A logbook of mountain biking — gear that earns its place, trails worth the drive, and the numbers behind the rides. Maintained out of Brussels by someone who refuses to admit the gravel bike is enough.
today's line — La Roche-en-Ardenne
The road bike taught me about watts. The mountain bike taught me about commitment.
You can fake a road ride. Sit on a wheel, soft-pedal up the climb, ride home and call it a session. You cannot fake singletrack. The forest doesn't care about your FTP. There's a rock garden, and there's the ground, and the only thing in between is whether or not you saw the line two seconds ago.
That's the contract. Show up, look ahead, commit. The reward is the kind of quiet that only arrives after you've been genuinely afraid for thirty seconds.
No moral judgments here, just what the head unit recorded between March and now. Updated on Sundays.
Five spots within driving distance of Brussels. Ratings are personal, mood-dependent, and almost certainly wrong by next season.
The closest thing Belgium has to a real mountain experience. Loamy, rooty, occasional rock features that punish anything less than a 130mm fork. Park at the centre, ride out via the orange loop, and pretend you're somewhere else for four hours.
The river bends so dramatically that every climb earns you a view that doesn't seem like it belongs to this country. Long days possible. Bring food; the village at the bottom of the descent might or might not have a baker that day.
The home trail. Beech cathedrals, sandy switchbacks, the occasional surprise root that has unseated three friends. Good for after-work hour-long efforts. Stay on signed MTB routes — the rest is for hikers and we are guests.
Boggy, exposed, weather-dependent. When it works, it feels Scottish. When it doesn't, it feels like a mistake you made on purpose. Bring a real jacket, not the one from your road bag.
Family holiday cover for what is functionally a riding trip. Lift-served descents, lake at the bottom, pizza available within 200m of the chalet. The Tour stages here for a reason.