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Trails in Tervuren, province of Flemish Brabant (Belgium)

annimal — Sun, 20 May 2012 09:45:42 +0000

Brand new trails in Tervuren, only 15 kilometres east of Brussels! It was inaugurated yesterday! The four (!) different starting points each have an overview of all the loops.

The web site of www.bloso.be is still to be updated. This link is by the way quite good for any trails in Flanders!

Green trail in La Gleize, province of Liège (Belgium)

annimal — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:18:36 +0000

Page on La Gleize has been updated. Plus, photos. Enjoy!

Trails in Spa, province of Liège (Belgium)

annimal — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:10:34 +0000

An updated page on Spa, and trail number 4 in particular.

Green trail in Beersel, province of Flemish Brabant (Belgium)

annimal — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:11:54 +0000

The original intention today was to join a group of people for a riding location previously unridden. Lazy bum as I was in the morning, I ended up too late for the meeting point. Instead I went on my own to Beersel, for a premier riding of its green loop. I need not have despaired about being on my own. I found myself in the middle of an organized ride. To add to the excitement, most of THEIR riding came onto the green loop the OPPOSITE direction.

Being late has its advantages though; Belgian mountain bikers are normally early birds, and subsequently there were not too many people that I had to crash through in my persisting to complete my mission.

A couple of steep, short climbs. A couple of loooong, steepish climbs. Several nice singletrack sections. Some field riding. Some tarmac. As it hailed and rainstormed, I would like to come back for a second opinion, on a dryer occasion. Good signage; it was slightly ambiguous in a couple of places, but in overall fully followable.

And look at that hill factor!

UCI World Cup event, Houffalize (Belgium)

annimal — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:24:35 +0000

Back from my first trip of the year! It has been difficult not being out there earlier. For financial reasons, mainly. For the same reason I didn’t go thousands of kilometres south, as I normally do. Just as well; there seemed to be only rain, rain, rain over there as well.

How lucky was I! Last Friday – the 13th! – I managed to find a spot where it did not rain: In Belgian village of La Gleize (to be updated). The day after I rode a trail in Spa (to be updated); as I arrived back at my car the first rain drops fell. In the very early morning hours of Sunday the 15th I woke up to downpour. At 9am it finally stopped, and I headed over to the UCI World Cup event in quaint Houffalize. There was a very chilly wind, but it did not rain.

For Belgium, I consider myself very lucky weather-wise.

Sankt-Vith and Schönberg, province of Liège (Belgium)

annimal — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:51:37 +0000

After five days of home and dog sitting, it now seems my weekend plans are raining away.

Waiting for better weather, I added some notes on Sankt-Vith and Schönberg in East Cantons.

Trails in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (France)

annimal — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:45:17 +0000

As I dusted off my bike last week, I was reminded of where I rode it last. The dust came from south of France in October. Yes, last year. I was surprised myself, was it really that long ago, but yes; I found my chain still unpacked in my travel bag. When I arrived back to Brussels last year, a completely different life took hold of me. And it has been rock-ing ever since! In a different kind of way …

South of France and trail number 13 of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, a personal gem of mine. Unfortunately, the trail is not marked. The commune staff that sold the official map to me failed to inform me of this small detail. But hey, SHAME ON ME for taking signage for granted! ha ha

When I was here first time in 2009, I trail-explored more than 35 kilometres. During those kilometres, I saw only ONE sign, namely this:

Signage had not been improved when I arrived there again in October 2011.

Sadly, I seem to have (temporarily) misplaced the official map. It is here somewhere ….. lost amongst all my other hundreds (?) of bike maps … More later when I find the map!

For the time being, some photos on my picasa account.

Braine l’Alleud green trail and trails in Beersel

annimal — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:49:32 +0000

Spring temperatures having arrived, I dusted off my bike this week …

I took a quick trip into Forêt de Soignes, and I got so bored that I, depressed, thought I had lost my riding touch. After more than ten years of riding, had my passion come to an end?

So, this morning I got into my car and drove off to Braine l’Alleud, for the teaser green trail I normally love so much. It was….. Yes, it was good. But not AS good as I used to think!

This time I felt too much height was lost on tarmac. The technical bits, the singletrack bits, the rooty bits, it all kept me happy enough to finish the loop. I can also report that signage has been improved another notch. Still not perfect, but possibly, you can now ride the green loop without a map. Cudos!

Seems like new mountainbike signs are popping up along with the spring flowers. Beersel, for example, with its three new routes! Its green trail seems combinable with green trail of Braine l’Alleud … to be explored! Many thanx A3!

The mystery signs from close to Duisburg, however, remain unsolved for the time being …

Sospel, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (France)

annimal — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:15:31 +0000

Wohaa! More impossible climbing. Sospel, neighbour of Peille, look at them hill factors! For sure, this is an area where I would most likely just WALK .. or hike with my bike on me back!

Even the downhill trails number 6 and 7 offer climbing (473hm/34.5hf for trail number 6, and 335hm/28.9hf for trail number 7). Hmmm … maybe I will try trail number 7. Will I be walking because of too technical a trail??

At a closer look, elevation-profile-wise, trails number 6 and 7 are the most interesting to me. It implies having to climb up there first on tarmac … and although I severely dislike tarmac riding, I surprisingly enough find myself willing to make an exception …

Mailing list for new/updated maps: Jalhay (Belgium)

annimal — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:53:01 +0000

The National Geographic Institute conveys that a brand new map has been established for the commune of Jalhay in province of Liège. Northeast of Spa and north of Malmedy, this trail system could have interesting options for trail combining.

4 mountain bike trails. According to Jalhay commune they are of distances 18, 30, 37 and 42 kilometres.

The Tourist Office offers small-scale maps of all hiking loops, but only briefly mentions the mountain bike trails.

I might feel obliged to visit IGN, my favourite map shop, for a closer look of the map ..

Jalhay, eerste editie numeriek, met 15 aangeduide wandelwegen en 4 mountainbikecircuits, code VTTOE.0162.PP.1, schaal 1 :25 000 vergroot, verschijningsdatum 20/01/2012, ISBN nummer 9789059348882, verkoopprijs € 7,50.

Première édition numérique, avec 15 circuits pédestres balisés et 4 circuits mountainbikes balisés, code VTTOE.0162.PP.1, échelle 1:25 000 agrandie, date de parution 20/01/2012, numéro ISBN 9789059348882, prix de vente € 7,50.

Should you be interested, the NGI has a mailing list for all alerts as to new or updated maps in Belgium.