Another night close to freezing left the forest cold in the morning. Even when I rode out around 11am it was still only 5 degrees C. I was able to make a nice picture of the sunlight filtering though the autumn leaves. Soon I was out of the forest. The plan was to ride through the fields to the south-east and conenct with l'Ecluse and if possible Sart-Melin. Only obstacle was the Beauvechain airfield I had to leave on my right. The fields felt a lot warmer than the forest, because here the sun shone freely and there was no wind to speak of. Using the sun for direction and the Edge 705 to find the trails I could conenct the dots and arrived at l'Ecluse. Here and there I was able to include some singletrack and before long I was on my way towards Melin. I wanted to get home before 2pm because I wanted to watch the cyclocross World Cup race in Plzen. In Mélin I turned my bike towards the northwest and conencted back through the fields towards La Bruyere, Beauvechain and Tourinnes . I spotted the Saint Corneille chapel from afar, its white wall shining in the sun. Then I entered the Meerdael Forest again and made my way home in time for the World Cup.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work after 4 weeks of holiday. I had a good holiday, the weather was great in the first couple of weeks and then a bit of rain in the last 2 weeks but nothing really bad enough to keep me inside. I was able to ride my bike for more than a 1000K and 11000 heightmeters during that time.

Ride Stats : 40.5K and 365/400 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h9mins

8238/84335

18-10-2009, 16:41 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

17-10-2009, 15:09 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Freezing last night and still that cold northern wind blowing. I waited until 1pm to ride out for an easy recovery ride. I decided to do part of the Haasrode toer, which brings me to Haasrode, Bierbeek, Neervelp, Willebringen, Oirbeek, Hoksem and then back over L'Ecluse and La Bruyere. Here I decided to ride in over Beauvechain and Hamme Mille. A good ride with the Litespeed on road tyres. I have decided to treat the Hilset to a new crank. This will consist of a Shimano M960 XTR crank, Hope ceramic or Chris King bearings and Specialités TA C116 chainrings. So its bye bye to the Tune Fastfoot which has served me well but also presented a fait bit of annoying side-effects like loosening crank bolts and a shifting axle.

Ride Stats : 51K and 390/455 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h21mins

8144/83375

15-10-2009, 17:02 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

A bit frisky this morning so I waited until noon to ride out. The weather was sunny but rather cold. Riding up to Pietrebais I had the northeasterly wind more or less in my back. Which was fine because I needed the time to warm up a bit. The Pietrebais TT was held a couple of weeks ago but I couldn't attend so I was glad to be able to ride it following the gps track someone mailed me. Thanks for that !
I have ridden the Pietrebais TT before , but then it only was a 45K affair. Even then, the trail builder surprised me with a lot of nice trail combinations and a thorough knowledge of the area. So I was eager to ride this one, a full 54K and announced to be around 900 heightmeters.
As it turned out, it was even a bit more, and thats exactly how it felt in my legs as well. The start is relatively easy on the legs with a long steady uphill. Care has to be taken. Even though it hasn't rained for a couple of days the trails underneath the trees' green clover are wet and slippery. Once in the fields things dry out and before long I'm back riding downhill towards Pietrebais. Crossing the "rue du Fond de Village" and I'm on another uphill leading all the way to the outskirts of Roux-Miroir. The trail then turns back towards Pietrebais for a nice loop including some singletrails along the forests' edge and between two green fields in a valley. After that it points me towards Longueville. A first passage next to the Chapelle du Cheneau. Now follows a very nice and difficult loop taking me towards Chaumont-Gistoux. I know the area here very well from all my Accro Bike adventures and other trailbuilding duties. Good thing because that way I can easily predict where the GPS wants me to go. The Bois de Chaumont is a real maze to the unwary. The trail builder succeeded in making a very good and consistent loop here. With some steep descents and a hell of an uphill. The fact that a recent thunderstorm has washed out the trails didn't help either. But I'm glad to report I could ride it all. The heightmeters are added liberally in this area and the track slowly loops back to the west and towards Bonlez. A nice long climb and then a difficult descent into the Bois de Bonlez. The trail becomes a rivulet and remains so for 500 metres. Down past the rose fishery and then upwards into the Bois de l'Etoile. Again I zoom down deep into the valley and then turn right for a long climb that brings me from 60 metres all the way up to 145 metres and back to the Chapelle du Cheneau. From there its inevitable that the trail veers down again, this time towards Lower Heze and Grez-Doiceau.

Next comes the climb to the church of Biez, a tough cookie along a singletrail that becomes steeper and steeper. Then the track drops down again on some cobbles and another narrow singletrack brings me back up ; in Heze this time. From here the trail goes towards Cocrou in a long sandy downhill through a forest. In Cocrou I cross the busy N91 and another cobbly climb brings me upwards into the Bois de Linsmeau. A track alongside the forest edge, sometimes a bit muddy delivers me into the fields where the wind welcomes me straight in my face. I pass the landing lights of the Beauvechain military base and a couple of Marchetti SF260s  and an Alpha Jet amuse me by passing over my head and landing on the strip. No F16s today.
The trail now descents back towards Pietrebais, through a nice but slippery hollow road in a forest. But we are not there yet. Another climb awaits, out of Cocrou and ultimately into the fields south of Pietrebais. A great singletrack then drops me into Pietrebais where a last and steep climb - on tarmac this time - takes me north of Pietrebais again. Turning to the right and easing down on tarmac I am back before the Girls' School where my ride started a couple of hours ago. The numbers are 54,2K and 935 heightmeters. I uploaded the GPX track to EveryTrail. You can check it below.
From Pietrebais I ride back home, through Grez-Doiceau and I can't resist taking the difficult climb up to Gottechain. The trail next to the Gottechain church is completely washed away and I have to walk a couple of metres. Next down into Hamme Mille and into Meerdael Forest to complete this 5-hour ride.

Ride Stats : 84K and 1080/1155 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h56mins

Pietrebais TT 54K 2009 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Community

8093/82920

14-10-2009, 20:49 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Today I wanted to re-ride last saturdays' Nightride. That ride was a great sampling of what Meerdael Forest has to offer and obviously, I had the GPS track now. So I set out from the CC The Borre in Bierbeek and did just that. The trails were still moist but one advantage you have during the day is that you can oversee the complete trail and point your wheel in the dryest direction. My GPS surely had some troubles last saturday. I noticed this because the heightmeters were way off, but also at some points it placed me on another trail as the one I actually was riding on. I'm thinking perhaps in the evening there are less satellites on the horizon, making the error in position bigger than during the day. I cannot explain the missing heightmeters, on the rides' profile there it seems that during the last hour the height only varied by 10 to 15 metres. Today the recording went fine and I had the correct amount of heightmeters. I am bound by secrecy where it concerns the track but I can make your mouth water by showing the profile. I stopped along the way to take some pictures. The sun was out and even though there was a cold northern wind blowing I was protected by the forest. The average temperature was around 14 degrees C, just enough for an enjoyable ride.

This week is the Week of the Forest, and the trails around the Kluis were crowded but everyone was very friendly to the other , each enjoying the forest in his or her own way. I already mentioned it last time, but I am very impressed by Solo's ride. I recognize a lot of tracks out of my own Meerdael adventures but there are also some new connections he made that make his ride stand on its own. I'm told he also has an XXL version , close to 80K and 1200 heightmeters, which is quite impressive. Can't wait to ride that one and compare it with my own Secret Meerdael ride, which stands at 62K and 1100 heightmeters in its last form.

Ride Stats : 51K and 540/580 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h00

8010/81765

12-10-2009, 18:49 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf