It was 4 December 2009 when I ruptured my knee tendon in the right knee by a mountainbiking accident. Indirectly, this was caused by an earlier fall on 27 September 2009, which also landed me in hospital. i was enjoying myself when it happened: it was 5 degrees Celsius, with rain and mud. I was cycling about 15km/h when my rear wheel slipped and I fell. Only, I was trying not to fall by compensating with my knee. In fact, it turns out that if you do that with your knee bent and exert a lot of force, it is possible to rupture your knee tendon.

So there I was lying on the ground with my knee cap about 10cm above the place where it usually was. I could straighten my leg using my arms but walking was impossible. I tried it and fell again. So I called the emergency number telling them exactly where I was using GPS coordinates. Still, they had a lot of trouble finding me. Luckily, after about 30 minutes (it was already getting dark), I saw a woman who was letting out her dog. Turns out that they lived quite close by; about 300 metres.

With the help of the woman’s husband I finallly managed to get out of the forest and the ambulance so pick me up at their home. To make a long story short, I was operated the next day, followed by a cast for 7 weeks. When the cast came off on 22nd January, I could start to exercise the knee again. In the beginning it would only bend very little but with a lot of exercise I quickly reached 90 degrees of bend.

A few weeks after that I could start cycling again on a home trainer with reduced crank size. And after that doing more and more strenght exercises.

Currently, I am already commuting to work again by bike and it is not a problem to cycle 70km a day on the recumbent bike. Unfortunately, still not able to go mountainbiking. In some areas I am still missing some strenght (in particular going down the stairs). The strenght is coming back but it is going slowly. I have set a criterion for myself which is to be able to run at least for 30 minutes without problems while running and afterwards. Not quite there yet. I can run for 14 minutes on a tred mill. So, recovery is going well but is slow. I still see changes on a weekly basis. If all goes well I will be able to go mountainbiking again in a couple of months (after summer).

After some weeks of training to get a little into shape  I finally tried my first real MTB Marathon in the Belgium Ardennes: “les Cimes Des Waimes” it is a MTB marathon that is part of the belgium EBMC challenge together with three other large MTB marathons.

I was already staying in the ardennes with some friends in Han Sur Lesse so to get at the start at 9:05 we had to leave our bed early (6:30) together with Jan-Willem I drove to Waimes where we arrived just in time for the official start. We decided to bike the 50km and that was a good choice, Because of the bad weather of the last days some parts of the route where very very muddy. As can be seen in the picture below.

Also the 4 “Cimes” that where part of the 50km where difficult to climb and I just managed to get at the top of the Ovifat ski-hill.

But there where also a lot of really nice single trails downhill.

after biking 50km I was happy to arrive back at Waimes to get warm again and eat a tasty pasta. Furthermore I really have to compliment the organization of this marathon they did an excelent job in marking the route and stopping the cars when we had to cross a road. Also the 2 stops had a large variety of food and some live music !

After some time also Ernst arrived at the finish (he biked the 75km, respect..) and after a nice beer Jan-Willem and I went back to our camping spot in Han sur lesse and shared our adventures with the rest of the group there and went to bed early to recover from this nice day of biking.

I really enjoyed myself and looking forward to the other MTB marathons I’m going to ride (Limburg mooiste, Raid des sorcieres)

Just wanted to come back with some details on my tentative to start running as a separate exercise … and so I did.  Around 2 months ago I have started with my first 5 km throwing me after in some painfull days, as my muscles could not bare it . But slowly, slowly I did reached 10 km. Then I went for the time getting quicker and quicker, better and better every day .  Well, running seems a bit boring then mtb, but believe me it is much easier to practice as you just need some shoes and some sportive outfit. It involves no cleaning up, no long runs, no fixing bike, etc..

But.. let’s go to the results. I have made so far two marathons: On in Amsterdam (16 km) and one in Romania (14 km but this was a bit hilly with 500 height meters – well they have it here too  )

http://www.zuidasrun.nl/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=171&Itemid=86

http://www.ecomarathon.ro/rezultate

(just search for Todea )  –> the result is that the bikers can run too

This neatly sums up Reli and my adventures Sunday March 21st at de VTT du Sart Tilman in Angleur, close to Liège. It was supposed to be the first day of Spring, but it reminded me more of a bad day in Autumn. One of those days were you almost immediately regret the decision that you have taken the 55km route at the 45/55 crossing.

On a positive note: it really is nice biking in this area, lots of technical climbs and descents. Definitely worth another visit, when the conditions are little better.

Have a look at the photos to get an impression. Check out the results if you want to see how long it took us to complete 55km.

I have started running and biking at the same time. This made it to complex to handle and visualize the progress.. so I have searched for a techky solution.. HERE IS IT

http://www.garmin.nl/product/?pid=010-00467-01

The Garmin Forerunner 305 is wonderful “not so” pricey tool that can be setup in different profiles and with multiple features. The best one is the possibility to “compete” against yourself. This makes the trainning a  bit more interesting…

Or in dutch “word mountainbiker”

become a Mountainbiker

That’s the title of a new book I’ve bought, ok, I know you can not become a mountainbiker by reading books about it but I like this particular book. It’s written by sven nys, roel paulissen and roel van schalen and describes all kind of aspects of mountainbiking disciplines and parts that are used on the mountainbike.

It is a bit a book for beginners and maybe not that interesting for all of us but I particulary like two things. The first is the description of the 10 best moutainbike marathons from all over the world that roel paulissen has competed in and the second part is the simple training schema for biking mountainbike trips around 60 km. (and on the their website also schemas for 100 km trips www.starttosport.be)

I just started this week with the 10 week schema to be able to ride a mountainbike marathon of 60km. This should help me in getting in to shape (after these 10 weeks we will go to compete in limburg mooiste a nice mountainbike marathon in limburg) I know it would have been better to train also in the winter period a bit more, but I hope to get into shape with this training scheme. (training is about 4 to 5 times in a week so I hope I can keep it up these 10 weeks….)

After many many kilometers I have decided to go for another bike…  I did not wanted to choose from any other bike type then Garry Fisher, as the frame fits my style perfect.

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I know, 2010 has only just started, and we have seen quite a bit of snow and ice already (and there may be more to come still), but before you know it spring has arrived! And spring time means, … yes you guessed right: mountain biking!

Well for me it does, anyway. And I also know already where I want to ride (more or less.) If you don’t, or are simply looking for ideas, please check Upcoming Events. And of course you are welcome to add your own!

/Ernst

The Beginning

Bart Brentjes was the “last of the titans” for this year and we really got what we deserved. After a year of nice weather and dry routes, we had the “perfect storm” to face this time.

We started, as usual, early, because me and Ernst decided last year to go for the 100 km race. Well, this was easier said then done … we had a full year of 100 km rounds to keep training for this distance.  Bart and the rest (sorry Erik for not being able to participate) went for the 70 km. BBQ was arranged, as every year, at my place…

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