Mud was invented in Belgium

[cam@nsmb.com]

David Alvarez shares his adjustment to life in a low country.

Mud (http://www.nsmb.com/trail_tales/belgium_01_07.php)

[Unregistered1]

i'm from belgium.... And biking sucks here.... Ok if you drink 10 beers everything is OK, I can understand...
Long live suspension, discbrakes and 2.5 tires!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You should have went to NAmur (good but short Dh-run) or dirt E19 (big ass jumptrails). Toertochten sucks... My humble opinion...

[enduramil]

Nice article. Funny how Belgium produces some great riders for such a flat nation.

[craw]

wow. we are so lucky.

[VTT_man]

first, excuse me for my english, i speak french but i want to react compared to this text.

where did you ride to conclude like that ?

do you go to houffalize ? bouillon ? or to ostende, hal, bruxelles ?

i accord you that the belgium is not the land of mountain bike, but there is some place in the south where it really go up

that is for the cross country

there is ook 5-6 truth downhill spot, and ten and more sport freeride.
you don't go at good places
i don't speak of dirt trail, 4x, skate park, and street ...

ne retenez pas seulement quelques bikers particuliers

[A belgian rider]

Yes, the north Belgium, it's flat. But all the places in Belgium isn't like this.

Watch the "Skunk" in Namur ==> http://play.freecaster.com/1000006/1000815
And I think that the Bob's bike isn't a good choice to ride during the National championship ==> http://play.freecaster.com/1000006/1000963.

When you come back in the chocolate's and bier's country. Say it before on www.81bikesprogress.be/phpbb2/ ;)

(sorry for my english)

[enduramil]

Had a funny thought about this.

If this was here in North America there would be endless screaming, similar to a seagull being raped. Screaming about destruction, evil, and such.

Yet over there it is considered all part of the ride.

[Globalbiker]

Hello,
I'm another biker from Belgium. I find this article ridiculous because it is so archetipycal. It is like saying that all americans are fat cow-boys always eating fastfood (that's perhaps why you prefer downhill?)...
Belgium is not only a flat land. The north is flat, like Holland. The south is much more hilly (the Ardennes). But I think you at least catched that.
We know downhill, there is a track in Namur, short but quite good (hill, not mountain).
We do not only ride cyclocross or "old fashioned" bikes! We know hydraulic disc brakes, full suspended bikes, VPP, ... The only reason why some people use the type of bikes described in the article is firstly that they don't need a 5 inch bike in a flat land. Secondly, they ride during the winter, in bad weather, on the beach, ... that means mud, water, and sand which would spoil your expensive bike (sand ruins disc pads for example).
I found in this article so many "clichés" that I could not tell every stupid statement.
Belgium is not only chocolate and beer!
If you once come back to Belgium, you should tell us on this website www.b-m-b.be. We would be pleased to show you what Belgium really is.
I just want to show you that many belgians are not pleased at all by this article. They find it rubbish. If I tell you that you're a jock, living I you're far Texas, not knowing about the existence of suspended forks and v-brakes, how would you react? I am not really shocked by your text. I hope you wanted to make it fun but you should realise that it is a bit shocking for us.
Anyway, our riders are still beating yours in xc ;)

[heckler]

This picture looks a lot like the '95 Rocky Mountain Hammer that my friend rebuilt to adapt to the riding in Denmark.

He put curly bars, big road chainrings and skinny road tires and panniers [sp?] on a perfectly good mountain bike.

I haven't really talked to him since. :(

;)


http://www.nsmb.com/images/trail_tales/belgium/tech.jpg

[Julie]

I think that it is a real shame that he didn't go to the Ardennes, where you can find some nice hills, although I admit, they are not comparable to the Alpes or the mountains in Seattle ! However, you can have as much as 1000 meters of climbing in a regular tour tocht (or as we call it in French, "rando") of about 30-40km, no sweat! Also, I can tell you that almost everyone here uses disc brakes and no, we don't wear the lycra thing, I don't know where your reporter has been riding, but clearly in my surroundings.

The remark about mountainbiking being a sport in the winter time is more related to the fact that lots of cyclists do their winter training on the trails. This is actually more the case in the Flemish part of Belgium than here in Wallonie.

I also don't understand the picture of Bob's bike.. is he friend of you? I have never seen anyone with a city bike (which it is) riding here! What is he supposed to put on his carrier? His lunch ?

[Born_to_ride]

Thanks to speak about Belgium but first of all before saying Belgium is an all-flat country, check if you're in Belgium or Nederlands ...

No matter if you're in Belgium or Nederlands, do you think you could have an opinion on a country riding style and riders community just by taking part of 1 or 2 sunday excursion somewhere in the country ?

Even if you think that Belgium is small, you've better travel all over Belgium and ride on trails that only Belgium riders knows before saying it's only flat and mud. Do you really think there's no mud during Belgium's winter ? I didn't know that there is no mud in the US ?

I guess you don't even know that we have lots of dh trails and fr possibilities that will probably fits better with your 150mm bikes and huge disc brakes (take a look at www.81bikesprogress.be).
Do you really think that bike's frame, fork and brakes are everything ? Do you think that a rider with an hardtail + 80mm travel fork + vbrakes is an "has-been" with the kind of trails we have in some Belgium's places ? Is it necesseary to get a fr or even all-mountain bike to ride on some xc sunday excursion in the south of Belgium ?

I hope you'll come back soon in our country (Belgium not Nederlands...) and take a look at all "real" Belgium funny trails possibilities and availabilities (take a look at www.o2bikers.com and www.b-m-b.be ;) )

A Belgium rider

[Alex]

my english is'nt very good because i'm belgian..
but don't speak about belgium like that, oo yes you have been once in that country and you know all about it. And in Belgium i think proportionnaly that most belgian have disc brakes than american ( maybe some in Utah but not in the middle of nowhere in New mexico or Texas... but i'm agree with you about beers, i'm only 15 but I already can appreciate our speciality! let's try the Jupiler the leffe, maes,chimay there's 700 differents varieties.

[Mic]

There is actually tons of singletrail in a region called Ardennes, with towns such as Spa. Go there and check the riding. When my girl and I were there last summer, we spotted some guys with Commencal FR bikes and they did not look as if they did not have fun...

I am sure that there is a lot more to see (Namur...and some others). There is a shop in Aix-la-Chapelle (in German: Aachen) which is called DDD-shop, one of them was a semi-professional dh racer. The link is here (http://www.ddd-racing.com/) (unfortunately in german).
Write them an email and you will see that there is more to Belgium :) Trust me, it rocks. :D

There is even a link to a small vid to the official dj place in aachen, not far from the border -

http://www.ddd-racing.com/medianeu/daweed/dirt_aachen_smaller.wmv?id=641

[shirk]

Opps looks like the article pissed off a few Belgians.

The dh course linked in those vids above looks cool, buffed out it's as smooth as a babies bottom. But it's only 1:40 minutes at race pace? Whats CBC at race pace just under 5 minutes?

Someone should show the two guys above a topo map of the Shore and see why the writer considers Belgum flat as a pancake.

[coolie]

going to germany in june. should i goto belgium?

all i really want to do is drink fine ales with trappist monks, eat sausages or whatever there is to eat in belgium and pass out in city parks.

[trialsrookie]

Hey, that article was fun to read, thanks!

It's not a scientific article about Belgium, so come on... A hint of clichés and stereotypes don't hurt anybody - they lighten up any article. I am from Austria, and I'm used to the cliche of Austrian guys wearing leather pants, eating Schnitzel all day long, listening to Mozart. :thepimp:

[LeeLau]

That was one of the better reads in any biking media. Short on the lifestyle BS and long on riding and having fun content. Thanks for that piece and the global context.

[enduramil]

That was one of the better reads in any biking media. Short on the lifestyle BS and long on riding and having fun content. Thanks for that piece and the global context.

Agreed.

Mind you it's funny timing. I just last week watched Transition 2 Across the Pond.

[david507]

No disrespect intended! I've ridden some of the good trails in the Ardennes, I go there as often as I can.

I'm just sharing my experiences here mtbing. This is how people where I live mountain bike, for real. And they totally enjoy it. I bet you couldn't find hydraulic rim brakes in all of british columbia but I see them all the time here. I won't even begin to talk about West-Flanders.

Sterotypes aside, I'm serious, everybody I know drinks a lot of Belgian beer and eats a lot of Belgian chocolate. If you ask me those are good things. Now if only there was a good Thai restaurant near my house.

Thanks for reading...

[Mic]

Try something that looks like rice boiled in milk..similar to the quiche things the north americans and canadians are svouring. :) It rocks. promised.

looks like this...
http://img.chefkoch.de/pictures/fotoalben/c22b261c99b8b032fab5e68867da6758/2360/full_kuchen070verkleinert.jpg


coolie..whereabouts in Germany are you heading to?

btw, david, i was not in any way feeling pissed about your article. i know that it is very hard riding good and decent mtbstuff if you are into the bc type of riding. this spring or summer, check out a place called winterberg. not that far away.

[enduramil]

No disrespect intended! I've ridden some of the good trails in the Ardennes, I go there as often as I can.

I'm just sharing my experiences here mtbing. This is how people where I live mountain bike, for real. And they totally enjoy it. I bet you couldn't find hydraulic rim brakes in all of british columbia but I see them all the time here. I won't even begin to talk about West-Flanders.

Sterotypes aside, I'm serious, everybody I know drinks a lot of Belgian beer and eats a lot of Belgian chocolate. If you ask me those are good things. Now if only there was a good Thai restaurant near my house.

Thanks for reading...

Keep sending news and stories. It's nice to hear about things from other places where MTBing occurs.

[Bert]

That was one of the better reads in any biking media. Short on the lifestyle BS and long on riding and having fun content. Thanks for that piece and the global context.

I second that.

I'm from Belgium too, from Leuven in Vlaams-Brabant (centre of the country) and I agree with David. 98% of the Belgian mountainbikers find 2.1" a HUGE tyre size and have never even considered buying disc brakes (they still think they save an aweful lot of weight, staying with the V's). They also think that "mud" is some sort of a basic ingredient to a mtb-ride.

That's mainly why I am ashamed when talking about my sport. Everyone in Belgium thinks that mountainbiking is all about riding in the mud and about getting as dirty as possible. I think David is right when he compares the US/Canada riding culture with ours. Most Belgians take their mtb out of the garage, when it's too cold/wet to ride their roadbike.

I'm very sorry to the other Belgians who have contributed to this topic, but you've got to admit that we're belonging to only 2% of the Belgian mountainbiking population. You shouldn't pretend Belgium to be the place-to-be for freeriders, 'cause it's not. It's like saying that there are more Muse- than Madonna-fans in this world. It's simply not true.

Oh, and another thing you haven't mentioned, David: most of the 98% will never spend more than € 1000 on a bike and have never heared of "exotic" bike manufacturers like Santa Cruz, Intense, Iron Horse, etc.

Grtz,

Bert

[jayburn]

im going to belgium in april and if I see lots of spandex, v brakes and NO body armer, 45 lb bikes then I will....... be on vacation and I will.....drink another beer.

[Z-Blocker]

Good article and it is all true ass well.
MTB is more CX in .be than it is DH.
That is the way it is.

Z.

[Big Bad Wolf]

So, you did some flat Belgian trails , ok, but Belgium is more than that.
We have some pretty rough rides too, in the Ardennes.. REAL marathons meaning lots of k's and lots of heightmeters (how does 80k and 2500 heightmeters sound ?) .. come back in June and get you kicks at the Ardennes Trophy and some other hilly stuff.
Real mountain bikers do it also in the summer, not only in the winter months..
Glad to read about our little country though.. ths Z-blocker for the link :)

Adri

[Mic]

im going to belgium in april and if I see lots of spandex, v brakes and NO body armer, 45 lb bikes then I will....... be on vacation and I will.....drink another beer.

if you are into old towns and cities, make sure to check out Spa in the Ardennes.

[redsdisease]

I feel like this article ended up on some Belgian MTB website...

[dmx]

Hi,
I'm from belgium too and David's story has al lot of truth in it. But there is a small fraction of people that ride big bikes. There's not much sense of buying a big bike in Belgium unless you want to take it to place like Winterberg in Germany, Portes du Soleil in France or 7 Stanes in Scotland. That's what most of the guys (and a couple of girls too) do with their big bikes.
Once the mud has dried up, there's a lot of fun to have in the Ardennes in the southern part of Belgium. We're riding "toertochten" there nearly every weekend from March till November. And if you hit the region of Eupen, Malmedy, Banneux etc. there's always a lot of fun to have. Watch out for the Challenge GHF, their rides are well organised.
If you understand a little dutch, most of the gravity crowd resides at http://www.dirty-pages.net
Ciao,
dmx

[Anton]

the guys he was riding with where no real mtb-ers. They are CX en roadcyclists that have a way other opinion on Bikin'.
Only a small portion off this so-called bikers would be considered bikers in America and Canada... But you got to respect them, they like what they do and they have fun... Isn't that what it is all about....
But anyway, they look gay and they don't know what real technical terrain is (which u can find in Belgium no doubt, just have to ride with the 2 percent of real mtb-ers) and that is why they dont need suspension and discs.
I wouldn't buy a 2000 euro bike if I wouldn't use it to the fullest.. You know what i Mean.
(Still we have some great racers-) Nico Vinck= worldchamp in a few years, this guy is pinning it allready and has lots of potential!!!
Filip meirhaegge , Paulissen, .....
It's hard to get a list of big names like that isn't it!!!!!
Does Canada has a good DH-racer????-)

[Another David]

I'm an American living in Belgium for the past 14 years (and I love it!), so I've got this place pretty much dialled. For sure David's overview of Belgium mountain biking is a bit of a caricature, but let's face it, all journalists stretch their stories a bit to make them more entertaining and amusing. ;-) I personally enjoyed the article.

Truth be told, where there is smoke there is fire, and there is some truth at the basis of each of the anecdotes, albeit a bit exaggerated for maximum impact.

For the more scholarly among you, I can state the following claims:

1) A significant percentage of mountain bikers in Belgium are actually roadies who "cross-train" on mountain bikes during the winter when wind-chill and slippery roads make road riding unpleasant. And yes, they wear colourful lycra and favor flat bars and lightweight XC bikes.

2) Yes, the trails are muddy most of the year, but nobody claims any environmental degradation to the trails. The mud is just there to be ridden, and nobody bats an eye. I have grown to enjoy the challenges of mud-surfing, and having my wheels drifting independently of each other does not faze me one bit.

3) The south of Belgium is definitely not flat. The highest point in Belgium is 600 meters which is roughly 2000ft in altitude. Good-sized hills, but not mountains. I compare the terrain to Northeast US riding, very similar to Pennsylvania hilly woodlands. Fun stuff. You cannot mountain bike in the north of Belgium. It IS flat, and most riding is on muddy farm tracks. Not worth the trouble, in my opinion.

4) There are definitely some "non-mainstream" mountain bikers here that wear baggies and ride full suspension bikes, and bike stores are full of cutting edge stuff. There are some freeride/downhill riders here, even if the length of the downhills are shorter than in "real" mountains. Balls are balls.

5) Belgium has a diversified economy including a high-tech sector, but Belgian beer and chocolates grab all the headlines abroad, because they are damn excellent! Everybody likes beer and chocolates! The food here is also excellent.

Keep riding,
David

[Big Bad Wolf]

Hi!

I´m not Belgian but happen to live in Belgium. Thanks for the article, found it interesting but somehow puzzling, it feels as if you built it around several rushed and wrong assumptions. It aimed at being fun and ended up being unfair. A few quotations:

"For starters, winter is mountain bike season here in Belgium"
Don´t know how did you come up with this. Ever rode in Belgium in summer? You should. In winter lots of roadies show up on the trails, hence the amount of easy, non-technical organized rides, especially in the north of the country. Something I regard as normal, baring in mind the amount of road cyclists in this country. Besides it´s muddy because Belgium happens to be very rainy in winter. As easy as that.

"And as the months go by I notice that I'm getting kind of fit and next thing I know I'm actually chasing these crazy Belgians up the hills."
Wait a second, I thought Belgium was supposed to be flat. What hills? What are you doing chasing Belgians uphill?? And you even say you´re getting fit... That can only mean you were in a pitiable shape (please take no offence!), no wonder then you didn´t enjoy riding.

"There probably aren't many places outside of Europe where people claim they enjoy climbing more than descending, where perfection is a sub-10kg bike, but hey - we're mountain biking, Flemish style."
"Neighbouring Switzerland is also a beehive of big mountain valleys with seemingly countless gondolas that guarantee you days of rides with the bike pointed down"
Alright, now I get it. You´re into "mountainbiking with your bike pointed down", that explains it! I thought mtb was about riding a bike in the mountains/forest whatever comes, uphills, downhills, logs on your trail, anything! But you seem to be talking about something different, you talk about inches, fat tires, drops, going down... and "even getting fit". Pedalling I suppose, seems you´re not used to it, even so you call yourself a biker. You´re probably what they now call a "freerider", oh yeah.

Please take no offence, but I´m afraid you expected freeriding and you got mountain biking. Open your mind and enjoy the difference! Besides, well, Belgium might not be the Mecca of mtb but it does have memorable rides and a cycling culture others can only envy. I hope you discover it and become part of it too

See you on the trails!! (preferably in summer =p)

Ivan

[Mic]

Here are some pics taken from Google Picture Search...see the attachments.

[flatlanderfreerider]

People, damn! I live in The Netherlands and that's even worse than Belgium. We have to go to Belgium (or Germany Winterberg) to get al little feeling for Hills. I live in a town with approx. 70 meters difference in height and try to do the best with it. I think it's about the fun in riding! cheers for the belgium beers!

[KristofU]

OK, I'm from that small, divided yet united country in the center of Europe. I thought the article was a good summary of Belgian mountain bike culture. Not 100% accurate, but mostly.
However...I am not one of those bikers David talked about. I ride a Kona Stinky, and I ride it everywhere. Up, down, technical, flat, city, ... Why? Because I like it, that's why, and because I don't mind the extra weight and bobbing going up. I mean, someone who enjoys climbing should enjoy the extra training no? It's like swim training in oil instead of water. Boy will you be fast once you hit the water.
Also, I don't have the budget to have more than one bike ( although I do have more than one, but that's a different story altogether ) and I like my bike to do everything, being able to take it to the Alps and wherever.

@Bert from Leuven : dude, I live in Leuven too. Misschien kennen we elkaar van ziens. Mail me if you want to go riding sometime.