Today I had an appointment with a friend from Latvia. She rode over to Houffalize from Brussels and we met up at the Ol'Fosse d'Outh on what looked to become a nice sunny day. The plan was to bike for around 3 hours so I started out on route Number 3. This is a quite difficult route with some nice steep climbs and descents. The first couple of climbs are very steep , and the sun was already out in full force as we were straining on the smallest gears to make the climb. This being my first Ardennes ride I was pleased to be here but also cautious because I had to re-learn a couple of old skills, like riding over roc and roots. Also, the descents demand a lot more concentrating and the uphills are 25-minute affairs instead of the quick 5-10 minute uphills I was used to in my own region. After a while the route joins the number 4 route and things even out a little. My friend had become quite a bit stronger in both uphills and downhills since we last met up for a ride and I was pleased to see that she was enjoying the beautiful landscapes our Ardennes have to offer.

After a while we came to the route number 5 and we decided to follow that back to Houffalize , adding 15K to our ride. The number 5 keeps ondulating nicely up and down the valleys and with some singletracks here and there was also demanding of our technical skills. Near the end the constant succesion of hills became to take their toll, the legs were starting to feel it !
The tracks weren't exactly what you would call 'dry' but then no ride in the Ardennes ever is. But on the whole things worked out very well, all mud holes were contourable and except for one spot near the end we could ride everything. When we dropped back into Houffalize we went over to the Press area for me to pick up my press card for the World Cup Event. After the ride we strolled along in Houffalize and enjoyed the nice sunshine even more.

We took a good long look at the 4X track, amazing ourselves with the ease with which these guys take all the jumps. It looks easy, but it certainly is not. She also wanted to look at the Ol' Fosse d'Outhe descent and the one at the Caserne des Pompiers. The new section over the roots near the hotel Ol' Fosse d'Outh will certainly see it share of accidents during the races. From watching the training sessions, only the best riders will be able to ride this section during the race. The rest will have to walk. Thanks to G. for being around, I had a great ride and we spent some quality time together after the ride. Pity she couldn't be here this sunday, it would certainly have been a great experience for her to see the real MTB pros in action.

Ride Stats : 48K and 915/835 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 3h19mins

3169/28680