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| Tales from the Woods |
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| 13-02-2009 |
 Sony DSC-W300 |
A wet, cold and dreary day, so I stayed indoors to have a nice recovery ride on the rollers. Rammstein and Guns and Roses to keep me company and a book about the demise of the Templars to waste the best part of a hour. My legs felt fine and fresh. I hope to be able to ride out tomorrow.I took possession of a new camera today, a nice and shiny Sony DSC-W300. The last year or so I have been making many pictures during my rides with my Sony-Ericsson K850i GSM and even though the 5MP pictures aren't bad they just didn't live up to the high standards I am used to. Obviously no pocket camera can touch my Nikon D2X but the 4MP Sony DSC-P9 still delivered better pictures by far than the K850i. It just is a bit too heavy and cumbersome to take along. Thats why - when I had to get a new GSM - I chose the K850i because it also sported a 5MP camera. But other than in very bright conditions I feel the K850i delivers pictures that are a bit flat and have also a lot of chromatic abberations. The lens is very tiny and just can't compete with dedicated pocket cameras like the DSC-P9 and the DSC-W300.
So I went looking for a new and better Sony , preferably lighter and smaller than the DSC-P9. When I came upon the titanium-covered DSC-W300 and checked out the reviews it got I was quickly convinced to order one . I also ordered a 4Gb memory card and a strong carrying pouch. The DSC-W300 is smaller and lighter than the DSC-P9 and with a whopping 13.6MP it even offer a higher resolution than my D2X. The Carl Zeiss lens should guarantee crisp pictures but obviously that remains to be seen. I will have to familiarize me with the myriad of functions - dismissing the superfluous, finding the necessary - and it will keep me company on rides to come. I took a little picture of it with my DSC-P9 so you get an idea of what it looks like. Ride Stats : 26K in 1h01mins774/6145
13-02-2009, 19:47 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 11-02-2009 |
| Cold and Wet |
The weather was dry with a cold wind blowing from the northwest when I rode out for a short road ride. Starting out through the Weertsedreef towards Sint Joris Weert and Nethen, then making my way towards Hamme Mille and Tourinnes-La-Grosse. It started raining, or at least it looked like rain, it might have been wet snow as well since it was cold and wet. When I came into Beauvechain I turned towards Opvelp. Over the high plain I could feel the wind getting stronger and it also started to rain/snow a bit more . In Opvelp, turning towards Bierbeek, I began to feel the full force of the wind and I understood the last 10K or so were going to be tough. The rain was now falling moderately hard, but the wind made it feel like a real sleet storm was blowing into my face. In Bierbeek I passed a girl on a bike without any lights. Stupid girl, she was hardly visible. If it wasn't for the rain I would have lingered a bit and ride next to her because there was nothing wrong with my illumination. Bright up front and sufficient in the back. But she couldn't follow my pace and I rode on towards Haasrode and Blanden. I was glad to be home, my bike - freshly cleaned- was again spattered with mud and salt. Oh well, its winter isn't it. But its still sad to see an hours worth of cleaning go down the drain in just a few minutes. At least it WAS clean before it got dirty.
Ride Stats : 32K and 200/208 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h28mins
748/6145
11-02-2009, 20:07 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 10-02-2009 |
| Another Tacx workout |
I downloaded another Tacx workout program to keep me busy indoors while outside rain and wind were making things too nasty for any biking plans I might have had. The program was a combination of strength and longer intervals, making it rather tough. I cut some of the intervals in half to make it more feasible. Still it gave me a very good workout. The program is still downloadable from the Tacx website through this link. I include the polar readout. The red dots mark the several sections of the training. As you can see the speed in general was pretty low, but the focus was on pushing a big gear with moderate rpm. Also the recovery sections are only 1 minute in length through the bulk of the program. Sections 6, 8 and 10 are the tough ones with section 12 being another heavy one with alternations of a 1 minute standing power sections and sitting down for a 1 minute recovery section. You can see this on the speed graph. Section 13 is a recovery section and section 14 is another tough one with 2 minute intervals on the big ring with a 50, 60 and 70 rpm 2 minute section. I was glad this one was over. After that, a 10 minute cooldown got my heartrate nicely down to 117bpm. Ride Stats: 29K in 1h25mins716/5945
10-02-2009, 19:31 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 07-02-2009 |
| Climb-it |
The weather was overcast with a chance of rain so I decided to ride out and have a bit of a climbing session. No offroad, the rain and snow from last week have left the fields and forest wet and difficult to ride. Instead I opted to follow more or less the trail of the 30K BLOSO route which starts in Heverlee and goes over Blanden, Sint Joris Weert, Sint Agatha Rode, Neerijse and Egenhoven. But obviously I had to add a bit of extra to that loop, focussing on climbing sections . A lot of extra as it turned out. I ended up with nearly 60K and more than 600 heightmeters. A fine succession of little climbs along smaller roads adding up to a nice workout . My bike, the Hilset custom Ti that has been my loyal companion on these road rides since May 2005, suffered another layer of muck and grime along these small tarmac roads often used by farmers to ride to their fields . But the bike can take it. It is quickly approching the 15000K mark In fact I would like to offer it a little hommage by posting some pictures I took somewhere along the ride today. Its built with fine components and the only thing I had to change in all these years were the bearings of the Tune titanium bracket and the LX front derailleur shifter that got stuck solid last year.
Ride Stats : 56K and 615/597 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h38mins653/5650
07-02-2009, 14:52 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 04-02-2009 |
| Dirty and wet |
A dry day today, but it was misty, cold and damp when I rode out into the dusk. There was still snow in the fields and the main roads were glistening with salt and very dirty. I set out for a long slow distance ride along Heverlee, Oud-Heverlee and Korbeek Dyle. From there I climbed into the snow-covered fields steaming with wisps of fog. Over Bertem and Leefdaal my path brought me towards Neerijse and further on into Sint Agatha Rode. Darkness had fallen completely now as I rode towards Pecrot and Nethen to finish off my loop riding into Hamme Mille and back through Meerdael forest. The average temperature was a frisky zero degrees C and the damp conditions made it feel colder than normal. Good thing I went out though because the rest of the week should see the return of rain before the temperatures should drop below zero again towards sunday. Ride Stats : 40K and 335/347 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h55mins597/5035
04-02-2009, 19:30 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 03-02-2009 |
| tacx bike strenght/power workout |
Today the weather was miserable, slight snow and rain provided a lot of wetness and my planned road ride had to make way for something else. I remembered that on the Tacx website they provide some good workouts for the rollers and I looked up a nice one to keep me busy for about an hour. It was their Bike Strenght/Power workout and you can find it by clicking HERE.Check out the rest of their workouts on their website. I had a good feeling in my legs upon completing this program and after a good hot bath and some elaborate stretching everything felt right. I provide the Polar graph for you to check out. You can see the intervals as numbered red squares. The red line is my heartrate and the blue line is the bike speed. Ride Stats : 23K in 1h01min
557/4700
03-02-2009, 19:34 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 01-02-2009 |
| Magura Durin SL first ride |
After seeing the women and the men elite race in Hoogerheide I wanted to ride out myself. Today saw less sun than yesterday, with clouds setting in from the east, promising snow during the night and next morning. A good hard track was to be expected and I took this opportunity to have a first ride with the Moots and its new fork. A shiny Magura Durin SL 80. I rode into Meerdael looking for some climbs and descents to see how this fork would make the bike behave. From the onset I noticed that the ride would be firmer than with the Fox. A good thing since I found the Fox to be a bit soft. The Magura offers a relatively stiff ride, not bouncing or bobbing when climbing yet offering enough dampening to take the big hits with ease. Obviously the front wheel has the same or even slightly more lateral stiffness and the bike is a real ace on twisty and and turning singletracks. I had to look out for the frozen ruts which had my wheel jump unexpectedly during a couple of descents but I was never in trouble, always in control. I did feel the tyres getting harder during the ride, especially in the back. With an average temperature of -1 degree C it is clear that the workings of the suspension are a tad more stiff than in normal temperatures but I still managed to get nearly 7cms out of the 8 available in the front fork. Overall the Magura performs as expected, but I will have to ride it some more in normal temperatures before I can begin to fine-tune the air pressure. I had been warned that the Magura fork would run a bit wet - meaning that there is some oil on the inner tubes after a ride - so I wasn't worried or surprised when I notice a light oily film on the tubes after the ride. The 200grams gained in the fork also makes for a noticeably lighter front end. The Moots has always been an excellent climber but now it has become even more nimble and vivid making it living up to its name - whYBeBeat. I managed to take some pictures even though the light was fading fast due to the approaching dusk. Ride Stats : 20K and 395 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h19mins534/4700
01-02-2009, 18:54 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 31-01-2009 |
| Grez Again |
Another cold and dry night made way to a sunny day. I decided to ride to Grez-Doiceau again to do the O2 Bikers roadbook one more time. I already rode it at the end of last year but this time I would add a couple of extra loops (mostly climbs) and cu out the long passage through the water in Longueville. When I left it was minus 2 degrees C but the sun quickly made it feel a bit warmer. There was a very noticeable easterly wind but on the whole the temperature was very nice. Before long I was in Grez and once again on the roadbook O2 Bikers magazine published a few months ago. The trails were very tricky today. Reason for that was that all the sections where the sun could get through - mostly in the fields and on the sunny side of the forest rim - the track became unfrozen, muddy and very slippery. Also, the mud would cling to my WTB Weirwolf tyres and the got thrown off on the bike when the pace picked up again. Before long I was glad I was in the forest and a bit sad that it didn't freeze a bit harder. Especially the section near Longueville where I also struggled the last time - with fallen timber and deep ruts from the excavators - was a muddy hell. The forest lies in a valley and riding down towards it in a doubletrack over a field already gave me a little taste of what was going to come. In the forest itself I only had to walk a few sections, the falling trees where gone but the heavy machinery used to haul them out left the track hopelessly difficult. At the other side of the valley I came to a field road which was basking in the sun. For about 5 to 600 meters my bike turned into a mud collection. But before plunging into another forest and onto a singletrack which would lead me to Pietrebais, I took a little time to scrape off the worst of the mud, lightening my bike at the same time. I noticed 3 roe-deer in the forest - elegantly skipping up a steep slope. They didn't pause long enough to make a picture. By now I began to feel the remorseless succession of climbs and descents which typefies the first 2/3 of the roadbook. Only upon reaching Pietrebais does the trail mellow out a bit. But it still remains quite challenging, don't think its an easy track all of a sudden. I added and extra climb in the Chaumont Gistoux area and another after dropping down towards the river-track in the Longueville valley. There, instead of follwing the track through the - partly frozen - rivulet, I decided to climb out towards Longueville, follow the tarmac towards the Bois de Glabais. There I took the steep sandy downhill to meet the track again at the bottom. After Cocrou and the long climb into the Bois de Linsmeau I also decided to add an extra climb up to Gottechain. Only to drop down again towards the field track leading into Grez Doiceau and the end of the roadbook . In all the track was a little longer in this version and also with some more heightmeters. When returning home I did an extra climb into Bossut to beat the wind. Ride Stats : 59.5K and 825/835 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h44minsO2 Bikers Roadbook (including extra sections) : 38.5K and 645 heightmetersPS: for the original map and gps track check my 27th december 2008 blog entry 514/4305
31-01-2009, 17:47 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 26-01-2009 |
| Eghezee |
Wanted to do a longer road ride today so I set out towards the Ravel 2 that starts in Hoegaarden and goes all the way to Mariembourg. Making my way over Bierbeek and Meldert to Hoegaarden, I enjoyed the sunny and near-to-windless conditions, with temps of around 4 degrees Celcius. A good day for an long easy ride. Over Jodoigne and on to Eghezee. In the summer I ride all the way to Namur but with temps like these I prefer not to ride too far. In Eghezee I turned my bike around and rode back to Jodoigne. A particularity of this Ravel - which is an old railroad track turned into bike track - is that the slope of the hills never is more than 4 degrees. This was the maximum slope the locomotives in the time the track was still used for railway traffic, could handle. As a rul one can say that the track gently climbs from Hoegaarden to 7km from Namur , with a few little dips in between and then makes a long drop into Namur. One of these dips is just before Eghezee where the track descents from 150 to 135 meters and then climbs back up to 150 meters in Eghezee.Just past Jodoigne I left the Ravel to head towards Saint Jean Geest and Melin. Melin was the place where it froze -23.1 degrees C a couple of weeks ago. The coldest spot in Belgium or at least in Brabant Walloon. From there I rode on towards Hamme Mille and into Meerdael forest to complete a very satisfying ride that left me with a tired feeling in my legs.Ride Stats : 80.5K and 445/465 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h35mins412/3210
26-01-2009, 19:32 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 24-01-2009 |
| Urban Antics |
Yesterday saw a real downpour with lots of wind as well. So riding offroad was out of the question today. Instead I decided to go for a ride along the Leuvense Vaart. To get there I have to ride through Leuven passing the Tervuursepoort and then towards Leuven Yacht Harbour. The weather was good with not a lot of wind, a shy sun and the streets all but dried up. Riding along the Leuvense Vaart is a bit boring but it gives you the opportunity to ride a lot of distance with relatively low strain levels. Only hte wind can play a part but today it only blew mildly on the outgoing leg of my ride. When I reached Kampenhout Sas I rode over the viaduct and came back along the other side of the Vaart. Here the first stretch is offroad but it is a well-maintained dirtroad with only a few puddles . In fact, it was drier than the tarmac on the other side of the water, because the tarmac was less exposed to the sun and the wind than the dirttrack. Coming nack near Leuven I followed the R23 circular road back to the Tervuursepoort. Coming back into Blanden I crossed my friend Roger who looked like he just started his ride. 
24-01-2009, 14:36 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 21-01-2009 |
| Dark again |
Another dry day and even though my bowels have been making funny noises since last sunday I was eager to go out into the forest this evening. I had mounted the Schwalbe Mud Shark 1.5 tyres, a very grippy but also very dangerous tyre on tarmac or anything harder than a muddy track. The forest proved to be rather dry, considering that it had been raining on saturday, sunday and monday and with temperatures of 3 degrees C average I was pretty comfy in that area as well. I selected a couple of nice climbs and not-too dangerous downhills - bearing in mind the very small profile of my tyres which offers a lot less traction for braking. I saw 4 roe-deer and when night fell a lot of illuminated eyes, probably rabbits. My Lupine tesla shone brightly for about one and a half hour and provided me with good vision on the tricky trails of Meerdael Forest. I had mounted my mud fenders but they proved to be all but obsolete. I got a good workout and even managed to make a good photograph of the bike illuminated by my Tesla helmet light. 
21-01-2009, 21:08 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 10-01-2009 |
| The Halls of the Mountain King |
Had to sit back the whole week because of the bad road conditions. Snow and ice and not a lot of the biking lanes opened. But today - after another -14 degree night - the sun shone so brightly that I was unable to resist the lure of the roads. I decided to take the Litespeed with a Nokian NBX Lite tyre in the front and a Racing Ralph in the rear. That would give me some edge when the roads would not be 100% open. I started out over Bierbeek and Willebringen along the Haasrode road tour and soon enough I would venture on smaller roads that were still covered in snow. But the grip was good with my chosen tyres and I had no problems. Even on the smaller roads towards the chapel overlooking the Hoegaarden fields I made good progress. Only had to be careful in the descents but I never even fell like the bike was out of control. Looping towards l'Ecluse and La Bruyere the roads became wet with salt when the temps mounted towards -4 degrees and with the sun out there was some minor melting going on. I decided to do an extra loop over Hamme Mille, Nethen and Sint Joris Weert to pass next to the Zoete Waters. Here there were a lot of people who ventured on the ice - ignoring the warnings and 'forbidden to skate' signs. I made some pictures and moved on. I did a solid 53K today and I was very pleased to be out there again. Next week the temperatures are forecast to rise over the 0 degree mark so I guess we will be looking at a good messy offroad conditions but at the same time the onroad should be less dangerous, making it possible to venture out in the evenings again. Ride Stats : 53.5K and 350 heightmeters in 2h30mins149/1470
10-01-2009, 17:26 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 06-01-2009 |
| Snow Ride |
Took a day off from work today in order to make a ride in the 15cm of snow that had fallen yesterday. In order to keep the rubber side down I mounted my very grippy Schwalbe Black Shark Mud tyres in 1.5 section. These offer tremendous traction in loose stuff, but have to be watched on tarmac and ice. I quickly learned that the best way to ride in the heavy snow was to point your tyres where the snow was still untouched. Easier said than done on the bigger roads - there have been a lot of jeeps going over them since yesterday - but on the smaller tracks that made for good progress. Obviously you had to watch the snow to see if there were no hidden pitfalls lurking beneath it. As there are : frozen gullies, branches and all kinds of frozen tracks, horses hooves being the most dangerous. If you ride in the tracks of jeeps care has to be taken because as long as you are on the track, its fine, but if your front wheels strays off of the track, traction conditions change immediately, making the wheel skid . So it was fun and demanded a lot of attention. I managed to take a lot of pictures. I hope you will enjoy looking at them, I certainly enjoyed being out there today and having my camera with me.Ride Stats : 19K and 190 heightmeters in 1h43mins95/1120
06-01-2009, 14:50 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 03-01-2009 |
| Giet et oan? |
Yesterday evening a northerly wind blew away most of the fine dust and during the night the temperatures dropped to -8 degrees C and the wind settled to leave us with a frozen solid misty landscape. I left around noon and the temperature still was -4 degrees C. I wanted to do the Overijse Bloso's today so I rode along the Meerdael Blue route to make the interconnection with the Overijse Red in Sint Agatha Rode. I stopped a lot to take advantage of the special conditions to make some - hopefully - beautiful pictures. Even though it was cold the temperature didn't feel too bad. Possibly due to the lack of wind. But every time the fog got thicker it also got colder. When I joined the route I immediately went for an extra loop into the Sint Agatha Rode forest. This was very beautiful with the fog leaving the trees, grass and everything else covered in spike-like frosty bits. Check the pictures to understand what I mean.A tricky descent later and I was back onto the track which I now followed towards Terlanen. Sometimes the trails were covered with fine powdersnow, sometimes they were very icy. Especially on one downhill leading into Huldenberg, a narrow hollow tarmac road coming out of the fields and passing by a few houses. All of a sudden the whole road was covered with ice.. iieeek.. don't hit the brakes, don't steer, oops, there is a corner - yiehaaa... you get the picture. Hair raising stuff. I was lucky the road was abandoned because I honestly wouldn't have known what to do if there was a car or something else coming up in the opposite direction. I guess my only option would have been to bail out on one of the sides of the road. After this commotion I was glad I could sit down for one of the steepest uphills - a narrow singletrack leading up to a track between the fields overlooking Huldenberg. No, I didn't ride it. It was steep, gully and today covered with fine snow which had my rear tyre spinning too much to hold traction. I made some pictures of the icing on the barbed wire and moved on. Into Overijse another steep descent, luckily this one was on soil, but it remained tricky. In these kind of conditions you don't want to have a flat tyre or - even worse - fall off your bike. SO I took it easy. There were some skaters on the Overijse ponds and I rode on towards Tombeek and Ottenburg. The steps downhill in Ottenburg was very tricky, the mist seemed to drop down , covering the track with what looked like snow but it felt more like ice. Very carefully controlling my speed and pointing my front wheel in the direction that seemed the safest to me, I completed the downhill unscathed. Warming up during the next uphill and then the great hollow road leading down into Eerken. I was nearly back where I had joined the track some 34K ago and I had had a great ride. When I rode back into the Meerdael forest I met my friend Roger who was also doing a short ride. He took a picture of me at the pond near the Kluis. This one was also frozen solid but we could hear the ice cracking when a few people ventured on it. Roger told me he had been skating in Holland a few times this week. I asked him about the Elfstedentocht but he believed it wouldn't take place since it wasn't freezing hard enough around Leewarden. It seemed to be colder here in Belgium than further up north in Friesland.. Giet et oan? It doesn't look so but keep an eye over here to be certain.Ride Stats : 55K and 700/708 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h58mins77/730
03-01-2009, 17:56 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 01-01-2009 |
| Doode Beemde and Meerdael New Years Ride |
This morning saw a grey and dull start. It was freezing -3 degrees C and there was some light snow falling. The smog alert was still standing though but I hoped it would be less 'dusty' than yesterday. When I set out into Meerdael Forest I crossed a girl in a red goretex riding a bike pulled by two huskies.. Mmm, looks like a nice way to save some energy. She was friendly as well and merrily said 'Hi' when I passed. She must have been training for a sleddog race.
I had pulled my buff in front of my mouth again to minimize the amount of fine dust entering my lungs. On this first day of 2009 there were to my surprise a lot of people walking/jogging/cycling in Meerdael Forest.I looped towards the Doode Beemde reserve and did a small local loop over the frozen pathways. The snow and ice made the wooden paths and bridges very tricky. After that I rode towards Sint Joris Weert where I ventured into Meerdael Forest once again, more or less following the Blue Bloso route. More or less since I incorporated a couple of nice little tracks with some mean climbs and tricky descents. Pity I couldn't really ride fast due to the fine dust in the air. Ride Stats : 22K and 230/236 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h23mins22/230
01-01-2009, 17:21 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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Druk op onderstaande knop om een berichtje achter te laten in mijn Gastenboek. /
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