Time for an easy road ride. I started out over Hamme Mille and then down into Pietrebais From there I made my way into Cocrou. Nice little quiet village with some cobbles in the direction of Biez. In Grez Doiceau I wanted to do an extra little climb towards the school in the Rue de la Ste Chêne but I took a right turn one street too early and ended up on a cobble road that soon made way for a real field track. Being too stubborn to turn back I continued through the fields on a relatively dry trail towards the Bois de Linsmeau. Here things got a little more muddy and on top of that I needed to negociate a very tricky downhill which was a good exercise in bike handling with my gripless Marathon Supreme tyres. Some deep mud as well next to the field on the Rue de Linsmeau but then I could make my way towards Gottechain and continue on paved roads once again. I stopped for a few pictures on the offroad climb towards Gottechain, looking out towards Grez Doiceau .
Ride Stats : 33K and 315/316 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h39mins
Full moon last night and the open skies made it very enjoyable to look at her. This morning temps were in the -2 degrees area so why not try and do a ride in the forest? Indeed, all the mud had nicely frozen solid so it was fun to ride again. The wind was making it very chilly though. I settled for a ride more or less following the Red Bloso route into Meerdael Forest. Yesterday I changed my v-brake pads, chain and jockey wheels . At last I could brake again and the entire gear changing mechanism also benefitted from the new chain and jockeys. All I need to replace now is the derailleur cables and obviously the SID SL fork.
I deviated from the Red route to take some pics at the Warande ponds and in Bierbeek I checked out a hollow road parallel to the one leading past the starting point. Its a nice alternative track if you want to avoid the tarmac and the cobbles. Near the end of my ride the temps were around 0 degrees and the forest floor began to become more muddy again. But still my bike was as good as clean when I arrived home.
Ride Stats : 26.5K and 275/292 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h34mins
The weather is drying out nicely but I'm sticking to my inside roller rides just a little longer. Even though my averages go up and I feel quite ready to ride out, I'm still waiting for a replacement bulb for my Lumicycle HID and a new Lumicycle LEDSYSTEM3 light. They should be shipping by the end of this week, possibly to arrive next week. This saturday there is a nightride organised by Filip Sport. A chance to put my Lupine Tesla to the test. A good two-hour forest ride by the full moon. I want to go.
on the rollers .. again. My cold felt better today but I decided to just wait a few days longer to make sure its gone. Riding on the rollers is always a possibility so I settled for that. With my VDB book finished I could resume the autobiography of Sven Nys, whom I left in 2001 somewhere before he entered his first Paris Roubaix. The way he describes this race is awesome. It makes me think back to the times when I rode the Paris Roubaix VTT two years in a row. The first year was in 2002 when Johan Museeuw won the pro race in hellish conditions and Filip Meirhaeghe won the VTT edition. I remember starting in hail and freezing temperatures. The second time was in 2003 - the last time this MTB race was organised. The weather was dry and dusty and the cobbles were a lot more pleasant. That year Peter Van Peteghem won with the big guys and Bart Brentjens won the VTT 2-day race. Good memories of a tough race but when you entered the vélodrome on sunday morning , with the first spectators already cheering us on, it gave me goose bumps. I wouldn't mind doing that race again but it doesn't look like the 2-day race will be organised any time soon again. I did a write-up of that race in 2003 (in Flemish) that sums up the special atmosphere quite well.
Another easy ride to let my body fight the nose cold. Things are looking better than yesterday so I stayed on a full hour. Outside snow, sleet and rain were not making me very sorry to be inside on my bike. Hope that this wet weather leaves us and would love to see some frost and dry days instead. Nearly finished my VDB book and got the chance to listen to the first CD of the new Arch Enemy double CD record "Tyrants of the Rising Sun". Here is the official trailer for you.
A nose cold is starting to push through these last few days so today I decided to take a break from biking outside and do an easy half hour rollers ride. Nothing fancy, just going through the motions.
This morning the sun was out so it was impossible to stay inside. I didn't feel like a road ride so I got my Litespeed out again and set out along the Blue and Green BLOSO routes. The tracks were still very wet and before long I was plowing in the mud with a bike that weighed 2Kg more than when I started out. It was chilly in the forest and I was glad I could catch a bit of sunshine when riding towards Korbeek Dyle. The steep climb next to the railroad was too muddy to make , my rearwheel just lost traction in the deep soggy rut. I tried riding on the border but this was too narrow to stay on. So I had to walk a few meters, wouldn't be the last time today. Some people think my bike looks weird with the fenders - it does, I agree - but at least they keep ME clean. Check the pictures to see what liquid mud does to your bike. It looks like chocolate but it doesn't taste like it.
I switched to the Blue bloso near the Zoete Waters and from Heverleebos to the Kouterbos and Meerdaelbos. Here things got even more muddier. The descent into Nethen was downright suicidal. I have never known it to be so slippery and it took a lot of convincing to guide the bike down while keeping the rubber side down. I unclipped a couple of time to help me with my equilibrum. There have been some forestry works in this area and the track was not only wet and muddy, it was also covered with branches making it even more of a challenge. When I arrived at the track leading to the Nethen wall, I could see that the TT of Pecrot had passed here as well. A myriad tyres made the track one big gooey mess. I was glad I had to turn left and start the climb alongside the wall. Here the track is sandy and this made for very good traction. Halfway up the track again became like soap, with horses hooves and other gullies making it impossible to ride without burning a lot of calories. I decided to again walk of couple of meters until I reached the second sandy section where I could again ride. The last few K's went easy and I arrived just in time to catch the start of the Igorre cyclocross.
Ride Stats : 35.5K and 330 heightmeters in 2h07mins
Inspired by the latest roadbook in O2 Bikers I decided to go south and check out some stuff in and around Grez Doiceau. I started out in my usual way, riding towards Hamme Mille and the make my way offroad towards Bossut . From here on I descended into Archennes. I had already seen the markers for tomorrows' Pecrot organised ride and was going to bump into them again further down the path. When I rode out the weather was dry, with partly cloudy skies. There was even a hint of the sun peeping through the clouds. But the tracks were wet and dirty. Good thing I mounted my new ToPeak Defender because I was going to need it today. There were puddles everywhere and the ground was heavy going and mushy. I wanted to check out a particular climb in Longuevill so from Archennes I made my way towards Doiceau. Here I climbed into the Bois des Gottes and passed the Bercuit Golf Circuits. From there I made my way down a very slippery path where my WTB Weirwolfs met their match and I kissed the floor - lightly. When I was overlooking the Rue de Bayarmont it started to rain. I took out my GSM to make a pic and waited until the rain stopped.
Then I descended through the fields and made my way upwards on the Rue de Bayarmont and later down into Bonlez. I wanted to go to the Fishery on the Chemin des Forts des Voiles so I had to do a little searching in my mind and on my GPS to get there. Took a picture of the pink housing and moved onwards into the forest where the road became a river - or the river became a road. I climbed up this road all the way into Longueville where it became the Rue du Try. Made a few pictures that tell a thousand stories I'm sure. From Longueville I made my way towards Heze. Incorporating the nice little singletrack running parallel and between the Allee du Vicinal and the Chemin du Ry de Heze. I now arrived in Biez where I sat down on one of my favorite benches, with a nice view to the Northwest towards Grez Doiceau and beyond. Made it down the slippery cobbles of the Chemin du Curé and then took the insider track towards Grez. From Grez I rode back towards Bossut where I spotted a nice rainbow.
Before long the rainbow was nearing me and yes, another shower came down to add to the wetness. I decided to call it a day and rode back towards the Grand Royal and further towards Les Claines and Meerdael Forest. A nice ride but a tough one as well. Especially the slippery and wet tracks demanded a lot of attention and concentration.
Ride Stats : 45.5K and 540/548 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h43mins Ride Map:
Busy day today. Didn't start too well when I got flashed with my car at a junction in Herent. at 6am in the morning. I'm not sure what the speed limit is, normally it is 70kph - I was driving around 75kph - but there are constructions going on, so they might have adjusted the speed and the flash gun. I must have a look tomorrow morning. Worse case scenario is that the new speed limit is 30kph in which case I might loose my drivers licence. Stupid me. At work thing were hectic too and I needed to drop my Moots at Filip Sport to get its new Durin SL fork fitted. So I had to take the freeway from Mechelen to Brussels and a bit of the Brussels ringlane. Traffic was acceptably busy but I made it in time. Then I got on the rollers because I had to go to work again this evening. So no elaborate ride - it was still wet outside anyway - but a nice quiet recovery ride. I got confirmation from Lumicycle that my HID lights' behaviour is due to it reaching its End Of Life. This is presumed to be between 500 and 1000 hours and I'm guessing I'm closer to 1000 than 500. So I ordered a replacement bulb (90 thank you) and one of their new LedSystem3 lights to serve as a backup and assistance light. With 850 lumens I'm guessing it might pale the HID (which is around 600 lumens) I made sure I ordered the spot version of the Led3 because the beam is narrower for onroad use. Using the offroad version is illegal because of its broad light spread (13 degrees vs 9 degrees for the spot) and I have troubles enough with the law as it is.
Today the forecast was for a wet start, possibly some below zero temps and during the day things would dry out. And yes, so it went. I was home around 4.45 pm and on my bike at 5pm. Just in time to take advantage of the last light to start my GPS and get going. I have a new chain and cassette on my bike which got broken in quite nicely since I chose a more hilly version of the 30K Heverlee Bloso tour. Looping through St Agatha Rode, up and down and up again towards Ottenburg, down into Terlanen, up over the Smeysberg and then making my way back to Sint Joris Weert for an ultimate loop over Nethen and Hamme Mille. The temps were near freezing but I felt quite cozy and very happy to be out there. My Lumicycle HID light has been giving my frowns since it seems to be flickering during the ride. Normally its a steady blue-white but I've noticed it flickers and then goes into the yellow spectrum for a while. Its amazing that it has been going for 6 years now and I do suspect that it is nearing its end. I am pondering ordering a new lighthead to replace this one should it fail. It also seems to have lost some of its intensity but judging to the reactions of some car drives Its still bright enough. I am thinking about returning to the Vosges next year. Possibly a combination of a shortbike and an extended stay in a chalet. I'm still looking at it but I had a great time there 2 years back and I wouldn't mind returning for some more trail exploration. I also have finalized my stay in the Ol Fosse d'Outh during the Houffalize World Cup at the end of next April. I will be arriving on thursday and leave on Sunday, giving me an extra day to go out biking and / or explore the World Cup trails.
Ride Stats : 40K and 325/322 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h50mins
Yesterday I went to Dr.Fontaine in Hamme Mille to have my annual checkup . This is necessary if you want to obtain a licence for competition. Next to the usual questionnaire and heart checkup I also asked for a bike test. Dr.Fontaine has all the necessary ingredients except for the VO2 max and blood acid measurements. The test consists of pedalling at 60rpm and every minute 30Wats resistance is added to get your heartrate and blood acidity up. He only let me go to 146bpm and this meant I had to stop when doing 270Watts. Nevertheless I felt good and the results also showed a healthy heart and an aerobic treshold of 110bpm. This is consistent with what I experience when riding, my recovery rides always circle around that heartrate. My anearobic treshold must be luring between 145 and 150bpm, but this was not reached. Today the forecast was for colder weather with possible rain and snow showers in the evening. So I decided to play it safe and stay indoors. I started with 45 minutes of recovery pace on the rollers and then did a couple of 'steigerungen' for one-minute intervals with 4 minutes of cooldown between them. I had a good and refreshing workout and managed to read some more in Frank Viediebie's book.
Just an easy ride on the rollers today, bringing my total for this week to 250K, not bad for a week in November. I read a couple of chapters in Frank Van den Brouckes book and I begin to realize what this guy has been through these last couple of years. The dope, the personal troubles, the press and the police that wanted his skin and made mountains out of molehills to sell papers and get funding for more. It is amazing how he still manages to get a hold of himself, thanks to a very few people who refused to let him slide into his self-inflicted oblivion. The latest news is that he will be back next year in a new team - Cinelli Cycling - with his old pal Keuns - or Nico Mattan as he is more commonly known. Surely a next chapter in the book of life for VDB.
..well not really but I've noticed that I have been biking over 120792K since I started recording my distances some 10 years ago. That is 3 times around the world and that surely must count for something.
Today the weather continued to be dry and cold-ish with temps of 4 degrees C. Ideally suited for a long ride and I set out to do the Ludo Dierckxsens trajectory. From Bierbeek this follows a nice loop over La Bruyere , Happeau, Sart Risbart and Chaumont Gistoux towards Dion le Val. From here it loops back over Grez Doiceau and Archennes towards Eerken, Sint Agatha Rode and Sint Joris Weert. Here I leave the LD loop which continues all the way towards Herselt (or something). The loop isn't too difficult with only a few steep hills in Chaumont and also one when leaving Bonlez. My legs felt tired from yesterday evenings ride but I found a good pace which I was able to keep until the end. Along the way I photographed this cute Shetland pony youngster who was too shy to come any closer.
His mom wasn't shy though and we exchanged some warmth when I stroked her head. The sun was out in the beginning of the ride - its rays are still warm enough to be felt when your face is lit - but during the ride it became increasingly cloudy and by the time I reached Chaumont it was gone, leaving me without pleasant light to make photographs. Before I entered Chaumont I saw some snow lying at the side of the road, a remnant from last sundays first snow of this winter.
Ride Stats : 67K and 485/417 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h09mins Ride Map:
A fine evening with dry weather inviting for a longer ride. So I rode out for a ride along the backroads, concentrating on incorporating a couple of longer climbs. The roads were 95% dry which made for a great ride. My Lumicycle was working fine and the only worries I had was my taillight which is in dire need of new batteries. I wasn't very comfortable when I was riding on the bigger roads but I guess I still have enough reflective patches on my clothing to draw attention. I was wondering when I was climbing a pitch black road in Bossut if it wouldn't be a good idea to have a backup system. Perhaps I need to take the Lupine Tesla system with me . It doesn't weight much more than a GSM and the LED lighthead fits nicely on my helmet. After all, it's the sixth winter for my trusty Lumicycle HID and I wouldn't be surprised if it reached its End Of Life one of these nights. Oh, I just discovered this nice website by Jeff Kerkove, Endurance Mountain Bike Athlete, whilst looking for pics of the 2009 Magura Durin SL fork I plan to put on my Moots. This would yield me a 300g weight loss at the front end. The Moots' Fox RLT80 will be transferred to my Litespeed whose 2001 SID SL fork has reached its EOL.
Ride Stats: 53K and 475/440 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h30mins
This morning I hit a cat. It was crossing the Leuven ringway at full speed at the exact moment when I arrived there, doing 70kph and having no way to avoid it. I felt the slightest of bumps and when I looked into my rear view mirror I could see it twitching and crawling on the abandoned street. I can only hope that I hit it hard enough so that it didn't suffer too much. The visual image of that poor animal stood by me the whole day long. Since I have a cat as well I am more concerned than the average person it seems. At work I mentioned I hit a cat to a few people but nobody seemed to take much notice. It was as if nothing had happened. They reacted the same when I told them almost 5 years ago that our cat had diabetes and that we could only save it by giving it two adrenalin shots every day. 'Oh my' , 'will you really do that' , 'it's only a cat, why bother' , where some of the nicer reactions I got. They just don't care. Some of them really pissed me off and I made sure that they noticed I was mad at them. They are to me lesser people and will remain so for the rest of our professional dealings together. So this evening I was looking to do some penance. I will be extra friendly to our Rambo for starters. Yes, he is still alive, thanks to us wanting to give him two adrenalin shots a day. He is hitting 14 years now, diabetes and all.
When I left home it was raining very slightly but when I reached Hamme Mille the rain subsided. There was a strong westerly wind blowing in my back when I looped over Nodebais towards Beauvechain, Opvelp and Neervelp. Having reached Neervelp I made for Bierbeek when it started to rain again. The streets were getting wetter by the minute and the wind - which was now blowing from the left side - didn't make things any better. My rear fender was not sufficiently big to stop my backpack and lower back from getting wet. When I looped towards Haasrode the rain subsided a bit but I had wet streets until I was home. Good, some penance to clear the bad karma I accumulated this morning. And now our Rambo is in for an extra treat.
Ride Stats : 30.5K and 260/256 heightmeters in 1h23mins
I just had to take advantage of the calm and dry weather today. So I left early at work and got on my way for a 2-hour ride taking me on a big loop over Hamme Mille , Nethen, Pecrot and Ottenburg towards Wavre and Tombeek. There I took the Bergstraat towards Maleizen and then took to the right to loop back over Terlanen and Sint Joris Weert . The weather was great with an average temp of 6 degrees C and no wind to speak of. I had mounted a little fender over the back wheel of my Hilset but the roads were almost completely dry. I incorporated a few climbs to make it spicy and was very happy with todays' ride. The last 45 minutes I needed my light so I guess this officially qualifies as another nightride. I'm getting more and more used to the Marathon Supremes. They are less comfortable than the Racing Ralphs with their 2.0 section but they roll a lot better. I run them at 2.5 bar which seems to suit them fine.
Ride Stats : 46.5K and 350/409 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h22mins
Another evening I preferred to ride on the rollers. The roads have been sprayed with salt these last few days and now that the snow is gone and the freezing temps will dry out the roads, I'm guessing it will be a lot better from tomorrow on. So tonight I settled for an indoor ride, reading a book and listening to some music.
This morning saw a dry intermezzo between yesterdays snow flurries and the heavy snow predicted for later in the day. So I took advantage of this to ride into Meerdael Forest. The forest trails were wet and muddy after yesterdays snow and tonight freezing temperatures were not low enough to stiffen up the mud. I had mounted my WTB Weirwolf tyres - a very good tyre in wet conditions - but I should have mounted my fenders. I set out along the perimeter of the forest again, adding some singletrails were conditions were marginally better because they had not been mashed by other tyres - be they car, bike or motorcycle - and I had to watch out because the leaves were hiding all kinds of traps beneath them. I stopped for a couple of pictures near Mollendaal and also at the forests' biggest tree, the 'Dikken Eik' which loosely translates as Fat Oak.
Several times I needed lighning reflexes and good tyre to keep me from falling off. There was some snow here and there and near the end of my ride it began to snow again. Snow that would become more intense over the next couple of hours .
Ride Stats : 26.5K and 360/305 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h42mins
Well, they weren't wrong with the weather forecast. It was snowing in flurries this morning and it seems to that this will be the case the whole day long. So I quickly settled for an hour on the rollers. I am still reading the fascinating book Frank Vandenbroucke wrote. During the unfolding of his history I begin to understand why I was always a fan of his. He was very unconventional, arrogant and never followed the crowd. When everyone rode in a red Ferrari, he bought a yellow one, and he had a yellow Lamborghini long before Mr. Boonen copied him when he got his Murcielago. The book looks to be written very honestly. How he won everything when he was young, how he was always predicting where and when he would strike in his glory years, and how he made those predictions come true. But then the troubles begin when he meets Philippe Gaumont and gets addicted to Stilnoct. From there onwards things first look great - he wins La Doyenne in a majestic way - but then quickly he is questioned by the French police because he was involved with Dr. "Mabuse" Sainz and because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time - at Phillipe Gaumonts' home when the Gendarmerie raided the place. Truely fascinating stuff and a good insight into the ways of the peloton. I'm really looking forward to reading more about this. The hour passed quickly and I didn't even notice Candice Night singing softly in my ears about Paris Nights. Next up is a good crash into my fauteuil for the Hasselt cyclocross. I don't envy the racers having to battle it out in the current dire weather conditions.
During the day the wind turned from west to north and it got 5 degrees colder. Alson there were gusts and showers with hail and cold rain. So the sensible thing was to stay indoors and sweat a little on the rollers. Another chapter read, another CD listened to and 26K further down the road. The forecast for this weekend calls for snow and wind, so the chances of riding out are very slim.
