Had a day off from work and when the weather turned out to be sunny and rather mild I decided to make the most of this day and do a long offroad ride. Riding up to Pietrebais to start the 55K track of this years' organised ride I had a bit of a nasty surprise when my Garmin froze up and I had to restart it. Upon restarting it seemed it had gone back to its factory settings. My ride history was completely gone. I decided to return home and hang it on my PC to see what had happened and what could be done about it.
When I checked it turned out it was still on the latest software version, the tracks were still there and so where my bike settings. But my personal settings had dissapeared. I had to re-enter these along with my geographic location, language and metrics. Also the display settings had to be restored. For the rest the unit looked OK so after having eaten a bit I rode out again.
Arriving in Pietrebais I chose the 40K distance and got going. The trails were mostly dry but in the places where the sun didn't shine there was still some mud and puddles.

The 40K track is a fine one. First it moves towards Longueville along some fine little singletrails and then dropping into some muddy hellhole which is rarely completely ride-able. It wasn't different this time but I managed to keep the bike rolling anyway. The mud wasn't too sticky and there was a lot of wet grass which cleaned my wheels pretty quick.

The trail builder knows his trails and he sent me along a fine and difficult loop towards Chaumont next. Some very steep climbs where I had to dig in deep to keep the crank spinning. By this time I was glad I didn't choose the 55K distance. After all, the first ride up to Pietrebais and back had already cost me an hour and some 21K. The temperature was a balmy 14 degrees but the sun was hiding more and more behind low clouds and there was a very notice-able southern wind blowing on the high plains. When I reached Heze I knew I hadn't long to go. The last descent into Pietrebais was a classic one along a fine singletrack with some deep gullies hidden by high grass.

When I rode home I decided to loop into Nodebais for a little visit to the little chapelle. I always like to have a quiet moment here, reading the writings on the wall .

After that moment I rode on into Nodebais and Hamme Mille before entering the Miradal forest for the last stretch along the Naamsesteenweg back home. This ride turned out a bit longer and more difficult that I had wanted it to be but I had a good feeling of accomplishment afterwards. Looks like it is going to rain though, which doesn't look promising for tomorrow and sunday.  

Ride Stats : 83K and 910/970 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 4h42mins

7910/84275