Today saw me riding the Litespeed Vortex with the new Stans Alpha 340 / Sapim CX Ray / Chris King R45 ceramic wheels. They are very light with weight just a tad lighter than that of my Campagnolo Hyperon 2 Ultra tubular set. The Campy's weigh 912g and 1333g front/rear with a Campagnolo Record 13-29 cassette in the back. The new set weighs 929g in the front and 1285g in the back with a Campagnolo Record 12-23 cassette. The ride is as expected very sweet. The ceramic bearing roll very smooth and there is no tyre rub on the brakes whilst sprinting. Obviously the Chris King hubs need to settle and break in. Due to the extreme tolerances this can take a couple of 100 kilometers. The typical 'angry bee' sound is also not present. It sounds more muffled now. This will changes when the kilometers accumulate. I felt really good, supercompensating from the Provence weekend no doubt - and did a couple of short laps in Blanden and Haasrode. Just to get a feel for the wheels and check out the gearing . Here are a couple of pictures from the new wheels.

06-06-2012, 23:06 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

On thursday May 31st I left with the Cellule de Loisir of the Blancs Gilets cycling club to Crillon-le-Brave near Bedoin. After a relatively easy and traffic-free 950K we arrived in Carpentras.
Settling in in the La Condamine , we decided to go out for a ride, a little 'mise en jambes' to let our legs recover from the 10-hour car ride.

Thursday May 31st:

We left our chambre d'hotes and after a couple of K arrived in Bedoin. We rode on in the direction of Malaucene. Climbing up to the top of the Col de la Madeleine. I enjoyed to smooth ride the Vortex with its tubular wheels offered. Compared to the others the wheels also allowed a faster freewheeling speed, du to the Cult Ceramic bearings.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 72K and 2300 heightmeters (Garmin) in 04h05mins


Saturday June 2nd: Les Gorges de la Nesque

The legs felt a little less 'estival' today so we quickly decide to take it easy in the first couple of kilometers . Making our way along Flassan towards Auzo where we started the ascent towards the Gorges de la Nesque. The road here has a very steady climb in it that takes you for 18K along one of the highlights in this area, the 300 meters deep Gorges de la Nesque. The sun was out and even though the legs didn't feel very willing to ride I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful landscape. Stopping at the culminating point to take a picture, I could see the Mont Ventoux looming in the background. Omnipresent it is.

We rode on until we came to Monieux. Here one of my friends knew a great restaurant so we took a long break whilst enjoying a fine meal in restaurant Les Lavandes

After the meal we crossed the Nesque and started the slow steady climb towards Javon along the N90. On the top we had another great view accross the Gorges towards the Mont Ventoux.

Moving on and now a very long downhill awaited us, bringing us from a height of 830m  into Methamis where we rode on into the valley towards Mormoiron situated at 203m above sea level. From here it was a breeze in the sun and with only a light wind to make our way back towards the Gite at Crillon-le-Brave. A very fine ride with a great lunch at Momieux.

31-05-2012, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Set out to help my club - The Blancs Gilets - with the organisation of the Boucles de Lasne. I received the GPS track of the 60K and left at 7am with another rider to check out the arrowing of this loop. After 5K we already got some trouble because we arrived in a area where all of a sudden the arrows arrived against our track. A lot of checking, re-checking and then calling Eric Anris, the guy who sleeps on these tracks. He told us we missed an arrow, the arrow was gone, and therefore were in the opposite direction of the track. We continued and the trail was a beautiful mix of climbs and descents, sometimes along very narrow trails. My legs were feeling tired and I was praying for the first feed zone to come along when Eric Anris called me again, and picked us up in his truck to ride us back to the place where we missed the arrow. Seemed that the arrow had been removed again, and again lots of mountainbikers were experiencing what it felt to be lost.
So we were supposed to ride this loop - 4K long and about 85 heightmeters until the last of the entrants had passed. I believe we did it six times, you can see that in the height profile.
Around 11:15 we rode back to the start. My Samsung Galaxy S II suffered from a flat battery so I decided to call it a day and get in my car. This is a nice organised ride and I am sorry that I could not complete the full 30K loop we were supposed to control. But as I have said, I have the GPS track so I can always come back again to ride it on my own.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 39K and 975 heightmeters (Garmin) in 2h53mins

3886/41210

28-05-2012, 13:33 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Another beautiful sunny day and another ride on the Vortex. Getting used to the bike and to the speed. Two times I nearly collided with a car that misjudged my speed and took right of way. Both times a woman driver, both times squealing brakes - I changed the brakepads to carbon-specific after this ride  - and two times I made a lot of noise. I'm sure they understood the message. It takes some getting used to.
This time I went to more hilly trajectories with the long climb out of Huldenberg giving me the opportunity to test the 12-27 cassette for shifting. All went well. The maximum percentage on this climb was a short stretch 13% and I only used the 25 in the rear , so that put me at easy in view of the 7.5% average pendance during the 21.5k climb that awaits me on the big V next week.
The sun shone hard today and I was glad to be home after nearly an hour and a half. Bike confidence building.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 40K and 335 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h27mins

3847/40235

27-05-2012, 13:51 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Today saw me on the Litespeed Vortex for the first road-bike ride of this year. The Vortex got new chain, cassette and chainrings and I also tested out the Campagnolo Hyperon Two Ultra wheels with the Vredestein Fortezza tubular tyres. It took some getting used to the speed and agility of this bike, and I also needed to take into account being quicker than the surrounding cars in some circumstances.
The tubular wheels roll very slick and the ceramic bearings of the Hyperon make this bike zoom along. There was quite a bit of wind which bothered me in the beginning and the end of this short ride. But in the middle part I made up for that by being carried along by the easterly breeze. Without much effort this netted me a near 30kph average ride.  My Cateye Strada did not work, but I will replace that with a mounting unit for my Garmin Edge 705. This gives me all the data I need and does not need a transmitter and magnet in the wheel.
For the ride I settled on a quick dash around Bierbeek, Opvelp, Beauvechain and Hamme Mille, closing the loop over Nethen, Sint Joris Weert and the Zoete Waters

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 30.5K and 195 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h03mins

3807/39900

26-05-2012, 20:39 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

A nice sunny day with a stiff breeze from the east.Around 27 degrees C when I rode out in the late afternoon. I had the Moots YBB back with a new nipple in the back wheel and the front wheel where the play had been adjusted. I felt good and maintained a good pace throughout the ride. I rode the Meerdael Bloso routes, in the opposite direction. Starting out with the Red , then hopping on the more intense Blue and finishing off with the Green. The pace was high. Too high for another nipple in my back wheel. I noticed it was out of tru whilst riding and when I arrived home I was abhorred to find out that another nipple had been broken off. I was not the same as last week but it is disturbing that this happens so fast after the other one. Maybe I need to have them all replaced, to be on the safe side.

Despite this I had a great ride. The trails were great, dried out after yesterdays' mild rainfall at the end of the day. With an average temperature of 23 degrees C it wasn't too warm to ride in long trousers and sleeves either.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 56.5K and 575 heightmeters (Garmin) in 2h36mins

3776/39705

25-05-2012, 22:22 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

It was pretty warm this evening so I set out for a short ride in the forest. I noticed the horseflies are around so I wore long pants and shirt, and applied my custom horsefly repellent. It worked, I had no problems. The ride was fast and dry even though there were puddles to be surrounded - fun ! - next to the E40. I finished the ride riding up to the Weertse Dreef for a look at the work that is going on where it comes to the Naamsesteenweg. There is a threat of thunderstorms but it looks like we will might get lucky and miss out.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 32K and 245 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h28mins

3720/39130

23-05-2012, 21:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

21-05-2012, 19:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

With the weather sunny and dry I decided to ride out again on the Meerdael Classic trails. I felt a bit bad about not being able to complete them yesterday - due to the technical problems I had with the Moots YBB - so today I took the Hilset Big Bad Wolf custom out for the same ride. I cut the entry towards Pecrot a little shorter than yesterday and also altered the trail going through the valley on my way towards Ottenburg. From Ottenburg I picked up on the Meerdael Classic trails . The Hilset is almost 2kg lighter but non-suspended. To my surprise it turned out to be a lot faster on the trails. This might be due to the fact that I felt better than yesterday even though the BBW gives its rider a good beating due to the lack of suspension. On the uphills - and there were a lot of them today - it is 2kg lighter which makes it more agile. Even on the very steep hills the low 22/34 gearing - as compared to the Moots' 26/34 helps me a lot. Only the Moots does offer better grip in the rear when the going gets stony, rooty or loose.

Completing the ride through Meerdael Forest I had a sense of satisfaction of having done the climbs I did not do yesterday , and complete the Meerdael Classic Hills trails.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 56K and 860 heightmeters (Garmin) in 3h09mins

3662/38280

19-05-2012, 16:53 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Today some rain was forecast so I was unsure wether to ride out. At 10.30 though I noticed the sun was out and the radar did not show any cloud cover dense enough to contain rain. So I took the YBB out for a tough ride. I planned to do the hilly section of the annual Meerdael Classic ride. This starts in Oud--Heverlee and passes near my home. It was here that I picked up on the trail that would lead me through Meerdael Forest to reach Nethen and later on Pecrot where the serious - hilly - business would commence. I took a bit of a risk to ride out with a rear wheel that suffered a bad bump during my latest ride with this bike. Later on that would prove to be exactly right.
The ride progressed well through a sunny and green Meerdael Forest and I was enjoying the silence with only the wind and the angry bee sound of my Chris King hub breaking the calm. When I reached the Klabbeek area things started to happen. On the uphill following the steep downhill at the Tomme, some 17K into the ride, my chain got stuck in a chainsuck whilst dropping to the small ring. I could get it free whilst backpedalling but I noticed a clanging sound from then on. At the top of the hill I stopped and noticed that the chain was twisted, one of the links was stiff and collided with my jockey wheels. Later on it got worse and caused the chain wanting to shift on the bigger ring all by itself. I decided to stop and break the chain, throw away the bad link and replace it with a SRAM locking link.

That went well and I set on for the rest of the ride. One hill after the other was absorbed by my legs and the sun was now hiding behind some darkening clouds. But it stayed dry and whilst I was pausing for a Clif Bar I noticed to my horror that one of the spokes in my rear wheel was loose. It had broken the nipple out of the rim. This was potentially a great risk so I decided to cut the ride short. One loose spoke puts more tension on the spokes next to it, and if they fail as well, the wheel collapses. Good thing I noticed this. I reckon the damage had been done during my latest ride, when I hit the big bump that caused my wheel to go out of true. Probably I hit another big one during this ride  - it happens all the time, this is mountainbiking after all - which caused the already straining nipple to give out.  

Riding home though Meerdael Forest I did not encounter any more problems and was a bit sad having to cut short this ride. But I still put in a good workout which yielded me 10K and about 150 heightmeters less than I had bargained for.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 50K and 890 heightmeters (Garmin) in 3h04mins

3607/37420

18-05-2012, 15:15 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Today promised to be one of the better days of this week. So with it being a holiday I decided to get a solid 100K ride in. Taking the Hilset BBW out for a ride along the LF6 Vlaanderen Fietsroute would yield me exactly what I wanted. Starting out through Mollendaal Forest the LF6 then goes through Bierbeek, Meldert, Hoegaarden and makes its way to the East. Tienen and Landen are passed and when I arrived in Velm I knew I only had a couple of kilometers to go to reach the 50K mark. Unfortunately the LF6 signs disappear past Velm and I had to make do by following the Haspengouw Kruispunten routes. Riding up to No185 and then following the route towards Kruispunt No184 I crossed the little river Circidia and stopped at a little resting place to have a crispy Clif Bar that would fuel me on the way back.

Turning around I had the wind more or less in my back which made for an easier ride back home. The weather was great. Temperatures of around 16 degrees C and a mild wind from the southeast. And dry. Had a great ride.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 106K and 790 heightmeters (Garmin) in 4h41mins

3556/36530

17-05-2012, 16:43 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Sunny calm weather this evening so I took advantage of that to ride out again in Meerdael Forest. Starting out on the Red Bloso route in reverse direction. I stayed inside of the forest boundaries because there was a mean wind blowing. Checking out a new singletrack - at least for me - from Bierbeek towards Mollendaal to ride into the forest again . Some more singletrails in Wolf area before passing the Dikke Eik region and crossing the Naamsesteenweg. Riding up towards the Grez Straat I decided to make things a little more exciting by deviating from the main roads and passing onto the smaller trails. Taking one steep downhill followed by another steep uphill I gradually made my way towards the Hercules salon. Here I let go of the brakes on the downhill towards the Kluis. The bike coped well but I noticed my rear wheel had been bumped slightly out of true. Some more work for Filip when he returns from sunny Italy. My front Chris King ISO disc needs to be checked for play on the bearings as well. Needing a special tool I cannot do this myself. In all I had a very good ride. Relaxing because I kept my heartrate low and also fun because of the many downhills and singletrail sections.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 28.5K and 430 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h36mins

3451/35740

14-05-2012, 20:55 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

This morning I felt the aftereffects from yesterdays' ride. My legs were still recovering and I had a bit of a headache. Watching the Nove Mesto World Cup races and a couple of aspirins took care of the headache but I had to wait until the late afternoon before I felt Ok to get on the bike again for an easy recovery ride in Meerdael Forest. I set out along the Red Bloso, picking in on the Blue and then decided to follow this, with a few excursions and shortcuts along the way. I made a little detour into the Justin Scheepmansstraat, coming from the Zoete Waters on the Meerdaelweg, to take a picture of the blooming rapeseed in the fields.

13-05-2012, 20:11 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

I had a good plan for todays' ride. It looked like it would stay dry so I wanted to ride out for a long ride. The first one on the Moots YBB this year. This bike got new NoTubes fluid in its tyres and also a new chain, cassette, middle and big ring over the winter recess.
I had plotted out the Beersel Green trail on Mapsource and combined that track with a shortened version of the 35K Hallerbos roadbook I have ridden a couple of times. This yielded me a 40K/800 heightmeters track I saved on my Garmin 705.
Riding towards Hallerbos along the usual way, passing next to the Margijsbos, de Ganzepoel and then into the Sonian Forest at Duisburg, to emerge at the Middenhut whence I rode along the Zonienwoudlaan until I could pick up on the Green trail in downtown Alsemberg. The Green trail turned out to be a very nice trail. Lots of climbing and the signage was perfect. Some of the tracks are only singletracks and the trail twists and winds itself in a big counterclockwise loop around Dworp. At one point I noticed Brussels on the horizon and I also saw the Sint Pieters Leeuw tower looming in the distance. The sun was peeping through the clouds and it became a couple of degrees warmer. But still it was only 12 degrees out there today. But that suited me fine. Moots windstopper, long trousers and I didn't need to worry about getting too warm.

12-05-2012, 18:35 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

It remained dry for the entire day and the temperatures were climbing towards a mild 16 degrees C. I rode out in the late afternoon with a definite plan. Riding over Korbeek Dyle and high over Leefdaal to reach the point - just before Duisburg - where I had left the new Duisburg Red BLOSO route a couple of weeks ago. I was set on finding the missing arrow in Duisburg so I started on the loop. A nice descent along the edge of a forest brought me to a tarmac road which I had to ride upwards towards Duisburg for a while. Taking a right turn and down along a field road into a hollow road. Left into the village and to the point where I got lost last time. But this time I spotted the Red arrow that eluded me before. Taking me into the Sonian forest towards Tervuren. Good trails here and crossing the Duisburgsesteenweg to take a long climb into the Kapucinnenbos. Taking a left along a trail that was pretty muddy at times. Flat so no way for the water to drain. Luckily there was a parallel track that was dryer. Reaching the Dronkemansdreef , crossing that and then a nice uphill followed by a zooming downhill. This will be a fast one when it is dry, now care had to be taken because there were some slippery muddy patches that needed to be avoided.

07-05-2012, 22:04 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

The weather took a turn for the worse yesterday and last night. Not only has it been raining - light rain but rain nevertheless - but also the temperature has been dropping into the single digit zone. I waited for  noon to pass before riding out . Into the forest looked like a good idea and I set out on my Mollendaal trails. With a couple of extra loops because I felt like doing them. The trails were moist but not overly so. The cold weather forced me into an extra layer of clothing. 8 degrees C in May, not exactly what one would anticipate this time of the year.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 33K and 405 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h51mins

3238/32870

06-05-2012, 16:04 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

The forecast rain did not materialize so when I got home from work early in the afternoon I decided to take advantage of the sun and dry weather to do another easy road ride. There was some wind and I overdressed but I did enjoy my ride. Starting through the Weertse Dreef and then riding through Nethen, Hamme Mille and towards the Beauvechain Airbase. La Bruyere and Meldert where I took a left towards Bierbeek. Checking out some cul-de-sac in Bierbeek which took me to Korbeek Lo so I had to ride back towards Bierbeek and then taking a right into Haasrode and onwards to Blanden.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 49K and 325 heightmeters (Garmin) in 2h06mins

3205/32465

04-05-2012, 18:19 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Yesterday saw a real downpour so I was not eager to go offroad this afternoon. Instead I chose for an easy recovery ride along the roads of Heverlee, Bertem, Leefdaal, Korbeek Dyle and from the Zoete Waters another loop towards Sint Joris Weert, Nethen and Hamme Mille. The legs felt OK and appreciated the day off in intensity. I did manage a good average speed nevertheless. The clouds were overcast and there was a mild breeze blowing from the west. But it stayed dry and with temperatures of around 13 degrees C it wasn't really cold either.
But considering we are May it is time for temperatures of 20 degrees and more. The forecast however does look grim for the remainder of the week and even the weekend does look like rainy and cold.
On another note I started preparing my Litespeed Vortex for the summer. I changed the Continental Attack & Force tyres from the old Campagnolo Neutron wheels to my new Stans 340 / Sapim CX Ray / Chris King R45 ceramic wheels. Putting some pressure in the tyres, as well as the tubes on the Campagnolo Hyperon 2 set, and if the sun comes out I will venture out for some mise-en-jambe on the roadbike soon.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 40K and 320 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h44mins

3157/32140

03-05-2012, 19:40 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Today was supposed to be a resting day but when I saw the sun come out and the temperature rose towards 20 degrees C I could not resist taking the BBW out for a road ride. At least that way the intensity would not be too high. Starting out over Hamme Mille and riding towards Lathuy I reached Dongelberg. No access to the castle grounds so I rode on, taking the N91 towards Eghezee. In Geest-Gerompont-Petit-Rosiere , at the intersection with the Ravel coming from Perwez I took a left turn on that Ravel and a little bit further left again on the Ravel 2.
Downhill now until I reached Jodoigne. Further on to Hoegaarden and then I picked up on the arrows marked KLS. Not knowing wat they were I started following them into Meldert. Here I caught up with a couple on road cycles and the woman told me they were on the Haasrode-Huy-Haasrode organised ride. 155K from Haasrode to Huy, and back. A track I would welcome to have, this looks like a fine challenge for a long road ride. We rode together through Opvelp, Bierbeek and then towards Haasrode were our roads parted. 
Had a good ride, the up-pace at the end was a welcome challenge and my average was not bad, considering I was riding a mountainbike. The weather was fine and the little wind that was blowing did not bother me much.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 67K and 425 heightmeters (Garmin) in 2h46mins

3117/31820

01-05-2012, 16:28 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Warm weather this evening so when I got home from work I took the Hilset BBW and ventured into Mollendaal Forest for a quick dash around my winter trail. Adding a climb I normally would not do but since it looked already well dried-out - mainly due to the hight temperatures of yesterday afternoon and today - I took the risk and it turned out OK. The weather felt heavy and it might turn into a thunderstorm later tonight.
But for now I enjoyed good trails and heavy legs. It looks like I need to rest a day to allow my body to recuperate fully.
I was surprised I still was close to a 20kph average. It didn't feel that quick. Stopped once to take a picture of what looks to be a frowning tree. There are a couple of them to be found high in the forest, close to the Mollendaal rift.

Dropping into said rift and climbing out again I arrived near the Bremberg for a last loop alaong Blanden cemetery and back into the forest.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 28K and 365 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h29mins

3048/31395

30-04-2012, 20:08 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf