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| Tales from the Woods |
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| 02-07-2012 |
 Ligny |
Wanting to ride some more in the region behind Wavre I was looking for tracks and I came upon a track starting in Ottenburg and heading all the way to Sambreville. Not sure wether I could complete the whole track I noticed there was the possibility of a shortcut in Ligny. Riding up to Ottenburg provided a nice warmup completed mostly on the 34 in front. When I wanted to ride down to Wavre along the Chaussee de Ottenbourg I had to turn back because of roadworks. Never mind, I would do the detour along the Noire Epine and then along the N4 and the Chaussee de l'Orangerie to arrive in Basse Wavre and continue along the track in my Edge 705. Wavre was - as usual - quite busy and dangerous with people having no attention at all for cyclists. But I survived and soon I was passing the Walibi parc and then onwards to Ottignies and Court St Etienne. Still very busy roads but some nice backtracks as well. Crossing the N25 things got serious with a steep climb out of Sart Messire Guillame. Once on the plains I was heading for a high broadcast tower. Mellery, Tilly and Marbisoux were the next villages on the list. The sun was coming out and it was quite pleasant weather with only a minimal amount of wind and temperatures around 22 degrees on average. Passing through Tilly I paused to take a picture. My sister will be pleased with that, her surname being Tilly.
From Marbisoux I was nearing the N93 where the Tour de France would pass in a couple of hours time. The police was already busy with roadblocks so I knew I did not have a lot of time to cross back, unless I wanted to wait for the circus to pass. I did not want to do that, so that gave me another incentive to cut the ride short at Ligny, some 52K out, and ride towards Sombreffe where I passed the N93 again, heading for Chastre. Nice rolling roads gently ondulating up and down but mostly staying on the plateau. What wind there was seemed to be blowing in my back as I headed north towards the N1. This is a very busy road with no real bikpaths so I decided to leave the N1 asap instead of following it all the way to Wavre. Through Corbais and Corroy Le Grand I came to Chaumont. I decided to add an extra loop following the N243 in the direction of Perwez. But I turned left and came through Maleves, Sainte Marie and Wastinnes. The church where VDB married was at last out of its scaffolding so I paused to take a picture.
Onwards I went and through Opprebais I reached Incourt where I crossed the N91 riding towards Dongelberg. No chance to visit the castle - the gate was closed - so I rode on, taking a left towards Lathuy. On the N240 I took another left and then a right to arrive at the 1st Wing Airbase and La Bruyere. Nearing 4 hours and with the sun gaining strength I felt it was time to close up so I rode to Beauvechain and Opvelp for a last loop bringing me to Bierbeek and Haasrode before entering Blanden with a very solid ride under my belt.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 120K and 830 heightmeters (Garmin) in 4h23mins
5184/52935
02-07-2012, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 23-06-2012 |
| Haasrode Huy Haasrode phase 2 |
After a couple of days of welcome rest and rain, today announced itself as being a better day. The sun was out, albeit sometimes obscured by small clouds, and it was dry and with temperatures around 20 degrees C it looked good.
I rode out around 10AM and set out towards Haasrode to pick in on the Haasrode Huy Haasrode track. The idea was to follow it for 100K, the first part I already did a couple of days ago, but this time I would continue past Wasseiges and only at Acosse would I turn to the right to pick up the return track. The wind was blowing from the Southwest and it would prove to be a mighty adversary throughout this ride. At first it was more or less coming from my right side, sometimes to my advantage, sometimes slightly against me. When I passed Autre-Eglise and turned to the right for a little detour I was on new territory. Passing Folx-les-caves, Jandrenouille and Barchon I came upon the big Route de la Hesbaye . Here the wind was blowing in my back and at a pace above 40kph I arrived in Wasseiges. Taking a right turn towards Meeffe and a little bit later I reached Acosse, where I took another right, off of the HHH track. I was in the province de Liege now and another right turn took me back towards Wasseiges. The wind was coming from the left now and it bothered me. It was quite strong and I was glad I could take another right on the N924. In Wasseiges I headed north and passed Jandrain and Orp-Le-Grand on my way to Noduwez. Here I turned towards the west and the wind was now more or less blowing straight into my face. Tough couple of kilometers to reach Pietrain. Another turn towards the north and I got a breather until I reached Saint-Jean-Geest. On the Ravel 2 for a while and into Hoegaarden. I was now on familiar territory but I would still face some tough kilometers riding towards Meldert and Bierbeek. I made a mental note that this is a ride better done when there is little or no wind. On the high plains there is not much protection and the passages into the valleys of Mehaigne and Grande Gette are too short to offer much recovery. Still, I was able to put in a good effort with an average heartrate of 128bpm and just over 27kph average. There were also quite some heightmeters in this ride, nothing spectacular but just mildly going up and down all the way. I also noticed I passed the 50.000 heightmeters mark during this ride.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 107K and 750 heightmeters (Garmin) in 3h55mins
4758/50100
23-06-2012, 15:15 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 12-06-2012 |
| Niner |
The weather forecast for today wasn't very inspiring for long pointed rides. So my original plan to do part of the Haasrode - Huy - Haasrode ride was put into the freezer and I settled for an orbital ride instead. Starting out over Bierbeek and Opvelp I met up with a very experienced veteran roadie and we chatted about riding up difficult and/or nigh impossible mountains in several countries while we rode together towards Beauvechain. Here our roads seperated.
In view of the forecast thunderstorms and rain I took a right towards Tourinnes-la-Grosse , then looped into Nodebais and descended into Hamme Mille. The weather was quite pleasant so far with some clouds obscuring the sun from time to time, but no wind to speak of and temperatures of around 22 degrees C. Still , far away on the southern horizon the first signs of vertical cloud buildup where already visible. As I sped along into Nethen I came upon a biker who was riding a 29 inch orange/black Niner . He was making a good speed and I settled for a couple of moments behind him. I noticed his right elbow was aiming slightly out of true. When I passed him and made a comment about his bike he recognized me. And indeed, as soon as he spoke I recognized him myself. Benno W . It had been a while since we last met - HERE to be exact - and we had a lot of catching up to do. He decided to ride along my way for a while and that was fine by me. Even though he was riding on big mountainbike wheels and I was on fast roadie tyres. Still I remember he always was in a good form and I was sure he would be able to follow my pace. I noticed he wasn't wearing a helmet and I was a bit worried about the speeds we were going to be making. But all turned out fine. I rode towards Pecrot and Florival and then up to Ottenburg. The hills were part of the plan to incorporate some heightmeters and try to stay on the big ring as much as possible, in order to get some power in the legs. I could still feel the aftermath of the Ventoux adventure so I was feeling quite strong. Benno tagged along nicely and I gradually upped the speed as we were descending into Terlanen and then attacked the Holstheide. Careful on the downhill along the Smeysberg. A truck was blocking the roadview mirror so there was no way to tell if any traffic was coming out of the right-of-way side street. Only after passing the truck did I let go of the brakes , netting a maximum speed of "only" 65kph instead of my usual 75kph+ here. Turning right and following the Sint Jansberg Steenweg through Loonbeek, Neerijse and Korbeek-Dyle we could again make good speeds, zooming along on the flawless tarmac. The wind was slightly to our disadvantage. In Egenhoven I turned right towards the Imec site and then along Arenberg and further along towards Oud-Heverlee and the Zoete Waters.
Riding a roadbike soon makes you appreciate a good road, especially since most of the roads in our country are not quite that good. And I'm not even mentioning the condition of most of the bikepaths. They are a serious disaster. I do prefer staying on the main road as much as possible, at least there you can be sure there is no stray glass or other nasties waiting to have a go at my skinny tyres.
A last loop from Vaalbeek towards Heverlee and back along the Expressweg took me into Blanden with a solid 65K on my GPS. Given the circumstances and the threat of rain I was pleased with that, and even more with the average speed. Given the amount of heightmeters 28kph is not half bad. Benno came along for a quick water refill before riding home. He still had 20 minutes or so to go and I'm sure he made it home in time and beat the rain. The dark clouds are upon me as I write this, there is some thunder and lightning but no rain to speak of yet.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 65K and 585 heightmeters (Garmin) in 2h19mins
4293/47050
12-06-2012, 13:48 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 06-06-2012 |
| Rolling in Blanden and Haasrode |
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.
Ride Stats : 19K and 180 heightmeters (Garmin) in 40mins
4081/45495
06-06-2012, 23:06 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 31-05-2012 |
| Expedition Mont Ventoux |
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.
The asphalte was smooth and the 6-7 percentage of the Col didn't offer too much resistance. One half hour into the ride, we turned around and rode back through Bedoin. Later that evening we returned by car for a good dinner in one of the restaurants.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 23K and 305 heightmeters (Garmin) in 54mins
Friday June 1st : The Mont Ventoux.
After a good night's sleep I was ready for the big ascent. We would climb the Mont Ventoux from Bedoin. This meant an average slope of 7.5% over 21.5K. Not something to be scoffed at.
The temperature was already rising to 25 degrees when we rode out at 10AM. First descending into Bedoin and then taking the D974 out . After 2K we follow the D974 to the left where it splits off from the D19. Up to the Saint Esteve corner the slope is easy with around 4-5 %. At the Saint-Esteve the real Mont Ventoux climb begins. The slope goes to 9-10% and will be averaging that for the next 9.5K through the forest. I quickly settled on a pace and the chain went to the 34/29 combination. The forest was hellish. Hot with temperatures now flirting with 30 degrees C and the steep road, the steep road. Spots were the road reaches 12 and 13 % are common. The inside of the curves goes up to 17%.
Kilometers looked that they never would end. The mental game was starting. "I won't make it, lets try for Chalet Reynard and then turn back". But as the kilometers went on I got more confident. Keeping a pace comes easy to me, and around one hour into the climb I reached the Chalet. Here I could stock on water and have a first look at the rest of the climb. The dreaded moon-like wilderness of white stone and an asphalte ribbon making its way up to the naked crest of the mountain.
CC
The climb eased out just a little for the first 2K out of the Chalet. But another adversary was rearing its head. The wind which blew from the right over the crest. Each time the road veered into it, it felt as if a giant hand was slapping in your face. Once I was 'en danseuse' , standing upright on the bike, and was nearly topped over by a sudden gust. I decided very quickly to remain seated for the next of the climb. Pausing at the Tom Simpson memorial plaque around one K from the top brought a little relieve. But the last K must be the toughest of them all. Nearing a 9.5% average and with the wind blowing full force over the Col des Tempetes. But all things come to an end and with a big sigh of relieve and really proud of my achievement I reached the top. 1912 meters after a 1600m ascent.
The view from the to is simply amazing. A 1600 meter vertical drop into the valley below where I can spot Bedoin and literally see for miles. On the other side the white caps of the Alps, some 100K to the east, are easily spotted. The wind forces me into a jacket and the temperature up here is an easy 23 degrees, some 10 degrees colder than the valley.
After some time we decide to move on and drop down into Malaucene, some 23K further down the mountain. After 33 minutes and with an average speed of 47 kph we arrive at Malaucene and settle down for a good meal. We have certainly earned it.
We continue our ride with a loop towards Suzette and Le Barroux. We spot the Dentelles de Montmirail as we go over the Col de La Chaine. We stop at the chateau de Le Barroux for a little pause.
Riding on towards Caromb and Modene we made it back into Crillon-le-Brave. It was a memorable ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it, in hindsight.
The evening saw us taking the car into Avignon for a dinner at the "Filles au Piano" dans the Rue Galante.
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.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 81.5K and 1700 heightmeters (Garmin) in 3h37mins
4062/45315
31-05-2012, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 28-05-2012 |
| Boucles de Lasne |
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
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