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Tales from the Woods |
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05-08-2011 |
Grinta? |
Rode out for a short ride this evening. Starting out over Heverlee and Egenhoven and the taking the tarmac road high above Leefdaal towards the bigger road from Leefdaal to Neerijse. From Neerijse I made my way to Sint Joris Weert and then Nethen. The weather was not too bad, 24 degrees C and every now and then some light drizzle. So I opted for another loop, taking me towards Hamme Mille, Beauvechain and Opvelp. From Opvelp I took the road to Bierbeek, then moved on to the Haasrode Industriepark for a lap of the grounds. From Nethen I had been following some yellow/red arrows marked 'Grinta!'. I think these belong to an organised ride starting in Duffel. Pity they don't go any deeper in Brabant-Walloon , which did not make it worthwhile to follow them any longer than necessary. The sun came through near the end of my ride and I was a bit overdressed all of a sudden with my long sleeved jersey and windbreaker. On another note, I have been weighing my new set of climbing wheels, Campagnolo Hyperon Ultra Two carbons with tubular Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp Pro tyres and a Campagnolo Record 13-29 cassette. They weigh 355g less than my Neutron/Continental Attack&Force combo, which sports a 12-25 cassette. I hope I will feel the difference on the Ardennes climbs. I only need to change my brake pads and I can go and test them.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 52K and 275/305 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h51mins
7311/65585
05-08-2011, 20:23 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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31-07-2011 |
End of July |
So the month of july is coming to an end. I had a very good training month and today whilst riding past the Marollen Chapel in Hautem I passed the 2000K mark for this month. Of course I was on holiday but still it remains a large distance to ride. So the weather in july was not that bad after all. On the contrary I found it ideal for riding a bike, on the road. The temperatures were around 20 degrees, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less, I could always find a spot between showers to ride 2 or 3 hours and the wind was mostly present but not blowing too hard either. So today I rode out for a recovery ride that brought me through some of the spots I saw so frequently these last weeks. Starting out over Bierbeek, Willebringen and Hoksem , then into Oorbeek and to the outskirts of Hoegaarden, up to Hautem and then towards l'Ecluse and Beauvechain. Past the 1St Wing Airbase in La Bruyere and crossing the N240 and the N92 to reach Pietrebais . From Pietrebais I rode towards Grez-Doiceau and then followed the N25 to Hamme Mille. From Hamme Mille I rode home along my usual loop, through Nethen, Sint Joris Weert, the Zoete Waters and Vaalbeek.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 65K and 435/455 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h30mins
7158/64585
31-07-2011, 14:22 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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29-07-2011 |
Blanden-Velm-Blanden with a twist |
Looking forward to do a long ride today. The forecast was good, no rain , overcast skies and a bit more than 20 degrees C. Excellent. So I set out towards Hoegaarden to pick in on the Lf6 trail. This brings me nicely towards Velm, not far from Sint Truiden. At the furthest point I have exactly 50K and 2 hours of riding behind me. Turning back I follow the same track whence I came until I reach Opvelp again. I had a plan to add some more kilometers and for that I needed to do an extra loop. From Opvelp I ride towards Hamme Mille where I pass the 100K. Nethen, Sint Joris Weert and Neerijse are next. I follow the Sint Janbergse Steenweg until I reach Egenhoven. From there I cut through to the Arenberg campus in Heverlee. Then I ride towards Oud-Heverlee to reach the Zoete Waters. From there in the direction of Vaalbeek and Blanden and I am home with a nice distance of 131K on my counters. Solid LSD ride with an average heartrate of 111bpm. Near the end the extra hour was starting to make itself feel because my body was feeling tired when I arrived home. A surprise was waiting there because I received a package from Assos, my equipe Campionissimo welcome gift, a special shirt and a pair of eC socks. Nice.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 131K and 805/825 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 5h08mins
7017/63420
29-07-2011, 17:06 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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28-07-2011 |
Hilly Recovery |
It looked like it would stay more or less dry so I rode out for a recovery ride. Starting out over Heverlee and Heverlee Park, I rode towards Arenberg and Egenhoven and then followed the Sint Jansberg Steenweg through Neerijse, Huldenberg and up to Overijse. Here I turned left and then left again to Terlanen. From Terlanen a long climb brought me to Ottenburg. I felt fine and when I reached Sint Agatha Rode I decided to ride through to Neerijse and take the Sint Jansberg Steenweg back to Egenhoven. From Egenhoven I rode to Heverlee and Oud-Heverlee until I reached the Zoet Waters. Here I decided to call it a day and came in through Vaalbeek. A couple of cooldown laps in Blanden later and I had a nice 70K . Due to the hilly character of the region I had more heightmeters than necessary on a recovery ride but I felt OK so I didn't mind the extra effort. With an average heartrate of 115bpm my body seemed OK with that as well. This was the first ride on the new Continental Attack& Force tyre combo.
They performed very well, extremely grippy in the corners, due to the special Black Chili rubber compound.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 71K and 550/555 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h36mins
6886/62595
28-07-2011, 14:55 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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27-07-2011 |
Blanden-Boom-Blanden |
Today it looked like it would remain dry so I decided to try a long ride. And a point ride as well. Point rides are rides where you ride out to one point, turn around, and follow the same way back home. Contrary to loops this kind of ride will usually find me far from home at the turning point, so care is to be taken. You can be surprised by foul weather which means that you have a long way to get back home in rain or wind, or when you have a mechanical problem or a flat tyre, you also have to get it fixed unless you want to take a taxi home. On loop rides there is always the possibility that you are not TOO far from home so cutting a ride short is easier. Not so on a point ride. I had a look at my tyres before riding out and I was a little worried when I saw the state of my rear tyre. It looked like at some points that it had worn through the outer layer and the protection layer was visible. This tyre was in dire need of change.
But I decided to risk it and started out over Kop van Kessel Lo and then followed the Leuvense Vaart past Mechelen, Battel and Willebroek where I passed the Zennegat and rode on until I was in Boom, my furthest point for today . Here I counted 48K and made a turn back along the same way whence I had come. All the time my mind was with my tyre. "Please don't flatten, please don't flatten" x 1000. But it did not flatten. In all I am very pleased with the Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp Pro tyres that came with the second hand pair of Campagnolo Neutrons I bought off Gregory Joseph when I was building up the Vortex. Even though Gregory already rode with them, and I since added more than 4500K on them, the front tyre is still fine but obviously the back tyre needs to be changed. I have a set of Continental GP Attack and Force tyres lying ready and I will put them on today. I had a good LSD ride today, it remained dry and with an average heartrate of 123bpm I managed to get an average speed of more than 28kph which is not bad considering I rode alone. There was no wind to speak off and the temperature was just above 20 degrees C , in short a great day for a long point ride.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 101K and 190/245 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h34mins
6815/62040
27-07-2011, 15:02 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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24-07-2011 |
Blowing in the wind |
The forecast rain didn't show so after a days' rest yesterday I could not resist getting the Vortex out and do a recovery ride. The sky was cloud-covered and with 16 degrees C it wasn't exactly warm but with longs sleeved jacket and tights there was no problem. I also wore a windbreaker because the wind was blowing cold from the northwest. Doing one of my usual laps, starting out over Bierbeek, Opvelp, Meldert and La Bruyere. Then turning right towards Beauvechain. Here I turned left and cycled through Tourinnes, Nodebais and then down into Hamme Mille. From Hamme Mille I reached Nethen and Sint Joris Weert and then decided to add another loop taking me towards Neerijse, Egenhoven and Heverlee before turning towards Blanden to finish my ride. I rode at an easy pace so the ride was a very relaxing one. When I got home a big grasshopper landed on me and I could not resist taking a picture of it.
Another 400K+ week, the third in a row. Despite the uneasy weather I managed to ride almost every day during the month of july, having an occasional rest day obviously when I felt it was needed.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 50.5K and 310/305 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h00mins
6593/61170
24-07-2011, 14:29 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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17-07-2011 |
Blue Bloso |
I was up at 8.30am and after checking the weather maps it looked like there was a 3 to 4 hour gap of dry weather. Yes. So I rode out with the Vortex, hoping that the weather forecast would be correct. It was correct about the wind, I noticed that immediately. The blow from the southwest was very hard and I had to struggle on the higher plateaus with the wind in my face. But the good thing of doing a lap is that at one point the wind is working in your favor. I followed the Blue Bloso from Heverlee but added a couple of extra loops to spice things up and get a longer distance. The descent of the Smeysberg was again a 75kph+ affair. I rode it back up from Huldenberg centre which is the less steep version. I then followed the track to Neerijse and from there I followed the Red Bloso until I decided to descent into Leefdaal and climb back out again in the direction of the Sint JansBerg steenweg. I followed that into Egenhoven and then rode towards Arenberg Campus where I stopped for a couple of pictures.
From Arenberg I rode into Heverlee and then to Heverlee Park and from there added another loop towards Haasrode Industrie and Haasrode. The wind was in my face again when I rode from Haasrode towards Blanden where I finished off my ride with a couple of local cooling down laps. I tracked the ride with Endomondo again and I provide the map below this write-up.
Endomondo Track
Ride Stats : 56K and 495/515 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h11mins
6187/58160
17-07-2011, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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12-07-2011 |
Do the Ludo |
Weather was still sunny this morning so I rode out for what should be an easier ride than yesterday. However, I chose to follow an old track once used by the Ludo Dierckxsens Classic. This brings me from Bierbeek over Beauvechain, La Bruyere, Happeau, Sart-Risbart and Chaumont Gistoux to Dion Valmont. From here the track turns towards Archennes and Florival. In Florival I decided to add another loop over Ottenburg, Terlanen and then climb towards the Fields of Terlanen to reach Overijse. From Overijse I ride to Huldenberg and take the easy version of the Smeysberg out of it. Dropping down into Sint Agatha Rode and then ride to Sint Joris Weert and the Zoete Waters.
The weather was changing, clouds started to fill the sky and there is a forecast for thunderstorms later this afternoon. When I rode out the sun was still out but by the time I arrived home it was partly obscured by high misty clouds. The sky was turning grey. Temperatures were still high though and there was a slight breeze blowing from variable directions. My average heartrate was nicely in the recovery zone - below 114bpm - so even the many little hills did not bother me today.
Ride Stats : 80K and 650/660 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h01mins
5960/56465
12-07-2011, 14:42 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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11-07-2011 |
Blanden-Namur-Blanden |
Had a good resting day yesterday. Was abhorred to see the carnage in the Tour de France. Belgians' podium hope Jurgen VDB out with broken ribs and shoulder blade, his aide Frederik Willems broke his collarbone in the same crash and old warrior Vino was taken to hospital with what looked like a broken pelvis and/or broken femur. Also Dave Zabriskie was hurt in the same downhill crash with a broken wrist. A little later we witnessed an attack on two riders by a car from France 2. Flecha was hit by the car and smacked on the tarmac, but Johnny Hoogerland was worse off. He was thrown - bike and all - into a barbed wire fence. Severely cut and shamed he crawled back up and was able to arrive at the finish. What a Tour. Today the rider had a resting day - much needed by most of them - so I could ride out for a nice long ride. I set forth towards Bierbeek, Opvelp and La Bruyere to arrive at the N91 . I followed this big road to Eghezee, a nice straight stretch of good tarmac. The road nicely undulates so in good form it is possible to stay on the big ring and have a good workout. With 38K under my belt I arrived in Eghezee. Here I turned onto the Ravel 2 and followed that until it ended in Saint Servais, near Namur.
One of these days I should try to find out how to connect to the southern part of the Ravel 2 , but this involves riding through Namur and I am not really looking forward to that. So for now I ate a snack and turned my Vortex around. A long 7K climb out of Namur brought me back to Cognelee. From now on it was downhill until I reached Eghezee again. Here I set forth on the N91 again for the long ride back to Hamme Mille. From Hamme Mille I looped back to Blanden over Nethen, Sint Joris Weert, the Zoete Waters and Vaalbeek. I had a great workout and even though the sun was out most of the time it wasn't too hot. There was a slight breeze which was nice without being bothersome. I attach the GPS map for those who want to try out this ride. The N91 is a very nice road to follow. Broad enough so the traffic doesn't really bother the cyclists. And the tarmac runs nicely under the wheels.
Ride Stats : 110.5K and 635/635 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h52mins
5880/55805
11-07-2011, 16:06 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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