Today I had a rendez-vous with Frank, a friend who does provide me with everything that is PC-connected. He wanted to do a short ride in Meerdael and I agreed to take him along on what I call a perimeter ride. This is a ride along the edges of the forest. I had this ride as a course in my GPS from last winter and added a couple of tracks I normally don't do in winter to spice things up a bit. Frank is a very fast rider and I had to urge him to calm down quite a bit. He rides a beautiful Turner full suspension bike. One of the perks of being the guide is that the guidee has to wait at every turn, and it was good for me to up the pace a bit . When I ride alone I usually settle into a pace I can ride for hours. I look around a lot and stop frequently to take some pictures. Frank is quite a bit faster than me - he is also 18 years younger - and he always seems to ride in chrono-mode. Even though today was an easy ride for him, he made me stress my muscles more than I usually do. And it felt OK to do so. When we had completed the ride I went on for another hour to cool down and rode towards the edge of Hamme Mille , into the fields of Tourinnes and on towards Bierbeek and Haasrode, taking in a couple of K's of the "Engel" walking track, which I believe is sheduled for tomorrow.

Ride Stats : 55.5K and 555/603 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h50mins

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