Big Bad Log

Today was a fine day to try a longer ride. I had set my sights on the 55K distance of the upcoming Meerdaal 2000 TT, starting in Bierbeek next sunday. I got the map of the organisers so I made a GPS track out of it using Mapsource. Saving it as a gpx track, converting it into a course my Garmin Edge understands and hey presto, I was ready to go. Only uncertainty was how my lower back would behave. Since I already stressed it yesterday I wasn't sure I would be able to complete the whole ride.
Riding up to the start in Bierbeek the sentiment I got from my muscles was good. I needed to warm up exhaustively, and my overall average was around 18 kph. Not much but I managed to go the whole distance, and that is what counts. The ride, then, takes you first into the fields surrounding Bierbeek and Mollendaal , with some nice little singletrails and a bit of mud from time to time, but nothing drastic. In fact, the few puddles that remain are easily contoured. Some cobble sections as well but fortunately, these are only short passages and they were dry, which made it easy to tackle them. Looping back towards Meerdael Forest for the first time, the trail follows the inside edge of the forest and then heads back into the fields. A tricky downhill into a hollow road down from the Cayberg ,with a big puddle smack in the middle of the singletrack made me hope that it would stay dry next weekend. The trail now more or less descents to the south and into Beauvechain where a first rest stop will be situated some 21K into the ride. It then meanders on towards Tourinnes-La-Grosse. Care has to be taken when crossing the bigger roads. A nice little climb takes me out of Tourinnes and another singletrack awaits me to get me closer to Hamme Mille. A steep climb on tarmac takes me to the outskirts of the Meerdael Forest again but I need to be patient just a little more. After 30K at last a hollow road takes me into the forest - mud hole alert - and the next 24K will be spent in the shade of the majestic trees. The autumn colors the leaves in all shades of brown, yellow and red . Already a lot of leaves have fallen onto the trails, making them a lot trickier. You hardly notice the potholes, roots, branches and other dangers so you have to be very alert - always expecting something to try and pull you off of your bike. The trail follows the Meerdael BLOSO tracks for a while - it is nearly impossible to get permission for anything else from the Forestry - but they are fun and almost dry. Around the Chateau Chavenel it takes the Blue trail in reverse direction, which means a steaming fast downhill followed by a sandy passage along the ancient wall. Then the trail goes up towards the Herculessalon and again the next downhill takes the fast and furious in a few minutes towards the Kluis.

Another climb follows. I had to be careful because the BLOSO trails are always filled with bikers - this time coming downhill towards me . Close to Sint Joris Weert another tricky section awaits me; the downhill with steps. I was with the Litespeed - which means front suspension only - and I nearly lost it. The steps are eroded and some gullies and roots demand a lot of courage to let go of the brakes. But the bike did it, and the long climb afterwards was made easy because they opened up the trail a bit and cleaned out all the branches and trees . A nice twisty singletrack section before arriving where the 2nd rest stop will be. I now have 40K on my GPS counter. The remainder of the trail takes me into the Kouterbos with a passage along the Zoete Waters and then loops back over Pragen and the Lange Delle towards Blanden. Here we cross the N25 and disappear into the Godensalon for a nice little stretch through the Mollendaalbos. From Haasrode the remainder of the trail takes you down some tricky cobble road and then the last climb up to the finish. The numbers were 56.8K and 625 heightmeters for this lap. I can deduct 300 metres because at one point I was looking for a trail that wasn't there anymore and I had to retrace my steps. So lets make it 56.5K . Here is the profile of the ride . You will notice that the first 20k or so are reasonably flat, with some more height differences when you enter the Meerdael Forest.

The trip back home nearly got me involved in a crash when a fool with a BM double U ignored my right of way. Good thing I was too tired to get into an argument. Upon arriving home I felt tired but very satisfied because I had made this long ride. The glorious weather obviously made it a blast to be outdoors. The forest was full with walkers, runners , bikers and horses and they all enjoyed this sunny day to the fullest.

Ride Stats : 69K and 690/726 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h48mins

8404/83400

Today the sun was out, it was rather frisky in the morning so I decided to leave around noon for a spin around the Blue Meerdael BLOSO. This is the toughest of the three Meerdael BLOSO's so I was sure to get a good workout for my muscles and lower back tension. This proved to be correct since my back was protesting when I was on the steep climbs. I did not press the issue and stood up instead of remaining seated when the steepness of the climb demanded too much hip power. I had mounted my GPS with 2 zip ties but I'm putting the stem mount from my Merlin on for the remainder of the Fall and Winter.

The Merlin is in hibernation anyway and come next year I will purchase myself an extra stem mount for the Edge 705. The trails were moist to dry with only a little bit of mud in some sections. Lots of fallen leaves demanded my attention on the downhills. There have been some forestry works at the steep downhill towards Nethen which demanded extra attention since there were a lot of branches on the gully-ridden track.

Ride Stats : 22K and 245/263 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h15mins

8335/72810

Yesterday I had a good session at the kine. When he was finished I had trouble raising myself from the bench. My neck hurt like hell but my lower back felt good. After a while the pain in my neck disappeared but it seems to be connected to my back troubles. Everything is connected - isn't it.
So today, helped by the cold and wet outdoor, I decided to have a nice and quiet ride on the rollers. Good for another couple of chapters in the book I am reading and a good way to be active without being over-active.

Ride Stats: 21K in 1h

Wow, almost 23 degrees C when I got home around 4pm. No way I was going to miss this occasion to ride out. I had decided yesterday to try some offroad and I had equipped my Litespeed with big fat tyres. In front an old green Michelin tyre and a trusty Big Jim in the back. I had to get used to the straightforward action of the Michelin. Its high side knobs almost prevent you from taking a turn, and you feel as if the whole thing will collapse when you are actually making the turn. The high knobs make for excellent traction on sloping berms but demand a firm hand when taking turns. I won't start about how they behave on wet cobbles - it raises your hair. But I was warned and in all I had no troubles. I started out with a fast pedalling pace to warm up my legs and hips. To my surprise the ride turned out to be easier on my back than the tarmac ride I did last saturday. Of course the Green BLOSO is not exactly one of the most technical or hilly rides imaginable and the fat tyres and front suspension make for a comfortable ride. The titanium bike obviously also helps but my Hilset is also made of this material even though it is a bit less comfortable than the Litespeed frame-wise. The high temps made for a pleasant ride.

I made a little detour on the Green Loop to check out Ad Wouters' latest forest sculpture - called the Neanderthaler. The pics will show you why. Check out some more pics of Ads' work in this gallery with pictures made by one of the Foresters . Being out in the forest again felt great . Autumn in settling itself and the leaves are changing color and beginning to drop. The wetness of the morning dew never dries out anymore but the warm southern wind managed to make it pretty warm today. I had completed the loop and returned home very satisfied and with good hopes for the future.

Ride Stats : 27K and 185/197 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h16mins

8292/82465

19-10-2008, 18:21 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

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16-10-2008, 17:36 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

13-10-2008, 20:05 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf