We had another 5 to 7 cm of snow yesterday and I was keen to ride out again this morning to enjoy the special conditions. The icy wind that accompanied the snowfall had settled during the night and with a temperature of around -2 degrees C I rode out. Taking the Green BLOSO route for starters, the snow conditions were great. The white stuff was not too sticky and the only difficulty was the snow flurries which had covered the tracks and ruts quite efficiently at some places. Snow dunes in the exposed areas at the edge of the forest and along the fields. Most of the tracks were already ridden on by jeeps or other bikes, so I only had to follow those tracks to get a good contact. The small tarmac roads near Heverlee were icy but as long as I stayed on the new snow it was fine. Taking a break at the Heverlee War Cemetery long enough to take a picture and then I rode on towards Oud-Heverlee and Korbeek Dyle.

When I arrived near the Zoete Waters I switched to the Blue Bloso and I started to follow that for a while. I avoided the steep downhill behind the Kluis and took an alterative uphill and downhill to make up for it. Past the Savenel I came to the Red Bloso and I started to follow that. I decided to ride down towards the Warande pond and check out the ice on the water. It proved more than thick enough to carry me and my bike so I rode a couple of laps on it and took some more pictures. This is a first for me, riding on water.

After the Warande I followed the Red Bloso again but instead of heading into the fields of Valduc and Hamme Mille, where I had a lot of trouble the last time with the snow dunes and the wind, I stayed in the forest and did a loop towards the Mollendaal forest . Taking a couple of virgin singletracks I had to dig deep because there was almost 15cm of deep snow and it wasn't that easy when you are making the trail instead of following it. After almost 3 hours of biking I was a happy man when I arrived at home. Just in time for the Belgian Cyclocross Championships where an amazing Sven Nys took his 7th title with the Elites after a very difficult and icy race where he had to battle back from almost 25 seconds behind to take the lead group and ride away from them. Things are looking good for the World Champs in Tabor in a couple of weeks where the conditions might be very similar. Young Niels Albert was never in the race.

Ride Stats : 46k and 480/510 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h58mins. -1 degree C average temp.

226/2600