Weather was cloudy and it rained when I woke up. Damn, I had counted on doing a longer ride today. Summer is not happening which is sad because this really is the time of year I have the time and opportunity to ride out for 4-5 hours on the road. Oh well , I would have to settle for a shorter ride. Around 10AM it cleared out and a look on the meteox.be website made me optimistic I would be able to get a 2 hour ride in without getting my feet wet. Starting out over Bierbeek and Meldert and then turning into the gusty southewesterly wind as I struggled to make my way towards L'Ecluse and La Bruyere. Here I turned right again towards Beauvechain. Keeping it on the big ring I took a left and rode through Tourinnes and then made a loop over Nodebais and Hamme Mille. In downtown Hamme Mille I took a right turn towards Tourinnes again. Enjoying the wind in my back for the first time I could make good speed towards Beauvechain. I noticed some darker clouds were appearing over the horizon as I sped up the clong climb out of Beauvechain towards Opvelp. My legs felt good which made it all the more painful not to be able to ride a little longer. But the wind was taking its toll as I turned into it on my way from Opvelp to Bierbeek and Haasrode. I made a loop towards the Industrie terrain to be able to ride in over the Expressweg towards Blanden. That proved to be a real toughie and I had to push real hard against the wind. Keeping the chain on the big plateau on the front made this a good power training. I was surprised my average speed was nearly 29kph. It didn't feel that quick. I also broke a couple of records on some of the climbs. Must have been because I was in a hurry to be home before it started to rain. As I'm writing this the clouds look very menacing but so far it has remained dry. The wind is still strong though and it looks like it will rain eventually.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 51K and 340 heightmeters (Garmin) in 1h46mins
5565/55545
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