War Memorial

Spring finally arrived this weekend and since I was off from work today, I took my Z Pro for a spin this afternoon. First time I wore my shorts and my short sleeve bike shirt today, only a few white clouds in a blue sky and the sun. And a mild breeze, of course, which was pretty tough to ride against. I took off against the wind, as usual, and rode on the tow path near the canal until Dessel, where 2 main canals cross. Because the weather turned out to be so nice, a lot of bikers had the same idea. I crossed the border with the Netherlands to return via Postel. Now there's a bicycle path that runs straight through the forest over there near the border and halfway, there's a War Memorial. I've seen it a dozen of times, but never took the time to stop and see what's it all about. Until today. Turns out that in WW II, in the night of June 21-22 1944, a British airplane crashed over there. They put up the Memorial in September 2006 to remember the locals who risked their lives to rescue and hide the only survivor from the crash.

My ride was about 50 miles and average speed was almost 18 mph. If it wasn't for the wind, my average speed would've been higher, but that's only a lousy excuse, no ;-) ?

The War Memorial in Postel

Back on the road again ....

Due to circumstances, I did not ride my Z Pro much these last months. In fact, since I returned from my short holiday in Germany last December, I did not ride it at all. Mostly because of the weather; winter was mild when it came to temperatures, but pretty wet. Only last week, the weather finally turned around and I took the Z Pro out of the garage. Only to find out that I should have cleaned the bike more appropriate ! There was a lot of rust everywhere : on the chain, most of the bolts, even the spokes, although they are black, show some sign of corrosion where they cross each other. Guess riding on the German roads when they were salted to prevent them from freezing, was not so good for my bike ! Anyway, I only have myself to blame for this negligence, so I tried to find some replacement stainless steel bolts. I went to almost every hardware store in the neighbourhood, only to find out that they were not available ! Gee .... Guess I'll have to look on the internet to find me some SS or aluminum replacement bolts. Why don't bikes come with SS or aluminum bolts when you buy them ??? Maybe that would make them too expensive, but still ...

My other CF bike, the 700X, is now exactly how I want it and is a blast to ride ! Shifting the Alfine hub is precise and very light. It is a bike you can ride anywhere, just as long as you keep cranking the pedals. Last week I took it to the local trail to test ride it and it went pretty well ! Only on tight corners, the length of the bike makes you realize that you're riding something different than a mountain bike. The other thing I'm still not used to when riding trails, is that you cannot clamp the saddle between your tights, like a regular bike. Still wasn't as fast as the others on their mountain bikes on the trail, but hey, give me a couple of more months and I'll keep up !

Not a pretty sight ....