You may be wondering if there is any rhyme or reason to my cycling route lately. I am not following any Eurovelo bike route and I am not hitting any tourist hot spots. On a whim a few weeks ago, I signed up to do a Sprint Triathlon in Bütgenbach, Belgium this coming Saturday (27 July) so I have been making my way there.
I am excited and a little nervous for the triathlon. Obviously, I am not horribly concerned about the cycling portion. But, I haven’t gone for a run or a proper swim in a while. Ah well, surely, I won’t drown. Right?
After yesterday’s exhausting ride I was kind of regretting my previous planning decision to take a ride out of the way today to Pepinster, then to have to backtrack tomorrow to Bütgenbach. I even considered trying to cancel and just head straight to Bütgenbach today so I could rest tomorrow before the race, but there was nowhere to stay in town.
I also considered changing plans because it is pretty warm here at the moment. Like rubber melting, old people dying, heat stroke warm. On the plus side, I have a killer bike glove tan.
The ride was pretty hilly again today and started off with a big climb out of St Vith. Eventually I found my way onto a nice bike path and coasted along that for quite a while. Mostly it was paved, but rough gravel in some areas. My bike was making a mildly concerning squeal but nothing appeared to be wrong upon inspection.
I passed through some big tunnels that were kind of dark and creepy but also so cold I didn’t care that I couldn’t see the light at the other end.
As I was riding along in peace on the cycle path in the woods I began to hear loud motor noises. I figured there was perhaps a go-karting place or a motocross area just off the path. The noise grew louder and I thought the track must be so close that something might fly off the road and crash into me at any moment. Finally, a gap in the vegetation revealed it was a car racing track and it looked hopping. I stopped to watch for a moment and then cycled on to try to get to an exit to the road to go see what was going on.
Turns out this was the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps where the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix is going to be held at the end of August! Right now there is a four day event going on, Total 24 Hours of Spa. I was very tempted to buy a 30 euro ticket and spend the afternoon watching the racing.
After an existential debate I decided I should carry on as I was only halfway to my destination and it was no doubt going to get much hotter as the afternoon went on. I likely wouldn’t want to haul my ass up more hills for another 30 km after an afternoon at the races.
So, I carried on. Mildly busy roads accompanied by a massive climb uphill and an even more epic downhill. I didn’t check the speed on my Ride with GPS app, but I think I was going alarmingly fast down the 8% slope. All I could think about as I was flying down was, that which goes down must come up. I was nervous about what lay ahead of me.
At the bottom of the hill I arrived in Spa. It was a nice town with cool buildings. I happened upon a bike store and stopped in to have my tires checked. The guy working there touched my tires and said, “they are so hot.” Oh yeah, I hadn’t really considered how close my tires probably were to exploding coming down that hill…
Luckily, there was no more climbing after Spa and it wasn’t too far to Pepinster from there. I don’t know why I chose to stay in Pepinster, really. I think I had just randomly picked a location about 60 km from St Vith, and landed on Verviers. However, there was nowhere available to stay there so I just found a town close to it. Ergo, I am now in the little Belgian town (street) of Pepinster.
Sure, there isn’t a lot going on here but I obtained a chocolate milk at Carrefour supermarket and my hotel has air conditioning. Really, that is all I need right now.
I was just about to head out into the afternoon heat, try not to melt, and walk the short length to the train station to inquire about taking my bike on the train tomorrow to get to, or at least part of the way to, Bütgenbach, when the rain started. Shortly after I heard the thunder. Then I googled the weather for the next couple of days… not looking too great as far as triathlon weather goes.
DOTD
No dogs as per definition, but I was pretty dogged after today.
An Idiot Broad Abroad 