Might as well take advantage of what nature offers. Gets the dog walked too!
Tag Archives: Belgium
Christmas Eve cycle ride – cobbles and battles
Christmas Eve was one of the few times since I started working in Belgium that I have been for a bike ride that was “just a spin”, a proper touring ride through the local lanes.
Previous rides have almost all had a purpose – exploring areas to live, visiting houses and more recently plotting routes to work or to local services. I feel as if I have been waiting weeks for free time to coincide with some gaps in the rain or snow and it just happened to be the afternoon of Christmas Eve.
I decided to cut though the lanes in the general direction of Waterloo, partly because the network of roads look interesting on the map and also because I wondered how much I could ride around the historic site of the 1815 battle.
It was really refreshing to be pottering about and with time to take some photos. When I returned three impressions were left on my mind.
Firstly I was good to be moving at bike speed through the villages and hamlets rather than by car so I could enjoy the vernacular architecture glowing in the winter sunshine, especially the white painted farmhouses which dot the fields and the solid brick churches marking the village centres.
Battles are not really my thing but I want to know more about my new home and the Battle of Waterloo is by far the biggest deal in this region, undoubtedly one of the most pivotal battles in European history. The main Waterloo battlefield is actually south of the town itself and include the communes of Braine L’Alleud and Lasne while the events leading up to the battle stretch many kilometres away to Wavre and Genappe, right across the area I am now living.
I was first aware that I had hit the battlefield proper when I came across the first of many roads named after the troops and leaders of in the battle. And then bouncing across the cobbles and potholes I looked up from my concentration on the road ahead to see the Butte de Lion, the huge pyramid -like mound built by William 1st of the Netherlands to mark the event.
It isn’t the most attractive memorial in the world but it is certainly a major landmark in the surrounding agricultural landscape which only dips away gradually. At least around its base there is only a limited amount of tourist exploitation while the older buildings mark their association with the flags of all sides and not much other adornment.
However the thing that really struck me was that I could ride right up beside the monument and then head out across the fields on my bike, I am sure in most countries this would be closely guarded and only accessible by paying customers. Alongside the path were interpretation boards in multiple languages which set out the main features of the battle. I was able to swing across the ridge defended by the British against the French cavalry charges accompanied by several joggers and the car we collectively pushed out of the mud in a burst of international collaboration.
So I can mark that one down as somewhere to bring cycling visitors with an interest in history, a bike is a really good way to move around the big area covered by the battle and get a sense of the topography.
Ah, but there is a catch. My third and final discovery was the state of the roads in this direction. I may have moaned a bit about rough cycle paths earlier in the year but for the first time on this trip I hit some of the real stuff, proper domed pavé with deep ruts down either side. Front lamp lasted about a minute before it had to be removed but the rest of the bike and I rattled bumped and bounced all over the place with little semblance of control or momentum. Only a relatively short section fortunately but it caught me by surprise.
Later I tried my best to imitate Tom Boonen, going full bore down the centre crest on a similar section which seemed to work better but it was tough keeping it going and no fun at all when momentum was lost. A few of the minor roads are theoretically smooth now but when the tarmac wears away the thinly covered cobbles are exposed and make impressive potholes, a tricky combination after all the wet weather.
In other areas the cobbling is more decorative, in fact it looks like it is used as a sort of traffic calming because many of the road junctions and village entrances had short sections in just the right places to discourage car speed. These more modern sections are relatively tame for a cyclist and in general the drivers show a lot of respect to cyclists, certainly better than in Brussels.
All in all I loved my return to pottering about the lanes and the discovery of the countryside, the history and even those cobbles. I look forward to much more, but for the moment I was refreshed for Christmas.
A cycling country for hard riders – where cyclocross is a major sport
I always knew Belgium was mad for cycle sport and that it is the main home of the winter variant of the sport – cyclocross. It’s a much older offroad cycle sport than mountain biking, carried out on adapted road bikes.
But I have been highly entertained as for the second week in a row I have bumped into cyclocross on live TV as a major event of the day and the Dutch speaking radio station I had on while cooking a meal led with the cross results as the lead sports headline. A nice bonus, I had been anticipating watching some of the Belgian road classics later in the spring but I had forgotten all about the cyclocross.
Today showed why this has always been an event for hard riders, historically mainly men. The kind of rider who likes to keep a clean bike and mechanical perfection would recoil in horror from the pouring rain, the ankle deep mud and the grinding sand. Perfectly suited to the image of Belgium as the country of riders on and off road who like conditions really horrible.
Today’s Superprestige series race at Diegem had the added twist of being run off under floodlights and street lamps only enhancing the sense of being closed in by the storm. And despite the conditions it appeared to attract a good crowd. All the pictures are on copyrighted sites so I won’t put one here, but try here for some good ones.
I loved cross when I was a kid, I was absolutely useless at it because I lacked the power and strength to be any good. But when it turned really horrible I was always worth a few extra places just because it put off some of the speed merchants. So in the middle of the wettest winters ever in northern Europe I am very happy to be tucked up indoors and to salute the kings of the mud. I guess before the season ends I had better get myself out there and actually watch one.
Lines
Image
I captured this image just before the farmer cleared the rest of the field.
No special story, I just loved the mixture of textures in the afternoon light.
Today’s music to ride bikes by: “Slip sliding away”. Must change that tyre!
I haven’t updated my “Music to ride bikes by” blog page in ages, I think my head has been too full of other stuff for songs to sneak in and take over.
Not today!
Within minutes of starting to pick my way through the fresh fallen snow even my intense concentration was taken over by Paul Simon’s “Slip sliding away”.
There is little doubt that it was prompted by my two wheeled behaviour. The Belgian schoolboys trudging alongside the road were highly entertained by the chap doing a 180 degree spin in front of them and wobbling off down the hill sliping from side to side.
No real risk, a friend has given me an almost car free back route to the station. But I am a victim of my own complacency. I am a huge fan of the puncture proof Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, over 10 years since I first reviewed them for the CTC magazine and still puncture free. But this does mean I put them on the bike and completely ignore them until the carcass completely falls apart. This is exposed at some point each year when the bike becomes mysteriously unstable on mud, snow or ice and I finally look down to discover the rear is completely bald.
Today appears to have been that day, thus Paul Simon is now in my head for the rest of the day.
Over to you Paul.
What else would today’s Belgian train be made of other than chocolate?
Just walking through the main Brussels station, not really paying attention because it was early in the morning and I was off to the Netherlands.
So I did an almightly double-take when my path was crossed by a huge model train, in fact two model trains with absolutely wonderful detailing. Made of chocolate! And a world record apparently, over a tonne in weight and 30 metres long.
Now that is how to celebrate your national obsession with chocolate. I’ll have one of these for Christmas please Santa.
Mysteriously fewer cyclists at the station yesterday morning?
This platform normally full at this time – and the bike shed too!
First snows of the winter – probably would not have put off the Danes or the Dutch. But I made it down from the country lanes, although not without a few wobbly moments.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
Beautiful skies on Sunday’s walk.
And the temptation – because the tiny sign to the left of the trees means there is a path up there. One I haven’t walked or ridden yet. One for the future.
Cannot beat cycling to work on a forest road with a layer of golden beech leaves #magiccarpet
The middle of one of my new commuting routes, before I hit the roads of Brussels (sigh)
Blogging in temporary suspense
Belgian telecoms companies being a law unto themselves I have no internet at home at the moment. It seems it takes as many technicians to get a line to a rural spot as it does cyclists to fix a puncture.
Haven’t quite mastered posting via my Blackberry so I am stuck with the dilemma – start blogging after work or go home to my wife who is struggling to put together a new house?
Hardly a choice is it, but I am building up some nice material for the dark winter nights!
Follow me on twitter @maynekevin but otherwise a cheery holding photo from Brussels – great street art!
Brussels had a lazy Sunday morning on Wednesday. So let’s go cycling!
The first part of last week I was working in Brussels, but I was completely thrown by discovering a Belgian public holiday on Wednesday when I had planned to work. I still can’t get out of my British habit of assuming all public holidays are on Mondays and I certainly haven’t got any knowledge of Belgian holiday dates in my head yet.
However this prospect quickly turned to optimism because the weather was forecast to be great, I was staying close to a good route out of the city – and best of all Brussels likes a lie in:
Even on normal work days I find this is a city that is slow to get started. The urban commute is squeezed into a relatively narrow window and very few people even consider early starts in their workplaces. I anticipate Brussels folks being really shocked by the number of suits already at the main London stations by 7am on most weekdays, let alone 8 or 9. I am almost always the only cyclist on the roads before 8 here and when I have been here on weekends and public holidays I know that the lie in is always extended, even better during school holidays.
I love early morning bike rides so I was up and away on Wednesday knowing that the place was going to be deserted and I could come back and knock off a few hours undisturbed work too.
First heading south through Bois de la Cambre which is a popular and attractive large park. Crazily its perimeter roads have been allowed to become part of a car commuting racetrack on weekdays, but at least they are closed on public holidays and weekends so they were very welcoming today. The park pavilion 
was optimistically offering its deck chairs to all comers, but it would be several hours before they were needed.
The mansions of the wealthy that edge the park and the surrounding routes to Forêt de Soignes looked appropriately exclusive in the morning light, but I also felt exclusive to have a four lane boulevard almost 
to myself – extraordinarily quiet for a big city.
And then into the forest (Zoniënwoud in Flemish). I have quickly discovered this area for morning and evening rides since I started working here. It is great that just 6km from the centre of the modern capital city this area there is a forest of over 4000 hectares, stretching across the southeast of the city as a green belt. It is disturbed only by a few roads and unfortunately the motorway which does bring some resented noise to the tranquillity. Wikipedia tells me that like many such forests it has been eroded over the years, not least by Napoleon but now I am told it is one of the successes of Belgian political gridlock – the forest is split over the regions of Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia and nobody is going to let Brussels expand into their territory.
I can strike out through the woods on the signposted round Brussels greenway and a number of other better surfaced tracks, or as much as my small wheeled folding bike will allow I like go off on the dirt tracks and side paths discovering dips, hollows and tranquil ponds in ancient woodland settings. I do get some funny looks from the mountain bikers, not too many small wheelers in here.
On Wednesday after well over an hour of bouncing around I returned to a recent discovery, the smooth asphalt surface of the Dreve des Tumuli, a beautiful car free route that swoops and climbs through the forest contours back to the edge of the city and my ride home.
On this day I had seen almost no one except a few dog walkers but as I returned it was approaching 9am and the first cycle tourists were beginning to wander out sleepily. By the time I got to Bois de la Cambre the jogging community was in full flow. Maybe it was to avoid the later heat, or just an ingrained daily habit which gave them the best of the day – but where are the cyclists? Perhaps by lunchtime many more will be out in Forest de Soignes along with the walkers and families however I am told it is rarely crowded.
But on Wednesday it was nice to believe it was almost exclusively mine. Thanks Brussels.
Googlemap of the area below
Brussels cycle lanes – taking the rough with the smooth
Last week’s trip to Amsterdam prompts me to revisit one of my pet rants.
The surface of cycle lanes in Brussels.
Typical state of Brussels cobbles
There was lots of cycling on cobbled streets in Amsterdam and in Brussels. I like a nice cobbled street, even if it does play havoc on a small wheeled folding bike. Cobbles are part of Belgian cycling folklore, you can’t be a Flandrian icon without that background as a hard man of the pavé. So I’ll forgive the truly diabolical state of repair of the cobbles in what is supposed to be the capital of Europe.But why, oh why do so many Brussels cycle lanes have to be made of tiled surfaces? It’s an awful surface, effectively a pavement for bikes. And mostly built beside smooth, welcoming tarmac.
Avenue de Tervuren cycle path
Harder to ride on, difficult and expensive to maintain, really unwelcoming.The most frustrating stretch I have found was on Avenue de Tervuren, the Tervurenlaan. Direct cycle route all the way to Brussels, nicely segregated from the main road. But every bone in my body wants me to move to the welcoming tarmac beside me rather than stay on the tiles.
This looks really inviting, doesn’t it?
I am house hunting out here at the moment but the idea of this being the first 5km of my daily commute is a bit depressing.It’s not as if there is a design standard that stops them.
There are much better examples – to the north of Brussels a new section around an industrial estate and to the south in Walloon Brabant a lovely smooth descent through the rhododendrons near Chateau de La Hulpe which is more common out in this province. Critics will say that it is deficient because it isn’t properly segregated, but frankly this is supposed to be the transport of delight, you shouldn’t need to be hard man of Flanders to bike to work.
A welcoming cycle lane on road to La Hulpe
Proper tarmac cycle lane!
“So long, and thanks for all the fish”*
While I have been on holiday for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to summarise my thoughts about leaving CTC, and asking myself if it is fair to them (and me) to comment while looking back.
But then tonight I read a quote from Eddie Merckx in William Fotheringham’s new book “Half man, half bike” 
“When something is your passion and you can make it into your profession that is the most beautiful thing anyone can have”
So not only was he the greatest cyclist we have ever seen, this man of Belgium produced a quote that sums up far better than my mumblings what I tried to say to the Council, staff and members of CTC in various forums as I left.
When I was a kid I had Eddie Merckx posters on my wall alongside the 1970s stars of Ipswich Town FC, he was a godlike figure. And while it was quickly clear that this spindly asthmatic kid was never going to be a top bike racer I could dream a bit. And in 1998 CTC gave me that chance to be a professional cyclist in my own way, to have what Merckx calls the “most beautiful thing.”
So thank you to the Council members who took my breath away in 1997 when Tom Lamb phoned to offer me the job, and to everyone I worked with over the last 14 years. To my amazing staff team, I meant what I said at my leaving gig, never for one moment did I doubt that every one of you places the interest of cycling at the heart of what you do. Of all the bits of management training I have had over the years the bits on motivation theory were totally wasted on you all, it was stopping some of you working too hard that was a bigger problem.
And to the members and volunteers I mean what I said in the CTC magazine, it is your enthusiasm that makes all this possible.
Thanks. I look forward to working with you and for you in other ways, but few of us ever get to say that they truly got to do their dream job. Spot on Eddie.
*Douglas Adams “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” 1978 and subsequent books, films and plays. Another godlike genius.
So long, and thanks for the bike – see below
I Do Not Despair 