Biron 2010 – BE

Verblijf: Route d’Oppagne 18, 6997 Soy (Erezée)

Datum: 04/06/2010 – 06/06/2010

Bikers: Bartie, Sjakke, 5, Wouter, Hugo, Joli, Berry, Dominic, Gerry, Senne, Jef, Harry & Jakke.

REPORT WEEKEND POWERBIKERS BIRON 4-6 JUNE 2010

(for obvious reasons written in Jean-Marie Pfaff-English)

Friday 4 June

For those who followed the planning on doodle, there were no surprises, beside of Vinnie (too busy), Patrick (other priorities), Peter and Rikkie (too far away) and Schöpke (not compatible with his exhaustive training program) everyone was present. The Jakke did a rikkie (came a day later) and we had a new member for the weekend: Dominic Hatton, aka the Lance, coming from the land were kangaroos and didgeridoos were discovered and invented.
The chalet we hired was very much ok, with enough beds, a very luxurious living room, two fridges and more than enough kitchen facilities. There even was a sauna and I counted six showers! While waiting until the group was complete, we started drinking some red wine (the fridge couldn’t cool such a large amount of beer) and played some petanque.
Tired of waiting and already getting hungry, we decided to start cooking some spaghetti, which was present in large amounts. Some of us left for a short digestion-ride to Soy, to check out the brewery and the environment:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35951211 Coming back home, we noticed that Lance had arrived and already unpacked and mounted his bike, only his brakes were a bit too stiff. Everyone was checking out his material and made estimations for the day after. In the meanwhile the Coppens family nestled theirself in the salon, one of them wouldn’t get out of it to sleep for the rest of the weekend. Some beers and some trappisten were emptied and everyone went pretty early to bed.

Saturday 5 June

What a weather: sunny, dry and probably too hot to ride on a mtb. To gain some power, the day begun with a breakfast, where nothing was absent: lots of charcuterie and cheese, salads and confitures and bacon and eggs! Let the Ardennes come! The ride took us for a distance of 80km, and followed the difficult mtb-routes of Rendeux and Manhay. Immediately after the start became clear that a Garmin device to guide us through the parcours was no guarantee for not missing anything of the track, sometimes we had to make an 180° turn to get back to the track.

# rider of the day: Senne (always first above, unbeatable)
# wreck of the day: bike of Bartie (a flat one and miserable brakes)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35951204

The saturday ride also was the queensride, due to the height meters and the altitude. Lance didn’t drove us completely home as we feared, but we must admit that he rode a nice race between the best of the bunch, for a starter he did a good job. The very hot weather and the presence of the always-thirsty-family Coppens caused a first stop, where a variety of drinks was ordered, even included a Duvel (before noon!). Some had to clean themselves in the river because they dived into the mud. The terrain was very variable, with nice climbs and dito descents. The lunch-stop was at the brasserie of the Chlorophylpark, a very nice spot (with even frozen Hoegaarden glasses!), but a bit chaotic to order. Due to the incredible high temperature, we didn’t succeed to finish 10 pizza’s with 12 persons, so we had to leave with non empty dishes. Because Sjakke was as pale as Harry’s hair, and didn’t feel very well, he decided to ride back home, accompanied by Harry.

Ten brave riders went on for the rest of the route, some of it dry and some of it surprisingly muddy, some of it completely overgrown by plants. To protect us from drying out, we had to charter an old couple to give us some water, and they did a good job! After the roundabout, the majority took the main road to the Fantôme brewery, thus leaving the official track, while three tough ones completed the rest of the track. Senne, Wouter and Yoli: who out of this threesome will complete the sundayride, he will be without doubt the rider of the weekend…

Arriving at the brewery, Bartie had the same colour as an etiquette of white Chimay, because he weared a bandana on his head. Other possible causes: 1700 height meters and 80km of Ardennes. Some completely wrecked riders recovered miraculously after drinking plenty of Fantômes, it was like the magic potion of Asterix and Obelix!

In the last km of the ride we passed “le comme chez Soy”, the Michelin ranked restaurant where we planned to eat. We had to cancel our reservation because it was a bit too late, a bit too far, some were too tired and most of all: there still was plenty of spaghetti.Enjoying the evening sun on our terrace we saw the arrival of the Jakke, he would be the freshmen for tomorrow. After having tried to empty the enormous casserole of spaghetti, and the rest of the fridge, most were tired. Crashing in the sofas, while watching tennis, we didn’t even manage to stay up after midnight.

Sunday 6 June

Everyone was early out of the feathers, especially Bartie who drove to Hotton for some French bread and chocokoeken. The weather was the same as yesterday, even hotter and less wind, but rain was predicted for the evening/late afternoon. Ride statistics are for today in two files, because the manipulator of the Garmin device forgot to start the course at the starting point:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35951172
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35951166

Result: 70km and 1400hm, which is not bad at all. We did the 10th episode of the famous Stany SmolTrek, with distances up to 80km. The route was at some moments astonishing, and there was nothing to mark on at the signposting. Not even were there enough painted arrows, the organization even put extra yellow arrows, and closed the road you shouldn’t take with a white line. At the ravitaillement, there was a great choice of waffles, banana’s, oranges, sportdrinks and even beer for the volunteers. We passed the menhirs of Weris, rode through Jurassic Park and did a lot of ascents in extremely high temperatures. Some of us choose for the Playmobiltour of 30km, while the rest went for the 65km. After a while the rain came, and it cooled a bit, which was welcome. We didn’t meet so many riders anymore, possibly because we started a bit later then the rest for the large distance.

# rider of the day: Jakke (not difficult, he was still fresh)
# wreck of the day: bike of Harry (brake problem, and two flat ones)

At the arrival everything was very much ok: no queuing at the bike wash, lots of Leffe (the only minor point was that there was not enough dark Leffe) and of course plenty of sausages, prepared by a guy who looked like a sausages baker should look. After getting the trophy for the best team, we also were mentioned in the regional press for bringing the first Aussie to the Biron VTT, and then we took of for the ride home. Luckily Garmin was there to show us the shortest way, because we suffered from leffitis which results in disorientation. Coming home, showering, packing, and the weekend was over before we had it through…