Big Bad Log

Today I rode to Banneux to ride the Red Adeps route of Theux. I always start in Banneux because that way the most difficult parts of the ride are at the start - the Forges de Thiry descent and the climb out of Theux towards Sassore. My plan was to also include a trip into the valley of the Ambleve - Ninglinspo, Chaudiere and Vieux Chera - and do some extra heightmeters there.
I arrived in Banneux around 10.30am. I had to look a bit to find the parking spot I prefer - it is more than a year ago since I last was here and things fade easily. When I left the parking lot I came on the N62 and from there I could easily get on the Red trail. I didn't feel very fit in the beginning of the ride and the Merlin took some getting used to. I suspect I put a little bit too much air in the tyres. The descent into the Forges de Thiry was as I remembered it. Steep with some nice switchbacks and sadly still blocked at a couple of places by fallen trees. I mean, its more than a year ! Can't someone do something about this? Getting around them meant sliding down the steep slope - man and bike. But I arrived safely at the Hoegne borders and before long I was climbing up to the Maison-Bois. I had been here recently on the Verviers marathon WC track recon and it was a lot dryer now. Which suited me fine. The sun was out and it was hot, with a warm wind blowing from the south and thunderstorms forecast later in the day. I was secretly hoping for cloud cover because I forgot to bring some sun cream. The Theux trails are very typical, lots of loose stones, embedded rocks and a lot of thorn bushes next to the trails when they go though the fields. I would have to walk with my bike in my hand on a few occasions because they had been pruning the thorn bushes and left all the fallen branches on the trail. I have NoTubes but still that doesn't mean that I can ride though anything. I found the trail to be better arrowed at some places, but still lacking at others. You still need a map because at some crucial points arrows are missing. The trail going out of Au Fays up to Laboru was wet with big puddles filled with yellow water - I suspect they never dry up - and the track following the E42 demanded a lot of concentration because of deep gullies. In all the times I've ridden the Red this was the first time I came here. I always seemed to have missed this section. But now the arrowing is fine here. A bit later I was dropping down the Tier de Polleur into this nice little town with its twisted church. I had a little bit to eat here before attacking the climbs into the Bois de Staneu.

In this forest I was also treated to a section I've never done before. After the split with the Blue route my map shows the trail dropping towards the road from Theux to Polleur. But just before reaching this busy road I noticed an arrow pointing back up the hill. Yeah, another climb and a steep one - a VERY steep one. The trail then stays on the plateau for a while before dropping down again, and going up again. This time over a track with lots of loose rubble and also over pure bedrock. I was so glad it was reasonably dry and I had a full suspension bike. I made the steep climb and the following downhill was a real bonecrusher. Wow. A nice extra section. Riding though Devant Staneu as usual and then I was preparing for the long climb towards La Reid. Dropping down on tarmac towards Sur Le Thier a funny thing happened. Braking hard on the steep slope I felt my tyre go flat.. just like that. Indeed, the unthinkable had happened. My front tyre - NoTubes and all - had flattened. Hmm, perhaps the heavy braking forced a thorn out of the tyre, I heard the hissing of the air escaping and the fluid could not close the hole. So I had to put in an inner tyre - after peering out 3 other thorns - which went surprisingly easy. I had expected a sticky mess with the NoTubes fluid but it was all but dried up. I think its overdue to be changed. Anyways, after 10 minutes - and a chat with a passing biker who was on the Blue route - I could continue. Towards Banoyard and Vert Buisson I managed to stray from the trail - I'm sure there is a Red arrow pointing to the right which is WRONG.. but thanks to the GPS and the map I could quickly connect back to the trail.
The sun was hiding behind some clouds now and I was thinking about giving the Ninglinspo a miss. But no, this was dreamland and I was here so I had to go . Down following the Ruisseau des Blanches Pierres and the blitzing fast and steep stony track after passing the Point de Vue Drouet. The bike felt good by now - there was a bit less pressure in my front tyre - and I blazed down - but always keeping the speed under control. I managed to squeeze one Pepsi Cola out of the machine at Sedoz and felt a couple of drops of rain while I was eating my second powerbar and sipping my Pepsi. I wanted another drink but the machine wouldn't take my 2 coins. On the Nonceveux ride I had discovered a steep uphill along the Vieux Chera and I decided to take that again and see where it would take me. As it turned out it took me from 164 to 340 metres before I foudn a way back down towards the Ninglinspo valley. Great, at the point where the Chaudiere drops into the Ninglinspo I could commence the long uphill back to the Porallee at 410 metres. Great , I did nearly 13K in this area and it yielded me 530 heightmeters.. and that distance includes the downhills. Thats a Hill Factor of 40. So all who want to do some climbing - you know where to go. And the downhills are mean as well.

After this intermezzo my legs felt a bit fried and I still had some way to go towards Banneux. Especially the long uphill towards Menobu was hurting. I could see the heightmeters accumulating on my GPS but I knew the trail would mellow out a bit on the uphills. Not on the downhills though, and on one I had to go heavily in the brakes because 4 or 5 big trees where blocking a very steep section. Took a bit of mountaineering to get me past this barrier but after that I was nearly home. With more than 1700 heightmeters accumulated today I had a great but tough ride. And remember, I wasn't feeling my best so I was glad I did make all the climbs and survived the downhills as well. When I arrived at Banneux again even the sun came peeping back though the clouds.