Around noon the skies cleared out sufficiantly to risk a ride outside. The wind dried out the streets very quickly. Unfortunately the wind also would prove a formidable opponent, or welcome ally , when it either blew against me or in my back. At long last the Hilset is back, sporting a beautiful new crankset. As I have mentioned a couple of times already, the new crankset consists of a Shimano M960 crank, Hope Ceramics bottom bracket and Stronglight CT2 chainrings. Looks the part and is a worthy replacement to the Tune fastfoot which gave me too much little problems to feel comfortable with.
I had to re-adjust to the position on the bike but pretty soon my body was used again to the Hilsets' manner of riding. A bit dry and hard but also very direct and positive. I put on Nokian NBX Lite tyres in 2.2 section to provide me with the necessary grip and comfort on the long dark evenings in the autumn and winter. The semi slicks will have to wait until next spring. I also mounted my oldest wheelset, shiny silver 1994 Shimano XTR M910 hubs couple to early Mavic ceramic rims. They keep on going, even after 15 years in service. 

My original plan was to ride the Ludo Dierckxsens but I let that go almost immediately when I felt the strenght of the wind today. The LD would take my up into the plains and I would be spending a lot more energy than I would like to , just to keep upright and moving against the wind. 
So I did another tour, taking me first towards Bierbeek and Meldert and then - with the wind in my face - towards La Bruyere. Here I took a 90 degree turn towards Beauvechain, very happy to have the wind blowing from the side for a while. Even then, care had to be taken, especially between houses or behind patches of forest. The wind could catch on all of a sudden, so it was hands on the handlebar all the way. From Beauvechain I rode towards Hamme Mille and then over Nethen and Sint Joris Weert towards the Zoete Waters . From here I added another loop over Heverlee before arriving back in Blanden. Just a little loop more to make it an even 50.5K . Just after I arrived another shower made the streets wet again. I had been very fortunate to find a dry gap of almost 3 hours in which to ride out and stay dry.

Ride Stats : 50.5K and 380/430 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h25mins

8905/92375

At last a dry day or at least most of it. When I rode out at dusk it started to rain lightly. There was a strong wind blowing as well. I decided to do the Meerdael Bloso, or at least as much as I could ride without leaving the forest . The Green was wet with the new rain but when I reached the Zoete Waters again after a tough section against the wind in the Dyle valley near Korbeek Dyle, the wind had dried up most of the trails. Temps were around 10 degrees C so not too bad for this time of year. In Meerdael Forest most of the trails were pretty dry but of course on the flat sections the water could not escape and things were muddy. I took an alternative downhill towards Nethen, which turned out to be more dangerous than the one I wanted to avoid. The long uphill near the Savenel wall was mushy, sapping strength out of my legs. I decided to add a part of the Red Bloso after completing the Blue loop and things went well near Valduc where I had the strong wind in my back pushing me along the field road parallel to the forest . A muddy bit in the forest and then I cut the red loop short, avoiding Bierbeek and the long uphill which I knew would have me with the wind straight in my face.
I had to do a bit of adventuring in Mollendaalbos because there were a couple of big trees that had fallen over the path. Had to climb with my bike on the back, over the trees and through some thorny bushes. I guess I must have picked up a thorn there because after a while back on the bike I felt my rear tyre losing pressure. I stopped and decided to change my inner tyre.. checking a nearby tree I saw the number 6 over 2 other 6'es. Yeah, with a white half moon shining above my head and an owl making some eerie noise behind me, things felt a little spooky all of a sudden. I found a pointy bit in my outer tyre but couldn't get it out completely. So I broke the point off , inserted a new inner tyre and partly pumped up the tyre. From that point I took the shortest way home because I feared there might still be enough left of the thorn to penetrate my inner tyre again. Luckily I managed to get home with a badly twisting rear tyre. The last sections were very muddy to make things even more difficult. But I had a good distance nevertheless and felt tyred but satisfied having done at least one ride in this windy and wet week.

Ride Stats : 46K and 430/500 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h42mins

8855/91945

26-11-2009, 20:12 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf