Wanted to ride outside today but did not feel confident enough to ride in the hard snow. So I settled for a road ride with the Litespeed Obed. The roads were clear and most of the bikepaths as well so I could maintain good speed without risking to fall over some hidden ice patch. There was a strong and ice-cold wind blowing from the east and the temperature of -3 degrees C felt like a whole lot less. Once the wind was blowing in my back as I turned from Neervelp to Opvelp and Beauvechain, I warmed up a bit. Making a loop over Hamme Mille , Nethen and Sint Joris Weert I finished off my rode over the Zoete Waters and Vaalbeek. Almost 1h30 in the freezer, that is more than enough.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 34K and 240 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h29mins

19-01-2013, 12:45 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Had a solid walk at work at noon, with nearly 4K in just below freezing temperatures. When I got home I got on the Tacx Satori for a ride that turned into quite a number. I started up thoroughly warming up on resistance 1, and then turned up the resistance to 2 and 3. Back down to 1 for 20 minutes to let the muscles relax and then I worked my way up to resistance 4 and back down again, in 5-minute intervals. Cooling down on resistance 1 to fill an hour and a half.

Ride Stats : 66K in 01h31mins

903/1255

18-01-2013, 19:37 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Had a refreshing walk at work around noon. 3K in -5 degrees C. But the aim was to let my food settle and that it did.
Coming home I had to pass chez the dentist first but afterwards I felt like riding my Tacx Satori so I settled for an hours' worth of easy recovery .

Ride Stats : 44K in 01h01mins

837/1255

17-01-2013, 20:16 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Snow again tonight and on top of that it reached -10 degrees C in the early morning. I got home earlier from work because I felt a little tired . Settling for an hours worth of Tacx Satori I kept a good tempo and went up to resistance 2 for 20 minutes.

Ride Stats : 51K in 01h11mins

793/1255

16-01-2013, 17:10 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

15-01-2013, 19:20 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

14-01-2013, 19:28 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Last night a little bit of snow fell and this morning it was around -1 degree C when I left home with the Obed. I set myself at riding along the large forest roads and take it easy on my hand. There was quite a sharp wind blowing from the northeast and I figured the cover from the forest would make it feel less cold.
When I came from the Bremberg and started the long climb towards Mollendaal I came upon my friend Roger L. who was - typically of him - just adjusting his saddle height. I remember seeing him from afar, before recognizing him,  and thinking, "hey this guy is adjusting his saddle , just as Roger always does" .  And indeed it was him. We rode on together and followed the forest rim, occassionally dipping into a smaller track. But we quickly found out that 2 nights of light freezing was not enough to harder the mud. It was better on the bigger trails. We discussed all kinds of stuff and made our way towards Meerdael Forest and later on the Kouter Forest and Heverlee Forest. Roger wanted to do another loop. Me, I began to lose feeling in my left hand - the injured one - and decided to return home over the Sappellenbos and into Blanden.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 26K and 260 heightmeters (Garmin) in 01h21mins

Arriving home I decided to do a cooldown session on the Tacx Satori. I grabbed my Kindle and read a couple of chapters while speeding along at resistance 1 for half an hour. Hope this helps draining the lactic acid from the legs.

Ride Stats : 21.5K in 00h31mins

644/1255

13-01-2013, 13:12 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Yippee, the weekend is back among us so it is time to ride outside. Took the Litespeed Obed out for a mixed ride today. Starting out on tarmac towards Egenhoven and Bertem, adding some offroad bits as I turned towards Leefdaal and Neerijse. I stopped at the old Roman church of Bertem to capture it with my Galaxy SII.

My hands and feet were feeling frosty by the end of the ride. I had an average temperature of -1 degree C and with a cool wind blowing from the north I'm sure the ambient temperature dropped a lot lower than that. It was a good thing that the sun was out and it felt good to feel it on the little bits of skin that were exposed.
Coming back over Sint Agatha Rode and Sint Joris Weert I rode a section of the Green BLOSO in Meerdael to join the Weertse Dreef. The Bosprotter statue is still missing. Back into Blanden along the Naamsesteenweg I completed my ride for today.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 37K and 330 heightmeters (Garmin) in 01h41mins

596.5/995

12-01-2013, 13:30 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

11-01-2013, 18:53 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Another walk at work during noon recess yielded me 2.4K . When I got home I got on the Tacx for a good workout going up to resistance 2 for 40 minutes. Legs felt a bit tired still but I managed to battle my way through.

Ride Stats : 52K in 01h11mins

506/665

10-01-2013, 18:49 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

After work I rode to check out a red Mitsubishi Evo 9 , I have been interested in getting me one of these for a long time now and then this one popped up in the ads. It turned out to be a well-kept and very powerful specimen. Might be worth following up.
Home I decided to add another hour of Tacx training and I kept the resistance on 1 to help recovery from yesterdays' more intense ride.

Ride Stats : 46K in 01h01mins

455/665

09-01-2013, 19:58 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Had a walk at noon at Work, totalling 1.9km. More than doing nothing and it settles the foord in the stomach just fine.
When I got home I got on the Tacx for a ride taking me through 20 minutes of Resistance Levels 2 and 3 and then up to Level 4 for 5 minutes before cooling down on Level 1 for another 5. This gave me a good workout.
There is talk that the annual B.Strong against Cancer initiative at KBC will consist of a ride from Leuven to the Mont Ventoux. In 6 or 7 stages averaging 120K a day. I have shown an interest and look forward to taking part should I be excepted.

Ride Stats : 48K in 01h10mins

409/665

08-01-2013, 18:44 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Had a 3K walk at work over Noon and when I got home I decided to do an hour on the Tacx Satori. My muscles were cramped from the weekends' rides and there is no better way to loosen them up than a low-resistance stint on the Tacx.

Ride Stats : 45K in 01h01mins

361/665

07-01-2013, 18:38 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Still no sun this morning, but at least it wasn' t raining when I left home under overcast skies. I decided to ride the Obed on the roads again - pending the delivery of the new Moots  - and set off along the Naamseseteenweg towards Hamme Mille. Onwards toward Pietrebais and then left to Melin and the cobbles of Saint-Marie-Geest and Zetrud-Lumay. No sweat with the Hutchinson Python Air tyres and the front suspension on my Litespeed . From Zetrud I took the Ravel into Hoegaarden and then rode to the Goudberg geosite. A little bit of mud on the narrow tarmacs roads here before I came into Oorbeek and was on my way to Kumtich. Met up with Jan Vermaelen - father of nearly-world-champion Francis Vermaelen - and I let him ride behind me to keep him out of the wind. After all, Jan must be almost 80 by now. Amazing that he still is riding a bike and very commendable that he still does. We rode together over Willebringen and Opvelp and into Bierbeek. When nearing Haasrode our ways split up. I followed the Geldenaakse baan while he took a left into the Dassenstraat. Riding into Blanden along the Expressweg I could look back on a solid ride. Another 48K . There was a little bit of wind today but as I said before, the 100% humidity from yesterday was gone, it remained dry throughout the ride.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 48.5K and 350 heightmeters (Garmin) in 02h02mins

316/665

06-01-2013, 13:42 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

This morning saw a dreary and wet looking land. The high barometric pressure has landed us in a swamp-style , low-clouds and high relative humidity landscape. Still I wanted to ride out so I took the Obed and made my way towards Hoeilaart and Filip Sport. Filip had told me the Psychlo-X was ready to roll and I wanted to take a look at it and also take along the official Moots decals that should go on the frame.
The bike looked fantastic. Well worth the wait. I was so dazed that I forgot to take a picture.
Riding back home in the light drizzle I was musing about riding the Moots Psychlo-X. I have it equipped with Schwalbe Marathon 32c tyres. They offer more security than all-out road tyres and are also virtually puncture-proof. I have ridden them for years on my Hilset and have never ever suffered a puncture with them.
The roads were moist but not too much and the warm temperatures made it not too bad to ride out today. I got in a solid 2 hours of outside fun on the bike and was pleased that my left hand was not hurting too much.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 48K and 315 heightmeters in 02h02mins

268/315

05-01-2013, 14:13 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Another Tacx Satori evening. I got on and decided to make this some kind of recovery ride. So I stayed on resistance one and let the legs zoom through high speed circles. This kept the speed high and the heartrate low.

Ride Stats : 60K in 01h21mins

220/0

04-01-2013, 19:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

I seem to be keeping my weight down these last couple of days. Not overdoing it on New years' Eve and eating only the strict minimum lets me stay on or around the 70kg mark. Not being able to ride outside during the week doesn't help. The kcalories burned on the Tacx Satori are nowhere near as high as the kcalories that are being burned K for K on a bike riding outside. But until the weekend arrives I will have to make do. At least I get in a nice amount of kilometers and I can keep my legs fit whilst still letting my hand rest as much as possible.
Today I kept the resistance on the Tacx on 2 for almost an hour. This elevated my heartrate but it also got me a nice workout.

Ride Stats : 61K in 01h25mins

159.5/0

03-01-2013, 18:37 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

This evening saw me on the Tacx Satori for a ride that took me for 20 minutes on resistance 2, followed by 20 more minutes on resistance 3. This kept me busy but still I managed to keep the average heartrate just below my aerobic treshold at 117bpm.

Ride Stats : 39.5K in 01h01mins

99/0

02-01-2013, 19:16 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Another year, another Tacx ride. Unfortunately the weather outside was wet and windy, otherwise I would have taken another bike and ridden outside. But it only started drying out way past noon and by then I already had a solid Tacx ride behind me.

Ride Stats : 59.5K in 01h21mins

59/0

01-01-2013, 13:21 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

First off I got on the rollers for the last ride of 2012. A little more than an hours' worth of Tacx Satori bliss whilst I kept the resistance low and the speed high. A very good average speed and a low average heartrate. I am ready for 2013.

Ride Stats : 47K in 01h05mins

11151/84540

31-12-2012, 18:45 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf