Today I wanted to do a fun ride with my Litespeed Obed and I had an idea in mind that would bring me towards the Margijsbos for some exploring and climbing. I rode out just past 10AM and the temperature was around 2 degrees C. The sun was out though so I expected it to warm up a bit during the riding. Starting out in the Kouterbos and making my way to Sint Joris Weert where I crossed the Dyle valley to reach the slopes of the ridge between the valleys of the river Dyle and the river Ijse. I could feel my legs were still recovering from yesterdays' ride so I took it easy on the climbs. Upon reaching the top of the ridge I set about doing every possible climb and descent I could reasonably find in the Margijsbos. The small tracks were wet with dew and treacherous during the downhills. They also did not offer much traction on the ascents so I had to take care to find the perfect track. Big fun of course since I love to climb and explore new tracks. Often I had to turn back because a track that looked promising at first ended in the private property or appeared to have been overgrown. But I did find some new trails that connected me to the next uphill or downhill. I also came accross one trail that had been closed before - and the "private property" markings were still there - but where the community had hung a notice saying that walkers and bikers had a right of passage here. In case of complaints or trouble they even mentioned calling the police.

A good development, there have been a lot of bridleways that have been unlawfully privatized in the past, and the community is now reinstating them as valuable passage-ways. Upon reaching the outer edge of Huldenberg, and the edge of the Margijsbos, I decided to ride back towards Sint-Joris-Weert and add another couple of climbs into Meerdael Forest. It turned out that I still had a lot left in my legs because I added quite a bit of heightmeters in my home forest to the already impressive amount I made in the Margijsbos. The sun was out in full november splendour now and the forest was shining bright and colorful. I stopped to take a picture before tackling the long climb along the Savenel estate wall.

In the end I had a great ride, with lots of fun trails and with an moderate pace and average heartrate that was only 115 bpm. So an easy ride despite all the climbing. The average temperature was a mere 6 degrees Celcius but that was more than enough with the right amount of clothing. During this week I passed the 12000K mark for this year, which makes me very happy because that is usually the amount of kilometers I set out as a goal for a years' riding. Having passed the 100000 heightmeter mark a while ago I have reached both of my cycling goals already for this year.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 42K and 635/705 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h41mins

12070/105505