First ride 2015 - finally

As late as never I started the new year's cycling season - last day of January. At least not a month without a ride since 2010.

And it was nothing special. 45 kilometres past Vilvoorde and back via "the Zemstes" (Zemst-Laar and Zemst-Bos) and Haren into Brussels. Riding deliberately slow to keep the heartbeat steady around 120-125 bpm resulted in a shameful average speed of just 23 kph. But it felt good to be outside again and see that in recent years the number of winter cyclists increased. Similar to the overall number of cyclists in and around Brussels. Hope this has an impact on the ridiculous obligation to use these "cycle paths".

No GPS track or photos this time except for this one where I had to stop anyway:

Wait! There was a road here last year?!

Albertcanal

I did this tour some weekends ago but so far didn't find time to post it. So here it is: to the Albertcanal and back:

at Zennegat (http://bit.ly/1yMXsqe)

It sounded like a good idea: cycle along some waterways to Lier and further on to the Albertcanal and back along some former railway tracks that have now been turned into a cycling path, towards Aarschot - and then some more cycling along the river of the Demer. So far so good. The way to Lier is flat but far from boring (same as in this tour). The scenic car-free path along Zenne and Nete to Lier is still one of my favourites.

From Lier I followed the "Kleine Nete" River to the Albertcanal.
 

This was an excellent 20k or so of cycling, all along this winding small river. Really great, but a bit far from Brussels for an everyday ride.

Similar to cylcing along Zenne or Nete to Lier but with far less cyclists/pedestrians. And also no villages to cross, so it was more or less 20k straight on, full speed. Great stuff.

There are some beautiful old locks along the Kleine Nete - and a bigger one when reaching the Albertcanal. Apparently the river continues flowing underneath the canal (don't ask me how that works). Belgians surely have some expertise when it comes to inland waterways.

The Albercanal is quite a change to the canals around Brussels. It's massive. Really. And lots of traffic.  Cycling is so and so. Due to the heavy vessel traffic there's lots of industrial sites along the canal. Not scenic, no good tarmac and so on. But it's just for 10k or so. Quite bearable.

the Albertcanal

cycling path following the alignment of an old railway line

After the Albertcanal I was already looking forward to speeding along the old railway line down to Aarschot. But the cycling path allowed all but speeding. Not because of too much traffic but because of slowing down every 500m or so when crossing a road because of barriers on both sides of the crossing. In addition the trees to either side of the path were great for some shade on this hot day but their roots had already ruined the tarmac and made the path quite bumpy.

The way back from Aarschot was much better then. Along the Demer. A perfect, brand new cycling path, all the way to Werchter village.

The Demer close to Werchter (http://bit.ly/VmKDUw)

If it hadn't been for the headwind all the way back to Brussels would have been a piece of cake.

Hallerbos

With this great spring weather I couldn't resist but go cycling again. For a change not along the Canal, Dijle or any other waterway in the north, but rather to the south of Brussels, around Alsemberg and Halle:(link)
The way out is a bit long, via Sint-Job, Linkebeek and Beersel - and hilly. But as of Beersel the nice cycling starts, with gentle hills and not so traveled roads - especially Dikkemeerweg towards Alsemberg/Dworp. I once attended the Brabantse Pijl there which was excellent to watch from the church in Alsemberg.

Crossing Alsembergsesteenweg into Dworp finding the way up to the "Hallerbos"  is not too easy. And the roads are not that good. Especially Chemin Bois du Vicaire is hardly suitable for road bikes but it's the only way I found so far uphill to the Hallerbos. However, once up there, the view from Dreve de Colipain is amaying:

Dreve de Colipain, south of the Hallerbos

However, things get a bit worse again through the forest itsself. Again, the road is not the best for road bikes but it is managable. And the forest itsself is worth riding through:

Rollercoaster ride through the Hallerbos

Once out of the Forest it is a relatively long downhill ride to the Brussel-Charleroi canal. And from there straight back home to Brussels. This time with a strong tailwind. Great.

Night

I decided to go for a long, but not very difficult ride after work, meaning no hills. So I cyled along the rail high speed line and the canal basically. With the right equipment when it is dark, this is not a problem. I have a quite strong headlight with which I can ride even if there is no street light. The 5€ decathlon one will not do. And even if there is street light in the countryside I'd recommend a really strong light. I got a B+M Ixon Pure with 30 Lux that lasts for about 5-6 hours.


Starting out towards the rail high speed line more or less the "usual way" with some variations. Already here the strong headlight pays off. It's completely dark. As soon as I am out of the city and on the bike path or the canal I usually wear headphones. It gets a bit boring otherwise in the darkness. "Fear of the dark" by Iron Maiden is definitely the right soundtrack.

In Veltem, I thought continuing all the way to Leuven and then along the canal was a bit too much and I'd rather make a shortcut along some "fietsknooppunten". However, when looking at the track now, I am not sure if this was a real shortcut. Anyway, the knooppunten are a fine thing.

at the Tildonk lock at the Canal

Arriving at the canal, I realised how awful this can be at night. With nothing around but darkness and a completely straight road ahead the lights at the distance seemed not to come nearer. Stupid. 

Back to Brussels via the good cyclingpath along Haachtsesteenweg. I passed the cycle passion store which looked like a decent bike shop. Got to pay them a visit one day.

Along waterways...again

I know I posted some rides along various waterways - rivers or canals - before. But the flat terrain without any hills is just too good for basic training to get into shape for the season. So again a route along Zenne and the Mechelen-Leuven Canal I did some days ago.

Starting out towardsVilvoorde,the first waterway is the Brussels-Rupel-Schelde canal. Nothing special and quite industrial surroundings. It's Vilvoorde after all.

In order to go to the Zenne, follow the signs "Canal Route" after the first lock on the canal. When you reach the railway tunnel. Now turn left, through the tunnel, and immediately right again and follow "Kleinestraat" until Hombeek. Here the nice Jagpaad (see also here) starts. All the way up to Zennegat, where Zenne, Dijle and the Leuven-Mechelen-Canal join forces to become the river Rupel which only some 10 km afterwards flows into the Schelde. A typical "Belgian solution" if you ask me.

Now back towards Mechelen:

The Canal near Mechelen

Cycling back along the Leuven-Mechelen Canal might seem boring to some. And it can in fact be boring. But it's a good way to exercise without stop and go - without cars along some beautiful landscape:

Leuven-Dijle Canal

I decided to do some short cut and not ride all the way to Leuven. Possibly had enough of all that waterways. Cycling back along the usual HSL-route track and into Woluwe. Looking forward to that tour in summer. Although it can get quite crowded on the cycling path.

Getting out of Brussels

It took me some time to find good ways to get out of town on the bike without being stuck in car traffic on the main axis. Especially when riding after work in rush hour. I collected some routes I personally prefer. They are on less busy, yet good to ride streets and you can leave the city in almost all directions. I have so far not found a good route out of town (north)west (Molenbeek, Koekelberg). Unless you want to go on Chausée de Gand or Ninove between tramway tracks and macho drivers you better avoid that area.

Of course one possibility is to take the bike on the metro and go to Erasmus, Heysel or Stockel. Definitely worth if you want to avoid traffic but you are not faster than biking.

My favourite routes are either alongside the canal (south towards Halle or north towards Vilvoorde) or along the highspeed rail line towards Leuven. I linked some of my GPS tracks below, starting from rather easy to find places in the city.

So the canal towards Halle is easily reachable more or less via Parc Duden. Bd. Van Haelen and Paepsem normally are not busy. Once at the canal you can either stay there (although the pavement gets really rough some kilometers past Halle) and go to Ronqiueres (or even further) or the Pajottenland is easily accessable on the right side (or hilly Beersel/Alsemberg) on the left.

To go to the Pajottenland directly just follow Bd. Van Haelen and Paepsem to the canal, cross it and head towards parc des Etangs/ Parc de Pede and a nice quite little road that leads you to nice little village Sint Anna Pede (the church apparently appears on some Bruegel painting).

Another way to the Pajottenland is via the Canal and Ikea. Cross the Canal at the lock to the right side and immediatly after the motorwaybridge turn right. Looks like it leads to nowhere but eventually you will head towards St. Pieters Leeuw, a nice little village at the beginning of the Pajot.

Altough I don't like the south of Brussels too much due to the dense population, traffic and bad roads (and the almost impossible to cross Forêt des Soignes - unless you take that awful "cyclepath" that runs right next to the Luxembourg motorway E411 or the even worth one at Chaussée de la Hulpe). However, there are some ways to easily get to Alsemberg, or even cross the Foret des Soignes on paved roads towards La Hulpe, or Hoeilaart. From either of these three routes you have access to the quite hilly parts of Brabant wallon. And there is even a way to avoid cycling along the E411 to get to Jezus-Eik and then further on to Overijse or Wavre.

Apart from the awful Avenue de Tervuren there are some easy ways to go to the east (Leuven, Mechelen area). Either past the airport and along the highspeed railway line (which I can really recommend) or via Wezembeek and Moorsel. Both are along Av. de Broqueville from Montgomery but there is normally a reasonable amount of traffic.

So finally towards the flat north of Brussels. Again you have the choice of riding nicely along the canal towards Vilvoorde (and further on to the Schelde river) or other ways like the quiet Haren route or more towards Grimbergen, either via Meise or Wemmel. Altough it can be annyoing along Bd. Schmidt it still is ok to get out towards the flat north.

Where to go

Road biking? Definitely not within Brussels. Car drivers in the city still think they own the streets. A mixture of all the world's driving styles together with poor city planning has turned Brussels into a biking nightmare. Things only gradually change. Besides there are only a few roads suitable for road biking within the city.

So you'll have to leave Brussels. But where are the best areas? I suggest: go west. The Pajottenland in the west of Brussels is probably the best spot for road biking. Great roads, gentle hills and best of all: little traffic due to the low population density. The best area to go is around Gooik.

Also worth going is the north, ranging from Asse to Mechelen. Disadvantage: no hills, so it could become rather boring. However, the great advantage is to have lots of waterways and rivers to ride along on nicely paved cyclpath (Schelde, Brussels canal, Leuven-Mechelen canal and the Zenne to some extend).

The east towards Leuven is mixed. Main disadvantage is the poor roads (concrete slabs! why on earth would you make such roads, Belgians!) and to some extend the higher traffic volumes. However, there are some nice spots.

The south is probably the worst spot to cycle due to the heavily populated suburbs, the bad roads and the Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud which is hard to cross on proper roads.

More details in the "routes" section in the menu above and "how to get out of town".