my front wheel would start to slide. Lightning fast reactions were needed. I saw some evidence of fallen bikers, some skid marks here and there and I also saw bikers crashing in front of me. I hope that all went well and the damage was limited to some bruises and hurt pride. The section in Nethen, after the second rest stop , was also a very nice one, with the Pecrot singletrack taking on a new dimension of difficult. Trying not to look down into the abyss on the left, trying not to let your wheels slip. Very demanding biking. The temperatures were mostly just below zero but sometimes the tracks were close to muddy. On these parts of course there was no danger of sliding. When I reached Nethen again the lesser distances were joining the longer ones again and the icyness of the trails increased. Upon reaching the Vaalbeek border I decided to ride in, leaving out the last bit of the ride which was mainly in Heverlee bos. Not a lot of challenges there. I was surprised at the amount of heightmeters my Garmin returned. Perhaps they did add some extras but mostly I believe the track was the same as last years.
When I got home I was very pleased with my ride. The cold didn't bother me, and even though I had some bruises on my left hip and shoulder I could not complain about my physical prowess. I felt tired , both mentally from the concentration and physically from the sheer difficulty of the ride. Thanks to the Zoenkers. Even though I had the track on GPS I was glad that the arrowing was immaculate and I'm sure that for those who payed the insciption fee, the rest stops proved to be well stocked.

Ride Stats : 57K and 840/915 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h59mins. -1 degrees C average temp.

919/10120

14-02-2010, 17:02 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf