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| Tales from the Woods |
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| 12-09-2008 |
 Belgian and Dutch MTB Marathon Championships - update |
Just a little update to tell you that I have edited the GPS track on a few points and also added a list of road crossings which should make life easier for people following the race to see their friends and provide them with upport and assistance. You can download the 7-ZIP file by CLICKING HERE.For those not familiar with Rapidshare - just click on FREE USER, wait a few seconds for the countdown to finish , then fill in the code that appears in the box and click on the download button. The download should start after that. To unzip the file I believe you can use WINRAR or else get the 7-ZIP program HERE.
12-09-2008, 16:42 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 11-09-2008 |
| Theux Red and then some more |
Today I rode to Banneux to ride the Red Adeps route of Theux. I always start in Banneux because that way the most difficult parts of the ride are at the start - the Forges de Thiry descent and the climb out of Theux towards Sassore. My plan was to also include a trip into the valley of the Ambleve - Ninglinspo, Chaudiere and Vieux Chera - and do some extra heightmeters there.
I arrived in Banneux around 10.30am. I had to look a bit to find the parking spot I prefer - it is more than a year ago since I last was here and things fade easily. When I left the parking lot I came on the N62 and from there I could easily get on the Red trail. I didn't feel very fit in the beginning of the ride and the Merlin took some getting used to. I suspect I put a little bit too much air in the tyres. The descent into the Forges de Thiry was as I remembered it. Steep with some nice switchbacks and sadly still blocked at a couple of places by fallen trees. I mean, its more than a year ! Can't someone do something about this? Getting around them meant sliding down the steep slope - man and bike. But I arrived safely at the Hoegne borders and before long I was climbing up to the Maison-Bois. I had been here recently on the Verviers marathon WC track recon and it was a lot dryer now. Which suited me fine. The sun was out and it was hot, with a warm wind blowing from the south and thunderstorms forecast later in the day. I was secretly hoping for cloud cover because I forgot to bring some sun cream. The Theux trails are very typical, lots of loose stones, embedded rocks and a lot of thorn bushes next to the trails when they go though the fields. I would have to walk with my bike in my hand on a few occasions because they had been pruning the thorn bushes and left all the fallen branches on the trail. I have NoTubes but still that doesn't mean that I can ride though anything. I found the trail to be better arrowed at some places, but still lacking at others. You still need a map because at some crucial points arrows are missing. The trail going out of Au Fays up to Laboru was wet with big puddles filled with yellow water - I suspect they never dry up - and the track following the E42 demanded a lot of concentration because of deep gullies. In all the times I've ridden the Red this was the first time I came here. I always seemed to have missed this section. But now the arrowing is fine here. A bit later I was dropping down the Tier de Polleur into this nice little town with its twisted church. I had a little bit to eat here before attacking the climbs into the Bois de Staneu.
In this forest I was also treated to a section I've never done before. After the split with the Blue route my map shows the trail dropping towards the road from Theux to Polleur. But just before reaching this busy road I noticed an arrow pointing back up the hill. Yeah, another climb and a steep one - a VERY steep one. The trail then stays on the plateau for a while before dropping down again, and going up again. This time over a track with lots of loose rubble and also over pure bedrock. I was so glad it was reasonably dry and I had a full suspension bike. I made the steep climb and the following downhill was a real bonecrusher. Wow. A nice extra section. Riding though Devant Staneu as usual and then I was preparing for the long climb towards La Reid. Dropping down on tarmac towards Sur Le Thier a funny thing happened. Braking hard on the steep slope I felt my tyre go flat.. just like that. Indeed, the unthinkable had happened. My front tyre - NoTubes and all - had flattened. Hmm, perhaps the heavy braking forced a thorn out of the tyre, I heard the hissing of the air escaping and the fluid could not close the hole. So I had to put in an inner tyre - after peering out 3 other thorns - which went surprisingly easy. I had expected a sticky mess with the NoTubes fluid but it was all but dried up. I think its overdue to be changed. Anyways, after 10 minutes - and a chat with a passing biker who was on the Blue route - I could continue. Towards Banoyard and Vert Buisson I managed to stray from the trail - I'm sure there is a Red arrow pointing to the right which is WRONG.. but thanks to the GPS and the map I could quickly connect back to the trail.
The sun was hiding behind some clouds now and I was thinking about giving the Ninglinspo a miss. But no, this was dreamland and I was here so I had to go . Down following the Ruisseau des Blanches Pierres and the blitzing fast and steep stony track after passing the Point de Vue Drouet. The bike felt good by now - there was a bit less pressure in my front tyre - and I blazed down - but always keeping the speed under control. I managed to squeeze one Pepsi Cola out of the machine at Sedoz and felt a couple of drops of rain while I was eating my second powerbar and sipping my Pepsi. I wanted another drink but the machine wouldn't take my 2 coins. On the Nonceveux ride I had discovered a steep uphill along the Vieux Chera and I decided to take that again and see where it would take me. As it turned out it took me from 164 to 340 metres before I foudn a way back down towards the Ninglinspo valley. Great, at the point where the Chaudiere drops into the Ninglinspo I could commence the long uphill back to the Porallee at 410 metres. Great , I did nearly 13K in this area and it yielded me 530 heightmeters.. and that distance includes the downhills. Thats a Hill Factor of 40. So all who want to do some climbing - you know where to go. And the downhills are mean as well.
After this intermezzo my legs felt a bit fried and I still had some way to go towards Banneux. Especially the long uphill towards Menobu was hurting. I could see the heightmeters accumulating on my GPS but I knew the trail would mellow out a bit on the uphills. Not on the downhills though, and on one I had to go heavily in the brakes because 4 or 5 big trees where blocking a very steep section. Took a bit of mountaineering to get me past this barrier but after that I was nearly home. With more than 1700 heightmeters accumulated today I had a great but tough ride. And remember, I wasn't feeling my best so I was glad I did make all the climbs and survived the downhills as well. When I arrived at Banneux again even the sun came peeping back though the clouds.
Ride Stats : 72K and 1715/1733 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h50mins
Hill Factor : 23.9
Ride Profile : 
7905/79865
11-09-2008, 22:59 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 09-09-2008 |
| Meerdael and Overijse BLOSO routes combined |
Today I wanted to do a long offroad ride, taking advantage of the fine weather. So I decided to combine the Meerdael and Overijse -Two Valleys- BLOSO routes. That would yield me 54 and 34 K + the interconnection between the two which is about 4K one-way. The trails were marvelously dry and fast and I set out on a pace aiming for an average on 20kph. Some parts of the Overijse trails had been paved with heavy gravel, making it more difficult for bikers and even downright dangerous in one of the downhills. Also, on the Meerdael BLOSO, the descent into Sint Joris Weert has been evened out. Instead of a moderately tricky descent it is now an easy one. You only need to take care because the soil has not stabilized yet so your wheels can wander off in the loose earth. I'm sure give or take a couple of months it will settle but I fear that with the first heavy rain a lot of that loose soil will end up in downtown Sint Joris Weert. Unless they plan to fill it up with gravel as well, making it even more dangerous for bikers than it was before. Even though I never had the impression I needed to go deep - an average heartrate of 129bpm can attest to that - I still managed to get an average speed of more than 21kph in the end. So I am really pleased with my ride. Obviously the bike helped too even though my jockey wheels were screaming like skinned cats in the end. Ok, I need to apply some WD40 that will silence them for a while. The documents for the 2008 Belgian and Dutch MTB Marathon Championships are ready as well and I have combined them together with the latest map and gps track in a 7-Zip file you can download by clicking HERE. Ride Stats : 95K and 960/1044 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h29mins7833/78150
09-09-2008, 16:24 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 08-09-2008 |
| To Dion or Not To Dion |
Taking it easy today I decided to go and check the area where we come into Dion from the Bois des Gottes. We need to put in an extra loop in order to make the track of the Belgian and Dutch MTB Marathon Championships an even 90K long. I had a couple of ideas and when I arrived in Dion I checked them all out. Unfortunately one led under the N25 through a tunnel and there was no option to go back to the other side of the N25 without making a big loop towards Gastuche, where another tunnel is to be found. The other existed of following a very narrow track up towards the N25 - nothing more than a footpath between two fields - called the "Sentier du Champ des Cailloux" - following a track parallel to the N25 and then coming back down leading straight through a field. Well, there is supposed to be a road there but the farmer just ploughs it under every year. An option I didn't explore but which was brought to my attention is to go up towards the tunnel, but instead of going through it take a singletrack to the right just in front of the tunnel . I saw the track but it seemed blocked. But it seems to be ride-able so I have incorporated that option into the latest version of the GPS track and also on the latest version of the map (Version 5)
It was also brought
to my attention that the start will be at the centre of Pecrot - rue Constant Wauters to be exact - rather
than right before the train station of Florival. This also makes the track 1
km shorter. You win some, you lose some I guess.
The total distance according to my GPS program is 89.4K but in reality I think it will be closer to 92K. The heightmeters are still around the 1200 metre mark, with the extra climb bringing around 47 extra heightmeters.
After exploring that region I rode over to Pietrebais to have a go at that region and check for possible places for feed zones. The wind was blowing noticeably today but I rode on a very relaxed pace.
Track Profile V5:
Track Map V5:
GPS TRACK V5 DOWNLOAD : CLICKRide Stats : 65K and 610/649 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h09mins7738/77190
08-09-2008, 19:23 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 04-09-2008 |
| Dreamland revisited in Nonceveux |
It
was about time I visited the Ardennes again and today I felt like I won
the lottery. I rode to Nonceveux , not far from Remouchamps in the
Ambleve valley to ride the O2 Bikers roadbook . From the figures it
looked like one of their toughest roadbooks ever, both physical (5/5 stars) and
technical (4/5 stars) as well as offering almost 1100 heightmeters on a 36K
distance. What more does a real biker need?
It starts easy from the
little church of Nonceveux, over the river Ambleve and then taking the busy N633 for a couple of 100
metres and then the first offroad climb takes me through a few hairpins up towards the Tilleul des
Pendus. The climb is steep and the legs have to get in gear. But I feel
fine and the Merlin is in top shape too. I am following the track on my
Garmin Edge 705 and I would experience no major problems with that throughout
the whole ride. I saved the track in Course format (.crs file) which
proves to be THE format the Edge 705 really likes. Only in some of the
deep valleys did it hesitate a few moments because satellite reception was not
optimal.
That being said, lets continue the ride. A
rocky path takes me down towards the N697 which I follow briefly before
climbing on a tarmac road towards Pierzay. At the top I turn left into
a freshly mown path - brambles and other thorny branches lie scattered
over the trail. I am on NoTubes but still I felt like having a flat
every moment. But nothing happens, and the trail gets gnarly as it
changes into a rocky underground and the downhill gets steeper - better keep concentrated. A few switchbacks
and I am at what looks to be an old quarry. The soil is red and there
are some puddles here. I follow the little Gergova river upstream
before crossing the N697 again. I follow this busy road for a short while before
an impossible climb takes me right up a plateau and on to what looks like a Fagnes track. Before long I turn right and head back towards the Tilleul des
Pendus. Wow, 10K far and already almost an hour of biking.
A
broader track drops me down towards Sedoz where a very steep climb
takes me up to meet with one of the many small rivers that drop down
from the plateau towards the Ambleve valley. My pace is little more
than crawling and it is very dark and damp under the dense tree cover.
My GPS loses signal for a few seconds from time to time but I have no
trouble following the set track. I cross the little river and cross
over towards the Chaudiere valley. This little ruisseau I follow - the little
rivulet in a deep valley left of me - down to where it crashes into the
Ninglinspo. I have a little bite to eat at this point, enjoying the
elfin quality of the little babbling brooks. The climb that follows now
- following the Ninglinspo river upstream - is very well known to me. I
relax in a comfortable pace and start the 200m vertical ascent. Along
the way I cross the little Ninglinspo river several times before making my way
away from it towards Blanches Pierres. A fast downhill brings me close
to the Tour Drouet and I decide to have a look at this magnificent
viewpoint. This means I have to climb back up again around 50
heightmeters to take the rocky road into the Hé des Graviers. Steep
sections strewn with rocks take me towards the 370m mark. I have to
follow another fagnes road, with wet patches and a lot of roots. The
Merlin laughs at these conditions, its suspension working like a charm
. In the Bois Bablette a fast downhill takes me to the bords of the
Chefna river.
This
might easily be one of the most beautiful spots on this ride. The climb
with the little river babbling on my right is tough, steep and rocky.
Luckily it is reasonably dry. I have been here before but the beauty of
the terrain still gets me. At the top I take almost an 180 degree turn
to follow the river on its other side down again. This descent is a
difficult one. Wet patches, rocks, roots and gullies force me to be very attentive
and I enjoy the Merlin again whilst I lead it over the rubble
downwards. Two big deer cross my path and scatter themselves with unseen grace down the steep slope towards the Chefna. I stop and watch them in amazement. After a while the track gets broader and I storm down
into the Ambleve valley.
Crossing the Ambleve only one more climb
awaits me. The first bit is amazing. Pure bedrock and steep steep steep , there are
no words for it. I admit I had to walk a few bits. When the dense forest
opens up I have an amazing view over the valley and I see the lush green forests
on the other side of the Ambleve, where I was less than half an hour
ago. At Rondai Fontaine I am sent into what seems to be an off-limits
road, there is a sign stating that no entry is permitted. But what can
I do but follow my GPS track, right? The track drops down slowly at
first, approaching the E25. But then it gets serious - and wet with the
first real mud I saw today - and I have to hit the brakes hard from
time to time to keep the speed on the safe side of sorry. Just before
dropping into Nonceveux it gets downright dangerous when the track
turns into some kind of rocky garden.
Wow,
what a great ride this was. 36K and indeed a whopping 1100 positive
heightmeters - my GPS and Polar agreed on the number for once - and at
times the track was indeed very challenging and technical. The climbs
were of the steep kind and you need a bike that provides traction over
rocks, loose stones, roots and bedrock. A great trail but not for the
meek.
Ride Stats : 36K and 1100 heightmeters in 3h3minsHill Factor : 30.5Ride Profile : CLICKMaps (GPS and NGI) :
 
7584/75540
04-09-2008, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 03-09-2008 |
| Mastering the 705 |
Today my original plan was to go to Nonceveux and ride the O2 route there, but when I noticed on meteox.be that it was raining I decided to stay home and try out some stuff with my Garmin Edge 705 GPS. I had made a Course file of the 2008 Belgian MTB Marathon Championship trail and decided to ride a chunk of that. First I put the .crs file on my GPS's SD card but that proved to be the wrong option. Turns out the GPS only selects Courses that are saved in its internal memory. So from the start in Pecrot, I biked back home, moved the .crs file from the SD card to the Garmins' memory and headed back to the start.
Obviously I was getting a good workout in the meantime because the area between Meerdael and Pecrot is not exactly flat. In Pécrot I selected the 'Do Course' option on the Edge, and hey presto, I got the trail on my screen and I could start. One thing I noted was that as soon as you press the 'Do Course' option, the Edge resets all counters to zero. That is not a problem because the history files can be downloaded afterwards on your PC (or is that uploaded ?) and all is there. But its nice to know and it isn't in the manual.. just one of those things.If you remember my entry a few days ago I was complaining about the 705 powering off during the navigation along a .gpx file. Obviously it is made to follow Courses, because today it didn't power off, and I had all the history without losing as much as a metre along the way.
My theory is that navigating along a gpx track demands too much of the units' processor, causing it to bunk and bail out by powering off... When you follow a course it doesn't have to do any navigating, just indicating where you are on the map and keep tabs of your speed, heightmeters and other parameters. You don't get any warning before an upcoming turn, but you do get an audio and visual warning when you venture off of the Course. And when you get back on it you get a beep and a message as well. Great, looks like Courses are the way to go. Now lets ride !
So I did the first 20K of the Championship trail today. The first kilometers after that start next to the railway station in Pecrot, are on tarmac , with a long and steady climb ending in a turn to the left into what could be called a double singletrack. From there on , the track twists and turns and eventually has a very dangerous downhill dropping you into Nethen. This downhill consists of a series of washed-out gullies, with big stones and other debris making it very hard to keep the rubber side down. In Nethen, you then take some cobble and tarmac before arriving at a very steep climb , very narrow and I don't think anyone will be able to ride this. Check the picture. After that, a little singletrack takes you around the plateau before dropping you back down along a narrow track. Then there is the famous 'jungle' hollow road, which I didn't do because it is unrideable. Instead I took a little detour which I believe the organisers should take too. It consists of another hollow road going up parallel to the jungle track but with better traction and above all, no deep gullies. Then the trail moves towards Bossut before turning to the left towards the Varadero manege. Here I hit the 'End Course' button. With 20K on my lap counter I decided to call it a day. I will do the rest of the trail in the coming days. I took a turn towards the Meerdael Forest where I had a bit of fun on my secret Meerdael trails before arriving home. GPS track (in gpx format) of the first 20K : CLICKTrail map of the first 20K:
 Ride Stats : 61.5K and 725 heightmeters in 3h11mins7547/74440
03-09-2008, 19:23 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 01-09-2008 |
| Connecting the dots |
Or trying to. Thats what I wanted to do today. I head out for the region south of the Bois de Bercuit to do some recon of the possibilities to pass there with the track for the Belgian (and Dutch) Championships Mountainbike Marathon . Saturday I had less time to explore all possibilities but today I checked every little trail. And the result was disappointing. I made little map of the area where you can see which areas are private and which tracks are passable, but with a price to pay.
One track is only for walkers, and includes a heavy iron gate.. So having a race pass there.. I don't think so. The other one is the track going down from east to west next to and then in to the forest. I take this one when I do the Accro Bike. It only has one disadvantage ; there is a bit of mud at its lowest part. Today it was almost ride-able but I still had to walk a few metres. Well, thats the input I also gave to the track responsables in our club, lets see what they come up with
The Merlin proved once again to be a great bike, even for terrain like this it brings extra comfort and also some extra speed in the climbs and downhills. Although I took it easy today, legs still a bit grilled from last weekends' rides.
Ride Stats : 50K and 550/568 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h33mins
7486/73715
01-09-2008, 19:59 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 31-08-2008 |
| Ronde van Leuven |
I felt tired from yesterdays' offroad debauchery so I decided to do some onroad riding instead. The Ronde van Leuven is an event I like to ride although it seems to be getting smaller in K's every year. This year their was a big lap of 58K on offer, with control points in Blanden - where I started - Bierbeek, Lovenjoel, Linden, Kortrijk-Dutsel and Winksele. Even though I was biking very relaxed I passed a lot of people while nobody passed me. Some tried to follow my pace but had to let go. Still, this is a family event and I can only applaud people getting on their bike for a change. That way they can also appreciate what it is like to be a biker instead of an automobilist. I just read an article today with a plausible explanation why automobilists don't seem to notice bikers. They form no threat to them. Car drivers are focussed on all things that can cause them harm, like other cars, trees and the like. But bikers can not harm cars, so they go unnoticed because of that. Hmm, there might be some truth in that.I met two female bikers I recognized from the mountainbike races. They were both wearing 2 Mega Saeco jerseys and I recognized Ilke de Jongh immediately. I think the other girl was Kim Saenen but I'm not sure. I chatted a bit with them about why they weren't racing today and stuff. Seems that they had a race yesterday at Sint Katelijne Wavre and another one tomorrow. So today was their day off. And it was a nice day for an easy ride, sun was out and there was just enough wind to keep things from getting too hot. When I arrived at the Blanden starting place, I got a reflective band for my efforts and an apple for my thirst. Had a good ride and really enjoyed the flowing landscapes around Leuven.Ride Stats : 61.5K and 370/389 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h30mins7436/73165
31-08-2008, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 30-08-2008 |
| Recon track 2008 Belgian and Dutch MTB Marathon Championships |
Last wednesday I got the preliminary map of the 2008 Belgian and Dutch Mountainbike Marathon Championships that is organised by my club, the Velo Club Blancs Gilets, from Laurent Saublens with the demand to go and ride it and check out all the passages and produce a height profile if possible. So I prepared a GPS track with Garmin Mapsource and downloaded that on my Edge 705. Following the track proved to be very easy. Unfortunately I must have made a mistake because it didn't get any records of todays ride so I can't check the amount of heightmeters on the Garmin or produce a GPS track Luckily I always take my trusty Polar S710 along so I did get the rides' profile.
With nearly a 100K - I did make a few extra loops when the GPS wasn't sure of the direction or when I had to go around closed tracks or private sections - and 1200 heightmeters this will be a tough cookie to chew on. Race distance will be closer to 95K but the amount of heightmeters is correct.
My friend Roger had agreed to accompany me until noon, when he needed to be somewhere else. We met at the races' start near the little train station in Pécrot. This was the first time I was going to follow a pre-made track on my GPS so I was kinda curious. I am pretty disappointed with the manual Garmin provides. There is only the mention that you can navigate pre-recorded tracks but no mention of the different screens, etc.. Its all very instinctive as I was going to find out but still. I also believe that when navigating along a pre-recorded route, the Edge 705 is at the edge of its capabilities. During the navigation the unit powered itself off 4 times. I had to restart it and could continue where I left off but when I got home I found out that only the part getting to the start, and the part from the end of the track towards home, was logged correctly. The part where the unit had to navigate AND record at the same time showed some lapses and I couldn't upload it to my PC to check it on the map. Only the amount of kilometres was correct, I 'lost' almost 2 hours of recording. Strange. But anyways..what is this trail like?
When I looked at the map I saw a track that was criss-crossing all over the Grez-Doiceau community. Starting in Pécrot and making its way towards Nethen, and then towards Bossut and Gottechain.Then it passes near de Bois de Linsmeau and into Pietrebais. The wet grass made our bikes glisten and acted as a magnet for dirt and debris. Some of the downhills proved to be very tricky and technical, with big holes, lots of stones and other debris. Of course the famous jungle hollow road is also in the track. We had to walk because the washed out gullies were too deep to ride.
The trails were dry and Roger and I had taken our full suspension bikes because the added comfort proved to be very welcome. Anyone who ever rode the Accro Bike race knows what racing in this part of Brabant Walloon means. Short climbs, fast descents , twisting and turning singletrails and some passages through the fields where the weaker riders can relax a bit and the stronger riders can make the difference. Don't be fooled by the relatively low amount of heightmeters. The continuous succesion of short climbs at high speed will take their toll. The averages will be around 25, perhaps even more when it stays dry on the days before the race - September the 28th.
After the passage around Cocrou Roger decided to return to the start and I had to continue on my own. The trail then departs towards the eastern edges of Grez Doiceau, namely Roux-Miroir and Longueville. Long field passages but also some nasty passages through singletrack . At the Longueville chapel, exactly 45K into the ride, I had a little snack. The sun was getting hot and I was glad I applied sunscreen before riding out this morning. The track now meanders towards the Bois de Glabais with a tricky downhill in loose sand and with deep gullies. Again people riding the Accro Bike and some of the organised rides around this area will know these trails and have a certain advantage. The trail then goes towards lower Heze and finally arrives in Grez-Doiceau before heading to the southwest again for a loop towards Bonlez and Dion Valmont. Here I had to improvise because the trail that was marked on the map seemed to be gone. At one point I stood before a private section and at another point I was riding straight through a cornfield (well, walking actually - corn is though). The map shows a trail here, but the map seems to be wrong - or outdated. Surely the trail will have to be rerouted here. I was starting to feel a bit tired here and again I was thankful to be on the Merlin full suspension bike. Back in Grez-Doiceau I stopped to buy something cool to drink before tackling the last 20K.
The track now goes back towards Gottechain and ultimately over Bossut and La Malaise where a succesion of tough uphills will wring the last ounces of force out of the riders' legs. The last downhill is another killer - dangerous when you are tired. I think spreading ones' forces over the entire ride will prove to be the secret to success here. Riders who do well on short powerful climbs and also have the ability to go fast on tricky downhill will excel here. In short, the type of rider that can go fast, has lightning reactions and has sufficient power to do so for 95K . Some nice singletrack brings me back into Pécrot where I cross the finish line. The Edge has guided me well . I hit the lap button again and return home passing at the well near La Hetraie to have an extra refreshing sip of its water.
Rides' Profile (Polar S710) : CLICKThe Map:  Ride Stats : 122.5km and 1400 heightmeters in 6h50mins7375/72795
30-08-2008, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 28-08-2008 |
| Meerdaal 2000 |
With the approach of autumn the Meerdaal 2000 organised ride is coming closer. Another organisation I like to help out. Today with the KBC MTB club we were guided by one of their ranks around the base loop. Some 25K in length. Near the end of the ride I was asked to include some twisting singletrack until it got too dark in the forest to safely bike. I think I supplied some nice trails. Yesterday I had a meeting with my club, the Velo Club Blancs Gilets , about the fusion which is about to take place with the Royal Velo Club d'Ottignies. Two big clubs - one more focused on mountainbiking, and one who has a 'royal' status and has a lot of road racers in their ranks. Budgets will be higher and also facilities will be enlarged. More can be read here.On another note, the Belgian and Dutch MTB Marathon Championships will be organised by our club on September the 28th. I received the - unofficial - parcours map so I can go and check it out and make a GPS profile. The map will appear on the Clubs' website shortly . It can change but as it stands the race spans between 92 and 93K. More info when I will have had a chance to actually ride it. All info about the upcoming race can be found HERE.Ride Stats : 40K and 360/415 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h10mins7252/71395
28-08-2008, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 25-08-2008 |
| Three Forest Ride |
Had a good night of sleep and felt rested enough to try another long slow distance ride today. The plan was to ride to the Sonian Forest and then follow the Zonienwoudlaan towards Dworp to connect with the Hallerbos. I started out very relaxed but felt my energy levels were higher than expected. The sun was out, there was a little bit of wind but above all it was dry and relatively warm. And I had a couple of hours to waste. So everything went according to plan and after about 1h45 and 40K I was at the edge of the Hallerbos. Since I didn't know my way around very well and I wasn't really looking forward to get my tires wet, I rode from Information Sign to Information Sign and more or less did a big loop into the forest. It was quite wet even on the tarmac roads but I had quite a bit of fun in this hilly region. I noticed the trails looked very muddy and there were forestry trucks harvesting trees, so some of the trails were pretty messed up -again. The sun peeping through the thick leaf coverage made for some very pretty views.On the return loop I entered the Sonian Forest near the Middle Hut and then followed the Dubois Lane towards Groenendaal Station before looping over Hoeilaart and Maleizen towards Rosieres and the edge of Wavre. By now I knew this would turn out into another century ride but I still felt quite good when I rode into Ottenburg and decided to included a few extra climbs in Pecrot into my itinerary. I stopped at the little spring near the Hetraie camping and therefore I can say I connected the three big forests in Brabant today - the Meerdaelwoud, the Sonian Forest and the Hallerbos. Ride Stats : 106K and 970/1068 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h56mins7212/71035
25-08-2008, 18:49 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 24-08-2008 |
| Windy recovery |
Time to recover from yesterdays' ride. Instead of doing nothing I prefer doing an easy ride . Although today saw no rain and the sun almost looked as if she was going to break through the light cloud cover, the wind made a real recovery ride difficult. It gushed along quite forcefully. Nevertheless my average heart rate was below 100bpm on this ride with a max of 119bpm. I stopped for a snack in L'Ecluse, one of those little villages hidden away between the rolling hills just south of the language border. Ride Stats : 49K and 340/368 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h10mins7106/70065
24-08-2008, 15:05 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 23-08-2008 |
| Pro Cyclo Vossem |
This weather is simply unbelievable. I swear I can already smell autumn in the air. It was 13 degrees this morning and again it rained from time to time. I had already decided NOT to go to Houffalize this weekend. With yesterdays thunderstorms and my condition that isn't what it should be, I didn't feel motivated for a muddy 50K.
So today I could go out for a longer road ride. I already noticed yesterday that the Vossem Pro Cyclo tour passed in front of my door so I decided to follow that. On the web I found that they offered a 90K distance which seemed do-able to me. I left around noon - after seeing Sven Nys take a well-deserved 9th place at the Mens Olympic Cross Country mountainbike event but sadly also seeing Roel Paulissen fail miserably with a 19th place. As was to be expected Julien Absalon clinched the gold in front of his countrymen Jean Christophe Péraud with a surprisingly good Nino Shurter beating his fellow Suisse Christophe Sauser for the Bronze medal. I had also seen Sabine Spitz take a wll-deserved victory in the Womens' race earlier, proceeding amazing Maja Wloszczowska and World Cup winner Irina Kalentieva.
 
After going towards Linden and Sint Pieters Rode they spent a lot of time in the flat area south of Aarschot and Mechelen before returning over Meerbeek and Everberg towards Vossem. In the beginning of the ride were some more hills when they went towards Duisburg, Huldenberg and Sint Joris Weert.
I got another surprise upon arriving home : our Tia Hellebaut clinched the GOLD medal in the Womens' High Jump.. congratulations Tia !!
Ride Stats : 110K and 595/696 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h42mins
7057/69725
23-08-2008, 18:27 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 22-08-2008 |
| Drizzle |
It rained ever so slightly when I set out for a ride around 10am. I had hoped to watch the Olympic Mountainbike race for the Women but due to the heavy rainfall yesterday the race is postponed to 10am tomorrow. That means 4am our time.. Mm, thats early. The Mens' race is to follow around 9am our time.I felt like the weather today, drizzly. When I woke up I was already tired and I had to settle to a relaxed pace on the bike. I rode over to Filip Sport because I wanted to talk to him face to face about my forfait for his South Tirol week and the reasons for that forfait.For the Houffa marathon this sunday I managed to secure a slot on the 50K distance. A far cry from my original plan to ride the 125K. I would have preferred to ride the 75K instead but that distance was booked solid. So the 50K it will be. I will ride to Houffalize tomorrow evening to join some friends in a gite we rented. I will probably only stay one night but I look forward to meet up with them. It has been too long since we last met. The rain accompanied me until I got home, the road was wet enough to produce some spray but with a temperature of 18 degrees C (it IS august isn't it? I'm beginning to wonder) it didn't feel cold.
Oh, and CONGRATS to our girls who won the SILVER medal in the 4x100 metres Olympic final !!
Ride Stats : 70K and 690/726 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h10mins6947/69130
22-08-2008, 17:19 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 20-08-2008 |
| Meerdael Loop |
I wanted to ride my bike outside today, but nothing too tough, so I settled on the first part of my Secret Meerdael Loop. This is not too hilly but very twisty and with lots of singletrack. The forest floor was moist but not wet. Pity they are still foresting trees and the big machines have wreaked havoc on some of the smaller trails. Its a bit ironic when you see signs forbidding all manner of mechanical traffic and then some big machines makes its way into that trail, running over the sign in the process.
 
I have inscribed for the 50k distance at the Houffalize marathon this weekend. Initially I wanted to do a longer distance but I want to take it easy with my lower back playing up. I'm sure the 50k will give me a good taste of the region without having to stress my body too much
Ride Stats : 34K and 340/420 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h59mins
6877/68440
20-08-2008, 20:34 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 19-08-2008 |
| Darkness at the edge of town |
Due to lingering health problems I had been brooding for a while about some arrangements that were made for the beginning of September. I kept pondering over and over how I would solve the puzzle but in the end I decided to cancel the trip and focus on other goals that are more attainable and less perilous to my health. I will also have to change my Houffalize marathon plans but I will see later this week in what way.
This morning I was very stiff in my lower back so I decided to ride on the rollers today. I had a very intense ride and was at the same time able to be gentle to my lower back while riding . I have high hopes to go to Theux at last at the end of the week. It is mid August and I still haven't done either my "longest downhill" track or the marvelous Red Adeps route at Theux. The weather is to blame, and of course I can't get away from work in the weeks and my weekends are pretty tied up as well.But this friday I think I should be able to make it to Theux .
At the moment I am a bit sad because of the cancellation I had to do, and also because of my health problems that keep lingering without any hope of treatment. I can control the situation but that is all. And to be able to control the situation I need to stay at home, it is as simple as that. At the moment I feel like a werewolf that has to take pills to remain a wolf. If I stop taking the pills I change back to human form with all the troubles that brings. And those damn doctors aren't helping either.
On a more positive note, it seems our Rambo is recovering from his severe diabetes condition. We had been noticing he was having hypos so we figured his daily insulin shots were too highly dosed. Because the vet's replacement was a stupid oaf that didn't succeed in drawing blood from him, we had to wait until today - and the vet's return - to get his blood taken. His blood sugar levels were as low as 38 ! No wonder he was having hypo's all the time. I am so angry at that replacement vet! If I would have been there she would have gotten all my frustration and anger poured over her. Good thing my sister went.
In short, we were giving way too much insulin to Rambo, unknowingly , which might as well have killed him during the two weeks before we could have his blood examined . Luckily my instinct already told me to lower the size of the shots when I first saw him showing signs of hypoglycemea.
Jeezes, I am so angry ! But I have to control this anger and shape it into gratefulness and relief because Rambo is still alive and seems to be less dependent on insulin.
Now we have to HALVE his daily doses . Seems his pancreas has resumed to making some insulin by itself. Amazing how nature works sometimes.
Ride Stats : 28.5K in 1h03mins
6842/68110
19-08-2008, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 16-08-2008 |
| Haasrode TT pre-ride |
Since I don't have time tomorrow I agreed to pre-ride the 65K Haasrode track today when my friend Roger asked me if I wanted to accompany him . He also has other obligations tomorrow. So around 3pm we started on this fine track. The trails were perfect, with a little puddle here and there but 90% of the trail is dry. The heavy rainfall and thunderstorms did have another effect though. In many of the hollow roads in the climbs and descents , the sand has been washed away leaving only stones and occasionally deep holes . This makes at least two of the climbs simply unride-able and the other proved to be quite a challenge. The long uphill we call the 'lianenklim' in Nethen has holes in it that will swallow man and bike. Furthermore, the loose sandstones make it impossible to ride. Even with a full suspension bike I think no-one will ride this one..If anyone does, let me know.
There will be a lot of swearing bikers on that climb tomorrow. Another point of worry is a long sandy climb in the forest near Bonlez. There is a big tree that lies over the track at the bottom and the climb is so sandy and washed out that it will be a long procession of bikers walking up that hill. Pity because there was an alternative. We did not do that climb and took the alternative, which added a couple of K's but at least was ride-able. At the end of the ride I felt pretty tired. After all, 75K and almost a 1000 heightmeters is not what I consider an easy ride, especially taking into consideration the technicality of some of the climbs and a few hairy downhills. And even though the trail does mellow out a bit near the end, there is hardly room for recuperation. Roger felt this track is even better than the Zoenk ride and I am inclined to believe him.
For those going to ride tomorrow, it will be a great ride, but beware of the pitfalls of the terrain. There are some nasty potholes in some of the descents (Roger can point you to one in particular that had him falling over) and the climbs are difficult due to loose stones and other debris. I have included a map of the ride, you will see a double dotted line in the bottom part. The grey dots is the sandy climb we didn't take, the black dots going around it is the route we took. Fot all those going for it tomorrow - have fun and keep the rubber side down.
Some pictures from the TT on Sunday (Copyright Schijfrem) : CLICK
Ride Stats : 74.5K and 915/970 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h16mins6813/68110
16-08-2008, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 15-08-2008 |
| Rando des 4 Chateaux |
After a dry thursday it looked like we would have a nice and quiet ride in the sunshine today. When I got into my car at 6.50am the clouds were clear and there were wisps of mist hanging over the land. The river Meuse was breathing some heavy fog when I approached it and crossed the "Pere Pire" bridge in Huy. When I arrived at Stree there were already people getting ready to go. I met up with Geert aka Schijfrem. He also rides a Moots YBB and we decided to ride together as long as possible. I enscribed first and forked over 3.5 for the 55K distance. There were also rides of 25, 35 and 45K. When I asked at the inscription if they had an emergency number, they replied they did not. Some joker suggested I call 100 in case of trouble. Yeah, that one minus point I honestly did not expect on a ride that carries the Stany Smol tag. I later heard that in fact they did have an emergency number and they handed out cards with the number on it. So it seems that the early starters missed out on that.The Ride:Geert and I set off for the first couple of K's which plunged us almost immediately into Outrelouxhe. I recognized the trail from my Nandrin rides and knew we were in for a treat. The trail plunged into a rift and then followed a little river into a narrow valley. The dropoff was very steep - I walked it, later I noticed it was a 37% gradient on the GPS track ! - and the singletrail following the river was ondulating up and down just enough to keep the tension on the muscles. Great section. A little later we emerged on tarmac for a short stretch taking us down to the first heavy climb of the day. Over loose rocks and shifting pebbles we worked our way up the slope that approached 19% at places and took us some 100 heightmeters up the plateau. From there we dropped down again - this downhill is well known to me from the Nandrin trails were it has to be conquered uphill - and again care needed to be taken. Heavy rains have seriously deteriorated this track and at times the slope was 21%. Try doing that on loose stones and you get the picture. Very concentrated and a great experience. Below we followed the river again until we were at the lowest point possible in this forest. The Fond d'Oxhe as it is called. Obviously another 100 heightmeter climb was bound to follow. Not as steep as the first one but the trail was very beautiful, with rocks, roots and gullies making it tough to ride. At the top the 45 and 55K distances were splitting off and Geert decided to follow the 45, leaving me alone to continue on the 55K. I made a picture of him before we parted .
The trail now entered some kind of walking trail nicely circling through rock gardens and forest outcrops. We met some walkers here - girls with dogs - and it was nice to notice they were all very friendly. Especially the dogs. We stayed on the plateau a while and after an hours ride I came to the first ravito. This must have been some 17K into the ride. All distances merged here . There was some water and grenadine drink, cookies, waffles and also someone who was offering high-energy food and drinks of Nutrilite . I had a taste of everything and went on my way. I dropped down the slope again, before following a nice singletrail along the forest edge. On my right I could see the cooling towers of the Tihange nuclear plant. Impressive.
A long climb followed and gradually I was leaving the forest , coming out into the open fields before crossing the N66. A little later and after crossing the N641 there followed some very difficult climbs on rocks, roots and stones where I had to walk several times due to the slope and the wetness of the rocks. Just before Marchin I enjoyed the second rest stop of the day. This time there were some Red Bull girls to sheer us up and offer us some tasty beverage. I declined because I already have Red Bull mixed in my water bottle. But they were nice to look at.
I passed the strangely curved church of Marchin and a tricky downhill - roots, stones, wet rocks - demanded my uttermost concentration to keep the rubber side down. A climb and descent into the field - with some grassy gullies to spice things a little and another steep descent before turning right onto what looked - and felt - like an abandoned railroad track. Nice section but I was glad I had a softtail bike here instead of a hardtail. The ondulating track brought me a few K's further before entering Modave. Here we had to follow some tarmac which led us to the entry gate of the castle grounds. Nice little downhill-uphill section here before I got to the 3rd rest stop of the day, exactly 40k into the ride. A great passage on the castle grounds followed , with a very tricky downhill and a passage through a ford. I didn't notice there was a bridge until I got my feet wet from the splashing water. But the sun was out and with some 20 degrees and no wind I didn't mind getting my feet wet. After Modave the slopes were getting a bit milder and before long I was out in the fields again. I noticed my rear tyre was slowly losing air so I decided to replace the inner tyre. Some stony fieldtracks and field passages giving way to amazingly narrow but very beautiful tracks brought me into Ramelot. Another ravito some 50K into the ride and the last couple of K's consisted of twisting trails into moist forests and a passage over a freshly harvested field. Crossing the N66 not far from Tinlot I knew what was coming. An uphill passage through a hollow road edged with trees but followed by a very wet downhill leading back towards Stree. I took the edge of the field on the left of the track instead of all the puddles and was rewarded by an almost clean bike when we finally made it back to the start. There Geert was already tasting some fine beer and we shortly exchanged our experiences . The Lowdown: What I liked:+ Great trails, with attention to lesser visited tracks+ the region and the use they made of what is offered+ dangerous downhills and road crossings well marked on shared trails for all distances+ distance splits well marked - before AND after the split+ arrowing sparse but suffiecient and very noticeable+ 4 rest zones - fruit, cookies , grenadine and water.
+ Red Bull and Energy Drinks stands.+ all this for only 3.5 What I did not like:- no cards with emergency numbers for the early starters- less heightmeters than announced- no danger signs on the 55K-only sectionsSynopsis: Obviously the trails were beautiful, in the beginning very tough in the forest section south of Tihange, with some very steep downhills and a couple of 100 heightmeters + climbs, difficult and long. In the end the ride didn't deliver the amount of heightmeters the organisation had promised, but I didn't really mind. We got nearly 1100 heightmeters on the 55K - that turned out to be almost 60K. And the tracks were never boring, instead surprising me all the time with nice finds and great views. A good knowledge of the local tracks leads the organisors to produce one hell of a ride. The arrowing was sparse at times - I missed an arrow twice - but the arrows used were very visible - black on yellow - and you could spot them from far. The distance splits were very well marked - both before and after the split. A minus point would be the fact that on the loops the 55K did seperately from the other loops, there were no danger signs before tricky downhills. They had danger signs on the shared loops with the other distances. Do they think that the 55k riders were all so experienced they didn't need to be warned? I would include the signs the next time.The 4 rest stops were well stocked, water and grenadine and some cookies, fruit and waffles. Nothing fancy but with some Energy drinks and food at the first, and the Red Bull girls at the second rest stop who can complain? And all this for a mere 3.5 ? Yes, indeed. I have no idea about the showers and the bike cleaning facilities since I didn't use either of them. I returned home happy and with a few more tracks to possibly include into my Nandrin trails. The only point that I would suggest the organisers fix urgently , is the lack of emergency numbers. Some of the downhills were really tricky and I saw a lot of people with broken chains and other mechanical problems. Provide an emergency number please.
The Bare Facts:
Profile of the Ride : CLICK
Profile the organisors provided:
Map of the Ride :
Pictures of the ride by Schijfrem : CLICK
[the Moots dude with the long pants is ME]
Ride Stats :
60K and 1090/1145 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h46mins
Hill Factor:
18.17
6740/67195
15-08-2008, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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