A dry but cloudy day. I decided to stay home and do a ride nearby. I chose for the Meerdael BLOSO's and wanted to combine them with the Overijse BLOSO's. But during the first part of the ride, following the Green Meerdael Bloso, I found I had not sufficiently recuperated from last thursdays' ride. So When I reached St Joris Weert and made the connection to St Agatha Rode I decided to settle for only the Red Overijse Bloso. Now this also happens to be the more intense of the three, so I had a good workout nevertheless. The trails were dry and fast. Hard and sometimes wet but never muddy. The Moots took care of all the pitfalls the track had in store. I had let some air out of my tyres and they were behaving funny on tarmac but like a charm on the offroad trails. The grip is phenomenal, even scary at times. You only need to get used to riding as if with a flat tyre. Also, hard braking on hard surfaces compresses the tyre and this is something you need to take care with. Especially on tarmac and in a corners you don't want to brake too hard.

When I was back in St Agatha Rode I rode towards St Joris Weert again where I picked up on the remainder of the Meerdael BLOSO's. I took care to eat every hour and when I reached the Mollendaal lookout I also took a picture of the bike.

I didn't see much activity on the trails but perhaps this was due to the low temperature. I only had a 11 degree average temp during the ride. Although I like it that way. The wind had changed directions and was now blowing from the west. Dress up adequately and you will have no troubles in these temperatures. I wore a long sleeved shirt and a bodywarmer over 3 layers of underwear, the last layer with long sleeves. 3/4th length trousers kept my knees warm. I managed a good average despite feeling a bit tired.

Ride Stats : 76K and 745/870 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h6mins

3265,5/33345 

First ride for the Moots this year. The Litespeed is in for a much needed replacement of the bottom bracket bearings and an overhaul of its Fox RLT80 fork. The Moots saw his overhaul last year so this was the first ride since then. I had to look a bit for the pressure in the tyres and the front fork. I like to ride the Continental Mountain Kings pretty low in pressure but I need to get used to the feeling of riding with such flat tyres. Also the front fork needs to lose a bit of PSI. 
I decided to do the latest O2 Bikers roadbook which starts at the Zoete Waters in Oud-Heverlee and makes its way through Meerdael Forest and the plains on the south of the language border - hence its name "Taalgrens" - all the way to Dongelberg. Since it was rather late when I left and I didn't want to risk getting caught in Dongelberg with a rain shower on my head I decided to ride the first part of the trail - some 30K - until I reached Pietrebais. The first bit is quite pleasant with some nice tracks in Meerdael Forest and then disappearing into the fields of Nethen and Bossut. Some climbs here, some cobbles as well , and then the track moves towards Pietrebais. 

Here I decided to leave the trail and make my way towards La Bruyere where I could pick it back up on its return towards Meerdael Forest. I picked in just before the ferme de Wahenge. This is a bit special because it has some weird works of art in a nearby field. Even the satellite pictures on Google Earth have them on display.

From here the track meanders through the fields south of L'Ecluse and I had some trouble with a stiff northwesterly wind . The trail is rather boring here with nothing but dry field roads. I was glad when I neared Beauvechain and then entered Meerdael Forest again for some last trails in this beautiful forest. O2 Bikers have a problem though because they incorporated a trail into their roadbook that is forbidden for bikers. At least, when you enter the trail there is a marker with walkers on it so you could assume that bikers are not forbidden. However when you leave the trail on the other side there is a sign with a biker and a horse with a big red trait through it. That is very clear ; NO bikers and NO horses on this trail. In all honesty I do ride through this trail myself from time to time but I could imagine hte forestry not being pleased when a lot of bikers ride through. Still, that is not my problem but O2 Bikers'.
When I arrived back at the Zoete Waters I saw some very menacing clouds so I quickly rode back home. Not a drop fell but I did see some rain veils on the horizon so not areas have kept it dry today.

Ride Stats : 68K and 555/635 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h41mins

3189/32475

06-05-2010, 20:54 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf