Amblève

Any day that starts with a blue sky and fine, cool weather is a promising sign for a group of cyclists. Knowing that our ride today would be easier than the previous day, I decided to firmly put my foot in my mouth and announce that "today will be a good day". And that was true for about the next 5 minutes until the first disaster struck.

As we were assembling near the garage, getting ready to unload our bikes, someone that I will call Pascale (mainly because that is her name after all), broke the garage door. For some obscure reason she decided to press the emergency stop button, right when the door was neither up or down. The result was pretty predictable - the door got firmly stuck half way.

What followed over the next 20 minutes was quite amusing, as a range of Ghostriders (all men) thought they could solve the problem by just randomly pressing any buttons they could find. Of course none of them had any effect. The door was still stuck. Members of staff came with tools and screwdrivers. The lock was dismantled. The door was still stuck. Maybe the only ones who can actually unstick the door is the local fire brigade ?

Faced with this Turvey caused catastrophe, we had no alternative other than to get the bikes out through the 40 cm gap. I had never seen the spectacle of cyclists doing the limbo with their ebikes, but that is what we all saw today.

Eventually all the bikes were out in the sunshine, and only a moderate amount of additional damage caused to the door in the process. It was time to get going.

Today we split into two groups. The first was led by Carol (assisted by Pascale) and the second was led by Allan (assisted by myself). Just as we were about to start, David made the unfortunate discovery that his bike would not turn on. Thirty minutes of battery swapping, bike kicking, button pushing and oath uttering got us exactly nowhere. The bike was well and truly dead.

A call to Erik resulted in a promise that a replacement bike would be sent - all the way from Maastricht. Since it was going to take a long time, all the remaining riders climbed on their bikes and left David forlornly standing in the alleyway, next to the broken door and several garbage bins.

Of course, the ladies had long since exhausted their patience and left at least an hour earlier. Even pelotonic unity has its limits.

Apart from the troublesome start, we were soon riding along some of the very best paths we had experienced so far. With its smooth surface and shady canopy of trees overhead, this really was close to cycling heaven.

We had previously stocked up with lovely baguette sandwiches before leaving Bastogne, and we stopped to enjoy these at about the halfway point through the ride. At around 550 m above sea level, it was also the highest point of the day's ride.

What followed was an elevation drop of around 200 m, over a distance of about 10 km. Needless to say the riding was easy and gentle.

The 68 km ride finished with a final gentle climb to Sankt Vith and our lovely hotel for the night. The Hotel Steineweiher was set at the end of a long winding driveway, and was surrounded by acres of manicured lawns and lakes. It was the perfect location to enjoy an afternoon drink in the gardens.

The ladies group eventually arrived about 90 minutes later, still laughing about all the adventures they had shared during the day. They had also somehow managed to ride an additional 7 km, which probably explained why they were so tired at the end.

And as for David ? We had almost forgotten about him. Apparently his replacement bike did arrive around noon. He jumped on it and started pedaling like a lunatic (in other words, the way he always rides). Sometime during the afternoon, he flew past the ladies peloton at warp speed, and disappeared out of sight. I don't think he even saw them. When he arrived at Sankt Vith, he announced that he was "very happy" with the new bike.

Another eventful day.Read more