16-08-2009, 18:57 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

The weather forecast for today was one out of a thousand. Unclouded skies, a little bit of cooling wind and temperatures rising to 28 degrees C and more. So I was out there. The plan for today was to ride to Maleves Sainte Marie Wastines, a little village somewhere in the area between Opprebais and Perwez, find the start of the organised ride that is taking place there tomorrow, and ride most of the 50K distance. Getting there was an adventure on its own. I started towards Bossut and Gottechain, because I knew that the ride was going to pass there. Sure enough I found the blue/white O2 Bikers-sponsored arrowing. But I had no idea where exactly on the loop I was. Was I near the start, or on the return loop? How many K to go, how much already done at that point? I had no clue, so I needed to get as close to the start as possible to do as much of the ride as possible. The ride crosses another organised ride, the Haasrode one, so people taking part in either og those two rides tomorrow will have to be vigilant to stay on the right track. I have no free time tomorrow morning , thats why I decided to do this ride today. Normally I help the Haasrode organisation but the 16th of August is the day my mother died, and there is a commemorative service each year on the sunday closest to that date. Unfortunately for the Haasrode guys, the service coincided with their ride. So no way I was going to be available tomorrow. I met up with a few of the guys when I reached Gottechain, they had to place arrows but had forgotten to load them - or something..
I rode on towards Longueville and then to Incourt. I had not yet seen any markings towards MSMW (Maleves Sainte Marie Wastines) so I decided to ask for directions. A very friendly man explained I had to ride towards Opprebais - look for the white mill - and then follow straight on and I would arrive in MSMW. And indeed I did.

MSMW is a very small town, with a nice little church and what looks to be an old abbey. I started circling around in the town centre to pick up on the markings or find the start of tomorrows' ride. I succeeded in neither and after a while I decided to ride back towards Opprebais and follow the first markings I came upon. Sure enough, I spotted the orange arrowing on the tarmac and a little further the first blue/white arrows . Yippee, I was on the track. The first part of the ride is pretty much confined to field tracks, leading towards the north. Arriving in Longueville and pushing further on towards Cocrou things get a little more hilly and also some forest passages are thrown in. Below Gottechain the track meets the Haasrode track and both run parallel to each other towards Grez Doiceau. In Grez I stopped at a local shop - it was open despite this being a holiday in Belgium - to refill my drinking bottle with some Coke Zero. Yeah I know, but it was cool and got me going again. The heavy part of the ride was when the trail lead me towards Bonlez and later towards Chaumont Gistoux. Here they take in a couple of nice climbs and also - unfortunately - a muddy passage leading towards the Chaumont Gistoux menhir standing in a field amidst the cows. This menhir - called 'Le Cheval de Goffe' - is said to be 5000 years old. I was starting to feel the pounding of the sun now and decided to call it a day after the track rode down into Chaumont again. I returned towards Longueville and Grez Doiceau. Stopped at the little store in Grez again for another Coke Zero refill - thanks to the lovely girl opening the shop today ! I then rode home over Bossut and Les Claines. Into Meerdael forest and its cooler shade. It was a long ride, a hot ride and I was pretty tired at the end of it. Not sure what tomorrow will bring but I already got one satisfying ride in this weekend.

Ride Stats : 94K and 970/1090 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 5h10mins

6173/59340

15-08-2009, 19:35 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

A beautiful sunny late afternoon and I rode my Hilset to Filip Sport. Needed some Power bars and new gloves for mountainbiking. I decided on some Pearl Izumi summer long finger with Pittards carbon fiber reinforced leather pads. Sounds tricky , lets hope they do their job. When I rode home I couldn't resist having a peep at the Tombeek sanatorium. It has been abandoned for 20 years  - some asbest thing - and has been decaying ever since. But the caretaker, who saw me taking pics and came over for a chat, told me that they would be renovating it soon. It certainly deserves to be alive again. Lets hope they get all the asbest out before they make condominiums out of it. I came home with a nice distance under my belt and set for more during the weekend.

Ride Stats : 56K and 370/458 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h28mins

6079/58250

Yesterday evening the rain stopped me from riding out. In retrospect it was only a little drizzle but I decided I could use another days' rest anyways. This evening the rain subsided around 4pm and half an hour later I rode out with the Hilset to do a little recovery ride on the road. Setting out over Bierbeek towards Neervelp, turning right towards Opvelp and the up to Beauvechain. Here I turned right again in the direction of Tourinnes-la-Grosse and Hamme Mille. Crossing the N25 and moving onwards towards Nethen and Sint Joris Weert before finally making a last turn to the right at the Zoete Waters. When I got home I felt a little sting on my right arm and saw a little bee that had been trapped between my arm and my body. I quickly applied some heat and disinfected the little wound. I hope it doesn't get too bad, the first couple of hours will be critical to see if the heat will have helped to neutralize the poison. The little bee didn't survive I'm sorry to say. I would have wished it to be otherwise, it couldn't help but reacting to being cornered and did this in the only fashion it knows, by stinging me.

Ride Stats : 35k and 215/249 heightmeters in 1h32mins

6022/57880

13-08-2009, 18:49 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Today I wanted to do the Overijse BLOSO routes again. I also decided to do them as they were, without any diversions to the left and the right. I rode over Sint Agatha Rode - where I spotted a lovely young donkey - and then got on the routes for a quick ride. I could maintain a good speed even though it was rather warm and I wore long trousers. But the sun wasn't always out and there was a cooling breeze. Just enough to make things bearable. The routes were dry and hard but the Moots coped with them very well. I could really let the bike go in the descents and had no trouble finding a good rhythm in the many uphills. When I returned I tried out a new singletrack I had spotted in Sint Agatha Rode. I then stopped at the donkey family again to take some pictures of the youngster. Even though he was scared at first after a while I could get close enough to touch him. Soft and very cuddly. Mam was always around though watching over the youngster and keeping an eye on me as well.

Ride Stats : 53.5K and 620/719 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h44mins

5988/57665

10-08-2009, 20:12 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf