Big Bad Log

It had been a while since I guided a tour for the Rode Lintjes, a group of mountainbikers which have their own forum and who are recognizable by a red ribbon attached to their helmet. I guided the first Rode Lintjes Tocht in Nandrin , quite a few years ago now , and then again another one in Theux some months later . Since then the Rode Lintjes have been biking all over Belgium, always having one of their members presenting a ride in their region or a region they know very well, and guiding that ride for the others to enjoy.
After long consideration I agreed on doing my Secret Meerdael Training Loop. I had some reservations about the use of GPS, after all , it is supposed to be a secret loop right ? But we came to an agreement, I would not mind having members with a GPS on the ride , as long as they agreed to keep the track for their own use and most certainly would NOT put it on the web. Most of the tracks I use are small singletrack, and having hordes of bikers coming over to ride those trails would most certainly kill them or have the Forestry decide to close them down for bikers.
I also stipulated to have a numerus clausus, 5 to 6 bikers at a time, again to save the tracks.
So this saturday morning at 10am , 5 brave bikers showed up at the little school of Blanden. The weather had not exactly been favorable to dry trails these last few days, and the forecast was for scattered showers during the day . But at least the temperature was very nice with 10 degrees C at the start .
I had mounted a front and rear fender because I was expecting some of the trails to be rather muddy. I was to be proven right. Mentally I had already scapped a few sections, which would shorten the 65K loop but the remainder would still prove to be more than enough for most of the participants. The singletracks ondulating through the forest, the mud and especially in the second part the constant succession of climbs and descents made this a very tough ride, especially this early in the season. But I had a good time, we had a few showers in the second half of the ride , but overall the conditions were very good. The tracks were a lot more slippery after the showers but by then we had cleared the most dangerous downhills. In a few weeks I will guide another group of Rode Lintjes over these trails , perhaps this time we can do the full version, that will depend on how the weather will be.

Ride Stats : 54.5K and 885 heightmeters in 4h00mins
Ride Profile : CLICK

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