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Tales from the Woods |
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25-06-2011 |
Ludo Dierckxsens Classic - partly |
It rained softly the entire morning and I was already beginning to think I would not be able to ride out when, around 1pm, things dried out and it looked like the last of the rain had passed. It was cold - 15 degrees C - and overcast when I left home. Following the Vlaanderen Fietsroute with a little detour to Willebringen and Oorbeek to reach Hoegaarden. From Hoegaarden again on the Lf2a until the little roads started to be blocked by big puddles of water. I rode around those by passing through Laar and Hemiksem and then picked up on the Lf2A again until I reached the Battle of Neerwinden Memorial . Pausing for a couple of pictures and then back until I came upon the markings of the Ludo Dierckxsens Classic, which incidently took place today.
I decided to follow those yellow markers and with already 45K on my counter I was hoping to get out 80 or 90K. I was wrong, it would be a lot more kilometers. The LD rode towards Helecine, and then I passed through Noduwez, Marilles, Enines and Huppaye. I crossed the Ravel and for a moment was tempted to take that back to Jodoigne and Hoegaarden. But I decided to stick with the LD. The wind was again blowing today and it was full in my face when I reached Jauchelette and the track turned to the right towards Dongelberg and further on to Lathuy . I was on more familiar roads now and this gave me hope and strength. Passing along the trails of the 1W and Biz'On the Bike I reached Melin and here the trail turned left again towards the N240. It then turned right towards La Bruyere and onwards to Meldert and Willebringen. Here I decided to leave the LD and return home over Neervelp, Bierbeek and the Haasrode industrial terrain. Despite the clouded skies not a drop fell and towards the end of my ride the temperature had climbed to a feisty 17 degrees . I was feeling tired in my legs but very satisfied with this ride, despite the adverse weather conditions. It had turned out into a solid 100K+ ride.
Ride Stats : 111K and 735/795 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h22mins
4911/49035
25-06-2011, 19:47 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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22-06-2011 |
Sunshine, wind and rain |
Took a half day off from work to do some necessary chores. Like getting a new battery installed in my Polar S710. It had been displaying the low battery icon for 2 weeks now and I did not want to take any chances of it dying on me during a ride. It had rained most of the AM and it only stopped around 2.30pm. The wind dried up the roads very quickly and I had spotted a dry spell on meteox.be. So I decided to take my chances and rode out at 3pm. The sun came peeping through but with 15 degrees it was still rather cold. During the first 20K of the ride I was fortunate to have the wind mostly from behind as I made my way through Bierbeek, Willebringen, Kumtich and Hoksem towards Hoegaarden. When I entered the Ravel I had the wind 3/4 from the right front. Luckily the small Ravel road is bordered most of the time by shrubs and trees. Only drawback is that the road dries out very slow. But this did not bother me and I set forth towards Jodoigne and onward in the direction of Eghezee. When I reached the tumulus of Hottomont I turned right, stopping to take a couple of pictures in the blazing sun.
On the short connection from the Ravel towards the Chaussee de Namur the wind was blowing straight in my face and to my horror I saw a big black mushroom cloud straight ahead. Dark, wide and menacing and with several rain veils beneath it, it was coming straight for me. I quickly turned right towards Hamme Mille but I soon found out that clouds are faster than bikers, even when they are travelling at 35kph or more. The wind was blowing from my left and its gusts made the bike move towards the side of the road. Luckily the Chaussee de Namur is a broad road, plenty of room for bikes and cars. Passing through Ramillies the rain hit me. The fierce wind gusts accompanying the shower made the raindrops almost pierce my skin. Well, except for my face and 2 cm of skin between my gloves and long-sleeved shirt there wasn't much skin to pierce anyway. I was lucky - again - that this was only the edge of the big cloud, the real rain must have fallen over Eghezee, some 10K behind me now. It quickly stopped raining and a couple of kilometers further the road was dry once more. I sped on, passing Dongelberg and alongside Pietrebais before reaching Hamme Mille. This fast bit sure did wonders for my average speed I'm sure. I decided to add another loop over Nethen, Sint Joris Weert and the Zoete Waters before I ended my ride with a solid 80K under my belt.
Ride Stats : 80.5K and 480/485 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h50mins
4801/48240
22-06-2011, 20:56 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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21-06-2011 |
Forest and Field |
After some showers during the night and the morning it stayed dry from noon on so when I got home around 5pm I decided to take the Moots out for a spin through Meerdael forest. First taking some small tracks making my way towards Mollendaal. It was rather warm and moist in the forest and I was glad there was a bit of wind when I left the forest to enter the fields towards La Bruyere and l'Ecluse. The field tracks were dry with the occasional small puddle. Working my way towards Melin I turned more and more into the wind. Passing the big Wahenge farm near Sclimpre I stopped to take a picture with my Galaxy S II. I am quite pleased with the quality of its pictures. The Galaxy S I already had a fine camera which made super macro pictures. The new one has 8 megapixels (from 5 for the I) and also incorporates a flash.
Riding into Pietrebais I followed the little river with the same name for a while before climbing up to the church and riding through the fields again towards Gottechain. Crossing the N25 near Guertechain and making my way past the Grand Royal and the Petit Royal. In Nethen I climbed back into Meerdael forest near Les Claines. The last stretch into the moist forest brought me back home. The longest day was a bit clouded but when I arrived home around 8pm the sun was still high up.
Ride Stats : 44.5K and 350/415 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h18mins
4720/47755
21-06-2011, 21:39 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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19-06-2011 |
Foes and Friends |
Looked like it would stay dry after a night full of showers. Offroad would be very wet so the Vortex came out again and I set off for an LSD ride starting out towards Bierbeek . I was thinking about friends and foes of a biker when the wind was blowing me up the hill out of Blanden. The wind can be a friend but it can also be a foe, as I was about to experience whilst my ride developed further. From Bierbeek I rode towards Opvelp and then took a right towards Beauvechain. The wind was blowing in my face now. Not straight on, more of 3/4th from the front. But it was blowing hard and gusty. So I had to take a firm hold of my handlebar. Downhill towards Beauvechain and then straight through towards La Bruyere. Little umleitung here taking me to the entrance of the 1st Wing Airbase. Stopping to take a picture with my new Samsung Galaxy S 2. It has a build-in GPS and when switched on you can add the GPS coordinates to the picture. Cool.
From La Bruyere I rode towards the big road to Eghezee. The cloud cover was menacing but I decided to take my chances and hope to avoid the other bikers' foe; rain. From Happeau I rode towards Longueville. On the road towards that little town I overtook 3 bikers. I decided to stay with them for a while, so they became my friends while we took turns in the front against the wind. In the downhill from Biez towards Grez I went too fast, or they decided they wanted to slow down. Anyways, I was on my own again riding through Grez and then taking the road towards Hamme Mille. Wind was blowing from my left side now and a little from behind so I was soon doing 45kph in the long downhill. Turning left at the lights and here was my foe again, blowing straight in my face while I battled to reach Nethen and the relative cover of houses next to the little river. From Nethen I took my usual stretch , taking me from Sint Joris Weert to the Zoete Waters. Another loop into Oud-Heverlee and then from Heverlee along the Naamsesteenweg into Blanden. Only a couple of stray drops so the forecast on meteox.be was proving to be correct. Lots of clouds but no rain to speak off. Another friend of the biker , that www site.
Ride Stats : 61K and 445/445 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h14mins
4676/47340
19-06-2011, 14:31 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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18-06-2011 |
Mountainbike intermezzo |
Great, it was cold, damp and wet in the forest. That meant I could risk riding in there and the frisky temperatures meant I did not sweat my ass off wearing protective layers of clothing. There was a fierce wind blowing which kept most insects out of the air as well. I was elated I could go offroad after 3 weeks of riding exclusively on the road with my Litespeed Vortex. I decided to do the Meerdael Bloso routes, starting with the Blue, hopping onto the red and finishing off with a little bit of green. There was not much use riding the complete green because that meant leaving the protective shelter of the forest and being exposed to the wind, and to a lesser extent , to one of the rain showers.
The Moots felt like a comfortable rolls royce and my long rides on the road were proving to be very good training for being able to push the big gears. I was wearing my TLD protective trousers to add an extra layer of clothing between the horseflies and my skin. As expected, I remained bite-free throughout this ride. I was enjoying riding offroad again, even on the relatively easy Bloso routes.
Encountering a couple of mountainbikers , one single girl I passed twice, and a group consisting of 2 men and a girl when I was arriving at the Blue/Red split. I was lucky with the weather remaining mostly dry, only 2 slight showers during my ride. But the heavy cover of the leaves was protecting me from the raindrops. And even then, my double trousers and 2 layers of longsleeved jerseys would not have mad eit easy for the wetness to reach my skin. With an average temperature of 14 degrees C these were the ideal circumstances for me to ride my mountainbike in summer.
Ride Stats : 46.5K and 495/585 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h24mins
4615/46895
18-06-2011, 14:33 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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14-06-2011 |
Faster |
Well rested and feeling recuperated I set forth for a quick ride around the block in the late afternoon. The sun was out but it wasn't too warm with some clouds obsuring it from time to time. There was a mild wind blowing from the west. Once past the climb out of Bierbeek I put the chain on the big ring and it didn't come off that ring until I was back home. Maintaining speed wasn not easy on some of the hills, and with the wind in my face it became tougher still. Also the traffic was hampering my going from time to time, making me have to avoid stopping cars by jumping on the footpaths. And cars are not expecting you to drive that fast as a cyclist either. On the flats I was pushing around 33kph, even up to 37kph with the wind in my back. The loop taking me through Haasrode, Bierbeek, Opvelp, Beauvechain, Tourinnes, Hamme Mille and then towards Nethen and Sint Joris Weert to finish along the Zoete Waters and Vaalbeek was just 31K long, and finishing it in one hour made it easy to calculate my average speed. With an average heartrate of 123bpm I didn't even feel tired afterwards. Good supercompensation after a couple of days riding and a days' rest.
Ride Stats : 31K and 155/185 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h00mins
4468/45505
14-06-2011, 18:04 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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07-06-2011 |
Ludo Dierckxsens |
Do the Ludo, that was my plan for this afternoon. Starting around 4pm the weather was overcast but warm and there was no rain forecast for the next couple of hours. Yesterday we got - at last - a good amount of rain that will do a world of good for the thirsty nature and the crops on the fields. It rained for most of the day which was sweet. But today the rain stayed away so I decided to ride out with the Vortex. The Ludo, for those who are new to his blog, is a version of the Ludo Dierckxsens ride that goes into Brabant Walloon. I usually pick it up in Bierbeek and I did so again today. Passing Opvelp, Beauvechain, La Bruyere and the outskirts of Pietrebais before turning towards Risbart and Incourt. I chose the big road instead of the smaller tarmac connections. There was no wind and that road is wide and good-running. In Dongelberg I took a left and then rode to Chaumont. From Chaumont a climb up to the chaussee de Wavre , a quick dip into Dion Valmont and then riding towards Dion Le Mont and ultimately Archennes. Then the track veers towards Ottenburg but turns right again towards Sint Agatha Rode. Not much longer I was in Sint Joris Weert riding towards the Zoete Waters. Adding another loop into Oud-Heverlee and Heverlee, passinge the Caserne and then taking the Expressway towards Blanden. Had a good ride with a good average speed and a low overall heartrate. I also got my Samsung Galaxy S back from Proximus today. They put the lastest software releases on it so it is now running smoothly on Android 2.2 (froyo). The Galaxy S II is running on Android 2.3 (gingerbread) and has a 1.2 Gigaherz dual core processor, making it as fast as an average PC. The Galaxy S is for sale, if you need more info, send me an email .
Ride Stats : 75K and 510/605 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h40mins
4096/42840
07-06-2011, 19:42 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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03-06-2011 |
and the wind shouts back |
Another sunny day and I left around 10.30am for a ride that would take me to Filip Sport. When I came in Terlanen I saw markings of a race that was going to be held this sunday, so I decided to follow those as long as they did not let wander too much of the chosen path to Hoeilaart. The trail was quite hilly with the Smeysberg for starters, then dropping into Huldenberg and out again in the direction of Duisburg. Passing the ganspoel I could feel the wind tearing at the back of my shirt so I already knew that the return journey would be a difficult one. But hey, the sun was shining and I felt surprisingly good after yesterdays 100+ ride. In Duisburg the race track turned to the right but I chose the direction of Eizer. From Eizer straight on towards Overijse and then dropping onto the road to Hoeilaart. Talked with Filip about the headbadge of my Vortex and it looks like he will be able to install it soon. Pro memoria, he had to order a special type of glue to attach the aluminum headbadge to the titanium frame. We also talked about the upcoming Harre mountainbike ride. I am a bit weary to ride offroad because the old enemy, the horsefly, is around and I don't want to risk getting bitten. But I want to do this ride so I will take all precautions I can take - long trousers, lots of Deet and my special anti-horsefly mix - and then hope I can survive 5 hours of riding in the forests. To be completely at ease I have asked for the guide to mail me the GPS track of the ride, so that I can check if it can be cut short, should the need arise, and where we are back into civilization. Waiting for a reply.. I left Filip and because of the fine weather I decided to add some K's to my original 50-60K plan. Towards Maleizen I rode, and then down into Rosieres and up again towards Rixensart. Wavre and onwards to Dion Valmont. Adding quite a bit of hills to the ride, just to see how the legs would take those. And they took it fine. From Dion I rode towards Bonlez and then onwards to Longueville. Another long hill and now I began to feel the wind . When I turned towards the north I got it full on. I had to think about some lyrics from a Judas Priest song:
"Been inclined to wander Off the beaten track That's where there's thunder And the wind shouts back"
No thunder luckily but the wind was indeed blowing with a vengeance. But the air was cool and crisp into my eager lungs. From Longueville I rode towards Pietrebais to avoid the high plateaus and return more or less protected by the valleys. Into Grez and then upwards to Bossut. From Bossut the road took me on a half cobble-half tarmac road towards Pecrot. Up the steep hill - this one really hurt after 80K - towards Nethen. And then the last stretch from Sint Joris Weert to the Zoete Waters and Vaalbeek. Good ride.
I got my Samsung Galaxy S II today. I ordered one when my Galaxy S turned into a brick. The S is still chez Samsung to be repaired but now I already got its much faster successor.
At first touch it looked fast. But I want to wait until I receive the NoReve leather case before I start using it. Better be protected..
Ride Stats : 101K and 915/920 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h58mins
3894/41240
03-06-2011, 16:23 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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02-06-2011 |
Perwijs |
Looked like a fine sunny day for a long road ride so around 9.45AM I started with the Litespeed Vortex on a big lap that would take me all the way to Perwez. Taking the Ravel in Hoegaarden and then split off towards Perwez just past Huppaye. I could have followed the ravel a little further towards Gembloux but the strong wind was making me weary about going too far west and then having to return with the wind in my face. So I settled for Perwez and then made my way towards Chaumont-Gistoux and Wavre, following the N243. Some badly maintained bikepaths between Chaumont and Wavre but once past Wavre I took the direction of Overijse and things gor better. From Overijse I turned into the wind and made my way past Huldenberg and Neerijse towards Bertem. Aiming for a century I decided to follow the N3 to Leuven and then ride round Leuven on the R23 until I found the N3 again, this time going towards Tienen. Following the N25 and then turning towards Haasrode and Blanden saw me arrive home with a solid ride and a good average despite the windy conditions.
Ride Stats : 110K and 810/810 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h01min
3793/40320
02-06-2011, 14:52 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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28-05-2011 |
Meerdael Hills by proxy |
Arriving at Theux around 10am I noticed I did not have my GSM with me. Furthermore there was an archery contest claiming all the forest around Franchimont. I did not want to start my planned ride without a GSM so I decided to return home and postpone the ride to another date. Arriving home I switched bikes and jerseys and took out the Moots for a spin through Meerdael Forest. Feeling rather good except for my right hand which was hurting since yesterday evening, some bad move I made I guess, I decided to do the hilly section of the 18th Meerdael Classic organised ride again. It had rained yesterday and even though there was no mud you could see by the amount of gnats that it was wetter in the forest. I added a couple of climbs to the loop and arrived at a solid 1000+ heightmeters ride, which was a good consolation for the missed Theux ride.There was a lot of wind and the sections out of the forests were difficult, especially with the wind straight in my face.
One hill at a time the heightmeters kept on adding up. Stopped to have a look at a young Brabander fowl near Huldenberg but I quickly moved on because the wind made it cold in the open fields. Returning to Meerdael Forest I added a last loop before arriving at the starting point, near the edge of the forest in Blanden. If you want a solid hilly ride in the valleys of the rivers Nethen, Dyle, Yse and Lane this is a good challenge.
Meerdael Classic Hills at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond
Ride Stats : 63.5K and 1000/1165 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h42mins
3547/38535
28-05-2011, 18:03 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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