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| Tales from the Woods |
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| 26-04-2009 |
 Meerdael Perimeter and Dikke Eik mysteries |
A
planned ride this morning had be be cancelled due to the forecast rain.
And indeed, the rain came, about one hour of it, stopping around noon.
In the afternoon I watched the Liege Bastogne Liege classic and after
that , looking out of the window again, things seemed to brighten up a
bit. So I decided to ride out and do a ride in Meerdael forest. I opted
for a perimeter ride, staying on trails and tracks as close as possible
to the edge of the forest. I also wanted to check out the Dikke Eik
situation again. I had some trouble believing that the tall tree
sticking out was really an aspen tree, so I decided to try and make my
way up to it and check for myself. So I rode into the fields, got a
bearing and entered the forest on a line leading me straight to
the tree. And what a tree it was, or rather, trees. Because there
were 2 big ones. One was the tall tree I had seen
standing from a distance and the other, its brother no doubt, was
standing 10 to 15 metres from it. This tree has been struck by
lightning years ago, and cut in half. The lower part was still standing
and looked alive as well, but its top section was lying sprawled at its
feet, overgrown with mosses .
At
the moment I'm having serious problems with my home PC. So if updates
are a big sketchy in the next couple of days, please bear with me. In
the worst case I will have to re-install Windows. Maybe I can get
another PC connected to the internet, but the problem with that PC is
that it doesn't have any USB connection... so no GPS or picture
updates.
Anyways, the ride was fine, the area around the Dikke Eik
was green, lush and dark , to the point of being mildly scary. I
rode on to complete the loop around Meerdael Forest before returning
home, just in time before the next rain set in.
Ride stats : 30.5K and 355 heightmeters in 1h40mins
3083/ 27290
26-04-2009, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 24-04-2009 |
| Again Meerdael |
Rain forecast for tomorrow so I had to make the best of today. I set out for another ride along the Meerdael BLOSO routes, this time in the right direction and with the Moots YBB. From the onset I noticed that my tire pressure was a bit too much but it took me until 30K into the ride to lower it a bit. The Magura Durin SL was at 60psi but I decided to lower it to 50psi for the next ride because it felt a bit harsh and did not use more than 6cm of it travel, which - with the big bumps I subjected it too, seemed a bit too little. I include some pictures, taken from the same angles as the ones of the Litespeed 2 days ago. The XTR rear derailleur on my Moots is the oldest I have in use. It's a medium cage low normal one from 1999, so its indeed 10 years old. And in case you were wondering its still going like a charm. So is the XTR crankset, which also dates from 1999 when I mounted it on my CAAD4. Its using its 3rd Bottom Bracket now but for the rest its still going strong. The fork obviously is a new one I purchased this year.The ride took me along the BLOSO routes but I made a detour to check out the Dikke Eik and try to locate the tall tree in its vicinity. I came close and I know now exactly where it stands on the GPS map. One of these days I will walk over and try to take some pictures. For now it eluded me but it offered me an extra - slow - loop in and around the edge of Meerdael forest. Nevertheless the legs felt good and I had a very good ride, except for the tyres which felt harsh but I fixxed that some 25K from the end. I immediately felt the difference, the comfort was a lot better and the bike felt less springy. I think the tyre pressure in the 2.2 Nobby Nic in front and the 2.2 Nokian NBX Lite in the rear must have been around 2 bars, which seems like not a lot in theory but in practice I feel best with tyre pressures around 2 bars. They offer good grip without becoming too vulnerable to snakebites. On smaller tyres I would be more hesitant to drop the pressure that low but on 2.2 inchers 2 bars is fine. I received a pair of Continental Mountain Kings today (the 2.2 Protec versions) which I will try out soon. I have heard a lot of good things about these tyres.Ride Stats : 57.5K and 545/559 heightmeters in 2h40mins3053/26935
24-04-2009, 21:13 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 22-04-2009 |
| Meerdael secrets |
Today
I wanted to ride in the forest and I chose to do the 3 Meerdael BLOSO
routes, but in the reverse direction. Starting out with the Red, then
the Blue and finish with the Green. I mounted bigger tyres on my
Litespeed this time - 2.2 inch Big Jims - and the comfort was a lot
better. I will switch to my summer bikes - the Moots and the
Merlin - soon except when the conditions are really muddy. The Fox fork
on the Litespeed was a good move. The fork is a lot stiffer than the
2001 SID SL and makes the Litespeed follow exactly the track it is sent
in. The lateral stiffness also pays when negotiating tight turns in
singletrails. After 5 or 6 years on this bike I am amazed that the
Goldtec chainrings are still going strong. I only use the 46 and 26
tooth items - the 36 tooth did not match well with the 12-34 cassette I
prefer to use - but still, after all these years, these rings have
served me well and have payed themselves back longtime already. The XTR
rear derailleur almost packed it in a few days ago when it met a
bicycle spoke that somehow managed to wring itself between its cage and
the rear wheel. Any lesser derailleur would have been destroyed but the
XTR just demanded a little re-adjusting and its good to go for another
9 years.
The
forest trails today were mostly dry though and hard and I made good
speed. I stopped earlier on to try some stuff with my camera, which
resulted in a couple of nearly-standing-still self portraits and some
failures as well. 10 seconds is not a lot in which to strike a pose.
When I passed on the fields in Hamme Mille I made another picture of
the tall tree standing out in the valley where the Dikke Eik stands. I
wasn't convinced that this was the Dikke Eik, since I noticed earlier
this year that this tree isn't really much higher than the rest of the
oaks around it. When I passed the forestry house and I noticed the
Forester and his family sitting outside - enjoying the early evening
sunshine - I decided to ask him about the tree. Turned out my
suspiscion was correct. The tall tree is in fact some kind of poplar
tree , that stands 5 to 10 metres higher than the surrounding oaks.
This tree is situated some 50 metres from the Dikke Eik. He also
mentioned the latin name of the tall tree - I think he called it populus tremula
but it might have been another populus alltogether - and told me the
Dikke Eik - which is an oak - is guessed to be between 300 and 350
years old and it got struck by lightning at least once in its long
life. Below is a picture I took of it today, you can see another
picture I took earlier this year HERE
Ride Stats : 53.5K and 495/501 heightmeters in 2h33mins2996/26390
22-04-2009, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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| 20-04-2009 |
| Elaboration on a roadbook |
When O2 Bikers, the Belgian mountain bike magazine published their roadbook starting in Grez Doiceau, I was eager to try it out. And I did on several occasions, the last time on January the 31st. I liked it from the start, only a couple of sections were really bad when it was wet. But I also understood that with only 36K in length and about 600 heightmeters, it begged me to more manly version of it, especially with my knowledge of the area around Grez-Doiceau and Chaumont Gistoux.
So when MissJuJu asked me to lead a ride in the area I started to work with Garmin Mapsource to elaborate on the basic O2 Bikers loop and add 'a couple' of climbs and other interesting sections. The plan was to ride this loop on Easter Monday but I was not fit on that day so it had to wait. Until today.
This would give me a good opportunity to check out the loop and see if it would stick. Well, it did, It proved to be pretty spicey and I was glad to see Grez Doiceau again at the end of 3h39mins of relentless tracks and trails. The trails were fine, except for a few areas which were a bit muddy, I especially remember two steep climbs where my skinny Nobby Nics 1.8s had all the trouble in the world to find traction. But they did and I made both climbs. One section is too steep to ride, and I am looking for an alternative but haven't found any consistent one up till now. In the end I had nearly 56K on the loop and a nice 910 heighmeters. If I feel naughty I might add another climb near the end to make it an even 1000 but we'll see how the conditions will be. I took a lot of pictures along the way to convey some of the beauty of the spring landscapes and the trails I was riding on today. Hope you enjoy them.
Ride Stats : 79K and 1090/1090 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 04h34mins2942/25895
20-04-2009, 18:52 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf
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