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| Tales from the Woods |
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| 27-01-2007 |
 Easy does it |
Quick ride between two races at the Cyclo Cross World Championships. Belgium already won gold with Joeri Adams in the Junior Class and the hope is high for the Minus 23 and Elite classes also. Pity the girls aren't up to par with the rest of the world but some might be able to get a top 10 finish..I'm thinking Veerle Ingels in the first place but we will have to wait and see.
Me I had an easy ride along Huldenberg and Ottenburg, taking in a few heightmeters but all very relaxed. My right calf has been giving me some troubles after rising this morning, I think I overstretched it yesterday. Still during the ride I didn't feel it except when I really had to put the hammer down. Weather was fine, averaging 6 degrees C with some sunshine at the start and just a few drops of rain near the end of the ride.
Ride Stats : 43.5K and 395 heightmeters in 1h50mins
745/5540
27-01-2007, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 26-01-2007 |
| Dylelandroute |
Ah, today I was out on the Moots, first time this year. Need to check the front suspension although putting it upside down for a few hours prior to the ride seems to have mellowed it a bit. Too much perhaps because I felt it was indeed very responsive - which is good - but perhaps too much sag to start with. I put in 10psi more air pressure when I was back home , and we'll see what gives next ride. Need to bring the Fox in for maintenance anyways , it has never been in and I do have the bike for 3 years now.
So, I took half a day off at work because the weather forecast called for snow/rain in the late afternoon and I wanted to be back by the time things got wet. Trails were still pretty frozen so I took the chance of leaving the Racing Ralphs on , and except for the occasional dew patch where they were sliding all over the place, they performed well. I followed the Dylelandroute, starting at Meerdael forest and looping towards Neerijse and Huldenberg, but I added a couple of nice climbs.. and selected more offroad tracks than the Dyleland itself takes. Some nice climbs made me enjoy the Moots' ability to dig in and climb like a real mountain goat. The temperature was rising during the ride - I started around noon and was back in around 1.50pm - from around freezing towards 2 degrees C. Near the end I couldn't resist the steep footpath I discovered in Sint Joris Weert and I made it, obviously, also with this bike. People sometimes ask me why I prefer an XTR transmission on my bikes and todays' ride once again put forward the exceptional quality of the XTR's shifting. Changing a gear only demands a gentle push or pull, almost a caress, and the gear has already been changed. No noises, not hesitation, just touch the lever and you immediately feel the action. Great stuff, wouldn't be the same without it. Only downsize is the price but the shifters I'm using on the Moots are still going strong and they date from 1999. So the longevity of this gear is also top-notch. New XTR cassette is said to be even stiffer, and a bit lighter, so I'm looking forward to that. Prize in Belgium is a whopping 225 but I've seen them at 120 on Chainreaction Cycles.
Ride Stats : 35K and 395 heighmeters in 1h45
701/5145
26-01-2007, 15:41 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 24-01-2007 |
| Laurensart |
Tonight it froze -5 degrees C and that meant that things were dry offroad. Great, I took a recovery day yesterday in order to be well rested and today I left an hour sooner at work to do a hilltraining in Meerdaelwoud and the Bois de Laurensart. I started out with some climbs around Nethen, and the one I didn't make a few days ago - the one were I lost my V-brake pad - was high on my list. The traction was marginally better, I was a bit less tired and above all had a lot more determination. SO I made the climb, albeit with a lot of cursing and a heartrate that soared towards 165bpm.
After that I gently took towards Pecrot and Archennes, taking in every climb that I could, before arriving at the Bois de Laurensart. There are a few very steep climbs here , going up and down to the 'De Tomme' plateau, and of course I did them all, making some kind of loop which had me do the whole thing in the opposite direction when I headed back towards Meerdaelwoud. Some of the tracks were very tricky with the frozen tracks which partly were defrosted and slippery. This did not bother me much during the uphill sections but I had to keep very concentrated during the downhills.
I had left at 3.15 pm and arrived home just before dusk set in, with a very good ride under my belt. An average temperature of -1 degrees C kept things fresh but I never found it to be cold. Of course all the climbing keeps you warm but there was also no wind so the chill factor was low.
Ride Stats : 31.5K and 565 heightmeters in 2h01mins
655/4750
24-01-2007, 18:05 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 22-01-2007 |
| Peking Crow |
My legs were still hurting from yesterdays' ride so I decided to stay home from work, rest as much as possible, and get in an easy road-ride. Rest is relative as you will understand.I set out and it turned out to be a bit colder , 5 degrees on average, but also relatively calm due to the absense of wind. Great conditions for an easy ride.My thoughts during this ride wandered off to the Chinese food business, and I tried to remember Chinese specialties.. ehmm, lets see, Peking Duck, Sharkfin Soup, Soya something, lychees.. oh yes, lychees, I definately remember those.When I first ate them I was abhorred by their taste, they tasted almost perverse. Now, a little bit older and no longer abhorred by the perverse , I kinda like them. Its a bit as with olives. They taste funny but once you eat them you get all kinds of subtle after-tastes in your mouth, flavors, which make them OK after all.Same with lychees. I like the Chinese kitchen, its diversity of smells, ingredients, tastes and the sheer pallet of colors the food on the dishes have. Lets not forget the Chinese were already highly developed when we were still crawling around in the dark ages.Funny how the mind sometimes makes the weirdest twists and turns.. I noticed some crows (Corvus Corone) flying next to me and began noticing a large amount of them on the surrounding fields, accompanying their more numerous smaller siblings, Corvus Monedula ( Jackdaw ) and their equally big brothers, Corvus Frugilegus ( Rook ) . Some of them are quite easy to get close to, their black eyes following your every move, and especially checking out of there is anything tasty on your person. They are scavengers I know, but they are quite common during this time of the year and I kinda like them.My mind suddenly switched to something my dad always says. He claims that during the Second World War, when he was a young adolescent, they used to hunt and eat crow for their flesh.He says the flesh is black and the taste is not really very good. Before you go out and puke lets not forget we are talking WWII here, when people were under German regime, and my dads' family were farmers who had to surrender what little cattle they had, some cow and a heavy horse, to the Germans to feed the troups. So times were tough and you ate what you could get.
Switching back to the Chinese I wonder what they would do with crow, what subtle flavors would they add to make it an enjoyable meal. I wouldn't mind tasting it I'm sure. Back to the ride then, which went great, I came home feeling fitter than when I left, which is always a good sign the recovery ride was succesfull.
When I stored my bike next to the others I noticed that the front wheel of my Litespeed was as flat as can be.. hmm, must mend it later to be ready for the next ride in the forest.
Ride Stats : 27K and 190 heightmeters in 1h12mins623/4185
22-01-2007, 16:15 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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