Today the weather was nice and warm, ideal for a ride in the late afternoon. After last saturdays' ride I felt like I suffered from a heatstroke. The whole Sunday I had a headache and by Monday morning it was bad enough to keep me in bed. I had forgotten to apply sunscreen and even though the sun was veiled, the UV rays must have reached my skin because I saw red on my arms and legs. Stupid mistake.
So today, even though it was 5.30pm when I rode out, I did apply my usual factor 20 sunscreen. I rode through Meerdael forest and clambered up the Smeysberg with the Moots before dropping down into Huldenberg and riding up to Overijse where I had a meeting with Guna. She was fresh out of the Raid des Hautes Fagnes, where she completed the 90K. It was her toughest ride ever and I can understand that. I never rode the RDHF but I warned her it was a toughie. But she went on a rode it. Amazing, and my helmet goes off to her. Well done !
But today we were doing the Overijse BLOSO's and the pace was gentle but firm. I have done them azillion times but each time I am enjoying the succession of short climbs and descents, a great was to train some interval. Some of the climbs are quite tricky and one should never take the downhills for granted. They surprise you every time. After heavy rains gulleys are formed , branches are dropped on the trail and here and there a bit of mud spiced things up a bit more. But we managed all of them very well, and I was once more surprised by the progress Guna had made in both uphill speed and downhill prowess. And then she didn't even have her full suspension bike with her, but even with the hardtail with v-brakes she is fast . The trails were great, dry for the most part except for the downhill in the Bois de Laurensart which had a bit of mud in some of the hollow road sections.
When we split up I returned towards Huldenberg and did the offroad climb starting at the mill at Neerijse. A quick dash into Meerdael forest with the offroad climb out of Sint Joris Weert in the opposite direction of the BLOSO route, where I passed a couple of bikers. In all a good quality midweek ride.

Ride Stats : 61K and 701 heightmeters (Garmin) in 3h25mins

4326/41600