Beautiful sunny day so I set out for a cool ride along the extra loop the Meerdael Classic 100K does over its 60K distance. I have done this before and I know it nets around 700 heightmeters in 40K, not something to be laughed at. Furthermore it incorporates a couple of difficult climbs, really steep ones and technical bits.
I started as usual with the railroad singletrack in Pecrot, followed by a climb/descent of the Malaise plateau. The start of the singletrack is interrrupted by some workings below at the railway track, but once passed those its as usual big fun, trying to ride it in one go. The uphill and downhill that follows is very sandy but I manage to get it done without stopping. When I arrive at the Pecrot station I start the Garmin on the Meerdael Classic track. I have posted the track already so I refer you to look for Meerdael Classic in my blog.

On the trails I come accross a lot of bikers who are riding the offroad trail offered by the Gordel. Sometimes they ride in the same direction than me, sometimes they are coming from the opposite direction. The collection of heightmeters and singletracks takes me to Ottenburg, Sint Agatha Rode, Huldenberg and then towards the Margijsbos along the Yse. I have to be patient because the small track along the Yse is very busy with Gordelaars. When I see a small singletrack going upwards on my right I don't hesitate and take it. It is the first of 4 climbs that take me up the Margijsbos/Smeysberg hill. When I am zooming down at high speed towards the Wolfshaegen disaster strikes. A flat tyre. I take out one of my spares and change the inner tyre. I continue along my way with a last climb up the Smeysberg ridge along the Kleine Keistraat. On the tarmac that follows on the crest I notice my rear tyre is a bit flat. I continue down along the Koestraat and then ride towards Sint Agatha Rode and after a passage following the river Dyle through a nature reserve and crossing the 2 Marbaises I arrive in Pecrot. Before tackling the Beaumont hill I decide to stop and add a bit of air to my rear tyre. Another disaster. Whilst I'm pumping I hear a hissing sound and my rear tyre flats. Bummer. I take out my second spare but when trying to inflate that I quickly notice that it won't hold air. It seems to be losing air at an old patch. So there I am with 3 inner tyres and not one of them that wants to hold air. I try looking for the hole in the second tyre but I can't find it. I put it in again but I just can't keep the pressure in. So I am faced with a log walk home.
After 8 km and 1h15 of walking I arrive home. Pity the ride had to end like this. Lessons learned : never keep a tyre that is already patched.

Ride Stats : 55.5K and 855/980 heightmeters in 4h8mins (1h15 walking included)

6812/72490

Time to get Mr.Merlin out and do some serious biking in the Ardennes. Or, in this case, the gates to the Ardennes, Ben-Ahin which is a suburb of Huy, near the river Meuse. The O2 Bikers roadbook of Ben-Ahin is already an old one, dating from their number 70 issue from June 2001. It is however, a roadbook that received a lot of credit as being tough, both uphill and especially downhill, with the drop from the Tour Joseph back to the town of Huy as being the epitome of downhill tracks in the region. So today, at last, I rode my MPS towards Huy and parked at the parking lot opposite the Hotel du Fort.

The mist that hung over the country was slowly getting dissipated by the sun so things looked good weather-wise. The roadbook promised nearly 900 heightmeters over close to 34K. More was not needed to draw me out and give it a try.
From the start a section of tarmac brings me along the borders of the river Meuse towards the roundabout where a tarmac climb starts. I pass the Chateau of Ben-Ahin - I think thats what the sign said - and then I am riding offroad and getting used to my first couple of kilometers on the Merlin again. The route climbs gently out of the valley and on top of a long climb I am presented with a magnificent view of the river deep below, with some shrouds of mist still hanging over the faraway hills. The trail drops down again and some sharp rocks remind me that I am in the Ardennes and care has to be taken. Below I follow a river upstream until where a multitude of tracks come together on my Garmin screen. I know this is the spot where the trail comes 2 times but I am not sure which direction I should take first. I fumble with the screen and see there is a loop lying ahead of me. I decide to go for that and it takes me onto small singletracks vlimbing more or less all the time. Sometimes a fallen tree blocks the track and getting over it isn't always easy. At one point I make a wrong turn but I can see on my GPS that I will connect to the track again a little bit further. I arrive at Solieres and after some tarmac I drop down on a rooty singletrack into the forest again. Getting my feet wet riding through a little river and then a long steep climb though a hollow road. Steep but just manageable. After a while a tricky downhill brings me into Ben-Ahin where I am taken on a second loop.

This loop starts with a very beautiful but very steep and dangerous downhill. Think in the region of 25% grade, even more. Near the end I am literally sitting on my rear tyre to keep the weight back while I control the speed of the bike. Luckily there are some ground patches between the rocks where I can apply the brakes without risking a washout. I arrive on a tarmac road I follow briefly before entering the forest again. Another climb takes me to a next patch of tarmac and another trails brings me ultimately into Boussale. From there I move towards Andenne, where - at the Col de la Flismes - the track at last veers to the right and brings me back to the river Meuse. Some very nice trails here in the forests.
I follow the river Meuse for a while and if I might give a tip to anyone wanting to ride this track, take advantage of this flat section to recuperate because the climb that will follow is a very nasty one. You follow the Meuse valley until you reach Ben, and there starts a climb that will have you dig deep into your strenght and technical prowess. In fact , you are following what looks to be a little dried-out river and it takes you up along the outskirts of a rocky outcrop. Later when I download the track to my PC I moticed peaks of 24% in this climb.  It takes a while before it gets less steep and then brings me back into Ben-Ahin, where I have started this second loop a while ago. Seems like I did the first loop in the reverse direction so I decided to do it again, in the right direction this time. So back to Solieres and back down along the track with the many fallen trees. Back at the junction I am taken to another very steep climb.

There is a sign with 'Pietons Seulement'  - pedestrians only - and I'm betting that most will be indeed going on foor here. The climb is steep, and the trails is riddled with rocks making it very difficult to find traction and keeping the wheels spinning.  At the top I follow a narrow track taking me through a field with two basculating gates. The trail then turns back into the forest for another drop down the slope. At the end I nearly have to make a 180 turn that brings me on a small singletrail following a river. The trail ascents and after a while it again becomes too steep to ride. So I walk another 100 meters before the slope lessens. The peak grade on this slope shows 38%. No mere mortal can ride that I'm sure. I arrive in Saint Leonard and have to climb some more on tarmac roads before reaching the Tour Joseph.
All that is left now is a 150 meter drop along some switchbacks down towards Huy. This is one difficult downhill. At first there are so many trails and tracks crisscrossing it is very difficult to choose the right one. They are steep and with hairpin turns. At times I just stop the bike and make the turn on foot. After a while some trees block the road. I climb over them and continue. I can see the town 50m below me when all of a sudden the track is blocked to the right. There is a small track leading left and it looks like my only option. At times I am very close to a big abyss to my right , I realize that there is no room for error here. Mind you, the trail is dry, I would not want to do this when the trail is wet. A steep drop brings me to the mouth of a railroad tunnel. I'm nearly there.

Crossing the tunnel and I arrive at a bridge from where I see my car down below on the parking lot. Some steps take me down to the road and I am very happy to have survived this difficult ascent at the end of a very physical ride.

When I look at the numbers on my Polar and Garmin screen I realize that the 900 heightmeters announced were a bit optimistic. certainly so if you take into account I did one 4K loop 2 times,adding perhaps 70 heightmeters to the normal number. Afterwards on the PC the Garmin software gives me 870 heightmeters. And I can live with that. Especially since most of them were very hard-fought, steep height differences.  I realized today that I need some more Ardennes rides to get into better form. I have the endurance but it has been a while since I had to tackle long steeps climbs and descents. 

Ride Stats : 38,5K and 815/870 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h00mins
Hill Factor : 22.5
O2 Bikers Roadbook Ben-Ahin at EveryTrail

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6756/71510

03-09-2010, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

After a couple of really cold, wet and windy days the weather seems to take a turn for the better. Even though the temperature was only 16 degrees on average during my late afternoon ride, and it was really dark with clouds, it stayed dry . This enabled me to do an easy ride for a couple of hours. Roughly making an elliptical loop along Heverlee , Egenhoven and Bertem, I came along the Sint Verone Chapel. It is undergoing some cleaning but I still managed to get a picture, albeit it a bit sombre due to the weather conditions.

From Bertem I made my way back up the plateau and then set towards Leefdaal and the outskirts of Neerijse. Huldenberg and then Overijse were next. In Overijse I climbed towards Maleizen and then turned left towards Wavre . From Wavre I set towards Ottenburg and then down to Sint Agatha Rode and Sint Joris Weert. I closed the loop over the Zoete Waters and Vaalbeek. Nice little ride netting me nearly 60K and 2h30 of riding.

Ride Stats : 59K and 400/480 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h29mins

6718/70640