About cycling

I cycle about 3400 km in a year. That’s not very much really (if you divide it by 52 weeks) so I guess it’s all I find time for, but it keeps me ticking over. My cycling falls into two categories: it’s my main means of locomotion to and from work and around town; and it’s my favourite way of taking exercise for pleasure when in Brussels.

I cycle to work pretty well every day - and more often than not back home for lunch too. I draw the line at cycling in snow (I’ve come off in it once or twice and don’t feel so confident about it) but it doesn’t snow that often here. Sometimes, if it’s raining really heavily, I may skip coming home for lunch or accept a lift from Clara. I often later regret it, because it often stops raining and I find myself stranded without my own transport. So generally, rain or shine, you’ll find me on my bike on the way to work.
Unlike in the car or on public transport, I know exactly how long it’s going to take me by bike and I don’t feel I’m being taken hostage, I feel free and in control. Also the exercise and fresh air wake me up on the way in and on the way back it’s rather relaxing to pedal away if it’s been a mentally tiring day. It’s great to feel the seasons go by, cold and hot, dry and wet, light and dark.
Depending on the building I’m working in it usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to get in and is mainly downhill. I find that over a typical urban distance of 3 to 4 km the bike is the fastest way of getting anywhere in Brussels and once there you don’t have to worry about parking. That’s what makes cycling so good for small errands and little purchases. I have a side panier that clips on and off very easily for this purpose.
Brussels has quite a few hills though and good gears and brakes are essential.
I do my regular maintenance myself: cleaning and lubricating the chain, tightening and renewing the brakes, cleaning off the unspeakable urban grime, pumping up and changing the tyres.
I don’t have an ecological axe to grind, I just find cycling about town more convenient and often more comfortable as I like being outdoors. Having said that, a bit of eco-smugness can sometimes come in handy when debating issues with certain people. Also, as I’ve had my daily exercise in a utilitarian way, I don’t have to make the time and go out of my way to get it in some other form.
People often ask if cycling in Brussels isn’t dangerous. It’s not so bad if you watch out. The main thing is to make sure that drivers have seen you, I always say “don’t do anything till you’ve seen the whites of their eyes”. Actually you have to watch out as much for pedestrians, it’s amazing how many just step into the road without looking, on the assumption that since they’ve heard nothing, there’s nothing there. One day these people will be run over by a Toyota Prius. That’s also why the cycle lane on the Rue de la Loi, which is on the pavement, is much less satisfactory than those on the road.
I also wear a helmet. Ten years ago people used to point at me and laugh, but helmets are quite common these days, and if they get you noticed that’s half the battle won. I’ve been knocked off a few times by idiots throwing open car doors without looking first and I once had a fall by braking on the white paint of a zebra crossing in the rain - you skid out of control. But actually that’s very few and no serious accidents in over twenty years, so it’s safer than many fear. Nor does it actually rain as often as people think, though I carry full waterproofs in case I get caught. Another issue is using a dry lubricant so you don’t run up a horrendous dry-cleaning bill for oil-stained trousers.
More people should try cycling: if you’re not going too far and don’t have much to carry, it’s the best way to get about town. On my bike in my suit I still get laughed at by young men in souped-up Golfs. The joke is on them though: they’re far greater losers than I am.

Apart from my town bike I have a mountain bike and a road bike (racer would perhaps be an exaggeration for the speed at which I travel). I went off the road bike a bit a couple of years ago when I strained my knee on it, probably from being in the wrong gear at the wrong time. So I tend to use the mountain bike for pleasure, I also like the freedom of being able to leave the asphalt and try a track as soon as tempted. My mountain bike is a fairly ordinary Scott Yecora with Shimano indexed 3 x 8 gears, V-brakes and front suspension. It works well for me for what I use it for and is actually my second, the first one is down in Monfalcone now. Most of my outings are into the forest (see earlier posting), sometimes coming out the other side in the parks in La Hulpe and Tervuren, so in the 20 - 35 km range. Occasionally with more time (enough to do 45 - 60 km) I like to go into the countryside to the east between Duisburg and Leuven, and the Paillotenland to the south-west, returning by the canal. There are some good car-free concrete agricultural tracks in these areas. I keep a map of everywhere I’ve been which looks like a great spider’s web around Brussels. Sometimes I stick to a familiar favourite route and let my thoughts wander, sometimes I explore (often without the map and retrace where I’ve been when back home). More rarely I take the bike down to the Ardennes (eg in the car on the way to work in Luxemburg) where routes can be more challenging.
Last year my best ride in Belgium was following the entire length of the river Lesse. I took the train to Neufchâteau which is about 10km from where it rises. The first part of the route was typical high Ardennes, fields with cows, fir plantations, small villages with the stream a little distant. The next part, the best, where the Lesse has become a proper river in a wooded valley, follows the river very closely along forest tracks and crossing the villages of Lesse, Chanly and Belvaux. Near here the river disappears under a hill to form the Grottes de Han. When you pick it up in Han for the third part, you’re in a wide flat bottomed valley, almost English in its rural meadowy idyll, and the route takes the disused railway as far as Houyet. From here the river enters a narrow gorge like valley which in part is not really for cyclists. I found myself at one point climbing a metal ladder with the bike precariously on my shoulder, and at another on quite a long staircase. Eventually the road picks up again and you emerge at the Meuse for a short riverside cycle up to Dinant to catch the train back. That was over 100km and thoroughly enjoyable.
My best ride in Italy (with Thomas) was in the Alps in Valvisdende on the “strada delle malghe” a long balcony route which is a mixture of path and track linking a series of summer dairy farms between 1800 and 2000 metres. It was a long slog up from the valley floor at 1200m but it was in the shade of the forest. Once up there, the views were fantastic. At some points the route became a narrow path traversing a steep slope with a potentially nasty drop off (there were roots and stones in the path too) so we got off and pushed. Generally I have no problem with getting off my bike and pushing it when it is safer or less tiring and actually as quick as pedalling it. Finally there was the long cruise back down. It was a memorable day in lovely weather and we met few people. I tend to prefer walking to cycling in the mountains (you don’t have to spend as much time looking at the ground) but this route was about 35 km and too long on foot. Cycling can also be a handy way of covering an approach march, which Thomas and I did the next day to get from Gera at 1000m to the top of Cavallino at 2689m. It took us two and a half hours on the bikes to get up to 1800m over a longish distance but it was brilliant to have them waiting for us as the end of the hike.
Most of my leisure cycling is far less extreme though. It’s like strolling, only I cover a longer distance. Exercise for me is ideally out of doors with fresh air and something to see. The bike allows me to be in the forest just quarter of an hour after leaving my front door. Today I saw how many more leaves had opened up since last week, quite transforming the look of the forest. Spring has finally arrived. I also surprised two deer unusually close to the Enfants Noyés lakes.
The bike is my key to this freedom and these delights.