The weather looked a lot better today. More sunshine and also temperatures above 20 degrees. It had been a while. When the Tour de France finished I set out for a recovery ride. The wind was a major factor, it was strong and gusty and blew from the west-southwest. The start was easy with me heading towards Hoegaarden and there turning on the Ravel 2. When I reached Jodoigne I turned right and felt the wind for the first time straight in my face. Making my way towards Dongelberg I took it easy - after all this was supposed to be a recovery ride - and upon reaching the N91 I took a right again for a long straight line leading me to Pietrebais. The wind came from my left and was strong enough to try to topple me over. So I had to grab the bull by the horns and anticipate by riding half a metre from the side of the road. When I reached Pietrebais I tooka left towards La Bruyere and here I could make good speed. I overtook another biker and we took turns taking the lead. But all of a sudden he couldn't keep up the pace and dropped back. I was riding 40kph at the time but the wind was blowing from the side as I headed onwards to Meldert. Here the trouble began again as I set out towards Opvelp and Bierbeek. The wind was strong and pushing from left forwards. Riding on to reach the Expressweg I took a left towards Blanden and had to battle to make the long slope on the big ring. But I survived and was pleased with the average pace of this right. I did not expect it to be so high, especially since my average heartrate was only 118bpm . Well into recovery territory.

Endomondo track


Ride Stats : 65K and 415 heightmeters (Garmin) in 2h15mins

5919/57900