I had made an appointment with my friend Guna today to meet at the Zoete Waters and have a ride through Meerdael Forest together. I hadn't seen her since the Houffalize World Cup in May and since that time she has been doing 10 full marathons in Belgium, making for a fine result in the O2 Bikers Marathon Trophy. I am very proud of her .
This also meant that she was the one in shape while I was the one still struggling with Lyme and especially the antibiotics and their effect on my body. But, since this was a leisurely ride, just 2 friends meeting up and chatting up the last couple of months, I was going to be fine with the pace.
I was the guide and I decided for a mix of bigger forest roads and fine singletrails. The rains had made the forest floor wet and we would encounter several showers during our ride . Luckily the heavy leaf cover would protect us from the rain but of course the trails, especially the ones in thinner forest, were wet , muddy and slippery. But we both have enough technical prowess to deal with those kind of trails, making for a fun ride at a relaxing pace. My health did not allow me to add a lot of the very steep trails I normally do but I still managed to cram in almost 450 heightmeters in a 29K ride. First concentrating on the area above Sint Joris Weert and then making my way towards Nethen and to the Warande Ponds. I then crossed the Naamsesteenweg and showed her the biggest tree in the forest, the Dikke Eik. We also stopped at the Mollendaal refuge but by then the showers had stopped . Pity there are so few refuges left in the forest. There used to be a shelter near the Warande Ponds but this has long been gone.

From Mollendaal forest I closed the loop going towards Blanden, vaalbeek and then a short stint into Heverlee Forest. When we arrived back at the Zoete Waters another little shower made us seek refuge beneath some big leafy tree. Guna still had to ride home to Brussels but I reckon she would keep it dry. It was good to meet up again and chat about all the rides she did last summer.



Ride Stats : 38.5K and 440/525 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h30mins

6950/73965