I was up at 8.30am and after checking the weather maps it looked like there was a 3 to 4 hour gap of dry weather. Yes. So I rode out with the Vortex, hoping that the weather forecast would be correct. It was correct about the wind, I noticed that immediately. The blow from the southwest was very hard and I had to struggle on the higher plateaus with the wind in my face.
But the good thing of doing a lap is that at one point the wind is working in your favor. I followed the Blue Bloso from Heverlee but added a couple of extra loops to spice things up and get a longer distance. The descent of the Smeysberg was again a 75kph+ affair. I rode it back up from Huldenberg centre which is the less steep version. I then followed the track to Neerijse and from there I followed the Red Bloso until I decided to descent into Leefdaal and climb back out again in the direction of the Sint JansBerg steenweg. I followed that into Egenhoven and then rode towards Arenberg Campus where I stopped for a couple of pictures.

17-07-2011, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

www.yr.no had me believe that the rain would only appear from 2pm so I rode out for a recovery ride that was to take me along the Red road BLOSO. My faith in yr.no was a little shaken when I felt droplets fall whilst riding towards the Zoete Waters and Sint Joris Weert but the rain didn't stay and when I reached Sint Agatha Rode the skies were dry again. Some sun was appearing from behind the clouds and it looked like it wouldn't rain any more. Upon reaching Ottenburg I again felt some rain drops but on this occasion too, the rain subsided.
It was quite warm with around 20 degrees C and the wind was blowing notice-ably from westerly directions. I avoided the Moskesstraat because that really is too steep to ride with my 36/25 gearing. The cobbles don't help either. The Smeysberg was a blast to ride down, and my speed went up to 77kph. Double right and I was crawling back up the same mountain with a speed that wasn't much faster than 6kph. On the flats and downhills I tried to save energy as much as possible and the climbs were taken - if possible - on high rpm's. My idea of a recovery ride. When I neared Leuven the wind was starting to blow faster and the skies were also getting darker so I was glad I was very near to the end of todays' ride. I feel I had a good ride, taking advantage of a dry spell and maximizing my result with a minimum on effort.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 56K and 495/500 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h09mins

6131/57645

16-07-2011, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Yesterday and today saw a lot of rain. No dry spells, not even an hour, to try and ride out. So I waited until today, supercompensating from monday and tuesdays' rides. I wanted to get a long one in because the forecast for the weekend isn't too bright either.
So I set out over Bierbeek and Opvelp to connect to the road to Eghezee . Here I felt a light wind from the side whilst riding along at a good pace towards Eghezee. Liz Hatch pointed me to an interesting website which enables you to track your rides in real-time from your Android phone. It even connects to your Polar to incorporate the heartrate data. I did not enable this feature yet, because I wanted to check out how it worked first on the GPS data acquired through my Galaxy SII. As you can see in the link beneath this write-up, it does its work very well. The resulting track is even finer than that with the Garmin 705 GPS.
In Namur I wanted to find a way to the Citadelle. So I followed a track I found on the www. It got me through a tunnel at the end of the Ravel 2 and then I followed a road that brought me to the river Sambre. Here I decided to turn back, not very comfortable in this big city and most of all afraid I would not find my way back again. Yeah, like I could get lost with 2 GPS devices !! Anyway, the road along the Sambre to the point where it flows into the river Meuse seems straightforward. I will check it out on another occasion. Now I turned around and found my way back to the Ravel 2. Back to Eghezee and from Eghezee following the N91 back to Pietrebais. Now the wind was more in my face and I had to dig deep until I could turn to the right towards the 1St Wing Airbase. Forward to La Bruyere and Meldert and then back home over Bierbeek and Haasrode. Very good workout and a good experience with the Endomondo application. When I got home it uploaded the track to the www so I could check it on my PC and share it .

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 115K and 640/680 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h14mins30secs

6075/57145

15-07-2011, 00:00 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Weather was still sunny this morning so I rode out for what should be an easier ride than yesterday. However, I chose to follow an old track once used by the Ludo Dierckxsens Classic. This brings me from Bierbeek over Beauvechain, La Bruyere, Happeau, Sart-Risbart and Chaumont Gistoux to Dion Valmont. From here the track turns towards Archennes and Florival. In Florival I decided to add another loop over Ottenburg, Terlanen and then climb towards the Fields of Terlanen to reach Overijse. From Overijse I ride to Huldenberg and take the easy version of the Smeysberg out of it. Dropping down into Sint Agatha Rode and then ride to Sint Joris Weert and the Zoete Waters.

The weather was changing, clouds started to fill the sky and there is a forecast for thunderstorms later this afternoon. When I rode out the sun was still out but by the time I arrived home it was partly obscured by high misty clouds. The sky was turning grey. Temperatures were still high though and there was a slight breeze blowing from variable directions. My average heartrate was nicely in the recovery zone - below 114bpm - so even the many little hills did not bother me today.

Ride Stats : 80K and 650/660 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h01mins

5960/56465

12-07-2011, 14:42 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf

Had a good resting day yesterday. Was abhorred to see the carnage in the Tour de France. Belgians' podium hope Jurgen VDB out with broken ribs and shoulder blade, his aide Frederik Willems broke his collarbone in the same crash and old warrior Vino was taken to hospital with what looked like a broken pelvis and/or broken femur. Also Dave Zabriskie was hurt in the same downhill crash with a broken wrist.
A little later we witnessed an attack on two riders by a car from France 2. Flecha was hit by the car and smacked on the tarmac, but Johnny Hoogerland was worse off. He was thrown - bike and all - into a barbed wire fence. Severely cut and shamed he crawled back up and was able to arrive at the finish. What a Tour.
Today the rider had a resting day - much needed by most of them - so I could ride out for a nice long ride. I set forth towards Bierbeek, Opvelp and La Bruyere to arrive at the N91 . I followed this big road to Eghezee, a nice straight stretch of good tarmac. The road nicely undulates so in good form it is possible to stay on the big ring and have a good workout. With 38K under my belt I arrived in Eghezee. Here I turned onto the Ravel 2 and followed that until it ended in Saint Servais, near Namur.

One of these days I should try to find out how to connect to the southern part of the Ravel 2 , but this involves riding through Namur and I am not really looking forward to that. So for now I ate a snack and turned my Vortex around. A long 7K climb out of Namur brought me back to Cognelee. From now on it was downhill until I reached Eghezee again. Here I set forth on the N91 again for the long ride back to Hamme Mille. From Hamme Mille I looped back to Blanden over Nethen, Sint Joris Weert, the Zoete Waters and Vaalbeek. I had a great workout and even though the sun was out most of the time it wasn't too hot. There was a slight breeze which was nice without being bothersome. I attach the GPS map for those who want to try out this ride. The N91 is a very nice road to follow. Broad enough so the traffic doesn't really bother the cyclists. And the tarmac runs nicely under the wheels.



Ride Stats : 110.5K and 635/635 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h52mins

5880/55805

11-07-2011, 16:06 geschreven door Big Bad Wolf