Big Bad Log

This morning saw a new batch of Rode Lintjes showing up for this second installment of RL26 which consisted of my Secret Meerdael training loop, starting in Blanden and trying to show an unexpected side of the Meerdaelwoud in all its splendor. We were 8 when we left and due to the heavy rainfall of the last few weeks, I expected a lot of mud. I was not far off, in fact I was spot on . I left my mudfenders at home this time because I had mounted a smaller section tyre.
The weather was just gorgeous, nice sunshine, almost no wind and around 13 degrees C at noon made this ideal circumstances for a good tough ride. So lets go !
The first part of the ride was a lot wetter. Due to the saturation of the grounds the water was still standing in large quantities on the trails. The floor here is clay-like, which saturates faster . The little singletrails demanded a lot of power to get through them, leaving us slipping and sliding when the top soil moved. Again I left out one hollow road uphill and downhill because they are real mud-traps. Today I had mounted my Schwalbe Black Shark Mud tyres , 1.5 inches wide, which cut through the mud like a hot knife through butter, finding grip where other tyres have long thrown in the towel. These tyres got me through the worst of the mud sections today and are really a joy, especially in off-camber situations - where most other tyres lose their grip - these just bite and let you continue. They demand a LOT of rider attention on harder tracks though, due to the stiff knobs which tend to tilt and let the tyre skip in turns , and they also need 3 bars in them to prevent snakebites which doesn't do much for comfort. Still, after an initial getting-used-to-them and a flat which I believe was caused by a snakebite , I got along fine.
I noticed some people using GPS but I am quite sure that they will keep to the set rules; GPS was OK but on the condition the recorded track is for THEIR personal use.
As I explained before, and as the attendees certainly noticed throughout the ride, a lot of the tracks used on this "Secret Trails" ride are small and thats how they should remain. This keeps both me and the Forestry happy.
Once we crossed over the Naamsesteenweg into the 'hilly' section, the floor looked dryer - except for a really bad mudhole in a crevasse and the occasional puddle - and the difficulty now shifted from mud to the steepness of the climbs and the descents. The small-section tyres' footprint don't give you a lot of brake-power and I managed to hit the bushes again on one particularly steep downhill. When the tyres did bite when braking I nearly went OTB but luckily I had the reaction to ease on the front brake and then managed to steer clear of harms way. The bushes stopped me but without any harm to me or my bike. What a joy diskbrakes are compared to V-brakes - pity I cannot mount them on all my bikes. The Litespeed I was using today doesn't have them .
The group was very homogenous and I stopped often to allow everyone to catch their breath, eat and drink a bit from time to time. I added a little extra loop along a new footpath in Sint Joris Weert and also included another section which yielded us a bit more distance and one climb more than a few weeks back. I was feeling tired when we arrived and I'm sure most of the others were too. But I had a feeling of fullfilment on completing this tough ride.

Ride Stats : 56K and 925 heightmeters in 4h08
Ride Profile : CLICK
Ride Pictures : CLICK (thanks to Polarbear for the pics ! )

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12-03-2007, 14:47 geschreven door bbw

12-03-2007, 12:48 geschreven door Kate