Cool but bright sunny morning so I took the Obed out for a ride. First time with the new Continental Mountain King 2.2 up front and a Continental XKing 2.2 in the back. The Mountain Kings' profile is a lot more aggressive in the middle of the tyre than the former version, but the tyre seems to have gained speed as well, offering less resistance. Still it does offer a lot of cornering stability, something the old MK excelled at. The XKing does its job and offers medium grip in the back. I took a lap towards Mollendaal first and then came back to Vaalbeek to start on the Ignatius lap. Taking it relatively easy and after that lap I did a lap into Kouterbos. Surprisingly fast , almost a minute off of my best time. With one hour and a half gone I decided to call it a day. I did do an 18K walk yesterday so did not want to stress my legs too much today.
I was home with an hour of sunlight to spare so I rode out on the Litespeed Obed for a spin around my Kouterbos laps. 2 big laps of 8.1K with the sun racing for the horizon. On the start of the second lap I could spot the moon rising above the horizon. Near the end of the second lap I had to depend on my night vision whilst trying to avoiding small puddles and potholes. But all went well and I was home before it was truely dark. Had a good ride , it was moist but not overly so, and the trails were great. Could maintain a good pace and the average temperature was around 8 degrees C.
Time for another ride. Dark outside so I chose the Hilset on the Tacx Satori. Maintaining a good pace while listening to Spotify and reading a book on my Kindle.
Another beautiful day. The morning brought the sun out and with around 12 degrees C already at 9AM I rode out with the Litespeed Obed for a spin along my Meerdael laps. Starting with the Base lap and working my way up to the long Ignatius lap, that brought me to the Arboretum in Heverlee forest. This yielded around 40K and my speed was high even though I was taking it relatively easy. Focussing on enjoying the ride and breathing in the pure forest air. My heart stayed calm and I managed an average heartrate of 108bpm whilst averaging more than 22.5kph on a parcours that was not exactly flat, but not too hilly either. The trails were in excellent condition, moist at some places and tricky with the leaves covering everything up. There was less traffic than yesterday but I still had to come to a full stop for a couple of times because of big groups of walkers spread over the entire trail. No harm was done to them and I kept friendly and yielded way like a tru gentleman. After all , we are all out here to enjoy the beauty of the Autumn forest.
The weather was surprisingly good on this first of november. Averaging 17 degrees C with 20 degrees in some places this was a fine weather for a ride. So I took the Obed in the late afternoon for a ride into Meerdael Forest. There were a lot of people enjoying the forest so I had to ease my pace quite often (do I need a bell? ) . But I did not mind, I was enjoying the perfect trails. Some fallen leaves were already obscuring the underlying trails so care had to be taken in some places. I included a couple of tarmac roads in order to lenghten my lap. Had a good ride and ejoyed being outside again.
It was a fine day, with temperatures around 17 degrees C it was uncommonly warm for this time of the year. When I arrived home from work it was dark though so I settled for a spin on the Hilset on the Tacx Satori. Legs felt fine and I managed a good average speed whilst maintaining my heartrate in the comfort zone. F.Paul Wilsons' "Midnight Mass is becoming riveting and the time passed quickly whilst reading.
Today looked like a good day for a ride outside. I was working in Leuven and could leave around 3pm. But unfortunately the weather turned and it started to drizzle around noon, followed by rain later in the pm. So I had to settle for another indoor ride on the Tacx. It was a good 50 minute-ride, steady pace and low heartrate.
Time for another Tacx Satori ride. With the Winter Hour in place darkness falls quickly and even though todays' weather was mild and dry I decided to stay indoor. I had a good ride with a quick pace and a low heartrate.
Winter time so I got to ride out an hour earlier when in fact it was an hour later. Starting with the Moots Psychlo-X I rode over Arenberg and Egenhoven towards Bertem, Leefdaal and Vossem. Riding up towards Duisburg I then rode on to Eizer and Overijse. The Hagaard was a tough cookie and I had to struggle to ride upwards whilst keeping my heartrate at bay. Not an easy task but I made it. Over Maleizen and then down towards Tombeek. Up to Wavre and the Noir Epine making my way to Ottenburg and then down to Archennes and Pecrot. Up La Malaise and the down into Nethen. Through the Weertsedreef back home along the Naamsesteenweg. The ride went well , the weather was great with a clement 10 degrees C and no wind to speak of.
After a days' rest my legs felt refreshed and upon arriving home from work I got on the Hilset on the Tacx Satori for another 40 minute ride. The pace was fine and my heartrate remained below 100bpm on average.
A new ride with the Hilset on the Tacx Satori. Yesterdays' ride was digested well so I went for another 40 minutes of steady state on the rollers. Got my Polar working and with an average heartrate of 96bpm I was riding at a relaxed pace.
It's been more than a week since I was on a bike. My throat hurt and it took a while to heal. Today I felt fine though and I went for a spin on the Tacx Satori. The legs felt good and I took the opportunity to read some more in F.Paul Wilsons' "Midnight Mass".
It was a sunny but fresh sunday morning so I rode out for a longer ride. Taking the Psychlo-X I set towards Hamme Mille and the offroad to Archennes. Being very careful on the cobbles . From Archennes I climbed the ridge to arrive in Dion. Onwards towards the Chaussee de Huy near Wavre and then straight through to Vieuxsart. The cobbles were very tricky and I managed to drop the bike because my front wheel got stuck in a gully between the cobbles and some tarmac. Some scratches on my Brooks leather bar tape and my right Campagnolo Chorus shifter unit. Straightening out the Campa I got back cycling. Corporal damage looked to be ok. Some offroad along La Place where I crossed a lot of mountainbikers going in the opposite direction. Cobbles and mud but soon I landed on tarmac again and continued towards the Chaussee de Huy again and Gistoux. I decided to follow the Chaussee de Huy until just out side Perwez where I took a left on small tarmac roads . Reaching the Avenue Lieutenant Bigourdan I rode north towards Sainte Marie. Through Wastinnes and then I took the direction of Opprebais. A right to Incourt and then left towards Longueville. Into Grez and following the N25 to Hamme Mille and Blanden, I completed my ride.
With the turning of the season it is also time to change bikes. So the Moots YBB went for a deserved rest, and the Litespeed Obed will now be my main offroad bike. It had been a while since I last used it but it felt right immediately. I set out for a quick evening spin, chasing the sun on this pleasant and mild october day. The Ignatius Toer was the obvious choice and I rode over the mostly dry trails of Meerdael, and into Heverlee Bos and the Arboretum before heading back towards Vaalbeek and Meerdael Forest again. The second lap was already in the final stages of the day and here and there the trail was deep in shadows. But all went fine and I had a good hours' ride.
It's been a while since I rode on the Tacx Satori. But this evening it was quickly dark and the rains had made the offroad too wet for my liking. So I opted for the easy way out and rode half an hour on the Hilset. Accompanied by Spotify and reading F.Paul Wilsons' Midnight Mass on my Kindle. The 30 minutes passed quickly.
Felt like doing some climbing today so I set out on the hilly section surrounding the Kluis and the Southwest side of Meerdael Forest. Created a lap that was some 10K long with just over 300 heightmeters. Some of the hills are steep and the descents are also not to be scoffed at. Some of the smaller singletrails are in pretty bad and washed out condition. Deep gullies and exposed roots make them very tricky. The long sandy uphill along the Savenel wall is extremely sandy. So much so that I had to walk a couple of meters. After the Wolf Trails I did some laps in the vicinity of the old Military compound , upping my average speed from 11kph on the Wolf Trails to almost 18kph over the complete ride. The weather was still nice and calm with an average of 14 degrees C and overcast skies. Arriving at home I decided to change the chain on my Moots YBB. It caused some chainsuck and it rotates badly.
This was a grim and clouded morning. It had rained a little bit last night but it was dry now. The temperatures had dropped considerably and it was around 13 degrees C when I rode out. This did not bother me since I was wearing my Moots windcoat. I rode out through Meerdael Forest towards Nethen and then further on to Bossut and Archennes. Florival brought me to the long climb towards Ottenburg. The Wavre industrie terrain was next and before long I was descending towards Rosieres. Taking a right to Tombeek brought me back into Flandres. Over the Tombeek fields towards Tombeek and then I rode the Wolfshagen all the way towards Neerijse. Following the road to Egenhoven and then over Arenberg towards Oud-Heverlee. Time for some offroad again as I entered Meerdael Forest , making my way to Vaalbeek and then along the Grezstraat to the Langendaal where I took a left into Blanden.
The weather was great this late afternoon and I took the Moots YBB out for a spin into Meerdael Forest. I did a long lap of what I want to call the Ignatius Toer. Starting around the ex-military compound, then dropping into the Kouterbos and passing the Zoete Waters along the Kapelstraat and Pragenstraat , then along the Parnassusdreef to reach the Prosperdreef. Here I take a left towards the Arboretum where I pass the Ignatius statue, turning onto the Grezstraat and following that to Vaalbeek. Crossing the O-L-Vrouwstraat , still following the Grezstraat on the cobbles until I reach the Langendaalstraat where a new lap begins. I did this lap 2 times, some 11.7K each. Could make very good speed even though my legs felt painful after the roller treatment during the Core Stab workout last evening.
Fall is slowly settling on the land and the amount of daylight is diminishing. When I started around 5.30PM I knew I only had a little more than an hour of daylight left. I started with the Moots YBB and first did a big lap riding all the way to the Heverleebos Arboretum to search Ignatius, the Ad Wouters sculpture that had eluded me so far. I found it this time and was glad I did. Now all the sculptures of the "Pad van Ad" are found. I rode back towards Vaalbeek and finished my ride with a long lap into Kouterbos and Meerdael Forest. Riding home along the Langedaal I was in time to watch the sun settle behind the forest horizon. The pace was good today, of course only riding for an hour allowed me to ride faster without fear for the legs to become saturated. My average heartrate was a cool 106bpm and the average speed was nearing 24kph. Not bad.
