 |
|
|
| Tales from the Woods |
|
|
| 05-11-2006 |
 Out and about part 2 |
Another picture from todays walk. This little brown cow wasn't afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.Well, not until I started snapping a picture of her ...
05-11-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 04-11-2006 |
| Double |
Yes, the weather is great this morning so I'm off to the Tervuren ponds to try my new lens. Great stuff but I made some beginner mistakes which left me with only a few good pics. Oh well, we live to learn, even after 15 years of photography. Made some great close up shot of Nile Geese, but with my trusty 180mm prime instead of the new one. Back home upon seeing the results I went into the garden to check out some settings and got it right after all. Hope to find time and sunlight to get out in the Meerdael forest tomorrow to learn some more about this new lens.What I've seen already is that it is sharp as hell with the nicest "bokey" I ever saw on any Nikon lens. Period.
Back in time to get on my bike. It was around 10° C when I left and the sun was still out. Lot of wind too and it felt cold. I set out on the 'Ludo Dierckxens', an arrowed route I discovered last summer. This loops over Bierbeek, Beauvechain, La Bruyere, Happeau, Incourt all the way to Chaumont Gistoux. Then it goes towards Wavre, Dion Le Mont, Grez Doiceau and Archennes. I decided to do an extra loop up towards Ottenburg and back over Terlanen and Sint Joris Weert. Legs felt great and the wind piped down considerable during the ride too.
Ride Stats: 71K and 520 heightmeters in 3h02mins
04-11-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 03-11-2006 |
| Out and about again |
Left work at 2pm to be able to ride in daylight. I was very keen to go out because of this weeks' work shedule and my hip that was still bruised I had only been able to get on the rollers on wednesday. So I was eager.
Took the 30K road BLOSO and decided to ride it in reverse. It was clouded and near the end of the ride some light drizzle fell. Average temperature was 9 degrees so long pants and long sleeves were in order.
Had a good ride, relaxed, overall heartrate a bit high but that is possibly due to the unregular work shedules this week and the fact that I hadn't been properly on a bike since last sunday.
Tomorrow I hope to be able to try out a new lens I bought today. It gets very good reviews so I'm eager to see what gives.
I can only hope for some sunlight.
Stats for todays' ride : 32K and 220 heightmeters in 1h20 minutes
03-11-2006, 21:22 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 29-10-2006 |
| Bierbeek Meerdael 2000 TT |
Rise and shine , it's 6am and I have to leave at first light, or even just before that time, to ride to the start of the Bierbeek TT, organized by the Meerdael 2000 team. I help the organisation and as usual I get to pre-ride and check the longest distance, making sure no arrows are missing.I leave at 7.15 am with two other riders who very quickly take one of the shortest routes, leaving me on my own to ride through the awakening forest. I was not very awake myself because I manage to fall off only 250 metres from my home, a root hidden under some autumn leaves tripped my front wheel. I fall on my left hip but besides some pain there doesn't seem to be much damage done. Will be stiff next morning though. Still, no time to get stiff now, I ride on and the movement of my legs keeps the blood flowing. It is amazingly warm this morning, 16° C , and I begin to sweat a little bit under my long pants and long sleeves. Still , having to stop frequently to put back an arrow that seems to have developed legs during the night, I am glad I have some protection from the wind that blows quite happily from the west.
After about one hours drive I am back at the shorter loops and pass some bikers that have either left very early or are riding the loop without inscription. Oh well, it's a common road, not private, so they have every right to be here. I don't have the guts nor the glory to try and climb the very steep section after the first rest stop and walk with my bike until halfway up. Then I mount the bike and grind my way up the steep reminder of this short climb. There will be a long queue forming here later on., that much is obvious. At Nethen there is a whole sections with missing arrows, and I have a bit of work to make sure the riders won't get lost here. After some 28K the track leaves the forest to go out in the fields of Hamme Mille , gently meandering up and down. The second rest stop has the Red Bull girls waiting.. The blonde one, whom I recognize from last years rides , comes over and hands me a Red Bull. I ask her to pour it directly into my bottle and she does so, adding "This will up your taurine levels for the next 3 hours". I smile and tell her I won't be biking for the next 3 hours.. She replies "No problem, when you are at home, you will still be very vital". I look at her from behind my shades and think to myself that I feel very vital right here and right now , just looking at her .. She looks back and seems to understand what I am thinking . Smiling from ear to ear I get back on my bike and set off to tackle the last 20K of the ride. Some faster riders pass me now and I'm always pleased when that happens. I up the speed and soon leave them behind. Then a really fast one comes along and I have a hard task keeping him in my sights. He is very strong on the uphills and my hip gives out a pang of protest so I stop the chase and let him ride. The arrowing is perfect now, I am on the smaller extra loops now and they have been checked by other guys. Just after 10am I am back at the start. Judging by the amount of cars that are parked along the roads, this is gonna be a succes for the organisers. Someone tells me they already have 1200 inscriptions with still 30 minutes to go. I take my bike over to the bikewash area and clean the little bit of mud that clung to it. Overall , the ride was fast, with a nice section in Meerdael and Heverlee forest. A few muddy patches but only 2 where riding though them couldn't be avoided. Ride stats : 66K and 615 heightmeters.Some pictures taken before and during the ride
29-10-2006, 20:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 28-10-2006 |
| LIght and shadow |
Damn, damn damn. Just as I had planned in a morning taking some wildlife photographs , the one thing absolutely necessary to take good photographs; photos ie light, is absent.
This morning woke me up in dark and gloomy weather and not the october sunshine I had hoped for. What a contrast with yesterdays' sunny bliss. But then I had to work, moping behind the glass about opportunities lost. Life's a bitch, sometimes.
Even some light rain so taking the bike out is no option either. I still hope it will clear out this afternoon and maybe then I can go out with my camera after all, but for the biking part I will have to make do with the rollers, again.
So I got on the rollers around 11am , which today felt like a compulsory ride, not something I was looking forward to. Armed with Alanis Morissette, Nightwish and KMFDM tunes on the MP3 player and enjoying Robert E.Howards "Black Colossus" I let myself drift away into the rhythmic sounds in my ear with the rollers' noises droning far in the background.
I did not feel particularly well throughout the ride, sweating more than usual and even though my average heartrate was just over my aerobic treshold I did not feel the release of the endorphins this time.
Stats: 37K in 91 minutes
28-10-2006, 13:48 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 27-10-2006 |
| On the rollers again |
Today I received some very sad news which left a profound impact on my state of mind and will do so for some time to come.
What I usually do when I feel sad is to get on my bike and ride to clear or order my thoughts. This evening I did not feel like going out so I stayed indoors and did an hours' ride on the rollers.
Stats: 27k in 61 minutes
27-10-2006, 19:10 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 26-10-2006 |
| On the road again |
Even though it was still windy this evening, it was dry so I decided to go out for a quick spin, making a 28K loop on the road adding 195 heightmeters to my total. Took it easy and was only bothered by the erratic behaviour of my Polar transmitter. Seeing a heartrate of 42bpm one second and 120 a few seconds later is not really funny. I have had this problem for a few months now and I think my belt is ready for the dumpster.
Stats : 28K and 195 heightmeters in 1h10 minutes.
26-10-2006, 11:49 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 24-10-2006 |
| Roller time |
Another stormy and wet evening so back on the rollers I went. This time I did 50 minutes , adding a gear each 10 minutes, and cooling down for 2 minutes afterwards.Legs felt good and my average heartrate was 113 bpm, which was 6 bpm lower than yesterday even though today's rhythm and average speed were higher. I recovered well it would seem.
Stats : 23K in 52 minutes.
24-10-2006, 20:25 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 23-10-2006 |
| Roller time |
Weather was unstable and it was dark when I arrived home so I decided to go for a quick spin on the rollers.
Started real easy and upped a gear every 10 minutes. After 30 mins I really started to get a good feeling in my legs so I decided to add another 6 minutes listening to my favorite Roxette tunes on the MP3 player.
Stats : 15K in 36 minutes.
23-10-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 22-10-2006 |
| Accro Bike 2006 |
Today I did not ride myself, but helped my club, the Blanc Gilets, with the organisation of their annual Accro Bike mountainbike race.
This is a 32K race starting in Hèze near Grez-Doiceau , this time it consisted of two 16K laps.
Due to the marvelous weather the tracks were dry, something we do not experience a lot in this period of the year.
I had my camera with me but because I had to stop traffic I could only use one hand to make the pics. Still I'm pretty pleased with the results.
Click on the picture next to the text to watch the gallery
22-10-2006, 18:24 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 16-10-2006 |
| Ottignies |
Rode towards Ottignies today to check if the organized ride yesterday included the Bois des Reves, or not.
Seems that indeed the arrows
pointed to the left , leaving the bikers to follow the bikepath that
runs along the Bois des Reves, but the loop itself was not indicated
and not arrowed so I presume the Rando d'El Botroul skipped the Bois
des Reves this year. Managed to get lost when riding towards Wavre, but
then found my way again to ride over Tombeek, Terlanen and Ottenburg
towards Sint Joris Weert and the back home.
72K and 605 heightmeters for this Long Slow Distance ride that cleared all traces of yesterdays thoughie out of my legs
16-10-2006, 17:57 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 15-10-2006 |
| Soumagne - Challenge GHF |
The Ride:
The last few days had been dry and the temperature was quite good for october. That made me decide to go to the Ardennes area instead of doing a ride closer to home. Better get some nice Ardennes rides in while the getting is good.
Well, actually Soumagne is not the Ardennes yet, but is on the fringe of an area called the Land of Herve, gently rolling landscape with thorny hedges beaconing green and lush meadows. It looks a bit like a big patched quilt. The climbs are generally very steep and there are lots of rocks in the ground, making traction not always obvious. I had been in this region before, the first time during an LCMT some years ago so I knew what to expect. The area can get very muddy during the winter months and you need some spare inner tyres because of the high probability of a flat due to the thorn hedges.
So 10.45am and I'm at Soumagne. Quite a crowd judging by the full parking lot, but an advantage of starting this late is that there always are some vacant spaces close to the start. Simply because the early starters were already back in. 3.5 for all distances (20. 30 and 40K on offer) and 3 reststops for the 40K. At least we wouldn't die of hunger and thirst. The ride is part of the Challenge Gileppe and Haute Fagnes, which usually delivers very good and tough rides with high standards for arrowing and rest stops.Made a digital picture of the map, always handy to have around in case you get lost. The first K's were easy, some tarmac getting out of the town of Soumagne but gradually the road got smaller and worse until all of a sudden we were on a wet trail strewn with rocks and some muddy patches. Yikes, this was not what I came here fore. I mounted an NBX Lite which is some kind of semi-slick but with very good grip in corners. Luckily there was no more mud to speak of later, but the rocks would remain wet. Even at this hour the morning dew was still present (it IS october after all) so I prepared for some tricky wet downhills and hopefully steep ascents. I was not going to be disappointed on either account. Some nice little technical section; a step here, a rocky descent there , got me into the rhythm quite quickly and I was glad to be here. After some 10K into the ride , the 20K distance split off from the other 2 distances and this meant things were getting more interesting fast. First a steep climb towards Magnée after which we had a long drop into the Fonds de Foret. This was immediately followed by a 3K uphill back towards Foret. The steep bits were REALLY steep and had me cursing a few times that I left my chain on the middle ring, leaving me with a 34/34 combination which really had me grind my teeth at some parts of the uphill. At Foret we got the first rest stop, around 17K into the ride. Rest stop which was well stocked with Isostar or water, cookies and some fruit, and had me drink and eat quite a bit to restore lost forces.
After that we had a nice section of tarmac during which the food could settle into our stomach. We more or less stayed on the plateau until the 30K split from the 40K distance.
All of a sudden we were on a wonderful singletrack that meandered into a forest. At one point there was a very dangerous turn to the left, just behind a right turn. The track was really bad here and I saw that a lot of people had bailed out here, judging by the tracks going into the rift.. A little 'Danger' sign might have done a lot of good here. We kept on losing height all the way to Nessonvaux, along the way enjoying some beautiful views of the Vesdre valley deep below us. In Nessonvaux the arrowing, which up until now had been really good, was really bad. I had to doubletrack a section because for a while there were no arrows. This is very annoying since you have no comfirmation you are going in the right direction. We passed at least 3 streets were no arrows were indicating whether we should follow the main road, or take the side-street. I followed the main road and after about 600 metres was awarded with an arrow indicating a right turn.
Another long and steep climb took us up on the plateau near Bois d'Olne were I found a 2nd Rest Stop. This one was only for the 40K. and had only water and some assorted sweet stuff. I conversed a bit with the two old-timers which manned the stop, mentioning the dangerous section without warning and the Nessonvaux arrow scarceness. They nodded and asked me what I thought of the region. I had to agree the region was "fantastique" .
And it would remain so for the remainder of the ride, going towards Olne. Leaving Olne we had to drop down again and did so on a track that had steps in it. I was surprised by them so dismounted and ran the first batch with my bike next to me. But I was thinking that the steps were not that bad, only about 20cm high and between 30 and 40 cm long, so I got on my bike and made the remaining drops riding. Care had to be taken because at some points the steps were replaced by wet rock, but then the steps were back again and I could hobble down on them all the way into Vaux-sous-Olne. A great section this one.
Now we were climbing back towards Foret were we had the 3rd rest stop (which was the same as the 1st actually) Some 6 kilometers to go from here but there was a very tricky, and sometimes outright dangerous rocky downhill waiting for us about 1.5 K from the rest stop. Had to keep the concentration up on this one and at one time I bailed out, judging it was not worth taking the risk to try and ride this.
Another steepish climb, at one time I had to walk , too steep and big rocks making it nearly impossible to keep on riding. The last few K's were on tarmac taking us back to Soumagne and the finish.
I had 45,7K and 1105 heightmeters on the Polar. That makes for a Hill Factor of 24.
The Lowdown:
What I liked:
+great region
+steep climbs and lots of them
+tricky downhills and lots of them
+nice singletrack sections
+well-stocked rest stops, 1 on the 20K, 2 on the 30K and 3 on the 40K distance.
+fair entry price
+arrowing was sparse but sufficient (except at a few places - see below )
+
What I did not like:
-missing arrows in Nessonvaux and near the end of the ride.
-arrows were paper without support so sometimes bend making it hard to see in which direction the arrow pointed
-wouldn't like to find out what rain would do to said paper arrows
-no danger signs at a few very tricky spots
-sometimes long tarmac sections (500-800 metres ) between trails.
-
no comment on the after-ride facilities (bike-wash, showers, ...) since I did not use them.
Synopsis:
A very good ride, accumulating a fair bit of heightmeters in a great region, well worth the displacement. Tracks were moist and could be hell during rain or after a wet period. Hill Factor is indicative enough, this is a tough ride, due to technicality of both the uphills (steep and sometimes not much traction due to rocks) and the downhills, which were to be taken with full concentration , easy on the front brake .
Entry price of 3 was a steal considering the 3 rest stops. It was the same for all distances though, so 20K or 30K riders might not agree. The region is not as deeply cut as a bit further south, heights varying between 100 and 280 metres, but as you can see on the rides' profile, there were some long climbs anyway. This one is on my list for next year.
There is another ride starting in Soumagne (not the same organisers) which goes towards Banneux and also delivers about the same distance and heightmeters. That ride starts in the St Joseph school while this one started at the local Football field.
The Bare Facts:
map:
Profile of the Ride
A series of pictures taken during this ride
15-10-2006, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 14-10-2006 |
| Work in Progress |
Due
to the stir that has gone though some bikers concerning the
'destruction' of a valuable trail on the Hoeilaart BLOSO route, I
decided to ride over there and take a look myself. The work had been
announced for over a year now, so we were kinda expecting it. The trail
runs next to a railroad and they will add another track to that
railroad, thus broadening it some 20 metres.
Therefore they need to do some
work, which will interrupt the singletrack. This work has now started. The
promise has been made to restore the mountainbike track after the work
for the railroad has been done.
It is indeed impossible now to
follow the last 100 metres of the track, and their is a sign at both
sides indicating that entrance to the trail has been shut.
The markers have been changed so
the route takes a little shortcut over tarmac instead of descending and
ascending again via trail and singletrail.
No big deal in the greater picture
of things, and some people who were already announcing the end of all
mountainbike trails in the Zonienwoud should reconsider their wordings
and return with both feet on the ground.
I made some pictures while I was
there and you can compare them to pictures as it was before by clicking
on the link behind the picture next to this text.
I returned home with 64K and 390 heightmeters more than when I left.
14-10-2006, 16:01 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 11-10-2006 |
| Climb It ! |
Today
I felt like doing some hill training. Nearby Meerdael has a few climbs
which are very well suited for this purpose. So I set off and quickly
regained the first hill, a tricky downhill with lots of roots bringing
me from 70 to 35 metres, followed by a long uphill, some 500 metres
regaining 35 heightmeters, 7% average . The climb was easily manageable
on the 34/34, good moist sandy track with some roots and other stuff to
keep it interesting. I did this uphill/downhill combination 5 times.
Every time I hit the downhill I went a little faster, proof that you
gain confidence by doing technical sections, and also that you learn
from doing a section a few times.
I then moved on to the next downhill/uphill combo. The uphill was
situated on the BLOSO trail (but in the opposite direction) and the
downhill was a quick fall with a few good curves and even a little
uphill bend before dropping in a gully and reaching the bottom at 45
metres of altitude. The following uphill brought me in 400 metres about
32 metres higher, so averaging an 8% slope .
I did this climb 10 times, with every round I lost a bit of daylight
and when I was nearing the 10th climb, I met 3 bikers , one of them had
a torn chain and since neither of them had any material to break a
chain or mend it, it was their lucky day I passed when I did. I gave
them my chain tool and an SRAM link so that they could be on their way.
I hope for them it is a lesson learned. Never leave without having the
necessary tools to perform basic emergency maintenance.
Oh well, I rode on and when I got home I counted 27K and a nice 600
heightmeters. That a Hill Factor of 22 for you My average speed
was a whopping 13kph :).
11-10-2006, 19:56 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
| 09-10-2006 |
| Haasrode tour |
|
Today
I did a road ride I call the Haasrode Tour. It's a ride that starts in
Haasrode and it is signposted with white "H" marks and an arrow on
the tarmac. It roughly runs over Bierbeek, Willebringen, Oorbeek,
Tienen, Hoegaarden and then back towards L'Ecluse, Pietrebais, Cocrou,
Grez Doiceau, Eerken, Pecrot , Nethen and Sint Joris Weert. I know it
by heart which is nice because in some regions the arrowing is gone.
It all added up to 67K and 485 heightmeters and I rode 2h39 on the Hilset.
Pace was good and I had a nice intensive training pushing hard on the hills and (relatively speaking) relaxing in between them
09-10-2006, 17:23 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Gastenboek./.Guestbook |
Druk op onderstaande knop om een berichtje achter te laten in mijn Gastenboek. /
Press the button below to write in my Guestbook.
|
| Email Me |
Press the button to send me a mail
|
|
|
|
