Last weekend I made a little trip to the Ardennes here in Belgium with 12 other mountainbikers. In La Roche-en-Ardenne to be more precise. That place is not far from Houffalize which is widely regarded as one of the best places in the world to practise the sport. This year was the 17th time a World cup manche was held there. Anyway I knew I was going to be in for something special. I changed my Bontrager tires on my Trek with some Nobby Nic’s to make sure I got the grip I needed on all surfaces. We set off in the morning from a camp site in La Roche-en-Ardenne and headed off to the centre of the town. There we could immediately follow the blue route and start climbing a rocky road which seemed to be under construction (see picture below).
That road quickly changed into a dirt road in a forest. The whole climb was long and steep. Very long and steep compared to what I’m used to. In fact, it was so long that one guy, not really used to mountainbiking, had to stop and return home because his head started spinning a bit from the huge effort. I had to push hard to get all the way up. My heart beat went over 180 which is about my maximum. But I made it and tried to recuperate some energy in the descent. What followed was more of the same, long climbs (but technically feasable) and steep descent (one of which I did by foot, I’m just not that confident yet after my nose breaking accident). Somehow I ended up with the front 5 riders. We waited for others but after 10 minutes they still didn’t show up so we continued along the path. After about 25 km we reached the camp site again averaging about 16 km/h. I had to push my limits but it definitely was fun.
We did another trip in the afternoon. This time the guy who didn’t quite make it all the way up the first time, managed to do the whole tour, although we had to wait for 5 minutes each time we were on top of a hill. That combined with the less steep climbs meant that this trip was a little easier. We did however do another steep descent through the woods that I mostly did by foot (I really need to follow a MTB course). We also did some fun tracks where you could really race between tree roots and rocks. All in all it was a very interesting introduction to the ‘real’ world of mountainbiking and I’m certain I will visit this area again. This weekend I’m doing a 100 km trip called the ‘Regio Tour’. This tour also has some hills in it but these are mostly shorter and easier than the ones in the Ardennes so I’m not expecting a lot of problems here. We will also climb ‘De muur van Geraardsbergen’, a famous hill also featured in the Tour of Flanders. I really like this one because at the top of the hill is a small chapel and for me that’s the sign to get out of my saddle and give it my all. And isn’t that what’s riding is all about ?
