Today it was even warmer than yesterday, it was almost 13 degrees when I left home, but there was also a strong wind blowing from the west. Even so I chose not to underdress. I only wore my summer gloves . The feeling of the thinner gloves on the handlebars was strange to get used to. I felt good so I chose for another offroad ride. I wanted to ride in the region of the Dyle and Yse so I rode towards the Margijsbos where I had a bit of a climbing frenzy, doing no less than 4 climbs and descents in this forest. At the end I followed the river Yse towards Huldenberg where I attacked the Smeysberg offroad. I then went to the other side of this hill dropping down into Terlanen. From here the Sint Agatha Rode Bos was beckoning me for another climb. A very steep one for sure. I had to sit way up front of my saddle, struggling to keep the rear wheel from spinning. It said 23% on my GPS readout after I uploaded the ride to my PC. But I made it. Dropping down on the other side back into Terlanen for another uphill, back up the Smeysberg. Another 21% slope. Then I followed the road towards Sint Agatha Rode, down the Keiberg and then towards the church and Sint Joris Weert.
In Sint Joris I couldn't resist doing a loop into Meerdael Forest, with another climb or 3 against the Nethen slope. By now I began to feel my legs getting saturated so I decided to call it a day and make my way back home. I came across a region I call Weather Top where they have been felling a lot of trees, exposing the trees that are left to the winds. The result of the storm of a couple of week ago can be seen on my picture. Almost 10 healthy strong trees were uprooted, a very sad sight to see. The road was blocked but I took advantage to climb all the way to the top , 102m , adding a couple of more heightmeters to my conto. From there it was all downhill as I crossed the Naamsesteenweg and sped along the Sint Margrietendreef back into Blanden.
Ride Stats : 41K and 585/630 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h32mins
1865/19190
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