| These are Ted's indiscriminate pontifications as seen on his blog, www.iamtedking.missingsaddle.com. Read, ponder, discuss as you wish. |
| 2010 Race Number One: In the Books! | | |
Buenos dias from Spain!
I am freshly back in my Spanish apartment with the first race of the season successfully behind me. The race was Etoile de Besseges in southern France, which is a pretty typical kick-off to the race season. By typical I mean, it's not yet even springtime so the weather is predictably unpredictable. The racing style is consistently attacking, being that we are in France and that's how French races are most easily and accurately characterized. It's still early February, so the range of peoples' fitness is all over the place - some guys are coming from the peak of summer in the southern hemisphere, while pasty others folks are obviously just stepping over the top-tube for the first time in a long time. Ahhh, France in February!
The race itself had a bit of everything as well, which is a nice introduction to the season as it's something of a microcosm of things to come. As mentioned, the unpredictable weather ranged from sunny and (sort of) warm to gale-force winds to an absolutely deluge one day. The terrain was a relatively gentle reintroduction to the race season, as all five stages were between 140 to 150 kilometers, which is short by most standards. Speaking of terrain, the roads basically undulated without too much of a vicious shock to the system, although the "mountain day" (...or merely hilly day if you live in the heart of the Alps) didn't seem to have much in the flat department.
Speaking of that day, I found myself in the breakway of the day for much of that stage 4. It was a surprise to me since A) the breakaway was established in the first five or so kilometers and B) the group consisted of eleven riders! This is a surprise since the previous two days saw the breakaway succeed around kilometer seventy and each break was capped at just three riders. We motored along at a healthy clip until we reached the fifteen kilometer KOM mid-way through the race. The time gap to the peloton was dropping dramatically and soon after the descent, we were a group of sixty riders barreling to the finish. Things looked very promising for the Cervélo TestTeam as we had five in this front group, including Dominique Rollin who had been consistently sprinting in the top five. Fast forward to the final 300 meter where we approached a roundabout. The course marshal indicated that we could go either way around the circle, so the CTT leadout went left with about 1/3 of the peloton, 2/3 went right, and unfortunately those of us in the "left" category were promptly stopped by the crowd and barriers - of which, we were on the wrong side.
Lots of drama ensued as riders were relegated, blood pressure rose, but ultimately it's the riders' responsibility to have read the race bible beforehand and know that we had to go right when approaching the final roundabout ...even if I can't read a French race bible. C'est la vie!
After a strong day on the bike for me on day four, and with sunny skies predicted for the final day, I was looking forward to capping yesterday's race with another strong ride. However, I was rudely awoken by my previous night's dinner screaming that it needed to be vacated from my body immediately around 3:30am. Five more bathroom trips ensued in similar oral-evacuation fashion, thereby relegating me to the category of useless on day five. I literally raced one or two kilometers before emptying the contents of my stomach yet again and calling it quits.
So just as I started this blog entry, I'm pleased to say that I am happily at home recovering from this first race of the season and thankfully the 24 hour bug has passed it's 24 hour marker.
Thanks for checking in and I'll try my best to do a consistent job updating this site. For other outlets, feel free to check in here, here, and here.
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Ready to Roll! |
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| Tis the Season! | | |
With Thanksgiving now come and gone, chances are you’ve been accosted by premature holiday decorations for weeks already. For me, it was a quick swing through the mall for a birthday card two days after Halloween. My eyes suffered a rather aggressive clash between the orange and black of Halloween going into storage for the next ten months contrasting Christmas’s red and green just coming out of hibernation. Tis the season!
After a productively restful past few weeks, we already have in the books the first mini-camp of the 2010 season. While we are now only slowly getting back into the swing of training, this camp was void of actual riding, with the exception of a handful of baseline physiological tests – threshold, VO2, stability, and flexibility, among others.
Five days in total, four legs of flights to arrive at and return from camp, three days of meetings, and two days of various examinations and tests. Oh, and a partridge in a pair tree.
It’s always an entertaining contrast now as compared to the end of the previous season; it’s great hanging out with all the team again, meeting the new riders and staff, yet it was just weeks ago that I was perfectly happy to not see any more cyclists nor touch my bike for a very long time. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, certainly holds true here.
So while we each return home scattered throughout the world, before long we will again descend upon Europe at the true pre-season camp, looking even more fit and ready to roll than we do now. This camp is something of a tease, but definitely one that gets the juices flowing. We had some really interesting presentations by current and new sponsors, so it’s really exciting to think about each of the products and how they’ll help us in the year to come.
Moreover, just like the seasonal decorations, Christmas has come early for me this year as I have in tow back home to the United States next year’s training bike as well.
Staying with the holiday theme, I did accomplish a bit of Christmas shopping while an ocean away from home. We Kings are a family of gourmands and I used this trip as an opportunity to pick up some European delicacies. Sure Swiss chocolate was an obvious choice, but the real gem was the curry ketchup. Never had it before? I’m pretty sure it’s part-ketchup and part-heaven. Do yourself a favor and put a bottle on your holiday wish list.
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| A Little Something Different | | |
Week in and week out from February through October, we saddle up and race our bikes. It's our job, it's our life, and it's our passion. Whether it's a one day classic or a month long stage tour, we're constantly racing our bikes in order to tally the standard 60 to 100 race-days per year.
Which is why it was an exciting change of pace to be asked to participate in the first annual Dempsey Challenge this past weekend in Lewiston-Auburn, Maine. As the crow flies, L-A (as opposed to "LA" in California) isn't very far from where my parents live and where I grew up in New Haaaampha'. And since I would be visiting Mom and Dad during the exact same time, it was a worthwhile coincidence for me to participate.
However, it's no coincidence that the Dempsey Challenge takes place in L-A, because this is where Patrick Dempsey was born and raised. I'll be perfectly honest here: I knew Patrick Dempsey is an actor, I knew he is on the show Gray's Anatomy, and I knew his nickname is "Mc"-something (but I had to be reminded that the full moniker is McDreamy). Hanging out with Patrick for the majority of the weekend, I can say he is a genuinely nice guy. I like to say that New Englanders are a great bunch of people, and Patrick definitely maintains this characteristic - despite living in California nowadays.
The Dempsey Challenge has come to be as a result of his mother having bravely survived four bouts of cancer. Among a whole slew of other people, I had the privilege of meeting Mrs. Demspey who is still full of energy and sharp as a tack! Given Patrick's resources he has therefore started the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at the Central Maine Medical Center in L-A. This is a outstanding program that will bring together the resources for cancer patients, caregivers, family, and survivors. This is a noteworthy movement for the CMMC that avoids each patient/caregiver/family member/survivor having to personally search out each element of the tough road through the cancer fight.
I was brought on-board to this event by the folks at Medalist Sports among three other cycling VIPs: George Hincapie, Dave Zabriskie, and Stephen Roche. The entire weekend was full of events, speeches, and appearances including a smaller ride for the biggest fundraisers, sponsors, and VIPs on Saturday. Saturday it was pouring rain, a bit chilly in central Maine, and just damp and dreary, but we all definitely had a great day. After a few more events Saturday, we wisely hit the sack in order to wake up at the tender hour of 6am for Sunday's big Dempsey Challenge ride.
Consisting of 10, 25, 50, and 100 mile distances as well as a 5k walk and festival and lobster bake afterward, there was something for everyone on Sunday. George and I rode with Patrick for the entire 50 mile outing, while Dave Z somehow got lost among the 3,500 other participants and wasn't seen by us again until the lobster bake! The skies were threatening most of the morning, but I didn't see a single drop of rain. Moreover, the sun came out casting a cheery veil of optimism as people returned from the rides.
The Dempsey Challenge raised more than one million dollars, which is a remarkable outcome for its inaugural year. As I said, I met a ton of people, all of whom shared brave and incredibly moving stories of how cancer has touched their lives. It really gave me a new perspective as I saddle up my bike those roughly-80 days per year. Life is a blessing and every day is an adventure not to be taken for granted. These sorts of charity events are definitely something I'll look to participate in when I have the time away from racing the long and arduous season.
I encourage you to check out this site for a brief story, a moving sub-three minute video, as well as a bunch of pictures that are much better than mine.
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/289761/
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Saturday's VIP ride w/ Patrick me Dave Shannon George |
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| Checking in from Missouri | | |
Hey y'all,
I once again apologize for not being a regular on the blogging thing here at Bartape.net. Thankfully some of my colleagues are picking up my slack with blog posts and the awesome videos. I really am impressed with the movies they're producing and always finish up the last one waiting anxiously for the next to come out. And it's all the cooler because I'm a living part of it! Well done guys.
There are plenty of people who wear multiple hats, so to speak. As I worked my way up the American cycling ranks I noticed that rider/managers are a common sight, for example. Here at the Tour of Missouri, I'm writing for Velonews.com so I've therefore dubbed myself a rider/journalist. Sure it's just a blog entry every few days, but I think journalist sounds more distinguished than "blogger."
Anyway, I don't mean to steer you away from Bartape.net, but feel free to check out what I'm writing for Velonews this week for some insight into the race. HERE is the pre-race entry and HERE is entry numero dos after Thor stormed to victory on stage 3. Hope you think the writing is up to snuff.
The team is riding like all-stars right now all over the globe which is
a blast to see and great to be part of. Thor is fast in Missouri, Simon Gerrans'
win at the Vuelta was pretty spectacular and savvy, and the rest of the
guys are off to Tour of Britain which begins on Saturday. Yup, life is good right now!
Bye from middle America!
Ted
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| R'n'R | | |
I'm taking in a little rest and relaxation right now after the first half of my year is in the books! To recap, my season initially unfolded in an unexpected manner when I fractured my arm at the Tour of California. At that point, I remained home to see my family doctors (my father is an orthopaedic surgeon, so I was in very good hands) before coming back to Europe in early April. I was then chucked straight into the deep end of racing with the hilly classics week - Amstel, Fleche, and Liege, followed immediately by Romandie, and then straight to the Giro. I then had two weeks free from European racing, so I checked back in on the homefront of the USA, but since I was still feeling my oats I found myself racing the following weekend up in Maine. Next up, back in Europe I went directly to the Ster Elektrotoer, followed by some great training in my new training grounds of Girona before shooting off to the eight-day Tour of Austria. Ta-da! And now we're in mid-July and everything is peachy.
(The third picture of the trio that I uploaded was taken about 12 seconds after finishing the Tour of Austria. I met an American fan as I crossed the line - he's the fellow on the right.)
Since I'm a bit tired and now have three weeks free from racing, I'm due for a break. I will still spin my legs alternatively with some days entirely off the bike, rest up, sleep amply, eat well, and all-in-all take care of myself. The rest of the season entails some great racing across Europe as well as back in the states with my USPro Championships and Tour of Missouri, so I'm really motivated and looking forward to the rest of the season. Plus the Tour de France is on tv for most of this month, so I can occupy a solid two to four hours of my day without even trying. As I write this, the guys are slaying themselves on a wet and difficult looking stage 13. All the best to the Cervélo TestTeam boys!
I've uploaded three pictures onto this blog post. The first two pictures I took from a recent trip to Barcelona when I decided to expand my tourist horizons on my day off. So some friends and I took the train to the thriving metropolis, saw some requisite touristy sites like the Sagrada Familia church and the huge mercado with tons of fresh produce, meat, fish, candies, coffees, etc. Additionally, we mandated a trip to a coffee shop or two, had some tapas (a first for me in Spain), saw the Mediterranean Sea and the port, and walked a lot. A LOT. After such an adventuresome day, we were all fast asleep by about 9pm that night.
That'll do for now. Time to watch the Tour!
Adios amigos.
tk
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| New Home Sweet Home! | | |
Hi all!
This is what's called a long time between blog posts. My sincerest apologies, friends. All chit-chat aside, I'm back!
After my inaugural Giro d'Italia in May, I had a great trip home to the United States where I accomplished a laundry list of things, coincidentally including just a wee bit of laundry. A sufficiently full 8 hours of sleep was sometimes sacrificed for the sake of accomplishment, but you know what? ...sometimes it worth it!
I had a whole slew of meals to cook that I've had a hankerin' to eat for the past few weeks (that's just about the best means to an end I can think of!), but can't adequately pull off from a foreign kitchen. So that was delicious and fun. Additionally, I saw about four dozen friends, as well as a few loving family members who live in the area. I traveled all over New England - from Maine to Mass and up to Vermont - during my first more relaxing week home. Then I trained a fair bit in the second week, and even had time to race the Lake Auburn Road Race. I did nab a win there, which was nice, and they even surprised me with an apple pie for my appearance fee! Not exactly traditional, but perhaps it should become the norm! Ahhhh, life is good.
I then shipped back to Europe where I headed straight to the Ster Elektrotoer in the Netherlands. I think this race might have the coolest name of European races I've ever seen - or definitely the coolest among the races I've done this year. The race was a good kickstart to my post-Giro form as well as fairly successful for the team. We didn't have the final GC hopes we would have liked, but throughout the five days we enjoyed some success: best team in general classification for two days, Martin Reimer was best young rider for two (or three?) days, and we represented the team well all week.
From there, I have made the leap to Girona, Spain where I am now typing this. And in very short time I learned why so many cyclists call it home: from great weather, to challenging and diverse terrain, to excellent people... and an awesome food market. Yes, so far so good.
Alas, I must be off now. I'll try to stay in better touch. Adios amigos! I bid you farewell with a picture of Girona.
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Bienvenidos a Girona! |
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| 2/3 | | |
We are now more than two-thirds finished with the Giro. For a nice State of the Union, so to speak, where the “union” is the Cervélo TestTeam, copy and paste the following link into your navigation toolbar or whatever it’s called:
http://ow.ly/8TaI
And then be sure to have a nice day.
Your friend,
Ted
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| Ciao! | | |
Dear everyone awesome,
Yes, that includes you. I just wanted to say ciao from Italy to my loyal MissingSaddle readers. Ill follow that up with Ciao and Ciao ciao, since that’s basically all I hear or understand when a pair or Italians enter a conversation with one another.
If all goes well, this blackberry will upload a picture from my Italian travels in the Giro so far.
Ciao ciao ciao ciao!
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| if words were pasta… | | |
…then carbo load on this.
http://www.velonews.com/article/91729/cervelo-s-ted-king-shares-his-first-giro-diary-with
(copy and paste it; sorry I only have a blackberry this week.)
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| road trip | | |
Dear iamtedking readers,
I’m currently on another road trip of sorts. As I write this I’m en route from my home in Switzy to Venice, Italy for the 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia. Emotions are running high for a variety of reasons, most notably, the historic nature of such a spectacular race. Not to mention the extraordinary nervousness, anxiety, and excitement (!) cruising through my nerves right now. It should go without saying that I offer a special THANK YOU very very much to everyone who has sent along emails, texts, messages of all types (twitterers, facebook, etc) wishing me good luck in my first grand your.
In order to keep tabs on my I invite you to VeloNews.com where I’ll be writing an online column every two or three days about it all - the race, the preparation, the tifosi, the team, the insanity, and so forth.
Bu’bye now,
TK
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| Randy Taylor | | |
This is nearly too good to be true.
My dear old friend, former teammate, and compatriot of America, Brent Bookwalter, brought this video - err, audio, I should say - to my attention while rolling out of the neutral section of today’s Tour of Romandie. No, we didn’t watch it in the neutral section, but he enlightened me to it and I had the chance to check it out after the race. It reminds me a lot of a series of blog posts I did back in February about certain things that only happen ONLY IN AMERICA.
In other news, the Boston Bruins are awesome and will proudly hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup aloft this spring as winners of the National Hockey League.
Lastly, this is what you do when the first stage of Romandie gets cut in half and delayed three hours because of precipitation (note: rain in low altitudes mean snow in high altitudes):
Chuck your legs up on the dashboard and wait!
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| Answer: An iamtedking Rarity | | |
Question: What is a iamtedking race report?
Alex Trebec: Correct!
Greetings readers! Today’s blog-entry is a two part masterpiece. The first is a race report, which is something I typically do not write, while the second is a QUIZ! There’s no grading on the second part, but perhaps there is a fun prize for the winner. Put on your party hats and let’s go!
I dislike the verb “to blog,” I don’t enjoy saying, “I am blogging,” and find “to blog-entry” to be grammatically incorrect, yet the closest meaning to what I’m trying to say. So trust me that the following does in fact make sense:
I typically do not enjoy blog-entrying in the form of a race report, but doing races like those of the Ardennes week is classified as worthy by me. Here’s my brief race report.
But first allow me to backtrack; I was originally sent on a road trip April 12 – Easter Sunday. I was scheduled for two one-day races, Ronde van Drenthe in Holland and GP Scheldeprijs in Belgium, then return to home-base on April 15th. Two and a half weeks later I find myself on the same road trip, having taken part in five races, and today I’ll begin the six-day Tour of Romandie in Switzerland. Good thing I packed excessively on my original three-day road trip, eh?
Even though in eight days time we had just three races, the Ardennes week feels like a stage race. It was a whirlwind week with three monumental classics back to back to back – Amstel, Fleche, Liege. The whole week was a learning experience since it was the first time participating in each these for yours truly. The Mur de Huy and la Redoute, for example, are some crazy love child of awesomeness and insanity. I finished the first two races, but somewhat hesitantly pulled the plug before the finish of at Liege. I was covering the early moves in Liege – which took nearly two full hours of incessant attacks to establish(!) – so I burned a lot of matches in those 100km. Then by the time 200km ticked by, I was in an isolated group not contesting the finish. Plus with Romandie beginning not even two days later, I found the motivation to slog through out the final 60km tough to summon. Conserving my energy, I finished my classics campaign in the second feedzone of Liege.
Consider yourself learned.
Part deux: Super fun QUIZ time!
I Googled myself the other day, because like all cyclists I’m vain, and just like people in general I’m curious to know what the world thinks about me. I found a Flemmish cycling forum speaking about the Cervelo TestTeam and then a particular blurb about yours truly. Google-Translator did the dirty work for me and I discovered that the Flemmish people have noticed that I like to blog-entry about food. Food is yummy and an integral part of my life, so while this certainly isn’t newsworthy to me, I thought I would go through my entire library of photos (because using iPhoto is fun on a Mac) and create an album dedicated to all the pictures I have taken of food, beverage, or other comestibles. The QUIZ will determine just how loyal my loyal readers are. Whoever can identify the most pictures will win a very awesome, rare, and spectacular prize which is yet to be announced. Ready… set… go…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Hints:
Five pictures are celebrations in some form or another (birthdays, holidays, etc.)
Four are somehow cycling related (taken during camps, races, etc.)
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| The Cyclists’ Quandry | | |
One catch-22 of professional cycling is the unwritten rule by which you’re supposed to exert yourself as little as possible while off the bike. Don’t stand when you can sit, don’t sit when you can lie down. Sage advice, that is, but not the best for one’s head, which is perhaps why cycling is as much a mental battle as it is a physical one. This is by far an easier task for the professional cycling demographic thanks to the continuous circle of staff surrounding us, than the rest of the cycling world. Take my friend Tom for example; he’s a successful emergency room doctor, for goodness sakes! How on earth he can work seemingly endless hours morning, noon, and (all) night, in addition to logging any sort of hours on the bicycle is simply amazing. I classify a busy week as reading a half dozen pages of a book in addition to training the normal hours. Se la vi.
This week some I find myself in the Ardennes region of Belgium for the “hilly” Belgian classics - namely, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, and Liege Bastogne Liege. This whole week is pretty incredible since I was only supposed to get on the road for two small semi-classics last week, but now I’m taking part in this monumentally historic week of racing. But I’m definitely not going to complain since these are some of the biggest, most important races in the world. My first experience with European racing back in 2005 was in this area with the US Espoir National Team. We rented a house for two weeks, training a heck of a lot, and participated in some super tough races about this time of year. In fact, yesterday as we reconned the final 90km of Liege, I really thought I every time we rounded a turn I would stumble upon that house again. The entire region looks exactly the same - super hilly, green, and full of trees, fields, and immaculate houses.
But between doing that sort of thing, there is plenty of down time which we’ve encountered this week. So whaaaaat toooooo dooooo?
First and foremost, we check the information superhighway. Perhaps something has occurred on the world wide web that we really need to know about, but we’re often in some foreign country and thereby isolated from our native language’s television’s news, so we check the internet. For that, I frequently go to FailBlog.org. You want to laugh out loud? Go here. If it’s not striking your fancy and you’re not laughing, then keep scrolling down or scanning through the pages. Trust me, you’ll laugh.
I also urge you to visit my friend Amy’s site HERE. She’s nobly raising money to support a bike trek across the country building and teaching those she stumbles upon about affordable housing. Once again, bikes + very worthy causes = The world a better place.
For further entertainment there are coffee shop rides. These are mandatory during a week like this because the actual racing is so darn tough, you need to spin an hour or two on the easy days. If nothing else, it gets your out and about and is good for the head. Coffee + me = me happy. As I’ve mentioned in the past, European coffee - albeit very tasty - is way to small and delicate for my big bold American palate. So while my nerves are quelled with the ingestion of a quarter ounce of rich black coffee, they’re counterbalanced by my annoyance that I’m left hankering for more. Again… se la vi.
There was some famous cyclist (who’s name I have fittingly forgotten), who said that his biggest regret was not taking enough pictures during his career. I’m making sure I don’t fall victim to that misfortune, so I’m taking my camera everywhere. For goodness sakes, this IS the time of my life! I’m traveling the world racing my bike. This is incredible. So for the first time ever, I took my nice camera on my coffee shop spin, rather than simply a Blackberry with a camera. Ladies and gentlemen, we are trained professionals, so do NOT try this at home.
And searching for last resorts for ways to enrich the mind and body, we break rule numero uno and exert ourselves with a car ride into town followed by the world’s slowest ever walk through town. Dear American readers, note the historic architecture, super narrow cobbled streets, outdoor cafes, the buildings’ incredible proximity to one another… it’s all very enlightening and a stark contrast to ‘merica.
Oh look! Three (or four with the photographer) nearly identically dressed young men. They’re either cyclists, football, or rugby players. Although maybe they’re too slight and wee to be football or rugby players.
… and the forbidden fruit. Bountiful chocolate everywhere. 99% of the time these shops along the street are shoe stores, cell phone stores, boutique clothing stores, or chocolate shops.
Again, hey North America: look at the bikes! Everywhere. No need to wonder why the Netherlands - where this pic was taken - is so fit. They have the infrastructure to ride their bikes to work, the bar, a coffee, their friend’s house, etc.
Neato.
Liege tomorrow. Yow!
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| The Land of Milk and Honey | | |
Do you use Twitter? I DO, of late. I don’t really know why, but I think it’s a fun. Fun is just about as lame as adjectives get, but I’m resorting to it. Anyway, as my tweet from April 16 at 4:42pm (and subsequent tweet six minutes later, unbeknownst to me) reads: “It’s raining in Belgium. No lie.” Not that you need proof, but here’s a picture from my charming bed and breakfast’s window outside of Maastricht, Belgium.
I just Googled it, and the “land of milk and honey” is actually a Biblical reference to Israel, However, I use it to describe places that I think of fondly. Belgium doesn’t exactly pop to the top of that list, as much as Hawaii or rural Vermont might, but perhaps that’s the irony that makes me chuckle. Alternatively maybe the title of this blog entry should have read, “The Land of Rice Cakes and Dirty Roads.” Rice cakes are fairly easy to describe, so I’ll do so first. Please don’t think of those desert-dry perfectly circular rice cakes made of popcorn… instead think of heaven. These Belgian rice cakes are like mini custard pies, I’m sure with bountiful egg, sugar, and rice. Or protein, simple carb, and complex carb. Perfect. Here’s a fresh batch just out of the kitchen. The picture doesn’t give justice to just how delicious these are, since they basically look like English muffin pizzas, so you’ll either have to trust me that they’re wonderful or hop on over to Belgium and try one yourself.
As for dirt roads: BELGIAN BIKE RACE and CLEANLINESS are two entities very foreign to one another. Be it Roubaix, Flanders, a cross race, or what have you, these two do not go hand in hand. I’m stating the obvious here, so assuming you know a thing or two about bike racing, this information is pretty much a given. Kind of like, “a bike has two wheels.” And in similar fashion to how this blog entry started, I’ll provide you with a picture as proof of this thesis. I give unto you exhibit A:
That’s my face. Please note the artistic star-like pattern on my forehead where my helmet sits, and of even greater aesthetic pleasure is my uni-brow, which I have dubbed a “dirt-i-brow.” It’s going to be sooooo in for 2010!
Given that there’s not much substance to this blog just yet, I’ll throw in that I am on the comeback trail from my busted wing at Tour of CA. After two successful races in the states - a second place and a victory, I finished a pair of European 200+km races of the season, in the Ronde van Drenthe in Holland and GP Schildeprijs in Belgium. I’m pleased with my performances; namely, I’m happy to have contributed to the cause in both races by rotating the front, moving guys around, fetching bottles, jumping in breakaways, I’m also happy to have finished in the front group both days, and I’m happy that Dom was able to fetch some fine finishes, with a 5th and a 3rd. Both very most excellent.
Surely the mythical land of milk and honey is also a land where beer flows like wine and the women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. Similarly in this utopia, there are three bike lanes with two designated to bicycles and just one for cars and trucks. Yes, my friends, I’m talking about a place called MAAAAAAAaaaaaastricht. See for yourself…
I’ve never witnessed such a lovely sight! Perhaps more impressively, this is seemingly the norm in this neck of the woods, since every other road has this trifecta coming together in perfect harmony.
And with that said, it’s bedtime and Amstel Gold first thing tomorrow. Neato.
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| Photo Medley | | |
This blog entry is brought to you in part by Curtis Zimmerman of the well renowned MissingSaddle.com website. It is NOT brought to you in part by the evil doers/hackers who have caused seemingly endless hours of hard work by Curtis to rid MissingSaddle.com of the side effects of having been hacked. Hats of to CZ for his hard work getting the site back online. Booooo Hisssssss to the hackers.
With that said, gas up the jet and put on your reading glasses, ’cause this is a lengthy entry.
After a extended absence from racing, during which I was drinking milk and recuperating from a fractured greater tuberosity in my left humeral head, I was back to work two weeks ago with the Charge Pond Training Series race, as discussed in my last blog entry. After some successful check-ups both from Dad M.D. at home and Doctor Siegel at Access Sports Medicine, I was cleared for racing. With Mom on board staffed as our cheering section, Robbie and I excitedly headed down to Marblehead, MA for the Michael Schott Memorial Circuit Race, which is the traditional kick off race of New England’s road season. The race is very well organized, well marshalled, well refereed, and well… it went well! I felt really strong all day, which was especially nice since I had logged a pretty tough week of training beforehand, and I basically gassed it from the gun. And then did that again. And again. And again. And again. And then there were about nine of us, mostly either professional cyclists, ex-professional cyclist(s), and soon-to-be professional cyclists. But since I was still feeling saucy on the final lap, I jumped hard it at the bottom of the final climb and held it to the line. I’ve heard this is anywhere from 400 to 700 meters, and I’d believe either estimate. Here’s my exciting WIN.
Note the textbook bike throw… something I do not often practice.
One of the finest aspects of being at home after Tucson and Santa Barbara is that I ate veeeery well, especially within the final five nights home. Food is a passion of mine so this was a pretty awesome stretch of noshing for me. (Although I should say that noshing means eating a light snack; I was not eating light snacks. I just like the word.)
THURSDAY: This week of fine dining started by running into my friend Bryan outside of his new restaurant, FOUR, in Portsmouth. After catching up with him (and Geoff, mentioned later in this entry), I found myself in FOUR once again two days later, this time chowing down! Robbie and I started with the sticky ribs, then I moved onto a very filling delmonico steak accompanied by three onion bread pudding and the brussel sprouts, finally we were treated to a very tasty steamed chocolate cake. We both loved it. Five stars out of five. Bryan, you have a very good thing on your hands. Keep it up!
FRIDAY was dinner at the Splaines since Ruth wasn’t going to make it to dinner the following night at my house. As always there was food fit for a King, no pun intended, appetisers galore, followed by a huge salad, homemade mac’n'cheese, steak AND chicken - both very yum - and a lemon angel food cake. All that was followed by edible, decorative, sour apple flavored, Easter “grass.” It was palatable, although it didn’t really stack up against the rest of the meal.
Coincidentally, while forgetting to take a picture of it at the time, I found some here in German speaking Switzerland. It looks like so…
SATURDAY, or SABADO, as I like to say, because today we did Mexican night. While Mom made an enormous ensalada and deliciously cooked carrots (yes, carrots. Add onion, katchup, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and probably a bunch of other ingredients), I cooked a pair pretty fantastic chicken and shrimp enchilada dishes. Those were accompanied by a heaping bowl of homemade guac-a-mole. Muy fantastico!
I have so far failed on the pictures-of-food taking department, which is regretful. But I did take a picture of a t-shirt given to me on Saturday night by my long lost friend from the ‘wood, Geoff. Geoff and Matthew joined the Splaines for la fiesta on Saturday night at our house, and I was given this very thoughtful and stupendous t-shirt. It’s silk-screened onto a super comfortable, 100% cotton American Apparel shirt, and it just screams fashion statement. Write me comments about the shirt and I’ll put you in touch with Geo. He did just leak the rumor that he’s releasing “the sickest NH t-shirt ever!” Needless to say, I’ll be first in line.
SUNDAY: With Dad’s birthday coinciding with my departure to Europe, we decided to have dinner out at Jumpin’ Jays Fish Cafe, again in Portsmouth. I again ran into a good friend from high school, Kate, because she’s managing the place. With each plate arriving to our table, being emptied, nearly licked clean, and departing, the King family slowly but unanimously decided that JJFC is one of the jewels of seacoast dining… and since we all have a pretty destinguished palate, that says a lot! There are dozens - neh, probably hundreds - of restaurants in the area, but they all seem to fall short in one aspect or another… too expensive, too meager portions, too haughty, too artistic, etc. But this meal was excellent. Another five out of five stars awarded to Jumpin’ Jays. Here’s Dad with an enormous helping of birthday style Sticky Toffee Pudding.
MONDAY was once again Mexicana themed, as I had the idea to go up to Loco Coco’s in Kittery, ME. See, on a rainy day about two weeks ago I was doing errands up t’Maine and had the good fortune to run into Loco Coco’s for my first time. I had heard rave reviews and was happy to find them open for a very late lunch. While jonsing for some fish tacos, yet pretty famished from not having eaten lunch, I went with the fish burrito. It was massive, scrumptious, and awesome (you don’t often see those words used in food reviews, unless you roll with me). Fastforward to Monday night, I sent the word out that I would be going to Loco Coco’s again, although rather than being alone like the previous visit, I was greeted with eleven friends. Mr. Popularity, this guy! We annoyed the heck out of the staff for packing out the place on a Monday night and rearranging most of the seats and tables, but it was all worth it. Especially when Corey brought out the Easter bunny cake that he MADE! I was almost equally impressed when the staff gave me a big ol’ knife to slay this sugary mammal; I made short work of it. Before…
And after… although it’s worth noting those are not my fingers running through the leftovers.
TUESDAY is Dad’s birthday, so I treated him to some spectacular homemade pancakes when he awoke from his slumber. My latest secret ingredients include molasses and cornmeal. Dad enjoys his routines, and morning means granola with yogurt and fruit. So to spice up the routine, I added granola to the pancake batter and then topped them with yogurt and fresh strawberries.
I don’t often write at such length about food, but the show must go on! After a very inefficient and stressful day of packing, evening was rolling around which means both birthday dinner time AND time for me to go to the airport. It was an impressive whirlwind of coordination, but we got it all together as Robbie bought, marinated, and grilled some fantastic steaks, I made le salad du jour, roasted beets, and made a chocolate lava cake. Not to take undeserved credit, but I was freaking out about packing, so Mom aided in the finalization and seasoning of the beets, and the cake was from a kit. But my oh my was the dinner scrumptious!
Blah blah blah, thanks very much for Robbie driving me to the airport and my parents’ extraordinary hospitality, I made it to Europe Wednesday morning, or morgen, as my translator Decia tells me. My fingers are getting tired, so I’ll just leave a little blurb about each pic.
Day one, rode up a big mountain to a ski area. I nearly made a loop out of it, but thought better of it when I saw this descent into the middle of nowhere. Seriously nowhere. If this road abruptly stopped and I had to backtrack, my four hour ride would likely turn into three times that, cause I was pooped. It was also memorable because I saw this really old guy who took a digger from the snowbank on the right, directly into the road! He was nordic skiing and apparently got too close to the edge and biffed. I would have taken a picture, but thought that would have been rude. He was fine.
Day two, rode to Thun… pronounced… well I don’t know how to pronounce it. But it was a brilliantly sunny day with five significant climbs and I saw somewhere close to one billion people on wicked fast motorcycles.
This, my friends, is not a motorcycle. But it’s nearly as efficient, since it’s downward sloping and therefore superbly aerodynamic. Check out the sweet exhaust pipe up front.
I’m living in a little town or hamlet or canton or something called Littau. Funny how it looks like “little” since the town is tiny as far as I’ve discovered. But we’re a short bike ride or train ride from Lucerne, which is a beautiful city, as seen below on the far side of Lake Lucerne. It blows my mind how picturesque everything is around here. Granted I’ve been here for just four days and every day has been brilliantly sunny and warm, but the grass is bright green, the sky is bright blue, and the cows are bright… umm brown.
Auf wiedersehen! (thanks again Decia.)
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| Captain Random Strikes Again! | | |
Bon dia my friends! I would like to point out that by “friends” I vehemently am not including the hacker who broke their way into the behind-the-scenes at MissingSaddle.com. Why on earth someone would hack into MissingSaddle leaves me flabbergasted. That’s low. But enough of that doom and gloom! My blog is full of cheeriness and sunshine and sugar and spice and everything nice! Let’s roll.
Here’s a worthy and artistic picture from one of my final days in Santa Barbara. I took the Yellow Dragon out for a spin into town to run some errands, go to the farmers’ market, and mostly put out the vibe. Of note is how badly I’m hunched over and how asymmetrical the wheels are. This, however, is due to the reflection in the window because I am in fact not hunched over nor are the wheels square. So with that explanation, everything in this picture should now make perfect sense to you.
Things on the homefront are simply grand. I had a pair of follow up doctor’s appointments at Access Sports Medicine to go along with an MRI, x-ray, and some physical therapy. My recovery continues to chug along nicely and I’m have a series of good reports to… umm… report:
- x-rays show very good sign of bone growth. Thank you milk!
- MRI shows no soft tissue damage. Plus I enjoyed a nice nap in the MRI machine.
- range of motion is fairly strong, although strength in my left arm/shoulder certainly leaves room for improvement. Thankfully that’s what PT is for!
- I made it through the rigors of the Charge Pond Training Series Race numero tres! I was in no mood to ride with lots of folks all around me, so I treated it like a kermes and attacked the ever loving daylights out of the race until I was off the front in the good company of Frank McCormack. My dear brother Robbie didn’t want to be left out of the fun, so he quickly bridged up to us to make a pleasant 18 lap race winning breakaway. That was followed by a very poorly executed race winning move by Robbie and me, and thus a victory for Frank. Hats off to him.
Besides a successful and safe first race back, the other highlight of this day was catching up with Corey so that he could give us some super organic, all natural, peanut buttery, enormous non-Rice-Krispy-brand rice crispy treats! If you look closely, you can see the very natural look of complete and utter awe as Robbie gazes at this beauty. For a brief moment, Robbie was rendered speechless with his jaw genuinely dropped. Yeah, it was that good.
In addition to this being my first Charge Pond Training Series Race ever (a surprise only because it is a staple to New England racing), I also witnessed for the first time someone trying to pin their OWN race number onto a jersey that he is already wearing! I would put a big black box on his head to grace him with anonymity, but a) I don’t know how to do that b) I don’t feel like learning how and c) I think his glasses and arm cover his face well enough. We’ll call him John Doe. This was thoroughly entertaining and I even think John himself was someone amused at the difficulty of this task. I chimed in with a few bits of advice - the first was to tell him his number was upside down, while the second was to remove the jersey - but he was unwavering in his resolve to put his parachute, I mean number on. Again, hats off, this time to John Doe, for being able to put on a number while wearing the jersey. THAT is talent.
I enjoy a hearty breakfast more than any other meal, so I’m always happy when someone recommends meeting up for some breakie! This recent adventure took Robbie, Tom, and I to The Big Bean Cafe in Newmarket. I snapped a picture of the outside, but sadly didn’t take a picture of the largest pancake I’ve ever seen. It was a hefty 3/4 inch thick and about 16 inches in diameter. It was a thing of beauty and so curiosity provoking that I was left wondering how big the spatula is that’s used to flip it. Food fascinates me, so I’m sorry if you find this paragraph boring. Your B… not mine.
Lastly, but certainly not of least importance, is the 1,500 mile bike ride by Trish Carter, CEO of Dancing Deer, is undertaking from Atlanta to Boston to raise awareness for homelessness! HERE is a link and HERE’S another. I just learned about it and wanted to promote it because I love baked goods in general, I think Dancing Deer is an amazing company (with not only their phenomenal brownies and cookies among other tasty delights, but also their environmental and social consciense), and think that all bike rides for a worthy cause deserve a shout out. Good luck Trish!
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| CTT | | |
Well worth the 8 minutes.
Watch, learn, discuss.
http://vimeo.com/3879038
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| Tea and Strumpets with Mary Swanson | | |
I rather enjoyed my LAST entry where I started with a photo completely unrelated to anything in this particular blog. Today’s edition pays tribute to the Christmas of 2007 where I made a Bouche de Noel. What is a Bouche de Noel you ask? Well if the term “Yule Log” doesn’t ring a bell, then check THIS website and edify yourself
I made this tasty dessert with the help of six sticks of butter. A single square inch bite is enough to spike your blood pressure into astronomically high levels. Yup, six sticks, so needless to say it’s a fairly rich dessert.
But that’s two years and a lifetime away, so I’m on the healthy comeback trail right now. After an excellent stay in Tucson with Custis and Co. I made the trip out to Santa Barbara for the second of a two week mega huge training block. I’m loving life as I slog along these four, five, and six hour days in sunny-See-Aye. Here for example is a shot atop the Gibraltar climb, which puts me up around three thousand feet above sea level. Sure darn felt like a million feet, but that would mean I did a million feet of climbing in 45 minutes so that’s a pretty stellar effort.
My first three days here in Santa Barbara were post-card perfect. Here are a few shots that pay testament to that…
Down by the beach.
Then off to the farmers’ market.
And here’s my home-office/dining room/living room/bedroom.
And now the close up on the right of the previous picture. Notice the fresh oranges ripe for the pickin’ on the right. Yup, thanks next door neighbors!
ROBBIE infamously once ate a burrito before Merced weekend in ‘06 that was larger than his head in a single sitting. He should have earned a t-shirt or a free meal for that effort. Legend has it, that it was larger than his torso. This particular tortilla filled with rice, beans, carnitas meat, various spices, topped in cheese, spicy tomato sause, guacamole, and green salsa (which is also offen referred to as a “burrito”) wasn’t quite as large, but definitely many times more delicious. Before…
…and after. Note the alluring hefty portion of sour cream on the left that I wisely opted out of.
Today was a bit overcast, but overcast sure does not mean snow, which is probably what’s happening back home in NH. So here’s the view from my hog that Aaron and Kim generously lent me this week. I’m merely coasting down the hill because you’ll notice the speedo is barely nicking fifteen. Full throttle and I’m easily maxing this beast beyond 90… and that’s through town.
Good stuff. I love Santa Barbara. Peace out.
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| Buenos Dias de Arizona! | | |
I would like to begin by adding a picture that has absolutely no relevance to anything. I used to have an afro of sorts. If you examine the picture for more than 7 seconds you’ll notice that the hairdo is enhanced by a shadow, but I should point out that this is about half as large as when it was at it’s peak five months later. Oh yeaaah!
But now down to business.
I spent my semester abroad from Middlebury at the University of Arizona once upon a time. I primarily (ahem… exclusively) spoke English during my “abroad” semester, but the cultural differences from rural Vermont to southern Arizona are stark.
I’m back in Arizona now on the road to recovery. After nearly three weeks of slaying myself on the trainer, embarrassing everyone at the gym with my massively supple muscles, and summitting some of southern New Hampshire’s largest, ummm hills in order to stay fit I got the go ahead from Dr. Siegel to train outside and so here I find myself in Tucson!
First I’d like to thank my friends at Arizona Cyclist for helping me quickly get my bike back rolling! I’ve swung through their shops in the past, but was just blown away with how quickly Patrick and Tim were able to get me out on the road after an isolated equipment woe this week. They’re super nice, extraordinarily helpful, and extremely knowledgeable. Thank you gentlemen!
While down here Tucson I also had the privilege to pay Bill Peterson of Foot Fitness a visit for my custom insoles. Bill doesn’t adhere to the industry standard of insoles; he IS the industry standard. People do (and should) travel far and wide to see him. After speaking with a handful of non-cycling friends about my insoles I realize that custom insoles can be a fairly uninteresting subject. Fair enough, but hear me out: cyclists pedal roughly 5,000 revolutions per hour. Multiply that by anywhere from one to seven hours (yes, I did a rad Kitt Peak seven hour jaunt this week with DV), and you’re putting your body through the proverbial ringer. If your body’s geometry is not aligned correctly, then the repetitive incorrect motion will lead to serious chronic problems. So while insoles don’t have the sizzle factor of an $8,000 super sleek fully tricked carbon bike, they’re just as important.
I have a fancy schmancy new camera that I love, but with which am currently totally overwhelmed. Resultingly, I snapped some pictures while at Foot Fitness, but managed to not get a single good one of Bill AND his work. Here are the shots nonetheless.
My bike, my shoes, and Bill performing the all important cleat alignment:
Notice the laser on the heal of the shoe and across the cleat:
LIKE WHOA! BLIIING. Nice new kicks. Yup, check ‘em out.
I preceded this visit by getting my foot impressions done up in Rhode Island with Missy. So even if you can’t make your way to Tucson, they have locations across the Estados Unidos for your feet to get very comfortable. Thank you both very much!
Tucson with the Zimmermans is always fun. For starters my room/house/bungalo/stable/bachelor pad has acquired a disco ball. This is both fashionable and functional, since I can now get down and boogie late at night solo which keeps me fit and limber.
Additionally, the baby chicks that I saw while here back in December are now full blown roosters and chickens!
peCOOOOAAAAHHHCKKKK
While it’s a far cry from the mayhem of European narrow cobbled roads, I survived today’s Tucson (in)famous Shootout with my one-and-a-half fully operational arms. Check mate! My new friend Jesse is earning the reputation among his Ft. Lewis teammates for consuming some bizarre mid-ride foods. You know everyone has their buddy who makes zucchini bread or homemade energy bars or a pocketful of goji berries. Well Jesse eats Chevron hamburgers. If that doesn’t scream delicious/healthy/perfectly caloric, then I don’t know. Here he is displaying his wares.
Up close and yyuuuuummmm.
And THAT my friends is what I call a blog post. Peace out.
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| Everything Wicked Important | | |
This unforecasted trip home has allowed me to cram in a visit to the dentist. After the initial check up - which included a thorough thrashing of my mouth - I was told that I should have my only wisdom tooth extracted. Not one to be called a sissy, I thought that this down time would be an optimal time for a bit of oral surgery. Additionally, the previous day I had my first cavity drilled to elimination right out of my head. Upon learning about all this - in addition to my fractured shoulder - a former coach called me a Glutton for Pain. Ha, good term. Here I am icing my face a few hours after surgery. I should have followed the dentist’s advice a bit closer about eating; I imprinted my remaining teeth into the then-numbed left side of my tongue, only to feel the ill effects of a scarred tongue for the next week and a half. Ow.
After an excellent trip to Maine for the night to see some very important people, I came home Saturday to temperatures in the low 60s. At this point I was 4 days shy of the official doctor’s clearance to ride outside, but I’ve suffered the mind numbing boredom of the trainer for so long and couldn’t pass up this weather. Plus if these guys were going out for a ride, I certainly wasn’t going to miss out.
So I had my first successful day outside, followed by another glorious one the next day. The weather, terrain, pace, and feelings out on the bike were great! My only complaint is that the roads in New England are absolutely destroyed with pot holes right now. Frost heaves tend to ravage roads, but this year’s weather blows past winters’ damage on roads right out of the water. I literally never had more than about 30 seconds of care-free riding; otherwise, I have to pick a very strategic path around the roads craters like Indiana Jones negotiating some elaborate escape route. It’s a miracle I wasn’t consumed in one of these holes, never to be seen again. Seriously though, it’s miserable. If you don’t believe me, go break your arm, and then ride these crappy roads this time of year well before your bones are fused together. It’s bone jarringly terrible. Another anecdote of how bad they are, Ryan mentioned that he’d seen a Hyundai swallowed hole by a particularly large pot hole somewhere in the NH seacoast area. Believe it.
I hosted a very successful surprise party with another Ryan on March 5th. That was Robbie’s birthday and two days after Melissa’s birthday so a two-for-one dealie. Here’s a particularly awesome picture I took with a particularly awesome cake that I just may have baked.
And just to be sure you’re completely up to date, I made it to Arizona today after a lengthy day of travel. I had a 7am flight out of Manchester, NH. At 5:30 when we departed for the airport, I witnessed the first snowflake fall. An hour-and-a-half later, our plane couldn’t budge because of white out conditions and an absurdly slippery runway. Here’s a very artful shot from my seat on the plane after an hour long nap. We hadn’t moved.
What blows my mind is how quickly the airlines are to apologize for the weather and how they’ll suddenly drop everything in order to get you happily on your way. As we sat on the tarmac, they immediately started serving beverages, unlimited free snacks, and were constantly on the PA system announcing the status. Finally as 9:30am rolled around, we were able to take off. Opon landing, they were quick to get everyone to the correct gates with new boarding passes. What I don’t understand is why they’re apologetic for something they can’t control, but everything else about flying is miserable. We’re herded around like cattle without a rhyme or reason, fed cardboard food, have no say whatsoever in the flights, are treated like crap… until an act of nature suddenly gives the airlines a heart. I just don’t get it.
Okay bye.
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| What’s Cooler Than Being Cool, part II | | |
In light of the current weather conditions in New Hampshire as well as the blog entry title from a few weeks back, I’ve dubbed this particular entry What’s Cooler Than Being Cool part II. But by in large my readers are an educated bunch, so you probably figured that out already by reading the title above.
So for starters, the frigid weather here in New Hampshire is certainly cooler than being cool. However, per doctor’s orders, I’m still restricted to the trainer, so whether I’m riding a trainer here in NH or CA or Switzerland or Beijing, a trainer is a trainer so it really doesn’t matter that much. Right? Right.
Although last night my friend Tom and I brought a new level of dorkery to riding a trainer. I was pedaling along, sweating a gallon an hour, watching the ‘08 Giro on DVD (thanks Exeter Cycles!), and suddenly my computer’s Skype function started tweaking out. With my sinewy long arms, I reached forward, answered the call, and there in front of me on my computer screen is my friend Tom riding his trainer staring right back at me! It was actually pretty cool since our ongoing conversation extended my ride about 20 minutes longer than I would have ridden. All sorts of phrases entered my head as we Virtual-Trainer-Group-Rode like “Misery loves company” or “Oh my God, you guys are complete dorks!” The latter was courtesy of Tom’s girlfriend who entered the video screen behind Tom and said it, followed moments later by Robbie entering my video screen and saying the exact same thing. BIKE DORKS UNITE!
When riding a trainer twice a day is simply too tedious, I’ve been known to hike. Last Sunday/Monday New Hampshire received about a foot of snow so I seized the opportunity to hike the mountain called Pawtuckaway. At roughly 1,000′ above sea level, this is no walk in the park. Actually… wait… umm… it is a walk in the park. Literally since it’s part of the NH State Parks system. And after hiking mega 14′ers with Garrett in Colorado back in the fall, one thousand feet is pretty darn tame. That said, I do have a broken arm and with about 18 inches of snow on the ground, it was a great workout and (partially) rewarding with a (very obscured, snowy) vista atop the mountain.
FYI those cross bars are three stories up the fire tower.
Here’s a pic of the snow I trudged through.
I backed up that hike with another two and a half hour adventure up Pawtuckaway the very following day with my friends Melissa and Ryan, although this time we were treated to bluebird skies and a few other peoples’ tracks to help plow through the snow. Plus the winds were 20 mph calmer and 20 degrees warmer. Much more pleasant to say the least. The hike was preceded by homemade blueberry, wholewheat, dark chocolate chip pancakes made by yours truly in honor of Melissa’s birthday. On numerous occasions while chowing away, she said they were the best pancakes she’s ever had. Now that superlative is saved only for the FINEST of fine foods. Thanks Melissa for the lofty praise!
Here’s a funny picture of Ryan busting through the snow like a man on a mission as we near the windblown summit. Funny, because there is a well worn path just ten feet to his right! But we had a good time busting trail and making circuitous paths, while bushwhacking our way up and down the mountain. That ensures anyone following our tracks would thoroughly confused.
Two days later, today is Robbie’s birthday, which is nothing short of awesome! Good things come in pairs, so I made more of the same pancakes, except this time I added granola to the mix. Delicious? As if you had to ask. So be sure to wish him a happy day, and if you have the memory for it, ask him to show you the card I gave him because it’s a riot, but slightly more than PG-rated for this family friendly blog.
Time for a three-a-day workout. Trainer, errands, trainer, gym. BAM.
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| When it rains… | | |
…it rains. Literally. Especially in California. But not in New Hampshire where I am now. Here it snows and rains and I see a half dozen cars off the road in the snowbank in the 20 mile stretch between airport and home at 2am. So from the standpoint that I’m not sitting in the ditch on the side of the road, I’m grateful. I’m also grateful that I didn’t do worse damage to my body. My friend and former teammate was sitting next to me in the hospital with a broken femur. THAT is a wicked pissah.
So, yes, I’m happy I didn’t hurt myself worse. I’m unhappy, though, that I’m not racing my bike. Bringing everyone up to speed, an unnamed Italian rider directly in front of me decided to plant his left foot on the ground and veer left at about 10mph during the friggin’ neutral section of ToCA’s stage 3, causing me to run into him and hit the deck. It wasn’t terribly hard, but hard enough for me to jack my arm at an awkward angle thereby fracturing the greater tuberosity in my left humerus - upper arm to the layperson. I’ve received one diagnosis/prognosis that I’m not too disappointed with, but I’ll be getting another one tomorrow just to be sure.
I remounted my bike, started the race, was actually passing riders while ascending the brutally steep Sierra Mountain using one arm for the first mile, but then the pain was overwhelming and I had to pull the plug. Emotions were in rollercoaster-mode right then. I’m usually a happy go lucky guy so I did all that I could to keep the tears in as I stepped into the team car. Basically it just plain sucks. I’m the only American on the team, so I was hoping for a really good showing out of myself on my home turf in my first race with the team. Not to be this time around.
That being said, this isn’t a sob story or pity party. Roommate and cool dude extraordinare Thor took the stage after the team rode awesomely delivering him to the line perfectly, so that lifted the spirits enormously. The pain in my shoulder is minimal which is great, despite the doctors saying that I shouldn’t be lifting anything heavier than a coffee cup (which I’m good at), and CANNOT risk smacking it again for a few weeks with the ramifications of serious surgical complications were that to happen. It’s good to be with the fam healing up in New Hampshire before I head back overseas very shortly.
Thanks very much for everyone’s support. Professional cycling itself is a mental and emotional rollercoaster ride, so the well wishes really mean more than you could imagine.
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| Wetter than Toast. | | |
…that’s an expression.
Today’s installment of ONLY IN AMERICA is the Tour of California. Because unless there is a Tour of California in another country (I think Bettini lives in California, Italy), this is the only one there is and is therefore fitting for my less-than-daily-dose of OIA. Besides being featured as the ONLY IN AMERICA, the ToCA could could also be easily characterized by the inordinate amount of rain that’s fallen the past two days. In these past two days, the only thing less satisfying than checking weather.com is actually verifying that they are correct in their predictions for precipitation by riding through it. I just listened to the local news which said that parts of CA have received up to 8 inches of rain. Oh my that’s a lot! Today started out kind of enjoyably though - well besides the 5:50am wake up for the 8:30am stage start - because we rode across the Golden Gate Bridge. I have very few personal connections to California, but this seemed like a patriotic act since the GGB is such an American landmark. Additionally, I got to kick it with my former teammate and forever homeslice Zwiza… AND he graced us with a box-a-joe coffee in the comfort of the RV. Thanks Scott!
Well friends, I’m tired and soaked to the bone despite being finished with the race for nearly 5 hours at this point, so I’ll bid you adieu. Please wish/pray/hope/beg for the rain to subside for us! Bye bye.
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