LANGDORP

For those who have spent any time riding in Flanders, the name Langdorp is usually associated with some of the best mountain biking north of Wallonie. So that means, when it's toertocht time, there are going to be WAY TOO MANY riders on the trails. Such was the case recently when Peter T and I met up in Aarschot for the Langdorp Toertocht.

Peter looking sharp in his new embrocation kit


Its reputation is pretty well deserved; there are plenty of fun pieces of singletrack. And if you didn't know the area, and didn't do an organized ride like this, you'd have a hell of a time figuring out a loop. So we paid our 3.5 euros and clipped in. I was on the singlespeed, fat and out of shape. Peter was on his fancy new niner race bike, pretty much in shape. So there was a disparity there.

But, there were a lot of people. And flemish mountain bikers, especially those who ride in the winter, don't go downhill very well, or very fast. So we weren't able to give'r like we would have normally...give'ner


I've done quite a few tochts now but I'm still constantly amused by what passes for a mountain bike here in Flanders. The Magura HS-33 brake still rules supreme. But whatever. As long as it has two wheels. I've certainly made a fool of myself on the north shore on more than one occasion.


One highlight was my first crash in months. It's almost impossible to crash in northern Belgium. But I was doing something stupid on a steep-ish descent that was all soft sand. Felt good to hit the ground.


Yeah, another good ride. I think we did 40k, and were pretty spent by the end. Fun trails, albeit totally overcrowded. It could be an argument for coming earlier next time? Or just learning the loops on one's own.

A hot room full of sweaty bodies

Filthy Trails

This is an older one. Back in..September? I was in Belgium for a week and Joop was just across the border, so we met up in Maasmechelen, right across the Maas river from Maastricht, Holland. Filthy trails was one of the premier "free ride" locations in Belgium, supposedly. We decided to go and judge for ourselves.


Completely devoid of mountains, especially where we were in the north of Belgium, trail builders have to be creative. In our region there are several huge mounds that are the remnants of the mining era. Filthy Trails was built on and around a couple of these mounds. We pulled into the parking lot just as a couple were donning armor to go ride the most extreme trails in belgium...


The freeride section is actually just a tiny part of a large wooded area with a handful of cycling and walking routes. All of which are unbelievably boring. The filthy trails themselves are short, and although they feature some good woodwork and fun sections, you could feasibly do 10 runs in about 40 minutes. Whatever. It was challenging and technical and fun. For a few minutes. The rest of the time we wandered around the woods and climbed up to the top of the tallest mound.



Which was actually the highlight of the day. At the top there was a pretty decent view of most of Limburg, the Maas, Maastricht, and the old mines. Burned some calories, finally saw filthy trails, and hung out with Joop. So all in all, a good day.

Belgians in the desert

After a recent trade show in Las Vegas, I headed out into the desert with a couple of friends to ride some of the best trails this planet has to offer. While Las Vegas may be hell on earth, some of the most unbelievable riding is only hours away. In previous years we had done Moab, Brianhead, Sedona. This year we were returning to Hurricane to do Gooseberry mesa.

The road train out of vegas


A new twist this year - the Belgians were coming. Peter and Gino had spent the week looking at bikes and draining Las Vegas of its alcohol supply. Peter had done some riding on the west coast, Tahoe, Oakridge, etc., but this was his first foray into the sands of Utah. Gino, well...Gino was scared of big tires and full suspension. Coming with us for the first half of this two-day adventure was Semmyo from Japan, my eternal rival and superfit salaryman.

Departing Saturday noon-ish from Vegas, the goal was to hustle straight to the trailhead and ride gooseberry before it got dark. Catch #1 - Semmyo had a brand new bike and it needed hardware to mount the calipers to the frame. Stopping at the bike shop. Catch #2 - the front brake needed to be bled and basically didn't stop. Damn. Whatever, we decided to go for it anyway. Luckily, just as we were finishing, Greg and Wes and the REI junket finished their ride, and Karl was kind enough to loan us his full suspension ride, complete with working brakes. Thanks Karl!

Chaos at the trailhead


And so to the trail we went. For those who haven't ridden gooseberry, it's a big plateau of undulating slickrock. You roll around a physically demanding skate park made completely of stone for about an hour, until you pop out onto the rim of the plateau and are given outstanding views of the valley below. From there, it's tasty singletrack along the edge of the cliff until you come to the point of the plateau, where we arrived right at sundown. Now, let me just say that you could not possibly pick a better time to be on that place. The colors of Zion national park behind, and all the canyons and mesas in between, were simply amazing. Sadly, it soon became dark and we had to eschew the last few miles of singletrack to boogie back on the road. Whatever. It was a fantastic ride.

Gino's belgian energy supply




The fastest japanese salaryman in utah


Gooseberry is a sea of undulating rock - beautiful and challenging




The green machine looks gooooood....


Peter gets his groove on


Gino finally started working the suspension bike


The reward was a stunning sunset at the edge of the plateau


Semmyo left to go find his stranded wife in Vegas and the Belgians and I crashed early. Morning brought a big american breakfast (Gino couldn't believe americans ate waffles for breakfast) and a drive up to the trailhead. Gino, remembering the heat from the evening before, decided to buy a camelback. Peter did not.

Hot Belgians


Sunday's ride was the JEM trail to Hurricane Rim trail loop. Completely different from Gooseberry Mesa, this is a fun loop of dusty, desert singletrack. Swoopy, technical at times, fast at others, this is a great loop to do if you can't explore higher up in the hills. Unfortunately, by 11am, when we were nearing the top of the long singletrack climb, it was hotter than hot.

Desert rules


40 degrees, to be exact. Peter had drank his one small bottle, and the small bottle I brought for him, and was dipping into my and Gino's camelbacks. It was going to be a long day... The JEM trail ended with everybody (we were riding with the entire REI posse) feeling great, turned onto the Hurricane Rim trail and things got grim... Out of water for an hour in the hot hot desert, just about everybody bonked. Gino licked drops of water out of my resevoir and became one with the desert.

But the cars were not far away and we hydrated, jumped in the hotel pool, and headed back to Vegas. From there, the Belgians flew back and I continued on to San Diego.

Landgraaaaaf

Holland. At first view, you might pass it over. You might say, "the dutch are worthless, and don't know how to make beer". Sure, they clog all the motorways in summer with their camper vans, and sure they talk too loud in public places, usually about how liberal and great Holland is. And yes, they do put peanut butter on their french fries. And ok, so maybe they're even worse than the italians at road signage. But just like anywhere else on earth, they do have some good qualities, some attractive features that compel you to visit every now and then.

A recent weekend was just one of those times. Alex somehow convinced me to go mountain biking with him and Yannick in Landgraaf, Holland. And it was brilliant. Now some of you might say, hey, Landgraaf, that's Limburg, not really Holland. But the Dutch flag flies there and the road signs are confusing, so...it must be Holland.

So those guys dragged me out at the crack of dawn to ride some Dutch singletrack. Landgraaf is waaaay down in the south-easternmost point of Holland. There's a little peninsula of Holland that sticks into Germany like a knife and Landgraaf is the tip of the blade. To rub it in, the dutch built and indoor ski resort there.

Alex does his pre-ride Yoga


When you park at the soccer field/sports centrum in Landgraaf, there's a trailhead with a trail map and 3 loop alternatives. We set out on loop "#2", a 30km jaunt through the woods. Alex had his fitness on as always and man-handled the Blaze up and down with ease. Yannick immediately impressed by executing a steep descent flawlessly, a tasty sample of what was to come. In fact, the trails there in Landgraaf were real, bonafide mountain bike trails. Not straight, flat, wide bridle trails like we get here in Belgium.

Yannick gets his groove on


Alex takes risks when he rides. Sometimes that puts him on the ground


Yannick puts all fingers on the brake levers


Is Alex going fast? Or is the photo just blurry....


DA getting a bit sassy on the single speed


Being in a densely populated country, the trails were broken up by plenty of asphalt sections, but for the most part it was ripping through the woods on fun, and remarkably well-marked, singletrack. Well done, Holland!

Just when you think it's ok in Holland, you see this...