Asse and Pajottenland

Finally I found time to post about recent rides again. Initially I wanted to post about cycling in the Austrian alps in Summer. Still to come. There were too many bike rides and too many pictures to post. I'll have to do that when I have more time soon. So here we are, back in Belgium. This time the hilly Land van Asse and the Pajottenland. 

The way out of Brussels is not the best one I have to admit but it's the fastest to get to the hilly Land van Asse. Especially the part between Rogier (will they ever finish road works there?) and Simonis is challenging - to put it mildly. Just use the road, the bike path is "pas praticable". 

Once past the Koekelberg Basilique everything gets much quieter and smoother. It takes some time though to get really out into the countryside but once you are past Zellik and into Kobbegem and Mollem villages you won't regret taking the long way out of Brussels: some quiet country roads, some hills, perfect road biking:

uphill towards Asse    http://bit.ly/1unnhqU

From Asse I decided not to go back straight through Molenbeek again but take the scenic detour through North Pajottenland. Good decision, the roads and landscape are even better and it's still hilly -  a good change from the Kanal and Waterways in the North-East:

towards Lennik    http://bit.ly/11GagCd

Ok, the way back from Sint Martens Lennik is a bit boring but I could not bother to find another route than the main road into Anderlecht.

Afterwork ride to Leuven

It might not be the Alps but there are at least some little hills in the area between Brussels and Leuven. In this ride I tried to go for as many of those up and down streets as possible in an afterwork ride. Taking the route out via the Deutsche Schule in Kraainem I quickly arrived at the old Hippodrome of Sterreebeek. Now transformed into a golf course it used to be a top place for horse races in Belgium, together with the one in Boitsfort and Groenendael. But three horse racing courses all withing 10 km or so? No wonder they all went bankrupt towards the end of the 20th century. Probably a very Belgian solution to have three courses so close to each other: one for each region? I wouldn't be surprised.

Oudergemseweg (source: https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/26023097)

Anyway, as of the old Hippodrome, the countryside starts. The "Oudergemseweg" (picture) is one of the best ways to get out towards the east. Although it has now - for whatever reason - been opened to cars (Belgium!) it is still quiet enough to enjoy. And from there it's relatively easy to go down (and up, and down, etc.) to Leefdaal.

Up in the hills above Leefdaal another car free road, the "Langestraat" leads all the way to the western part of Leuven. cycling past the Arenberg Campus and the Hospital, yet another car free road (or rather a path, see the picture below) leads towards the Highspeedline cyclepath. But only after a great, winding downhill road into Winksele.

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.

Cyclepath and "Code de la Route"

When I first came to Belgium, I was shocked by the ridiculous bike-paths in the land of Eddy Merckx. They are obligatory to use, even if you might seriously endanger others, yourself or destroy your equipment. I collected some pictures of horrible stone paved bike paths (with loose stones of course). I especially fear those alongside front doors of houses, with no room to go in case somebody steps out the door. 

All this is even more horrible given the "Code de la Route" which - surprise surprise - is very much focused on cars. Thanks, Belgium. The bike paths are obligatory without exception. What a contrast to Austria where on a road bike you are even allowed to ride next to each other in a group on the normal road. My favourite part in the "Code de la Route": 

• "Les cyclistes ne reçoivent pas la priorité sur un passage destiné aux cyclistes."

In principle the "Code de la Route" makes the use of bike path obligatory as soon as there are the round blue road signs. However, the very same article specifies that this is only the case if the route is "praticable". Now, there is some room for interpretation of what is and what is not "praticable" but I generally avoid bike paths. The result is usually the klaxon (which btw is also not allowed in such a situation according to the Code de la Route..). 

In a few cases cars nearly ran me over when overtaking (with some few centimetres distance) or did break right in front of me on purpose. I was also forced to stop a few times by some idiots. Just  ignoring is probably the best. No use arguing that the Code de la Route makes bike paths only  obligatory if they are "praticable". 

Now some examples of what is absolutely not "praticable" for road bikes:

The infamous "D7 roadsign". This bike path is still one of the better ones...

Praying nobody steps out the front door.

those bloody curbs ruined my wheels just after 2 years

perfectly safe, perfectly "praticable"

Remember, obligatory...

classic

another classic

and some genuine Belgian solutions:

Lazy Sunday

Despite the great weather this Sunday I could not motivate myself to go for another 4 hours ride. Lazy me. 2 hours something should be enough. I decided to go direction Pajottenland, but not directly there, rather a bit to the north. However, the area around Ternat and Asse is similarly good for road biking than the Pajottenland. Good roads, little traffic and some hills.
I bascially followed the "Fietsnet" Knoppunten around that area (62-53-54-92-1-2-3-9-12-4). The way out is a bit long, but the Itterbeeksebaan as of Dilbeek is ok to easily get out into the green. The streets are really narrow country roads but most of them paved well. There is some up and down and especially between Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle and Asse the road climbs a bit:

Vrijthout hill: http://bit.ly/1jINOed

Shortly before Asse, there is one short, steep cobblestone hill, a bit like in the Ronde. Terrible cobblestones, but luckily not 20% like on the Muur or Koppenberg. And a bit further down the road, just after Asse, I found this red paved road, climbing through an apple tree garden. Bizarre.

The way back via the Koekelberg Basilica and Molenbeek/Yser area is definitely not the best. I normally try to avoid it and I knew immediatly why. Most stupid littered bikepath, idiotic car drivers and the area at Rogier which seems to be a construction site since at least 10 years (and probably also for the next 10 years).

Ronde van Vlaanderen 2014

Finally I find some time to write about this year's Ronde van Vlaanderen. For the first time I did the full 250 km, starting in Bruges. What a bad idea (I thought after 150 km or so) but what a great experience (never again I though right after crossing the finish line). But I'm already looking forward to the 2015 edition. And the 250 km again. It was just too good to cross this damned line after the full tour.

The first 100-120 km or so are easy and lead more or less straight from Bruges to the "flemish Ardennes". And if for once Belgian Rail SNCB could be punctual we would not have missed the start at 7:00 am at Bruges main square. But the first train to leave Brussels for Bruges in the the morning was already heavily delayed (how is that possible?! the god damned first train!!) so we started around 7:45am in Bruges. Which means that the vast majority of the 4,000 odd starters of the full tour were already way ahead. No benefiting from large groups and all the effort against the wind more or less alone. Stupid Belgian railways!

Nevertheless easy first 120 km with average quite above 30 km/h. I guess that's the new wheels. The first challenge was the Molenberg, not because of the 30 meters climbing but of the worst cobblestones in the whole tour. Speaking cobblestones, what followed the Molenberg was the worst part of the tour for me: the flat cobblestone passages of several kilometre length. I really hate them and in the end it was there where I lost most of my motivation.

Stupid "Kerkgate" cobblestones

What followed then was all the classic "hellingen", nicely lined up and with little time to recover in between. Already No. 7 was the Koppenberg, the steepest one of all with a max. of 22 % gradient - and cobblestones. In the end I managed to make it uphill - unlike most of the other riders. Slowly but steadily climbing without getting off the bike. Not easy at 22 % cobblestone hills. Most other "hellingen" are also paved with cobblestones but the slow uphill speed doesn't make it too difficult - at least that's how I feel them. I don't remember much between km 160 and km 220 or so apart from the Koppenberg and that there were enough moments I thought "why not sit on the Cafe Belga terrace with a beer on such a lovely day?".

But with Paterberg and Oude Kwaremont done (again slowly but steadily climbing up) it was practically achieved and the last 20 km of flat terrain back to Oudenaarde was a piece of cake.
Overall the limit to 16,000 participants made it much easier on the "hellingen". No "traffic jams", no annoying riders getting off their bike just in front of you and couldn't bother to move to the side. The obligation to use the bloody cycling paths that ruin the wheels is ridiculous in a road biking country like Belgium. And police should have better things to do than following cyclists not riding on those terrible "fietspad".

Needless to say that on our way back from Oudenaarde to Brussels the SNCB train was late again and we missed our connection in Ghent. But, hey, I had all the time in the world after those 9 hours of "Vlaanderens Mooiste".

Ename Classic debrief

The Ename Classic is part of the Bank van de Post Cycling Tour. I also wrote about it here. It took place 23 March this year. Start is in Zottegem and the course winds through the "Flemish Ardennes", to a great extend in the region of the Ronde, but without going up the classics like Paterberg, Kwaremont or Kopenberg.

Bernd and myself decided to ride this "short" 150k tour in preparation for the 250k of the Ronde van Vlaanderen this year. The weather was not too bad and so we left Brussels around 8h30, in order to start around 10h00 in Zottegem. As always it was excellently organised and a real bargain for 15€ as compared to the Ronde. Even tough we started a bit late, there was still a good number of people on the course. It was easy to get into a larger group and do a 33 average with a strong headwind to the first feeding zone after 40k.

excellent organisation - as always on the Bank van de Post Cycling tour

After the first feeding zone the course split into 144 and 118 km with most of the riders going the shorter distance (sissies!) which left us more or less alone against the strong headwind. At least there was some reward: a nearly empty feeding zone in a beautiful setting in one of the small Flemish villages:

 

When joining the 118 km course again, things got easier as we headed back towards Zottegem but now with a good tailwind. However, there were some difficulties like 15min hail and rain, losing the course briefly after taking a wrong turn and 20% gradients - but without cobblestones at least.

Altogether a good warmup for the Ronde. Lesson learnt: take it easy in the beginning. The high pace in the first 50-60 km took their toll and my legs were overly acidified. But it was just a short 150k ride ;-) nothing to worry about.