Beautiful day, sunny and dry, so I decided to do a longer ride. Taking the Litespeed I set forth towards the Sonian Forest. Riding through Meerdael Forest and over the Smeysberg ridge, making my way towards Duisburg and entering the Sonian Forest at the Kapucijnenkelder. The trails were perfect and I made my way towards Jezus Eik. Here I did a loop some Swedish girl invented a lot of moons ago. Taking me towards the Rouge Cloitre were I paused for a snack, face basking in the sun. The ponds were willed with geese, duck and swans.

Some of those birds looked pretty exotic. When I finished eating my powerbar I moved on, taking the remainder of the hilly loop back towards Jezus Eik.

From here I made my way back towards the edge of the forest and Duisburg. Upon riding through Eizer I spotted a small track I decided to follow, very narrow and steep and leading me towards the plains above Huldenberg. Dropping down into the Ijse valley and then climbing back over the Smeysberg I arrived back in Sint Joris Weert. Only a couple of kilometers to go, my legs began to feel heavy and I had trouble keeping my heartrate at bay. But I opted for a little loop into Meerdael Forest, taking me towards the Kluis and the back along the Paddenpoel, following the Denteneer Path towards the Weertse Dreef. Crossing that I completed the last couple of K's taking me back home with a nice long ride that took me a little further from home, thereby extending my range of operations. Still a long way to go, but I feel that this week I have taking some small steps back towards being in the shape I had last year.

Ride Stats : 57K and 625/690 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h9mins

405/3985

12-03-2011, 14:58 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Windy and cloudy when I rode out this evening. It looked like it wanted to rain but luckily I did only feel a couple of stray raindrops throughout the ride. I wanted to do the Blue and Red BLOSO routes , adding a couple of extra loops because I wanted to check out some sections around the Kluis . I felt rather good but near the end of the ride I began to tire considerably. Not without reason because I did more than 40K and did not avoid the hilly sections.
To my amazement I noticed the Warande Pond seemed to be in the process of being drained. Somebody must have pulled the plug. I'm curious how this will develop

The wind luckily did not bother me much in the forest and in the field of Valduc it was blowing nicely in my back. My average heartrate was a couple of beats lower than last wednesday and it looked like my heartrate dropped a little faster during downhills or easy section. Still, 137bpm average is still too much. This should go down during the next couple of weeks. Also my resting heartrate is not back to its usual 45, instead hovering just above 50bpm. But the slimy remainders of my cold seemed to be slowly draining from my nose and lungs. So I'm living in hope. Taking the time to rest is now also very important.
The forest trails were great - just a little moist at places but mostly dry and fast. Bike performed flawlessly, I sometimes can hardly believe this frame dates from 1998. But that is the power of titanium for you. Timeless.

Ride Stats : 42K and 470/520 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h28mins

348/3295

10-03-2011, 20:36 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Today the temperatures were picking up and it was 11 degrees C when I rode out with the Litespeed to do an offroad ride. It has been a while again since I last saw a bike, this time the culprit was a cold that had me in shivers for more than a week.
I decided to try the base loop of the Haasrode MTB organised ride. They have changed the loop considerably and promised me 'some trails you might never have ridden before'. Yeah right, as if.
But they were right, there were 2 trails that were completely new for me. One in Gottechain where they changed the loop to go downtown and then go back up through a very narrow track straight up the slope. From the moment I saw the climb I knew I was not going to make it. My body is still recuperating and my heartrate was already much higher than I want it to be. So I declined myself to walk instead of ride it. But I will have my revenge soon.

I was being watched by a herd of what looked to be mouflon sheep. They were curious but they did not want to come too close. Took a picture before I attacked the hill. As said, on foot.

The loop then incorporates another new section, very tricky and with deep ruts which were just ride-able. There was not much mud but I can imagine a lot of walking here when it has rained. Back towards Gottechain and then crossing to Bossut. Here another newly-found track moved me between houses and gardens. The track then leads towards Nethen and into Meerdael forest .
Closing the loop I had nearly 40K which was more than enough for a first outing. I was not surprised to see almost 500 heightmeters on my Garmin. I think I will do this track again and I can recommend the Haasrode organised ride, it should take place around August the 15th.
With an average heartrate of 141 I still have some way to go back to becoming fit. But I hope a first step has been taking. I will have to wait how my body reacts to the stress put upon it. Tomorrow I have another appointment with the kine for my shoulder. It behaved quite well today but towards the end of the ride it began to bother me. So all is not well in that department. Stretching needs to be done and the stretches are long and deep.

Ride Stats : 39K and 450/490 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h24mins

306/2775

08-03-2011, 20:31 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf