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This morning I was set to go to the Heverlee Fire Department ride but when I woke up it was raining and when it stopped and I was ready to leave I was too late to start for the 92K distance I wanted to do. So I changed plans and rode to the Sonian Forest instead. Around 10am I left and on my way to Duisburg I came across the track of the Fire Department ride a couple of times, sometimes they came from the opposite direction, which provided some dangerous situations since not everyone seemed quite awake on their bike. But once I reached Duisburg and entered the Sonian Forest I was clear from any organised rides.
I decided to do the BigM trails in the opposite direction for a change. The Rouge Cloitre Loop is pretty easy to remember so I did not have any troubles following this until I reached the 3 Fontaines point. Here I embarked on the 3 Fontaines loop and this proved a bit more difficult to follow in the opposite direction. I had to stop and look back a couple of times to check the crossroads situation and compare it with my mental picture from riding it in the 'right' direction. Once I did embark on a wrong direction but I quickly noticed I was wrong, no harm done. At the bottom of the railroad singletrack I switched onto the Hoeilaart Bloso route, aka as the 'Nero' route. This was easier to do in the opposite direction because of the marker poles. It was a bit more crowded also, and especially at the singletrack section parallel to the Avenue Dubois, I crossed several bikers. All went well, they were all in control of their bike so crossing them posed no problems. I did not see any bikers on the 2 other singletrack sections. Riding the Nero in reverse is quite a challenge, some of those uphills are really steep. The bit where you drop in a hole just after entering the forest coming from the start in Hoeilaart was also dangerous because people riding downhill on that section don't see whats coming up. Furthermore the gravel doesn't make stopping or changing directions very straightforward. I was glad I was on top of that steep section without encountering any bikers speeding downhill. The singletrack next to the railroad was also a bit of a challenge because of the new section with the switchbacks and steps (I counted 4 of them) but I managed them without any problem. Obviously the trails were dry but it might have been a different matter when these sections are wet and muddy. Back on the 3 Fontaines section again and I did manage to get completely lost at one point. I took the wrong track at a Y-split and arrived somewhere I shouldn't have been. It's nice to have a GPS at times like that. Just zooming out the map a bit I could quickly spot where I should have been going and take it from there. I arrived at the 3 Fontaines area with just a couple of K's more than I should have done. Back on the Rouge Cloitre loop at last to make my way back towards Jezus Eik. From there I regained Duisburg and made my way towards Leefdaal. Or rather, not, because I chose a different route to return towards Meerdael. I ended up in the Doode Beemde for a quick dash on the dry trails through this nature reserve. Don't worry, biking is allowed here. Crossing the river Dyle and I was in Sint Joris Weert, next to the Zoete Waters. From there it was only 5K through the forest to arrive home. Nice distance and also quite some heightmeters. A good ride with only a couple of raindrops but fairly cold temperatures of around 15 degrees C in the forest section. Autumn is upon us, no doubt about that.
 
Ride Stats : 103k and 915/1190 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 5h12mins
7044/70185
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