Biking in Belgium

Anyone who is considering biking in Europe should seriously consider Belgium. After two weeks of a wonderful trip, I can highly recommend this as a destination. On August 30 Norm and I flew to Brussels where we met Tracy, Jim, Ron, and Craig who had just arrived from Colorado. All the bikes arrived in tact in their cozy Air Caddy boxes. After a day in Brussels to unpack bikes and recover, we drove to Oudenaarde where we met Doug from Coventry. Oudenaarde is in the western Flanders area and is the location of the Tour de Flanders. We spent a week in a lovely old hotel in the middle of town and from there explored the area. Friends of Jim's from Germany joined us the first day in order to orient us to riding in this area. The Flanders area is basically flat with some hills which provide a challenging climb. The real challenge in this area are the cobblestone streets. Believe me, you wonder why your body or bike is still in one piece after your ride on them. No one from the US will believe the number of biking trails there. A whole network of roads exist with their own roadsigns. The guys climbed the cobblestone hills that are part of the Tour de Flanders. I guess descending on the cobblestones was the real challenge. I did not try that. Riding on the flat was enough. We rode from Bruges to the sea one day and explored the WWI battlefield areas another day. And best of all the sun shone every day. Unfortunately Dougie had to leave us after the first week. The next week we went to Durbuy, a small town in the Ardennes. This is beautiful country and the riding was very different. It is mountain country with assents and descents, one after another. The countryside and small towns are fantastic. Every moment was enjoyable, even the climbs. We went to Bastogne to visit WWII memorials. Very moving. Again the weather was good, the people were friendly, and the biking was super. As good as the biking was, the meals, discussions and laughs were comparable. Everyone on the trip had a great time and we are all looking for the next adventure. The road goes on and the fun never ends.

Preparing for the Belgium ride

OK, so I know that Belgium is not part of America. However, I just want to continue the blog as part of my long-distance cycling experiences. Jim Ollson and Tracy Lenier came up with the crazy idea to ride in Europe in 2013. Jim did the research and the decision was made to go to Belgium. We want to be a part of the Tour de Flanders and ride the cobblestone roads that the big boys ride! So reservations have been made and we are all leaving August 30 and will be staying for two weeks. The riders will be Jim Ollson, Tracy Lenier and Doug Squires of Crossroads Cycling fame. Also joining us will be Ron Allum and Craig Seamans of Fredricksburg, Tx, cycling fame. Norm will be coming to participate in the non-cycling activities. Unfortunately he still has to do his on-line teaching while there. The intention of this trip is to have fun, drink many varieties of Belgium beer, see the sights, laugh a lot, and then if there is time left, cycle. Since we will be staying one week in Oudenaarde and one week in Durbury, we can enjoy the time without worrying about making it to another hotel that night. And we can pick the routes that suite us. The big boys can ride their Tour de Flanders hills while I ride the less intense routes. With my new iPhone, I should be able to take some good pictures for the blog. The last post of the picture of the bike against the car was merely a test to make sure I could still remember how to post pictures.

Getting ready for Belgium

Assault on the Carolinas

As I continue to ride into "old age," I continue to look for challenges to keep me training hard. So the first one for 2012 was the Assault on the Carolinas out of Brevard, NC. This is a metric century with 7000+ feet of elevation gain. I knew it would be a challenge because while doing a training ride there last summer, I went so slowly up one of the hills I fell over! Now that was embarrassing. So knowing I had to do that climb along with a 6 mile continuous climb over Caesars Head, I had some trepidations.

Carmichael Training Systems has an office in Brevard. So Chris Carmichael came the day before the ride and took us out for a pre-ride. That is who the gentleman is in the picture. CTS staff are all great and one of the young guys stayed with me half the ride and then my coach Tracy hung back the second half. Once again I was the last one in but you all know that I am used to that.

Saturday was the ride and what a wonderful day it was. It is just now spring in Brevard and the weather was perfect. The route was fantastic, except for the many, many climbs. But I made it up the climb I fell on the year before. And guess what. Where I fell wasn't even steep compared to the top half of the climb. There were people out there with horns and cowbells which really gave the spirit a boost. The 6 mile climb brought back memories (not so fond ones) of going to Prescott and/or Flagstaff on the XC10 ride. But I made it and for a change was not the last one in for the day. There were a handful of riders behind me and some who had to be picked up on the road. So I felt good about the whole thing.

Now on to Cashiers NC on May 5. This will be a mini-XC10 reunion with Roy, Stu, Sandy, Chris, Craig, Harold, Sam, and myself. Should be lots of fun. The big dogs are doing the century but I will stick to the metric century. It is another ride with mega-climbs.

Day 6 Wind - Day 7 Fantastic Weather and Ride

Thursday may have been the hardest day of riding for me. I had decided to go less than 20 miles because I was already tired when I left. I rode by myself and went north of town. Unfortunately the wind was coming from the south and when I turned to come back I was in big trouble. I thought the last 5 miles in was mostly downhill. I was WRONG. It was an uphill grade and 20-25 mile per hour headwind. Even the big dogs struggled with it. But I made it in and it was a good training ride.

Today was wonderful. Unbelievably there was no wind. Incredibly beautiful day. I sort of rode with the big dogs the first 6 miles. They were taking it easy to warm up and I was struggling to stay with them. But at least I got my picture with Jim Doc and Mac at the top of the hill. After that they were gone! Except for poor Gary. He decided to experience riding without a saddle. Well not on purpose. The bolt broke that was holding it on. He had to be rescued by Tracy.

It was a fantastic riding day. Mike and I decided to take our time and really enjoy the countryside. It was not about how fast or how powerful we could ride. It was about how much we enjoyed the countryside and the weather. We ended up with 43 miles which was a nice distance. This has been such a great week of riding. And the dinners with the "gang" have been so much fun as well.

Tomorrow I head home. I will drive halfway to Clinton, Mississippi. After a night there I will ride the Natchez Trace Parkway. I have heard it is very beautiful so will use Sunday to explore that. Then home on Monday.

Day 5 - Great Circle to Doss in the Wind

Another great day of riding on the great circle loop to Doss. The beauty of riding in this area is that you never have to do an out and back on the same road. There are so many perfectly good side roads that you can do a circle to almost anywhere. This was a 56 mile loop. The real secret is finding one where you have a headwind out, some crosswinds, and then a screaming tailwind coming back. This route certainly provided this. Not only was it a vicious headwind, many times it was a headwind going uphill with some short 13% grades. Quite a challenge for everyone, especially this flatlander. I do think I am getting better at climbing and descending though.

Mike, Gary, Mac, and I were riding together today. Gary found a SAG sign and tried to set up a SAG stop for us. Unfortunately he forgot the food and drinks. I guess Tracy of Crossroads will have to give him some serious lessons in organizing SAG stops. We also stopped at a winery. We couldn't convince Mac to carry several bottles of wine back for us in his Camelback. He said he doesn't drink. I don't know what that had to do with anything.

I was happy today because I found my Texas Longhorns. The horns were not as long as the ones I saw last year, but at least I got a picture of some.

The riders are typical of the types of riders you get with any group. First there are the Big Dogs (ES riders will know what I mean.) These guys warm up 2 minutes going out of town and then they become time trialists for whatever distance they are riding. There is something about their psyche that just won't let them slow down and smell the roses. I am just jealous because I can't ride like that. Then there is a fast and sane group. Some days they ride harder than others, but they will slow down once in a while. The final group is like me. (Sometimes it is only me.) We work hard but stop often and come in hours behind everyone else. But we find the SAG signs, the longhorns, and sit in the Bluebonnets.

Day 4 - Lower Crabapple and Gypsum Mine

This was an excellent ride. The skies finally cleared up after a big thunderstorm went through during the night. One of the problems when these big storms go through is the water over the roads. Fortunately most spots were just a little wet and messy so we could carefully ride through them. However at one spot, riding through would not be a good idea. So we took our shoes and socks off and Barbie carried our bikes across. Mike and I appreciated having a young, strong female helping us get across!

There were plenty of hills to ride up. Some of the grades were up to 11%. The fortunate thing is that they were short when they were that steep. And there were some great downhill runs also. The roads here are great and the traffic is low. So it is a wonderful place to ride.

Last year we saw several Texas longhorns. Unfortunately I didn't see any yet this year. But I did see a herd of goats with long horns. So that may be my only longhorn picture for the year.

Day 3 - Thunderstorms, Wind, Enchanted Mtn

I woke up this morning at 6 am listening to the rain and thunder. The weather forecast showed storm cells moving through all day along with high winds. So the decision was made that there would be no group ride and anyone who felt like it could go out on their own. By nine it was starting to look better as far as the rain. However, if you look at the picture of Barbie looking at the flag, there was a mighty wind blowing. So I decided to just tootle around town, staying close enough to get to shelter quickly if a storm came. It was actually kind of fun and very low key.

In the afternoon Barbie and I drove to Enchanted Rock State Park and climbed the .6 mile hike to the top. This is a huge rock that sticks up and the actual expansion of the rock covered by soil is larger in area than Manhattan. As you can see from Barbie's flying hair, the wind was really blowing up there. I felt like it was really possible to get blown off the mountain. But the view from there was amazing. But so much for resting when I wasn't riding. I suspect I will discover some new muscles in the morning.

The Bluebells are out in force. This is the Texas state flower and it is magnificent. Some of the fields just look like waves of blue.

More predictions of storms overnight so who knows what the weather will be tomorrow. I hope it is nice enough to ride.

Day 2 - Back to Luckenbach

Another great day of riding. There are 15 riders here, mostly from Colorado. Barbie, who had ridden cross country, is here. She is young and still working so she had to take three years to make it all the way across. She was with us in XC10. Since she lives in San Antonio she came up to ride for three days.

One of the pictures shows all of the Crossroads riders who are here. Ron, Jim, Barbie, Mac, and Jan. This was at the beginning of the ride when all 15 of us were together. Then some of the riders branched off to do 54 miles and some of us went back to Luckenbach. One of the guys had never been there so we had to expose him to the true Texas culture. The wind was blowing again today so it was a tough push going out and a thrill coming back.

The cow is Fred who is all spruced up for St. Patricks Day. We contemplated whether they would give him bunny ears for Easter. He is just out in the middle of a field that we rode by.

I was going to get a picture of baby goats because they are so cute. However, the best opportunity was at the bottom of a hill with a big climb up the other side. There was no way I wanted to lose the momentum from the downhill. So I sacrificed your seeing a cute picture in order to have a bit of a run going up.

Barbie and I were starving at the end of the ride. So we decided to go to the third best hamburger place in Texas. It was a little out of the way place 20 miles south of town. Filled with bikers and other pretty tough looking people. You should have seen the size of some of the burgers that were served! Amazing. We just had a regular cheeseburger and it was huge. I only ate half of it. But it really was good.

There is a prediction for severe storms tomorrow so it might be a short ride in the morning or no ride at all. Then the weather is supposed to be nice for the rest of the week. We will have to watch for water at the bottom of draws if it does rain a lot.

Day 1 - Luckenbach TX

What a trip. Luckenbach TX is a little one store town that has no reason to exist except for people to come in and party. Apparently there is a Willie Nelson song about it but I don't know the words. There were three of us here today who rode out there. The picture is Jim Ollson and Ron Allum. They were kind enough to ride slow enough for me to keep up with them on a 30 mile, warm the legs up, ride. There was a 20 mph steady wind so this was not an easy ride. Luckenbach was filled with bikers (remind anyone of Daytona) and others there to drink beer and party. Isn't that a cool ATM machine behind Jim and Ron. There really is an ATM in there but their is a sign to keep the outhouse door closed because the sun burns out the screen.

The remainder of the riders are coming in tonight. Everyone is from the Denver area except me. Tracy (Crossroads owner) flew down even though she cannot ride because she is recovering from surgery. It is so great to have her here.

Tomorrow I will take more pictures of the countryside because it is really pretty. Today I was just trying to keep the Big Dogs in my sights.

Does a joy of cycling lead to insanity?

Tonight I have to ask myself if a joy of long distance cycling leads to insanity. And the answer is maybe it does. Because during the last two days I drove halfway across southern USA in order to ride my bike for a week. It is a long way from the East Coast to Fredricksburg TX. It would have been at least 20 hours. However, one should not attempt to drive through Austin, TX, on a Friday afternoon. I think that added at least two hours to the trip. Actually I would rather have been riding the rumble strips and getting passed by logging trucks on 17A. ES11 riders will understand how painful that was. Other than the pain of sitting in the car for two days, it was a nice trip. The dogwoods were in bloom and there were lots of them on I20. And the peach trees are in bloom here in Fredricksburg.

The actual cycling will start tomorrow. Because this is such great country for cycling, I know it will be an enjoyable week. I am not sure how many riders will be here. We will have a great time no matter who comes. The roads and restaurants are top notch. So what more can a person ask for. Well maybe good weather (and I haven't looked at the forecast.)

I am really looking forward to a week of challenging riding in the hills. I have trained hard over the winter because we had really good weather in SC. Once again, the low country is nothing like the hills, so the legs will have to do a lot more work. It is just great to know that at my age it is possible to continue to ride and to improve slightly each year.

And the Adventure Continues

It seems like once I started wandering around the country on my bike, I didn't want to stop. So I am off tomorrow for Fredricksburg, TX, to once again tackle the hill country. I am not sure who will be there this year, however, it will be an adventure no matter who is there. And since I will probably be trailing along behind everyone, I will be able to stop, smell the roses, and take lots of pictures.

The picture is of my new bike. If you have not heard the story, when I arrived back from the East Coast trip, I took my trusty Trek in for an overhaul. The rain and the roads had been rough on it, I was sure. Well, the trusty Trek was not so trusty. Much to my surprise it had a cracked frame. Oh no..... No, the Trek warranty was not useful, at all. However, the owner of the Trek store told me I could buy whatever bike I wanted at his cost. So I didn't go looking for another brand. I really had liked the fit and ride of the Trek. So I got a 2012 and it is a beautiful bike.

I guess in Fred I will find out how good the training has been over the winter. We had a very mild winter so there is no excuse this year!

I have two days of driving to reach Fred and then the riding will begin.