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| Tales from the Woods |
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| 17-03-2007 |
 Meerdael BLOSO |
High time I rode the Meerdael BLOSO's again. Checking out the arrowing and looking out for possible problem areas. Lots of forestry going on, fallen trees everywhere but only needed to get off my bike twice. Once on the Green Loop for a tree that seems to have fallen during the Februari storm, and once on the descent into Sint Joris Weert for a couple of smallish trees that seem to have been deliberately dropped over the track. I tried moving the trees but could not. But with 2 or 3 people I'm sure we could dislodge them.
I rode pretty relaxed, only upping the pace towards the end of the ride. I quite enjoyed this ride.The forest is wonderful, even in this time of year, when all is supposed to be dead and waiting for the spring. The trail conditions were excellent . Pity the weather forecast calls for some rain and even snow , but I'm sure glad I got this ride in today. Have to work later this afternoon and depending on the weather I might ride the SVK ride tomorrow, which also covers a part of Meerdaelwoud..
Ride Stats : 55K and 510 heightmeters in 2h41mins
2179/15265
17-03-2007, 13:57 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 15-03-2007 |
| Melenkurion Skyweir |
Tough ride today. I rode over to Huldenberg to do some hill training and with the Smeysberg, those who know that hill will know what I mean, the going is always tough.
I rode up and over it 7 times , doing 70kph in the downhill bit and 11kph on the uphill. Legs were screaming for mercy but I wasn't listening. Good training, I'm nearly dead now but will survive I'm sure.
Episode 2 in the government battle against the fine dust. Yesterday they fined 3000 (!) drivers going faster than 90kph on the Flemish highways. Since yesterday there is a restriction to 90kph on the highways and the Rings around Brussels and Antwerp.
Some drivers were complaining they were not aware of the restriction. Yeah right, there were 90kph signs about every 2K or so.. Some people really need to open their eyes when driving. Perhaps they should put the 90kph signs on the left side of the highway, were the fast lane is, as well.. not that it matters a lot I guess. Assholes will always be assholes, the only language they understand is when they are slapped with a fine...repeatedly.
I felt that today most drivers were more or less driving around the 90kph mark, most a bit more, some a bit less.
Melenkurion Skyweir? That was what I was thinking about when attacking the hill. Look it up.
Ride Stats : 41K and 530 heightmeters in 1h53mins
2124/14755
15-03-2007, 19:06 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 10-03-2007 |
| Rode Lintjes Tocht Nr26 in Meerdael |
This morning saw a new batch of Rode Lintjes showing up for this second installment of RL26 which consisted of my Secret Meerdael training loop, starting in Blanden and trying to show an unexpected side of the Meerdaelwoud in all its splendor. We were 8 when we left and due to the heavy rainfall of the last few weeks, I expected a lot of mud. I was not far off, in fact I was spot on . I left my mudfenders at home this time because I had mounted a smaller section tyre.
The weather was just gorgeous, nice sunshine, almost no wind and around 13 degrees C at noon made this ideal circumstances for a good tough ride. So lets go !
The first part of the ride was a lot wetter. Due to the saturation of the grounds the water was still standing in large quantities on the trails. The floor here is clay-like, which saturates faster . The little singletrails demanded a lot of power to get through them, leaving us slipping and sliding when the top soil moved. Again I left out one hollow road uphill and downhill because they are real mud-traps. Today I had mounted my Schwalbe Black Shark Mud tyres , 1.5 inches wide, which cut through the mud like a hot knife through butter, finding grip where other tyres have long thrown in the towel. These tyres got me through the worst of the mud sections today and are really a joy, especially in off-camber situations - where most other tyres lose their grip - these just bite and let you continue. They demand a LOT of rider attention on harder tracks though, due to the stiff knobs which tend to tilt and let the tyre skip in turns , and they also need 3 bars in them to prevent snakebites which doesn't do much for comfort. Still, after an initial getting-used-to-them and a flat which I believe was caused by a snakebite , I got along fine.
I noticed some people using GPS but I am quite sure that they will keep to the set rules; GPS was OK but on the condition the recorded track is for THEIR personal use.
As I explained before, and as the attendees certainly noticed throughout the ride, a lot of the tracks used on this "Secret Trails" ride are small and thats how they should remain. This keeps both me and the Forestry happy.
Once we crossed over the Naamsesteenweg into the 'hilly' section, the floor looked dryer - except for a really bad mudhole in a crevasse and the occasional puddle - and the difficulty now shifted from mud to the steepness of the climbs and the descents. The small-section tyres' footprint don't give you a lot of brake-power and I managed to hit the bushes again on one particularly steep downhill. When the tyres did bite when braking I nearly went OTB but luckily I had the reaction to ease on the front brake and then managed to steer clear of harms way. The bushes stopped me but without any harm to me or my bike. What a joy diskbrakes are compared to V-brakes - pity I cannot mount them on all my bikes. The Litespeed I was using today doesn't have them .
The group was very homogenous and I stopped often to allow everyone to catch their breath, eat and drink a bit from time to time. I added a little extra loop along a new footpath in Sint Joris Weert and also included another section which yielded us a bit more distance and one climb more than a few weeks back. I was feeling tired when we arrived and I'm sure most of the others were too. But I had a feeling of fullfilment on completing this tough ride. Ride Stats : 56K and 925 heightmeters in 4h08Ride Profile : CLICK
Ride Pictures : CLICK (thanks to Polarbear for the pics ! )
1961/13225
10-03-2007, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 08-03-2007 |
| International Womens Day |
Wow, was I glad to get home from work and get on my bike. I had been up quite late last night and getting up for work at 5.30 hurt like hell. But one advantage to start work early is that you can sneak out at a decent hour and enjoy an few hours of light to do a long ride on yer bike. Today was a have of rest between some very wet days, and the temperature roared towards 15 degrees C when I set off for one of my standard rides. This time I chose the Haasrode Tour, which yields me 65K and some 500 heightmeters. I felt good from the moment I got on my bike, filled my lungs with fresh clean air and soared off behind a small motorcycle.. Had a great ride and I was in just in time before night fell.
On another note, today was the International Womens Day.
Women , I love them all, even (or should I say, especially ? ) the naughty ones. It's good that they have their day but in fact to me every day is Womens' Day. They deserve it. And they had a good day for it, so much is sure. Lets hope women all over the world benefit in some way from this incentive. I am a strong advocate for equal rights for women, and I mean equal in every way, no matter what color, race or religion . Like I said, they deserve it.
Ride Stats: 66K and 490 heightmeters in 2h35mins
1905/12300
08-03-2007, 19:04 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 03-03-2007 |
| Heze - Trophee Jeunes Vetetistes |
Wet, strong wind, dark skies .. excellent conditions to stay home in bed, one would think. But no, today I had promised my club to help out with the organisation of the first leg of the "Trophee Jeunes Vetetistes" , taking place in Heze, a small rural village next to Grez-Doiceau. My task consisted of safeguarding the security on one of the crossroads where the mountainbike race was to pass. I had demanded a spot in the forest so I could also try out my new camera and flash .The conditions were dark, so the flash came in handy.. unfortunately I would discover later that I had overlooked restoring some settings I had previously tampered with while trying out some stuff at home. This oversight rendered most of my pics even darker than they already were due to the storm that was still raging in the early hours of the day. Oh well, we live to learn, don't we.I was in place around 10am and some 4 hours later it all was all over and done. Being in the forest and in a hollow road I was spared from the fierce wind, which had already felled some trees on the main road earlier that day.I have to admit, I saw a lot of nearly-dead bikers pass before my lens today. The climatic conditions were horrific: wetness , mud , storm wind in the plains and of course the ups and downs and technical passages of this circuit took their toll. Mountainbiking is a tough sport, let there be no doubt about that. I shot some 160 pictures and I think I have around 20 that I consider to be good. I hope they reflect some of the toughness of the race. Scroll down to the bottom of this article for a link to a small pictorial album.I tried out a lot of stuff on my Nikon D2X camera , like different autofocus procurement settings , some of them worked, some didn't quite give me the results I was looking for. But thats OK, this is a learning process and I rather have some bad pictures now, when things aren't stressy, than during some important race where I want most of the pics to be good.Later that day I managed to squeeze in an hour on the rollers, to complete a powertraining session. I was quite tired and I have not been feeling all that good these last few days, but the workout went fine nevertheless.Ride Stats : 25k in 1h5mins1770/11480Heze picture album (click)
03-03-2007, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 28-02-2007 |
| Rollerboy |
Damn, not only rain but some fierce wind blowing as well. I wanted to do an hour or 2 today but the adverse conditions kept me inside and on the rollers. Not even the adventures of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever could bring a smile on my face, and Ewa, Anastacia and Hayuma all did their best to cheer me up but I still had difficulty in staying on the rollers for more than half an hour.. needing to step down, do a few stretching exercises and get back on again for another 30 minutes. And the weather forecast calls for more of the same the next few days and even the weekend will most likely be wet. I hope saturday is not too wet because I want to test out my digital camera on some real crosscountry racing during the first leg of the Trophee Jeunes Vetetistes, organized by my club in Héze.
Ride Stats : 35k in 1h30mins
1745/11480
28-02-2007, 19:39 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 27-02-2007 |
| Power training |
Another power training day today. This consists of a 30 minute warmup phase, in which I slowly up the speed to get my legs on the right temperature and muscle tension for what is to follow. Then I do 5 series of a 3 minute 'hard' phase, setting the brake all the way to its toughest setting, thus creating a lot of resistance and this forces me to really put down the power. The rpm's diminish accordingly to something between 50 and 70rpm. After those 3 minutes I release the brake and do a 2 minute 'free' ride, in which my legs have the time to recuperate. So I repeated this 5 times today. After those 25 minutes I end with a 20-minute cooldown, in which my legs have the time to fall back into a more leisurly state of exercise . I started a new book yesterday, called "Lord Fouls' bane" written by Stephen R.Donaldson. It is a Tolkien-like series of stories which I first read in the late 80'ies and now re-discover. I'm not sure I will read the whole sage because it covers at least 6 books .Ride Stats : 30K in 1h15mins1710/11480
27-02-2007, 20:40 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 24-02-2007 |
| Rode LintjesTocht Nr26 in Meerdael |
It had been a while since I guided a tour for the Rode Lintjes, a group of mountainbikers which have their own forum and who are recognizable by a red ribbon attached to their helmet. I guided the first Rode Lintjes Tocht in Nandrin , quite a few years ago now , and then again another one in Theux some months later . Since then the Rode Lintjes have been biking all over Belgium, always having one of their members presenting a ride in their region or a region they know very well, and guiding that ride for the others to enjoy.
After long consideration I agreed on doing my Secret Meerdael Training Loop. I had some reservations about the use of GPS, after all , it is supposed to be a secret loop right ? But we came to an agreement, I would not mind having members with a GPS on the ride , as long as they agreed to keep the track for their own use and most certainly would NOT put it on the web. Most of the tracks I use are small singletrack, and having hordes of bikers coming over to ride those trails would most certainly kill them or have the Forestry decide to close them down for bikers.
I also stipulated to have a numerus clausus, 5 to 6 bikers at a time, again to save the tracks.
So this saturday morning at 10am , 5 brave bikers showed up at the little school of Blanden. The weather had not exactly been favorable to dry trails these last few days, and the forecast was for scattered showers during the day . But at least the temperature was very nice with 10 degrees C at the start .
I had mounted a front and rear fender because I was expecting some of the trails to be rather muddy. I was to be proven right. Mentally I had already scapped a few sections, which would shorten the 65K loop but the remainder would still prove to be more than enough for most of the participants. The singletracks ondulating through the forest, the mud and especially in the second part the constant succession of climbs and descents made this a very tough ride, especially this early in the season. But I had a good time, we had a few showers in the second half of the ride , but overall the conditions were very good. The tracks were a lot more slippery after the showers but by then we had cleared the most dangerous downhills. In a few weeks I will guide another group of Rode Lintjes over these trails , perhaps this time we can do the full version, that will depend on how the weather will be.
Ride Stats : 54.5K and 885 heightmeters in 4h00mins
Ride Profile : CLICK
1657/11480
24-02-2007, 15:50 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 21-02-2007 |
| Farmer Giles of Ham |
Rather unstable weather today. At one time I thought of getting on my bike, the sky was open and the wet streets were starting to dry out but I had to check something on my PC first and I'm glad I did. Because half an hour later it started to pour again. So on the rollers I went. Armed with some nice music of Ewa Sonnet and Anastacia and reading a couple of short fairy tales from Mr. JRR Tolkien.The idea was to ride at an easy pace to get rid of the heavy legs, left over from yesterdays' powertraining. Managed to put in an hour and a half and I finished two stories in that time.. Plans for the Houffa weekend April 20-22nd , begin to form. I have already booked last November in my usual hotel, the Ol' Fosse d'Outh. So I can concentrate on things I want to do while there. Checking out some marked trails in nearby La Roche is on my list , I have done some of them, either partly or as part of an LCMT long ago, and I wouldn't mind to go back there and check them out, they are short but steep and tough. The Houffa marked trails themselves are also an option of course , or even a road ride if the trails are muddy and dirty.
Another thing I certainly want to do is check out the entire Houffa World Cup circuit to find some new interesting spots to take photographs. I usually stay in the Ol' Fosse neighborhood ( lazy bones :) ) focussing on the singletrack climb leading up to the famous Ol Fosse downhill or positioning myself on the long climb into the forest after they cross the Bastogne road .
The circuit keeps getting shorter and shorter each year. I've known it to be almost 12K in 1996 and then you could take your time to walk to some other spots before the riders returned.Nowadays they barely need 15 minutes to complete a 3.5K lap.
I should normally have a Press Card so I could take a Press Shuttle to move quickly from spot to spot but I don't need all that hassle, I just want a few good spots and move between them on foot . A nice steep uphill were the tension is on the riders' faces never fails to produce nice pictures. I think I will practice a bit during saturdays races and compare spots , digital camera settings and lens options. Normally I take my action pics with an 180mm f2.8 small tele but I can now also use my 28-70 f2.8 zoom, which could provide some interesting wide angles as I can photograph the riders as they pass over me (or , to be more precise - next to me) I need that zoom anyway to make close-ups from the riders at the starting grid before the race.Normally I will also cover the Trophee Jeunes Vetetiste race at Grez-Doiceau (Hèze) - on saturday March 3rd. This should a good repetition for my new camera and flash (I had to get a new Nikon SB-800 because the flash I had (a Nikon SB-24 aged 10 years) isn't compatible with the newer Nikon D2X cameras' I-TTL mode , thanks Nikon for that ! Ride Stats : 35.5K in 1h30mins1603/10595
21-02-2007, 19:59 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 18-02-2007 |
| Maleizen 65K Tour |
Felt rather tired from yesterdays' ride so I decided not to risk another offroad adventure and instead opted for a long road ride. The Maleizen tour is just that. It starts in Maleizen and loops over Ottenburg, Grez Doiceau, Mont Saint Guibert, Corbais, Louvain la Neuve, Wavre and back to Maleizen. There are 3 distances ; 65K, 90K and 115K and they are marked by a yellow capital M with an arrow on top of it. I usually take the 65K version, since I got that memorized well which is a help because the arrowing on the streets begins to fade.
I managed to flatten again, this time I picked up a tiny pin which caused my rear tyre to slowly lose pressure. I couldn't find the hole this time, so I mounted a spare and moved on. Have to try and find the hole at home, otherwise the inner tyre is 'lost'.
Weather was not as warm as yesterday but I still averaged 9 degrees C so I'm not complaining.
Ride Stats : 76.5K and 695 heightmeters in 3h12mins
1537/10230
18-02-2007, 17:23 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 17-02-2007 |
| Foret de Soignes extraordinaire |
Wow, what a great ride I just had. The weather was awesome for this time of year; bordering around 12 degrees C or even more in the sun and out of the wind. It had been dry and warm-ish for a couple of days now and I had arranged to meet up with "Monster Blonde" (well , she IS a blonde but the Monster bit is not really true, on the contrary ! ) to do a ride in the Foret de Soignes.She hadn't been out with her bike this year - having done a lot of spinning classes and Gary Fisher powered Tacx Fortius roller rides - and for me it also was a while ago I had been in the FdS.
I really love to ride my bike over to this big forest just south of Brussels , do a loop or a combination of loops over there and then head back. This nets me at least a 3-hour ride and I love the forest no matter what time of year. At first, a few years back now, it was a bit of a maze to me, and because of its size, it is HUGE , I tended to get confused by all the trails , which all looked so alike. All the singletrails meandering from one place to the other all added to the confusion. But I have been out there with her many times before, and she DOES know this Forest inside out, having devized lots of loops for BigM , so I followed her , looked around and started to memorize the place, trying to form a picture (a map if you wish ) of it in my head and gradually feeling confident enough to venture out by myself, albeit with a real map in my back pocket, you never know when you DO get lost. There also is a great BLOSO trail out there, starting in Hoeilaart and always a good base track to fall back on.So, like I said, I rode to Tervuren and met up with her. She was eager to get out, and so was I. The trails were pretty much dry and the warm air and nice surroundings made the ride very enjoyable. The forest was pretty busy with walkers , bikers and horses. And of course a lot of loose dogs to watch out for. My companion was leading the way and at times I was surprised by her rushing off like a young fowl, leaving me to up a gear and trying to catch up with her. I also noticed she had gained a lot of strenght in the climbs, those indoor sessions are really paying off . I love to ride the trails with her, her pace is just right. She can go on for hours on end, and those long steady rides really suit me best. On top of that I think we both share the same respect and love of nature and a healthy curiosity to discover new stuff. Both just wanting to get 'out there' and follow the trails to wherever they may lead us. Some of these ventures have been almost magic.We took in quite a bit of hills, some swooping singletracks and also took the time to stop every now and then, having a sip of water/sportsdrink and enjoy the tranquility and the sheer beauty of the forest. Or watch a dog swimming playfully after a thrown stick in a pond near the Rouge Cloitre. Or look amazed as we notice there already are young canadian geese about at another pond. After 22K and just shy of 250 heightmeters we were back at our starting point. Lungs filled with the clean forest air and I'm sure both having enjoyed a very good ride. Thanks M.B. for this great ride !I still had to ride back towards Leuven, taking in a few trails on the way, even a little bit of the Green Meerdael loop before I got home.Ride Stats : 62K and 500 heightmeters in 3h06mins1460/9535
17-02-2007, 17:52 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 16-02-2007 |
| Power training |
Today needed me to do another power training on the rollers. With an outside temperature of nearly 15 degrees C it took a lot of inner pressure to keep me from getting on one of my bikes and ride outside. But I am giving my wrist one more day off, and training on the rollers lets you train and follow a set program with almost chirurgical precision. So I stayed in.
I got a Nikon SB800 flash delivered at home today (I ordered it yesterday at Digicamshop so these guys are lightning fast - my thanks to them)
I had been experimenting with an old SB24 I still have lying around from my F801S days but the results were not constant, the flash being unable to measure TTL with my much more recent Nikon D2X this left me with the only option to input all parameters manually. Lots of work and easy to make a mistake so why not unleash the full power of the D2X-SB800 combo ? So I got one and the first results were amazing. I feel much more confident now with regards to getting the pictures right at some upcoming mountainbike events.
The weather , wow, this almost feels like spring.. can't wait to do a long ride tomorrow where another warm day is forecast.
Ride Stats : 27k in 1h10mins
1398/9035
16-02-2007, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 14-02-2007 |
| Good news and bad news |
Today I planned to do 2 hours on the rollers, the rain had been falling incessantly since this morning, and after taking half a day off at work I started my ride around 5pm.
2 hours is a long time to spend on the rollers and even though I was listening to some music from Ewa Sonnet, Hayumi Hamasaki and Anastacia (who I am just discovering and really like a lot - 'How come the world won't stop' really gives me shivers) and reading the last of my Conan novels and beginning with Sven Nys' autobiography, I still have a lot of time just to close my eyes and let my thoughts wander over the day.
Quickly my thoughts are invaded by a very good friend, who stands before a great task in life and today received some good news which will help her to gain confidence and security towards completing that task.
But I also link to another girl, who died last night in Malmö where she was found dead in her home at the age of 32. Tragic if you know that she also leaves behind a 4-year old daughter. The exact circumstances of her death are still uncertain.
Most of you won't know who Johanna Sällström, born Johanna Maria Berglund, is just by hearing the name.
But I think a bell will start ringing when I tell you she plays the role of Linda, the daughter of Kurt Wallander in the Swedish detective series "Wallander". I think about her for a long time, and in my minds' eye I see fragments of the series where she plays a woman amongst other things struggling with her feelings for a fellow policeman. Her character is being really delved out very deeply through the different films and is portrayed beautifully by this young actress who now has left us so abruptly .
I was shocked when I heard the news and I feel sad, both for her and for those she leaves behind. I commemorate her by inserting a little picture of her next to this text, which is linked to a bigger one taken when she was in Belgium for the Film Festival in Ghent last autumn.
Life is full of all these little facts that mean so much to some and so little to others , some good news, some bad news. Sherish the good news and deal with the bad news, that is perhaps the first lesson to learn when growing up.
At least in our minds we can stay children, just enough to be able to face it all.
Ride Stats : 50k in 2h04mins
1371/9035
14-02-2007, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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