Cleaned my Moots yesterday evening to make sure it was in tip top shape for today. I wanted to do a long ride incorporating the Overijse Bloso trails. I set out around 10am with a temperature of 0 degrees C on the Polar. It was not going to get a lot warmer but the sun was shining from time to time and I had dressed well for the occasion. I usually connect to the Overijse trails in Sint Agatha Rode and today was no exception. Coming down from the Radarweg I saw the trails laying in front of me. I decided to ride the trails in the reverse direction to keep things fresh and challenging.

Around Ottenburg I improvised to replace the steep steps uphill with another one. Coming up from Archennes I rode back down into the valley and followed the Bloso trail in the right direction up to Ottenburg. By now I had accomodated well to the fresh temperatures and the bike performed in its usual - flawless - way. Riding the trails in the reverse direction is something I can recommend to everyone. The Overijse trails are even more of a challenge because now there are a couple of really tough climbs. The climb up Reutenbeek or the one out of Overijse in the hollow road leading up to Bisdom for example. That last one was a real challenge and the wet leaves made it very difficult to find grip on the really steep parts. But I managed them all, to my satisfaction. The trail was moist and sometimes - mostly in the fields - it became also wet, with some slippery and splashy mud. The mud made it more challenging to try to keep the bike under control.

When I came near the end of the loop I added another climb into the Sint Agatha Rode Bos before heading towards the point where I started some 32K ago. When I rode back to Sint Joris Weert another biker came riding next to me. I noticed he was riding a Granville Hti titanium bike and we chatted a while before our roads separated when I turned towards Nethen and he was aiming for Weert.
In the Meerdael Forest now and I still felt I could continue for a while, trying to make this another 1000+ ride. The Meerdael trails were dryer and I had a lot of fun finding hills and riding them. I paused for a while to take a picture at the gate leading into the forest coming from the Savenel estate. Another biker was trying to climb a steep hill nearby and I decided to try it as well. It took some effort but I made it , even clearing the 40cm step at the end. Well done, me.

I now continued towards the Warande valley, crossing the Naamsesteenweg and up the hill towards the Kanselierdreef. When I arrived in Mollendaalbos I did last fridays' loop again in and out of the forest and saw the heightmeter marker hit the 1000. That was the signal to return home, but not before riding up to Blandens' highest point, the Wijngaardberg.

Ride Stats : 66K and 995/1125 (Polar/Garmin) in 4h19mins

8566/92010

Looked like it was going to snow this evening, and with temperatures hovering around 2 degrees C I rode out into Meerdael Forest. I figured I might as well get a ride in, staying close to home and do some mild climbing in the Mollendaalbos. I devised a little loop going up to the highest point in the forest, then dropping down to the "Brise-Tout" forestry, climbing up again before dropping down on the Oude Geldenaaksbaan. Following that until I came to the Red Bloso which I followed back up towards the Mollendaalbos. I did this 2 times and the second time it started to snow. Having close to 45 minutes of riding and feeling it was getting colder I decided to ride back home. When I got home the trails were wet with the snow melting and I was glad I wasn't any further away from home.

Ride Stats : 18K and 200/245 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 1h7mins

8499/90885

25-11-2010, 18:36 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

'I have a cunning plan', as BlackAdders slimy domestique Baldrick would say. I wanted to do a climbing training and I wanted to do it in Meerdael Forest. Its southern edge has a 40m drop where heightmeters can be scored. I wanted to go for a 1000 heightmeters. That would more or less mean 23 climbs of that drop. So I set out around 4 pm and started to make figure 8 loops starting from the Kluis, going up to the Hercules salon, down to the forest edge in Nethen and back up along the trail the Blue Meerdael Bloso takes downhill. Then back down to the Kluis and start again. After 5 of these 2-climb loops I had nearly 400 heightmeters and darkness had well and truly fallen. I judged the downhills to be particularly dangerous, due to leaves, wetness and tree roots, and decided to move towards the Tienne Vincent in Nethen.
This is another nice hill, on tarmac this time so a lot safer to ride at night. The Tienne is pretty steep, around 19 percent at one point so I started to make a figure 8 again, dropping down through the Rue Tienne Binard, with a little step at the top, arriving at the Bruyere du Wez and turning left for another steep climb towards the Chemin de La Trace. When I reached 500 heightmeters I began to think about stopping. But I rode on, riding climb after climb, checking the accumulated height meters on my Polar as they slowly approached the figure 1000.
Upon reaching 960 heightmeters I decided to call it a day. I had been riding for more than 3 hours since I left home and my legs , neck and shoulders began to feel the strain from the climbing and descending. I wore the Lupine Tesla on my helmet, which means my neck has to bear the weight of an extra 150 grams, and I have to look more upwards to guide the beam in front of me. This puts extra strain on the neck and the shoulders during  steep downhills. The moon came out when I was riding the last climb and it looked like it was smiling down on me. I was smiling myself because despite the temptation to stop I had put mind over muscle and didn't quit. The height profile tells the tale of this ride. You can make out the 2 parts of the session. The first 11 climbs are of the forest climbs, then a little flat section to ride towards the Tienne Vincent where I added another 15 climbs to reach a total of 26 uphills. In the end I netted an accumulated number of heightmeters of nearly 1000. The ride back home added some more. The temperature had dropped to 3 degrees when I arrived home and some fog was settling in the open spaces of the forest as I sped home after a very heavy training session.

Ride Stats : 44.5K and 980/1075 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h14mins

8482/90640

23-11-2010, 21:06 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf