Any good bike racer knows that one of the most important aspects of one's ability to perform is proper recovery. Mitch and Ryan have returned home safely and are taking this important step as seriously as possible. :)
It's now time for us to reflect on all that we've accomplished and learned while racing 'to' and now 'from' Belgium. It's time to remember what's important and gather the necesary energy to make another push down the road.
We'll have more soon as we contnue to wrap up our very sucessful campaign.
Thanks again,
Mitch & Ryan
Monday, July 21, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
In Transit...
Mitch here on a Wallonian keyboard. Ill keep it short becqse its hard to type on these things. For example--I cant figure how to type an apostrophe. :)
So--I just want to report a very nice past few days that I look forward to reporting on as soon as I can. For now, Ill be in the air and San Francisco bound as a very happy traveler whos looking forward to being home. I miss my wife!!! :)
So--I just want to report a very nice past few days that I look forward to reporting on as soon as I can. For now, Ill be in the air and San Francisco bound as a very happy traveler whos looking forward to being home. I miss my wife!!! :)
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Next Few Days
As noted below, Ryan’s on his way home tomorrow so he can do the Wells Fargo Criterium in Idaho. This is one of the National Calendar Events against the pros—so we’ll all have to keep our fingers crossed for him.
I on the other hand am off to Amsterdam with the rest of our housemates here. I’ve been kind of tempted to just stay here in Belgium and soak up a couple more days of good Belgian riding, but I really am and have been excited to see this city. The Dutch country and Amsterdam in particular is one of the most bicycle friendly/bicycle populated areas of the world. All types of people use bikes, they use them all the time and for all types of things. I’m really looking forward to seeing the whole scene in action. Entire streets and sidewalks crowded with town bikes, bikes carrying things, bikes carrying families, bikes making deliveries, bikes selling things, all of it.
Of course, being Amsterdam I’m sure to see a lot of other things I’ve never seen as commonplace/everyday activity as well. I ought not be
bored. Will travel safely and smartly and report back later.
After our night in Amsterdam were headed back here to Belgium. We’ll get one last day for a short ride and packing our bikes. Then I’m off to the airport too.
I on the other hand am off to Amsterdam with the rest of our housemates here. I’ve been kind of tempted to just stay here in Belgium and soak up a couple more days of good Belgian riding, but I really am and have been excited to see this city. The Dutch country and Amsterdam in particular is one of the most bicycle friendly/bicycle populated areas of the world. All types of people use bikes, they use them all the time and for all types of things. I’m really looking forward to seeing the whole scene in action. Entire streets and sidewalks crowded with town bikes, bikes carrying things, bikes carrying families, bikes making deliveries, bikes selling things, all of it.
Of course, being Amsterdam I’m sure to see a lot of other things I’ve never seen as commonplace/everyday activity as well. I ought not be
bored. Will travel safely and smartly and report back later.
After our night in Amsterdam were headed back here to Belgium. We’ll get one last day for a short ride and packing our bikes. Then I’m off to the airport too.
Some (pre departure) Reflection
After today’s race Ryan and I took a spin through Rossleare (the larger city near our smaller town) in order for Ryan to get his train ticket to the airport for his departure tomorrow. He’s flying home a few days early and will try his hand at the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, ID. He’s packing up his bike and everything else right now. Anyway—it was a perfect afternoon here and we were in a good mood, so as we passed though the main square in town we decided to stop off for a couple of beers at a nice sidewalk café. As we drank and celebrated the completion of our experience here we discussed how amazing this trip has been despite its downs.
We can’t believe how fortunate we have been to have had all of your support in order to come over here and pedal our bikes. We really want you all to know how grateful we are, have been and will be for a long while. This has been a bike racers dream come true. In a sport that takes so much time, energy, money, etc, it’s sometimes difficult to say it’s all been worth it, but having had this experience we both agree that we legitimized everything. Like an astronaut that just made their first voyage into orbit—we’re looking at our world a lot differently now. Bicycle racing will never be the same again.
We can’t believe how fortunate we have been to have had all of your support in order to come over here and pedal our bikes. We really want you all to know how grateful we are, have been and will be for a long while. This has been a bike racers dream come true. In a sport that takes so much time, energy, money, etc, it’s sometimes difficult to say it’s all been worth it, but having had this experience we both agree that we legitimized everything. Like an astronaut that just made their first voyage into orbit—we’re looking at our world a lot differently now. Bicycle racing will never be the same again.
The Final Race
We did our last race in Belgium today. What an amazing note to finish on. This one was awesome! In my opinion (Mitch here) it was the coolest course we got to pedal on and I think Ryan agrees. It had a little bit of everything—a rolling course with two Belgian hills (not much to speak of in elevation as compared to our hills at home but…), some interesting road hazards including some flower beds and one corner where everyone railed up the curb and over a section of the side walk on the inside of the turn to keep from scrubbing too much speed. There were also some really fast shicanes where the Belgians were absolutely pinning it (feels like formula 1 or something). The best part of this race however, was a long section of legitimate Belgian cobbles up one of the hills. Sweet!!!
Both Ryan and I raced really well, probably our best performances. We were both determined to get a good result to go out on. We both really wanted to earn some more Euros for Trips for Kids.
Success!!! We were both in the second group on the road and managed top 25(ish) places. While not our best results, this was one of the toughest and fastest races we’ve done and feel the finishes were very honorable. Another 30 Euro for TFK.
Highlights from my perspective were Ryan’s jumping into an early break and my solo attempt to bridge to the lead group of riders with one lap to go. Neither moves were successful in the end, but they were valiant hard-man efforts in the world of bike racing—and ones that the other racers commended us for.
Both Ryan and I raced really well, probably our best performances. We were both determined to get a good result to go out on. We both really wanted to earn some more Euros for Trips for Kids.
Success!!! We were both in the second group on the road and managed top 25(ish) places. While not our best results, this was one of the toughest and fastest races we’ve done and feel the finishes were very honorable. Another 30 Euro for TFK.
Highlights from my perspective were Ryan’s jumping into an early break and my solo attempt to bridge to the lead group of riders with one lap to go. Neither moves were successful in the end, but they were valiant hard-man efforts in the world of bike racing—and ones that the other racers commended us for.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Redemption...
Without much time or energy to type right now, I just wanted to report that our, and especially my, situation has improved here.
After my last post I spent a long day dedicated to regaining my health and it worked. When I woke up in the morning I was up at about 95% wellness again. The bonus—the rain was letting up. I bundled up and set out with Evan and Judd determined to get a good ride in no matter what. It worked. The ride was amazing. We rode out to the coast and back on some of the best roads I’ve ridden here. We rode on the beach too, that was fun. It did downpour twice, but we were lucky enough to time perfect coffee stops that were just long enough for the cells to pass. It was a really good day—Evan, who’s only been here since the weather has been nasty said it was his $3000 ride as it seemed to make his trip over worthwhile.
To make a great day even better we all headed back to Brugge for the afternoon. The bonus was that the sun came out. We had our second meal out for the trip, going to an awesome restaurant for a sampling of traditional Belgian dishes prepared by a real chef. I loved whatever it was that I had. Some stew with fish, potatoes, carrots, some different greens and something similar to a creamy chowder base. I also had some muscles as a starter. It was the first meal I could taste in almost a week and really put the finishing touch on bringing me back to life. After dinner we walked the canals on the less crowded back streets and stopped for coffee at a café. Then home for sleep.
Today we raced. I rode to the race on more fabulous roads - a 24 mile ride just to get there. The race was crazy. A field size of over 100 riders on the tiniest Belgian roads we’ve seen with the nastiest winds that we’ve seen. It made the whole loop a killer. Ryan and I hung strong until about 10 laps to go, Ryan dropping off a little before I did. At least as far as my experience was concerned—the lights just went out, and all at once. No more pedaling. I think I got around 30th place. The field was down to about 25 as soon as I got a chance to count the remaining riders. Then, because I was still looking to make up for some lost mileage, and the sun was out, I also rode home from the race the long way. All told I rode over one hundred miles today and while I was completely shattered for the last 20 or so I was also in complete bliss.
I’ve been eating for the last two hours but apparently I need to keep going. Not quite feeling conscious yet.
Mitch
After my last post I spent a long day dedicated to regaining my health and it worked. When I woke up in the morning I was up at about 95% wellness again. The bonus—the rain was letting up. I bundled up and set out with Evan and Judd determined to get a good ride in no matter what. It worked. The ride was amazing. We rode out to the coast and back on some of the best roads I’ve ridden here. We rode on the beach too, that was fun. It did downpour twice, but we were lucky enough to time perfect coffee stops that were just long enough for the cells to pass. It was a really good day—Evan, who’s only been here since the weather has been nasty said it was his $3000 ride as it seemed to make his trip over worthwhile.
To make a great day even better we all headed back to Brugge for the afternoon. The bonus was that the sun came out. We had our second meal out for the trip, going to an awesome restaurant for a sampling of traditional Belgian dishes prepared by a real chef. I loved whatever it was that I had. Some stew with fish, potatoes, carrots, some different greens and something similar to a creamy chowder base. I also had some muscles as a starter. It was the first meal I could taste in almost a week and really put the finishing touch on bringing me back to life. After dinner we walked the canals on the less crowded back streets and stopped for coffee at a café. Then home for sleep.
Today we raced. I rode to the race on more fabulous roads - a 24 mile ride just to get there. The race was crazy. A field size of over 100 riders on the tiniest Belgian roads we’ve seen with the nastiest winds that we’ve seen. It made the whole loop a killer. Ryan and I hung strong until about 10 laps to go, Ryan dropping off a little before I did. At least as far as my experience was concerned—the lights just went out, and all at once. No more pedaling. I think I got around 30th place. The field was down to about 25 as soon as I got a chance to count the remaining riders. Then, because I was still looking to make up for some lost mileage, and the sun was out, I also rode home from the race the long way. All told I rode over one hundred miles today and while I was completely shattered for the last 20 or so I was also in complete bliss.
I’ve been eating for the last two hours but apparently I need to keep going. Not quite feeling conscious yet.
Mitch
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A Day of Firsts (not placings sadly)
Ryan here. Well, I've managed to explore some new things in Belgium today, some of them sweet and some not quite so nice.
#1) My first Crash
I got up today thinking I'd do a Kermis, but when Gavin and I got the go-ahead to race a crit style race at 7pm I opted out of the first race. I did want to go spin my legs out early in the day so I headed out with the guys who were doing the first race. About 40 minutes into the ride, and just a bit lost, we were negotiating a right hander at about 5 mph when I decided to hop over a little 2 inch lip to stay out of the road. I don't play basketball for a reason. That reason: I don't have ups. Sadly that translated to the bike and I could not get my tire over that formidable 2 inch barricade. I caught my wheels while leaning over and just tipped onto my side. Luckily there were only two casualties: my rain bootie and my pride. I guess it's nice to get my Belgian crash out of the way.
#2) My first cobbled Crit
The race today was my favorite so far this trip. A flat straightaway, a hairpin into a cobbled riser to the top of the course, a short top section and then a long smooth downhill into the last right hander back onto the finishing straight. It was raining pretty badly so Mitch was nice enough to give Gav and I a ride to the race... sadly it was farther than we thought and we made it to reg with only 4 minutes to spare and then only 20 minutes to the start. After a whirlwind prep session we made it to the start with no time to spare and then in Belgian style we were off.
The cobbled section was AWESOME! I mean that not only in the surfer dude, radical way, but also in the traditional sense in that it inspired awe. They were not in the same order as the cobbled sections in the classics courses, but there were real cobbles for sure and they were laid as if to mimic the surface of the sea in a stiff wind, rolling and bumping so it was like riding a 60 year old roller coaster. It was exactly what I've been waiting for, and I'm still glowing.
So how did the race go?
New experience #3) My first top ten finish.
and I just barely made it. Thats right, 10th place. I was in a group of 6 and managed to beat 4 of those suckers to nab my first top ten by the skin of my teeth. Some director of a little team came up to me and gave me his card. He was a big fat guy in a sport coat smoking a cig. He said, "You raced strong. Strong, but not very smart." and he was absolutely right. I still don't have the brains to know which move is going to be the right one, so I just have to burn a lot of matches trying to stay at the front. Not the best way to race unless you're superman, which I am not. I either need to get a lot stronger or a lot smarter.
I feel a bit wretched. Mitch stuck around to check out a few laps and give me some advice from the sidelines. It was just his kind of race and I know he would have killed it had he been able to race. To add insult to injury he was yelling at me to watch the Quickstep wheel (I heard "crispy"), and that was exactly the guy who made the move that formed the second group.
Anyway, it was an incredible race and I'm really happy to have finally cracked the top ten. Hopefully I'm figuring it out finally and I'll be able to make something happen in the last two races.
I have to insert a note here that I would be a sad weeping wreck if it weren't for Scott Rodamaker. The guy is an ablsolute saint. He's over here busting his balls racing, traveling with his family and still finds the time to always be there to help me out in a pinch. He's there to drive a follow car, pin a number, or hand you a cold coke after a race. He is invaluable as a mechanic, having fixed more things on my bike than I care to mention. Beyond all that, he's always there to lend a kind word, slap you on the back after a good race or cheer you up when things aren't going your way. Long story short: Scott is the man.
Last new experience of the day #4) My first Belgian saddle sore.
Yep, it was bound to happen eventually, but hammering over cobbles for two hours in wet chamois is the perfect recipe for a little downstairs mixup. Hopefully I'll nip it in the bud.
That's it for me today. If you're reading, send some good joo-joo Mitch's way. We need that boy healthy so he can yell at me in the races where I can hear him, and where he can put his stamp on some of this Belgian racing.
All the best,
Ryan
#1) My first Crash
I got up today thinking I'd do a Kermis, but when Gavin and I got the go-ahead to race a crit style race at 7pm I opted out of the first race. I did want to go spin my legs out early in the day so I headed out with the guys who were doing the first race. About 40 minutes into the ride, and just a bit lost, we were negotiating a right hander at about 5 mph when I decided to hop over a little 2 inch lip to stay out of the road. I don't play basketball for a reason. That reason: I don't have ups. Sadly that translated to the bike and I could not get my tire over that formidable 2 inch barricade. I caught my wheels while leaning over and just tipped onto my side. Luckily there were only two casualties: my rain bootie and my pride. I guess it's nice to get my Belgian crash out of the way.
#2) My first cobbled Crit
The race today was my favorite so far this trip. A flat straightaway, a hairpin into a cobbled riser to the top of the course, a short top section and then a long smooth downhill into the last right hander back onto the finishing straight. It was raining pretty badly so Mitch was nice enough to give Gav and I a ride to the race... sadly it was farther than we thought and we made it to reg with only 4 minutes to spare and then only 20 minutes to the start. After a whirlwind prep session we made it to the start with no time to spare and then in Belgian style we were off.
The cobbled section was AWESOME! I mean that not only in the surfer dude, radical way, but also in the traditional sense in that it inspired awe. They were not in the same order as the cobbled sections in the classics courses, but there were real cobbles for sure and they were laid as if to mimic the surface of the sea in a stiff wind, rolling and bumping so it was like riding a 60 year old roller coaster. It was exactly what I've been waiting for, and I'm still glowing.
So how did the race go?
New experience #3) My first top ten finish.
and I just barely made it. Thats right, 10th place. I was in a group of 6 and managed to beat 4 of those suckers to nab my first top ten by the skin of my teeth. Some director of a little team came up to me and gave me his card. He was a big fat guy in a sport coat smoking a cig. He said, "You raced strong. Strong, but not very smart." and he was absolutely right. I still don't have the brains to know which move is going to be the right one, so I just have to burn a lot of matches trying to stay at the front. Not the best way to race unless you're superman, which I am not. I either need to get a lot stronger or a lot smarter.
I feel a bit wretched. Mitch stuck around to check out a few laps and give me some advice from the sidelines. It was just his kind of race and I know he would have killed it had he been able to race. To add insult to injury he was yelling at me to watch the Quickstep wheel (I heard "crispy"), and that was exactly the guy who made the move that formed the second group.
Anyway, it was an incredible race and I'm really happy to have finally cracked the top ten. Hopefully I'm figuring it out finally and I'll be able to make something happen in the last two races.
I have to insert a note here that I would be a sad weeping wreck if it weren't for Scott Rodamaker. The guy is an ablsolute saint. He's over here busting his balls racing, traveling with his family and still finds the time to always be there to help me out in a pinch. He's there to drive a follow car, pin a number, or hand you a cold coke after a race. He is invaluable as a mechanic, having fixed more things on my bike than I care to mention. Beyond all that, he's always there to lend a kind word, slap you on the back after a good race or cheer you up when things aren't going your way. Long story short: Scott is the man.
Last new experience of the day #4) My first Belgian saddle sore.
Yep, it was bound to happen eventually, but hammering over cobbles for two hours in wet chamois is the perfect recipe for a little downstairs mixup. Hopefully I'll nip it in the bud.
That's it for me today. If you're reading, send some good joo-joo Mitch's way. We need that boy healthy so he can yell at me in the races where I can hear him, and where he can put his stamp on some of this Belgian racing.
All the best,
Ryan
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Mitch's 'Why Cycling' & Update...
There are many good reasons to justify my love affair with cycling such as my interest in the mechanics of a bicycle, my compulsion for exploration and travel or my basic desire to stay healthy and in good shape, but while these are obvious contributors, none of these reasons is really responsible for my efforts in cycling competition—at least not anymore. In fact I’m very happy knowing that just being a ‘bicycle rider’ allows a person all of these advantages whether in competition or just riding around town. So, in my case I’ve only found one really good reason to justify all of my efforts ‘in competition,’ and noting the recent climate here in Belgium I’ve decided I could unravel this onion a bit while I’ve got your attention—you might understand my process a bit more as a result of it.
For me a short and sweet answer to the question of “why race a bike” is always—“because it’s hard.” But in truth any competition in any sport can be hard if you want it to be—so this answer is largely incomplete. However, I feel I can argue that only in cycling can a person cook up special recipes that bump the sport into a unique ‘really damn hard’ category. It’s not my intention to argue these points here, but suffice it to say, my love for cycling always peaks when I’ve been in the kitchen a really long time, orchestrating with the most obscure and difficult ingredients I could find, and the pressure is on to plate a delicacy for the queen. It’s ‘off with my head’ if she’s not pleased with my performance. Especially at the level of competition I’ve been racing in (the fastest guys with real lives) these recipes are a dime a dozen.
So, my truest appeal for cycling competition in recent months and years has been to use the sport as a form of training for a test for ‘real life.’ This may seem kind of odd, but I guess this is something I've felt I've needed; otherwise I’ve always felt I’d benefit from the experience. Anyway you cut it, I've appreciated what cycling has done for me as a person far more than what it has done for me as an athelete.
In my mind, bike racing and all that it entails offers a perfect analogy for real life and in particular, that as a person figures out what is required to be a successful bike racer, they can also find the skills required to be a successful human, husband, friend, father, businessperson, anything as long as they take the time to give the experience enough consideration. Surely other young adults negotiate this process in the contexts of their lives, but I swear I can't think of a better lens than this one.
Perhaps other cyclists would be the only ones to appreciate my claim, but as a means to help the others out here are a few compelling factors that cycling introduces.
- Cycling is a time intensive sport. EX: A world class runner could get by on less than half the time commitment of a semi-pro or even an ambitious amature bike racer.
- Cycling is a gear intensive sport that requires detailed mechanical knowledge, planning, coordination and effort. (Back to running - buy shoes, learn how to tie the laces, go running.)
- Cycling is expensive and unless your wallet comes pre-loaded, figuring out how to afford it is an endless and strenuous effort.
These are the big ones--but there are many others.
Anyway, among the many lessons cycling has taught me, one of the classics has been the art of keeping one’s composure when ‘the shit hits the fan’ and/or extreme disappointment takes place. Cycling amazes me in its' ability to dish out these blows as heavy handedly as it does as well as well the consistancy and frequency they maintain. In cycling, I’ve learned that no matter how much you plan, no matter how hard you try, no matter what, things will never be perfect, shit always happens. You ought never act surprised or put out by it when it does. That’s cycling, and “that’s life.” Only, as a microcosm cycling has the ability to accelerate these patterns and make them more readily available for your heartbreak and/or benefit. This is cycling and why I love it. Q:Strange? A:Probably.
So, why is this all coming to the surface now? Well, at least in my little world, life in Belgium is sucking pretty badly right now. I’m still not well and in fact this is now the seventh day I’ve been without good health. It’s the ninth day without good riding, racing or training. Comparing these numbers to a 28 day cycling trip hurts a bit. I’ve been looking forward to this trip as perhaps my ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to achieve the best fitness I can in order to find out what I am capable of as an athlete. What’s preventing this now is that the cold which we are all referring to as “the plague” has left my head and gone into my chest. I have a very long history as an asthmatic, but in recent years that’s all it has been—‘history.’ Unfortunately there’s a ‘perfect storm’ here and the beautiful—no amazing—Belgian/French cycling environment that we had been graced with through my last good day on the bike (when we did Paris-Roubaix) has completely gone. Now I’m recovering from the plague in a world of cloudy skies, cold damp air and downpours—the perfect cocktail for asthma trouble.
It’s Thursday now—the weather is not supposed to improve until Saturday and after that—more bad weather is on the horizon. Without some good weather or a trip to the hospital for some serious medication, I’m a bit concerned my Belgian racing experience peaked a couple weeks ago. There’s not many races left—I’ve essentially missed three already. I gave this past Tuesday’s race my best shot, but it was essentially a blow out as I was not at all healthy. I suffered through 5 of 13 laps before I couldn’t pedal anymore. As of now I’m feeling like racing today would not be in my best interests—it’s pouring out and I’m operating on somewhere around 85% of my lung capacity-the rest is the phlem that has kept me awake in the middle of the night and offered me the time to share these thoughts. Certainly not the Flemish holiday I had been looking forward to.
So—as I was saying about cycling. A fantastic pursuit! Love it! Totally gratifying!
When “just keep pedaling” is not the thing, “just keep smiling” is sage advise. :)
For me a short and sweet answer to the question of “why race a bike” is always—“because it’s hard.” But in truth any competition in any sport can be hard if you want it to be—so this answer is largely incomplete. However, I feel I can argue that only in cycling can a person cook up special recipes that bump the sport into a unique ‘really damn hard’ category. It’s not my intention to argue these points here, but suffice it to say, my love for cycling always peaks when I’ve been in the kitchen a really long time, orchestrating with the most obscure and difficult ingredients I could find, and the pressure is on to plate a delicacy for the queen. It’s ‘off with my head’ if she’s not pleased with my performance. Especially at the level of competition I’ve been racing in (the fastest guys with real lives) these recipes are a dime a dozen.
So, my truest appeal for cycling competition in recent months and years has been to use the sport as a form of training for a test for ‘real life.’ This may seem kind of odd, but I guess this is something I've felt I've needed; otherwise I’ve always felt I’d benefit from the experience. Anyway you cut it, I've appreciated what cycling has done for me as a person far more than what it has done for me as an athelete.
In my mind, bike racing and all that it entails offers a perfect analogy for real life and in particular, that as a person figures out what is required to be a successful bike racer, they can also find the skills required to be a successful human, husband, friend, father, businessperson, anything as long as they take the time to give the experience enough consideration. Surely other young adults negotiate this process in the contexts of their lives, but I swear I can't think of a better lens than this one.
Perhaps other cyclists would be the only ones to appreciate my claim, but as a means to help the others out here are a few compelling factors that cycling introduces.
- Cycling is a time intensive sport. EX: A world class runner could get by on less than half the time commitment of a semi-pro or even an ambitious amature bike racer.
- Cycling is a gear intensive sport that requires detailed mechanical knowledge, planning, coordination and effort. (Back to running - buy shoes, learn how to tie the laces, go running.)
- Cycling is expensive and unless your wallet comes pre-loaded, figuring out how to afford it is an endless and strenuous effort.
These are the big ones--but there are many others.
Anyway, among the many lessons cycling has taught me, one of the classics has been the art of keeping one’s composure when ‘the shit hits the fan’ and/or extreme disappointment takes place. Cycling amazes me in its' ability to dish out these blows as heavy handedly as it does as well as well the consistancy and frequency they maintain. In cycling, I’ve learned that no matter how much you plan, no matter how hard you try, no matter what, things will never be perfect, shit always happens. You ought never act surprised or put out by it when it does. That’s cycling, and “that’s life.” Only, as a microcosm cycling has the ability to accelerate these patterns and make them more readily available for your heartbreak and/or benefit. This is cycling and why I love it. Q:Strange? A:Probably.
So, why is this all coming to the surface now? Well, at least in my little world, life in Belgium is sucking pretty badly right now. I’m still not well and in fact this is now the seventh day I’ve been without good health. It’s the ninth day without good riding, racing or training. Comparing these numbers to a 28 day cycling trip hurts a bit. I’ve been looking forward to this trip as perhaps my ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to achieve the best fitness I can in order to find out what I am capable of as an athlete. What’s preventing this now is that the cold which we are all referring to as “the plague” has left my head and gone into my chest. I have a very long history as an asthmatic, but in recent years that’s all it has been—‘history.’ Unfortunately there’s a ‘perfect storm’ here and the beautiful—no amazing—Belgian/French cycling environment that we had been graced with through my last good day on the bike (when we did Paris-Roubaix) has completely gone. Now I’m recovering from the plague in a world of cloudy skies, cold damp air and downpours—the perfect cocktail for asthma trouble.
It’s Thursday now—the weather is not supposed to improve until Saturday and after that—more bad weather is on the horizon. Without some good weather or a trip to the hospital for some serious medication, I’m a bit concerned my Belgian racing experience peaked a couple weeks ago. There’s not many races left—I’ve essentially missed three already. I gave this past Tuesday’s race my best shot, but it was essentially a blow out as I was not at all healthy. I suffered through 5 of 13 laps before I couldn’t pedal anymore. As of now I’m feeling like racing today would not be in my best interests—it’s pouring out and I’m operating on somewhere around 85% of my lung capacity-the rest is the phlem that has kept me awake in the middle of the night and offered me the time to share these thoughts. Certainly not the Flemish holiday I had been looking forward to.
So—as I was saying about cycling. A fantastic pursuit! Love it! Totally gratifying!
When “just keep pedaling” is not the thing, “just keep smiling” is sage advise. :)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Happy Windsday!
Mitch and I just got back from maybe the toughest, windiest race we've ever started. There were 8 guys from the QuickStep development team and they pretty much hit it from the gun. The first group was away before we could could say Bobs your uncle and with four of those QuickStep guys in it, it wasn't coming back. There were two long sections of the course and on each one the wind was absolutely howling across the road. It was patchy weather with alternating drizzling rain and sun so the roads were wet and it was absolutely insane. Guys were going as hard as I have ever seen them go and as soon as a gap opened it was pretty much over.
I'm embarassed to say that this was my shortest race yet, despite ripping my pedal off in a previous one. I made it a lap and a half, and then droppped back thinking I had a flat. I didn't, and chasing back on almost killed me. I was sitting in the third group, absolutely suffering and I figured I'd call it early and live to fight another day.
Mitch, even in his sickened state still stuck it out longer than I did. I'm bigger, taller and covered in hair, but Mitch is defintely more manly than I am. He made it a good six laps into this deathmarch of a race, and managed to sling a few of our boys up the road before ducking out. I heard him coughing so loud in his post-race shower that it sounded like he was giving oral birth. I hope the drain isn't clogged with phlegm. Sorry. Thats gross to write about, but it was even grosser to hear and it's important that you know that Mitch is so stoked to be here racing that he'd insist on getting on the bike even if he was cross-eyed and bleeding out the ears. He's an absolute trooper and with a bit of luck he'll be back to normal in the next few days and ready to rip up some more Kermiss.
The plan now is to head to the grocery store so we're not stuck eating white bread and meat for the rest of our stay. I must be growing up or something, because I'm finally ready to eat some serious vegetables. Tomorrow we're hoping for a break in the weather so we can get in some long miles and maybe check out the French coast.
Despite some spotty weather and some humbling racing it's still just an absolute dream to be here. Thanks to you all!
I'm embarassed to say that this was my shortest race yet, despite ripping my pedal off in a previous one. I made it a lap and a half, and then droppped back thinking I had a flat. I didn't, and chasing back on almost killed me. I was sitting in the third group, absolutely suffering and I figured I'd call it early and live to fight another day.
Mitch, even in his sickened state still stuck it out longer than I did. I'm bigger, taller and covered in hair, but Mitch is defintely more manly than I am. He made it a good six laps into this deathmarch of a race, and managed to sling a few of our boys up the road before ducking out. I heard him coughing so loud in his post-race shower that it sounded like he was giving oral birth. I hope the drain isn't clogged with phlegm. Sorry. Thats gross to write about, but it was even grosser to hear and it's important that you know that Mitch is so stoked to be here racing that he'd insist on getting on the bike even if he was cross-eyed and bleeding out the ears. He's an absolute trooper and with a bit of luck he'll be back to normal in the next few days and ready to rip up some more Kermiss.
The plan now is to head to the grocery store so we're not stuck eating white bread and meat for the rest of our stay. I must be growing up or something, because I'm finally ready to eat some serious vegetables. Tomorrow we're hoping for a break in the weather so we can get in some long miles and maybe check out the French coast.
Despite some spotty weather and some humbling racing it's still just an absolute dream to be here. Thanks to you all!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Did we mention you can race every day here?
Hi all,
Ryan here with an update to try and catch you up on all the madness in the last few days. Poor Mitch has been sick as a dog for the last two days and hardly able to get on the bike, let alone race a Kermis. I told him not to make out with Sickly Judd, but I guess he didn't listen. Hopefully he'll turn the corner and be out racing in two days time.
I skipped out on the Paris trip and here's an account of my last 4 days.
1. Race in East Flanders. Scott let me take his car and go race in a different province. I was the only rider, which was a little strange, but sort of nice as I could just ride my own race without worrying about helping or hindering my teammates. This was a larger than normal field with over a hundred guys. It was kind of slow at the start which is really strange for belgian racing, and the early break came back. I was making a few too many jumps and when stuff finally went I didn't make it. I found myself working in the third group and in the end I lost the sprint to the fattest human I have ever raced against. It was some 260lb 18 year old and he just ripped past me, with a few others in tow. Belgium is flat, remember. Not a particularly great ride, but I learn something new each time and I did manage to just slip into the prize money, so chalk another 10E up for the kids.
Day 2. I was burnt from the race the day before So I did a long ride up to Bruges, which I had missed the first tiem around. The farm roads are so beautiful, and every now and then you find yourself riding down a tree lined road with not another soul in sight and castles and churches poking up from the horizon. ALso, as you approach Bruges you ride through a verdant forest. Its a striking change from the wide open farm roads. It had just rained and the pavement was steam, the leaves were driping and that unique smell of a wet forest was overwhelming. It was a like a taste of home and it was invigorating.
Bruges is indeed beautfiul, but its chalk full of tourists and they sort of spoil the scene. Also, Americans are the loudest people in the world. I was having a snack in the main sqaure when two older couples came out basically screaming. The men were riding rented bikes and the women photgraphing them. I dont think they realized Iwas also an american because the were yelling, "Watch me teach this expert cyclist a thing or two. I'm gonna run down these pigeons!" True to his word we went weaving through crowds of people and birds, all the while yelling ot their significant others to "get this. honey!"
The ride was going really well, but on the way home the skies just opened up on me and I got rained on like I've never been rained on before. I could barely see and was riding through veritable streams on the side of hte road. Normally I'd just fina a cafe and wait it out, but i was late to pick up Scott and his family returning from Venice. Scariest point: Having a tour bus pass me about six inches away and rocking me with a wave you'd expectg on the north shore, but not in Belgian farmland. I made it in the end, but it was quite a ride. I now feel like a true belgian cyclist.
day 3. 120k race in a town 4 mi away. It is so nice to be able to ride to races. In California you sometimes find yourself driving for hours to get to a 60 min crit, while here you can pretty much pick from 10 races a week within riding distance of your house. Alas, the weather of yesterday had stuck around and the drizzle on the ride over turned into a downpour. Luckily Evan brought some flexpower, which is an oily rub which makes your legs feel like they're under a heatlamp. Absolutely incredible. Belgians don't mess around with their cycling, and they're are none of hte frills the we have in the states. INstead of reading a long list of rules and such at the start the Belgians just get you on the line and then send you off. No gun, no whistle, you just roll when everyone else does.
This race was also kind of slow for the first few laps, I think due to the rain, and it stayed together for the first few laps. This was Evan's first race and he was really aggressive up front. (its good to brun matches to stay up front in your first race as insurance. You don't want your first race to be less than 3 laps). I should note at this point that European paint is about a hundred times more slippery than us paint. Maybe its that its so thick, or maybe its that its covered from soap from all the Belgians constantly washing everything (they've got to be a close second to Germans. They're constantly sweeping, and spraying and weeding and painting). Anyway, I had a few moments of terror when my rear wheel went sliping out from under me and I just barely kept it together. I finally decided that it just wasn't worth it and I stopped trying to accelerate whenever I was near the paint.
When I saw things finally starting to get jumpy I decided it was time to go. Really, I had told myself that today I was going to race like my man Mitch and just ride myself into the break no matter what it took. So I did. I started to attack up to a group through the start finish and when I caught them after the first turn they were sort of noodling so I just kept going and tried to make a solo bridge up to the only two people up the road. I was pretty mutch killing myself to get there. One guy caught me and together we made it up to the front two. Those guys wanted to wait a bit and so we did, and once we were a group of 7 we started working well together. This was my first time in the lead group in a Kermis so needless to say I was pretty stoked. I had made the move that got me there instead of just following wheels and my legs felt great. Its nice to know that even in a race full of Belgians I'm still a man for the shti weather.
Alas, it was not to be. Sometime in the first few laps my pedaling action was feeling really funny on the right side and I thoguht for sure my cleat was loose. I had ROb take a look and he assured me it was Okay so I just attacked away and figured whatever it was would hold at least until the race was over. But it was not to be. It turns out my pedal was ripping out of my crank arm. This is not good. So here I am, first time up in the lead group and me foot is gyrating like its going to fly off my body with each pedal stroke. IT was killing my knee, and if you leave something like that too long you end up getting catastrophic failure, which is exaclty what I was heading for. So I was forced to pull out of the race after frinally getting myself right where I wanted to be. Lucky for me Mitch and Elliot were right there with the car so they could pick me up and laugh at my misfortune.
I managed to get a nother set of cranks from a local bike shop and Mitch, being aan absolute whiz when it comes to wrenching had them on in no time at all and the bike ready for the next day. Bum luck indeed, but as Mitch would say, "thats bike racing"
Day 4 (today) ANother race justa few miles away. I've been going for a short hour spin every morning for the last two days and it really does wonders. Wakes me up, gets the blood and metabolism going and loosens up the legs. Probelm was, I didn't quite get out of the house until pretty late and by the time I got back I was way behind the others fro race prep. I told them to go without me and then got myself lost on the way over and almost missed registration. Awesome.
The race was a doosey! Its the first race we've done with any hills, a long slow drag through the start finish and then a long nasty crosswind section, follwed byb an honest to goodness hill. Steep enough to be a climb, but only 150 meters or so. I'm sad to say that I'm such a bad climber I can even get dropped on Belgian climbs. But I can also chase on Belgian flats! Thank goodness. The first group of 5 rolled inthe first few laps and they were immediately working together and never came back. Rats!At one point I came up to Evan and Judd with 4 guys from another team and I thoght we were going to make the second group and roll it, but it wasn't to be as there were too many people from other teams chasing. I was back and forth between the second group. SOmtimes with maybe 6 guys and then we'd get caught and sometimes working with more. Finally, the second group went and I missed the boat. It was, as so much of this racing is, terribly frustrating. Its just attack and work, attack and work all day with barely a moments rest and its a total throw of the dice to see which group will actually stick it and start working. So I was in the third group of maybe 10 or so and we were noodling around with occasionall fits of all out raging on the bike, and by noodling I mean riding a steady hard pace into Belgian winds as opposed to the all out blitz which is an attack.
Some Brit finally made his way off the front and everyone seemed content to let him dangle at about 15 seconds. We were going slow enough that I feared getting caught by the leaders and having the race cut short so I figured I'd better get to it. I attacked (on the hill! Ryan Parnes attacked on a hill!) and managed to bridge up to him and we managed to work together for a few laps before they did eventually cut our race short because the leaders were catching. Its belgian tradition to sprint it out, even for 40th and even against your best friend so I lead it out but managed to stick it for 12th place. Frustration seems to be the name of the game here. My British friend and I could actually see the second group as we came through the last lap, and htey were only about 25 seconds ahead of us and we were closing. Oh well. All in all it was a good day and I'm feeling stronger with every race. Plus, another 20E for the kids! Whoohoo!
I think I'm finally getting hte hang of this crazy Euro racing and with a bit of luck and a day of recovery I'm hoping to crack the top ten soon.
Sorry its been so long since I rapped at ya, but there's a wealther of racing to do and a dearth of internet access. I do hope you'll understand.
Every time I get on my bike, every time I hear the Flemmish over the loudspeaker at a race, every time I navigate virgin far roads using centuries old church steeples... frankly, pretty much every minute of the day I am just so overhwlemed by how amazing and unique this experience is and I'm so increadibly grateful to those people who have helped make this dream come true.
Ryan here with an update to try and catch you up on all the madness in the last few days. Poor Mitch has been sick as a dog for the last two days and hardly able to get on the bike, let alone race a Kermis. I told him not to make out with Sickly Judd, but I guess he didn't listen. Hopefully he'll turn the corner and be out racing in two days time.
I skipped out on the Paris trip and here's an account of my last 4 days.
1. Race in East Flanders. Scott let me take his car and go race in a different province. I was the only rider, which was a little strange, but sort of nice as I could just ride my own race without worrying about helping or hindering my teammates. This was a larger than normal field with over a hundred guys. It was kind of slow at the start which is really strange for belgian racing, and the early break came back. I was making a few too many jumps and when stuff finally went I didn't make it. I found myself working in the third group and in the end I lost the sprint to the fattest human I have ever raced against. It was some 260lb 18 year old and he just ripped past me, with a few others in tow. Belgium is flat, remember. Not a particularly great ride, but I learn something new each time and I did manage to just slip into the prize money, so chalk another 10E up for the kids.
Day 2. I was burnt from the race the day before So I did a long ride up to Bruges, which I had missed the first tiem around. The farm roads are so beautiful, and every now and then you find yourself riding down a tree lined road with not another soul in sight and castles and churches poking up from the horizon. ALso, as you approach Bruges you ride through a verdant forest. Its a striking change from the wide open farm roads. It had just rained and the pavement was steam, the leaves were driping and that unique smell of a wet forest was overwhelming. It was a like a taste of home and it was invigorating.
Bruges is indeed beautfiul, but its chalk full of tourists and they sort of spoil the scene. Also, Americans are the loudest people in the world. I was having a snack in the main sqaure when two older couples came out basically screaming. The men were riding rented bikes and the women photgraphing them. I dont think they realized Iwas also an american because the were yelling, "Watch me teach this expert cyclist a thing or two. I'm gonna run down these pigeons!" True to his word we went weaving through crowds of people and birds, all the while yelling ot their significant others to "get this. honey!"
The ride was going really well, but on the way home the skies just opened up on me and I got rained on like I've never been rained on before. I could barely see and was riding through veritable streams on the side of hte road. Normally I'd just fina a cafe and wait it out, but i was late to pick up Scott and his family returning from Venice. Scariest point: Having a tour bus pass me about six inches away and rocking me with a wave you'd expectg on the north shore, but not in Belgian farmland. I made it in the end, but it was quite a ride. I now feel like a true belgian cyclist.
day 3. 120k race in a town 4 mi away. It is so nice to be able to ride to races. In California you sometimes find yourself driving for hours to get to a 60 min crit, while here you can pretty much pick from 10 races a week within riding distance of your house. Alas, the weather of yesterday had stuck around and the drizzle on the ride over turned into a downpour. Luckily Evan brought some flexpower, which is an oily rub which makes your legs feel like they're under a heatlamp. Absolutely incredible. Belgians don't mess around with their cycling, and they're are none of hte frills the we have in the states. INstead of reading a long list of rules and such at the start the Belgians just get you on the line and then send you off. No gun, no whistle, you just roll when everyone else does.
This race was also kind of slow for the first few laps, I think due to the rain, and it stayed together for the first few laps. This was Evan's first race and he was really aggressive up front. (its good to brun matches to stay up front in your first race as insurance. You don't want your first race to be less than 3 laps). I should note at this point that European paint is about a hundred times more slippery than us paint. Maybe its that its so thick, or maybe its that its covered from soap from all the Belgians constantly washing everything (they've got to be a close second to Germans. They're constantly sweeping, and spraying and weeding and painting). Anyway, I had a few moments of terror when my rear wheel went sliping out from under me and I just barely kept it together. I finally decided that it just wasn't worth it and I stopped trying to accelerate whenever I was near the paint.
When I saw things finally starting to get jumpy I decided it was time to go. Really, I had told myself that today I was going to race like my man Mitch and just ride myself into the break no matter what it took. So I did. I started to attack up to a group through the start finish and when I caught them after the first turn they were sort of noodling so I just kept going and tried to make a solo bridge up to the only two people up the road. I was pretty mutch killing myself to get there. One guy caught me and together we made it up to the front two. Those guys wanted to wait a bit and so we did, and once we were a group of 7 we started working well together. This was my first time in the lead group in a Kermis so needless to say I was pretty stoked. I had made the move that got me there instead of just following wheels and my legs felt great. Its nice to know that even in a race full of Belgians I'm still a man for the shti weather.
Alas, it was not to be. Sometime in the first few laps my pedaling action was feeling really funny on the right side and I thoguht for sure my cleat was loose. I had ROb take a look and he assured me it was Okay so I just attacked away and figured whatever it was would hold at least until the race was over. But it was not to be. It turns out my pedal was ripping out of my crank arm. This is not good. So here I am, first time up in the lead group and me foot is gyrating like its going to fly off my body with each pedal stroke. IT was killing my knee, and if you leave something like that too long you end up getting catastrophic failure, which is exaclty what I was heading for. So I was forced to pull out of the race after frinally getting myself right where I wanted to be. Lucky for me Mitch and Elliot were right there with the car so they could pick me up and laugh at my misfortune.
I managed to get a nother set of cranks from a local bike shop and Mitch, being aan absolute whiz when it comes to wrenching had them on in no time at all and the bike ready for the next day. Bum luck indeed, but as Mitch would say, "thats bike racing"
Day 4 (today) ANother race justa few miles away. I've been going for a short hour spin every morning for the last two days and it really does wonders. Wakes me up, gets the blood and metabolism going and loosens up the legs. Probelm was, I didn't quite get out of the house until pretty late and by the time I got back I was way behind the others fro race prep. I told them to go without me and then got myself lost on the way over and almost missed registration. Awesome.
The race was a doosey! Its the first race we've done with any hills, a long slow drag through the start finish and then a long nasty crosswind section, follwed byb an honest to goodness hill. Steep enough to be a climb, but only 150 meters or so. I'm sad to say that I'm such a bad climber I can even get dropped on Belgian climbs. But I can also chase on Belgian flats! Thank goodness. The first group of 5 rolled inthe first few laps and they were immediately working together and never came back. Rats!At one point I came up to Evan and Judd with 4 guys from another team and I thoght we were going to make the second group and roll it, but it wasn't to be as there were too many people from other teams chasing. I was back and forth between the second group. SOmtimes with maybe 6 guys and then we'd get caught and sometimes working with more. Finally, the second group went and I missed the boat. It was, as so much of this racing is, terribly frustrating. Its just attack and work, attack and work all day with barely a moments rest and its a total throw of the dice to see which group will actually stick it and start working. So I was in the third group of maybe 10 or so and we were noodling around with occasionall fits of all out raging on the bike, and by noodling I mean riding a steady hard pace into Belgian winds as opposed to the all out blitz which is an attack.
Some Brit finally made his way off the front and everyone seemed content to let him dangle at about 15 seconds. We were going slow enough that I feared getting caught by the leaders and having the race cut short so I figured I'd better get to it. I attacked (on the hill! Ryan Parnes attacked on a hill!) and managed to bridge up to him and we managed to work together for a few laps before they did eventually cut our race short because the leaders were catching. Its belgian tradition to sprint it out, even for 40th and even against your best friend so I lead it out but managed to stick it for 12th place. Frustration seems to be the name of the game here. My British friend and I could actually see the second group as we came through the last lap, and htey were only about 25 seconds ahead of us and we were closing. Oh well. All in all it was a good day and I'm feeling stronger with every race. Plus, another 20E for the kids! Whoohoo!
I think I'm finally getting hte hang of this crazy Euro racing and with a bit of luck and a day of recovery I'm hoping to crack the top ten soon.
Sorry its been so long since I rapped at ya, but there's a wealther of racing to do and a dearth of internet access. I do hope you'll understand.
Every time I get on my bike, every time I hear the Flemmish over the loudspeaker at a race, every time I navigate virgin far roads using centuries old church steeples... frankly, pretty much every minute of the day I am just so overhwlemed by how amazing and unique this experience is and I'm so increadibly grateful to those people who have helped make this dream come true.
Fundraising Update...
We’ve been in Belgium for almost two weeks now and Race to Belgium really feels like a success. However, our goal for fundraising has not been met and we’re beginning to scrape our accounts pretty thin at this point. To date our fundraiser has brought in $3600.00 towards the cost of our mission over here. This money helped us pay for some of the travel that got us here and it has sustained our needs as bike racers up to this point. Thanks again to all of you who have made this possible! We’ve been living a very cost effective existence over here (short of the full cost bike parts we have had to buy) and we’ve been very fortunate to find the exchange rate tipping back in our favor a bit—but we could still use some more contributions. Without them it’s going to mean even more Nutela and bread and less fruits, vegetables and barbecued delights. Another set back is that most places don't take our US credit cards around here--this includes the grocery store--so your contributions, which can be made into cash/Euros, really make the difference.
Donations to Trips for Kids - You may have noticed in our posting that we are already accounting for the donation of our race winnings to Trips for Kids even though our budget is uncertain. So far this tally has reached $95.00 Euros, and with less than half of our races complete and our fitness and ability to compete over here improving every day we’re feeling rather optimistic that we’ll be able to improve that total. We’re really hoping to climb into those higher places in a couple of the upcoming races so we can start picking up the big Euros. :)
Donations to Trips for Kids - You may have noticed in our posting that we are already accounting for the donation of our race winnings to Trips for Kids even though our budget is uncertain. So far this tally has reached $95.00 Euros, and with less than half of our races complete and our fitness and ability to compete over here improving every day we’re feeling rather optimistic that we’ll be able to improve that total. We’re really hoping to climb into those higher places in a couple of the upcoming races so we can start picking up the big Euros. :)
Racing Update...
Ryan and the guys are out racing right now, but I’m inside sniffling. :( When my good friend Judd from UC Davis joined the All Stars last week he brought a cold with him. Unfortunately, Elliot (the All Stars coordinator) and I have had to suffer through it since. Elliot caught it a day before I did and is back out on the bike today. So I am hopeful that all will be better by morning. For now I’m sleeping a ton (14 hours last night) and laying on the couch watching the live Tour de France coverage (being aired on 7 of our 15 channels every day). Mostly—I’m feeling pretty crappy. :(
Yesterday was the Polkapelle race about 5km from our house. Being sick, Elliot and I bundled up (it was a rainy day out) and hopped in the car to go get some photos of the team. Arriving at the race I was heart broken that I wasn’t in it. I love racing in the rain. We drove behind the race in the motorcade for a couple laps and pulled to the side of the course to get some shots of the passing riders for a couple more. The guys were caked in road grime and looked like true warriors. The other American team racing here in Belgium showed up to this race—we haven’t seen them since our first race here. They all seem to be from Colorado.
Unfortunately all was looking really well until about the 10th to go when everything seemed to fall apart for the yanks. Elliot and I were parked at a good vantage point out in one of the fields and saw the front of the race coming around the corner. We noticed that a group of 6 strong riders had worked their way off the front. Then we saw Ryan in a solo effort to chase himself onto that group. He successfully bridged up to them and we got excited. Then the new group of 7 approached a corner and we saw Ryan pull off the road and stepped of his bike. Uh? He was inspecting his crank arm until he threw his hands in the air in frustration. Damn! He began pushing his bike further up the course to where we were standing. The peloton passed by, and a few seconds after that two of our riders along with two of the other Americans—they had all slipped off the pace.
It turned out that the insert in Ryans crank arm that holds his pedal in place had become separated from the crank and was about to fall out. It was a good thing he stopped pedaling when he did, if he had kept going and his pedal fell off—yikes! The ‘insult to injury’ part was that the attacking that separated the first six riders as well as Ryan’s efforts that allowed him to bridge up to them proved to be too strong for most of the rest of our guys. What a pisser!!!
In the end the breakaway that Ryan had to abandon went on to win the race. Judd and Jason stayed in the race until the end for our squad and got pack finishes.
Ryan and I raced off to the bike shop to make sure we could get a replacement crank set for him before the shops closed. $150 euro later we had a suitable replacement and went home so I could install everything for him before passing out.
So like I said, the guys are out racing now. I opted to come over here to Scott, our director's, house for internet use. Hopefully we’ll find that it was a better day at the races today and that I’m healthy by morning. Our next race is Tuesday and I hope to be there.
Yesterday was the Polkapelle race about 5km from our house. Being sick, Elliot and I bundled up (it was a rainy day out) and hopped in the car to go get some photos of the team. Arriving at the race I was heart broken that I wasn’t in it. I love racing in the rain. We drove behind the race in the motorcade for a couple laps and pulled to the side of the course to get some shots of the passing riders for a couple more. The guys were caked in road grime and looked like true warriors. The other American team racing here in Belgium showed up to this race—we haven’t seen them since our first race here. They all seem to be from Colorado.
Unfortunately all was looking really well until about the 10th to go when everything seemed to fall apart for the yanks. Elliot and I were parked at a good vantage point out in one of the fields and saw the front of the race coming around the corner. We noticed that a group of 6 strong riders had worked their way off the front. Then we saw Ryan in a solo effort to chase himself onto that group. He successfully bridged up to them and we got excited. Then the new group of 7 approached a corner and we saw Ryan pull off the road and stepped of his bike. Uh? He was inspecting his crank arm until he threw his hands in the air in frustration. Damn! He began pushing his bike further up the course to where we were standing. The peloton passed by, and a few seconds after that two of our riders along with two of the other Americans—they had all slipped off the pace.
It turned out that the insert in Ryans crank arm that holds his pedal in place had become separated from the crank and was about to fall out. It was a good thing he stopped pedaling when he did, if he had kept going and his pedal fell off—yikes! The ‘insult to injury’ part was that the attacking that separated the first six riders as well as Ryan’s efforts that allowed him to bridge up to them proved to be too strong for most of the rest of our guys. What a pisser!!!
In the end the breakaway that Ryan had to abandon went on to win the race. Judd and Jason stayed in the race until the end for our squad and got pack finishes.
Ryan and I raced off to the bike shop to make sure we could get a replacement crank set for him before the shops closed. $150 euro later we had a suitable replacement and went home so I could install everything for him before passing out.
So like I said, the guys are out racing now. I opted to come over here to Scott, our director's, house for internet use. Hopefully we’ll find that it was a better day at the races today and that I’m healthy by morning. Our next race is Tuesday and I hope to be there.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Mitch goes to Paris...
My first time there. We arrived mid afternoon, made a dinner reservation and hiked up the steps to the famous Sacre Coeur cathedral just up the hill from our hotel. The cafes up there proved to be a great place to enjoy a crêpe and some espresso. The view of the city is pretty great too—only no view of the Eiffel (hidden behind some trees).
Back down the hill for dinner. Amazing!!! Our first big spend of the trip, mine included an eggplant and caviar salad followed by my first tar tar plate (uncooked beef). Desert was the most incredible Tiramisu I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. I wanted to lick the bowl—but refrained.
After Dinner we walked down the street where we each purchased a bottle of fine French wine at costs no greater than $Euro each. Back to the steps of Sacre Coeur for consumption. Pretty great. We sat and drank surrounded by far more Parisians than tourists and took in the view of the city. After that I went with the group that headed back to the hotel for sleep. In the morning we learned that the other half of us wiggled their way onto a private bus that was taking a group of Smirnoff executives, and distributors as well as a bunch of media and super models to a raging after party for the private concert they all attended. The boys ended up getting into one of Paris’ swankiest clubs for free and proceeded to party like rock stars until 4am. We were all very proud of their accomplishments.
The next morning my Metromint teammate Evan and I went up the hill again for breakfast, then went up into the dome of Sacre Coeur for 360 views of the city. You can see the Eiffel from up there. Magnificent.
Then we regrouped and headed downtown before splitting up again, Now with Judd--the two of us set out to see as much of the city as we could. We walked—the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower, past a number of government buildings, monuments and parks, to the Lourve, inside and past the Mona Lisa--and on. It took a couple pastries, a crepe, many espresso and some baguettes to power us through, but a very successful day of tourism. I was glad I got to see a lot and become somewhat familiar with the city’s general layout and offerings, but that I didn’t really do anything in particular—I just walked around. Now I can look forward to my next trip to Paris with Devon at my side. We hit the road yesterday afternoon and are now back in Belgium at our house. Today we’re going to celebrate the 4th of July with an easy/off day and a big BBQ. Tomorrow and Sunday—races. :)
Back down the hill for dinner. Amazing!!! Our first big spend of the trip, mine included an eggplant and caviar salad followed by my first tar tar plate (uncooked beef). Desert was the most incredible Tiramisu I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. I wanted to lick the bowl—but refrained.
After Dinner we walked down the street where we each purchased a bottle of fine French wine at costs no greater than $Euro each. Back to the steps of Sacre Coeur for consumption. Pretty great. We sat and drank surrounded by far more Parisians than tourists and took in the view of the city. After that I went with the group that headed back to the hotel for sleep. In the morning we learned that the other half of us wiggled their way onto a private bus that was taking a group of Smirnoff executives, and distributors as well as a bunch of media and super models to a raging after party for the private concert they all attended. The boys ended up getting into one of Paris’ swankiest clubs for free and proceeded to party like rock stars until 4am. We were all very proud of their accomplishments.
The next morning my Metromint teammate Evan and I went up the hill again for breakfast, then went up into the dome of Sacre Coeur for 360 views of the city. You can see the Eiffel from up there. Magnificent.
Then we regrouped and headed downtown before splitting up again, Now with Judd--the two of us set out to see as much of the city as we could. We walked—the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower, past a number of government buildings, monuments and parks, to the Lourve, inside and past the Mona Lisa--and on. It took a couple pastries, a crepe, many espresso and some baguettes to power us through, but a very successful day of tourism. I was glad I got to see a lot and become somewhat familiar with the city’s general layout and offerings, but that I didn’t really do anything in particular—I just walked around. Now I can look forward to my next trip to Paris with Devon at my side. We hit the road yesterday afternoon and are now back in Belgium at our house. Today we’re going to celebrate the 4th of July with an easy/off day and a big BBQ. Tomorrow and Sunday—races. :)
Paris-Roubaix
No one in their right mind would do this, but the day after riding the Tour of Flanders route six of us (Ryan stayed home) headed south into France to ride the last 87 miles of Paris-Roubaix. This is touted as the hardest single day bike race. We skipped the first 100 miles of the race and about 6km of the famous cobble stone sections that give this race it’s grit, and I am here to tell you that this is not only the hardest single day bike race. I believe Paris-Roubaix must be the hardest single day sporting event period. Unbelievable!!!
A quick explanation is that the French cobbles make the Belgian cobbles feel like silk. In more detail, while the forest of Arrenburg is beautiful it is traversed by a section of cobblestones that are demonic. Continue along the race route and the cobblestone sectors that follow are said to be a little bit easier—not the case. As each kilometer of cobbled and/or paved roads breaks you down the stones begin to beat you up more and more. The last section of cobbles in Roubaix are practically flat and seamless, but by that point you the rider are so broken it feels like someone is hitting your bike with a jack hammer.
Here’s the deal with riding a road bike on cobblestones. The wheels need to be really strong, the tires need to be fatter and the bike needs to be adjusted to move the riders weight further over the rear wheel. While pedaling over the stones, the technique is to push a larger gear than you typically would given the speed or incline—and then you have to push with all your might. The faster you can go across the cobbles the better off you are. If you get tired and cant go fast anymore—simply put, you’re fucked!!! Speeds in excess of 30mph help you float from one stone to the next, if you slow down to something like 20mph it won’t be long before you’re only doing 10mph. 10mph will leads to any combination of cussing, whimpering, stopping and or throwing your bike into the farmers field beside the course and deciding to walk the rest of the way to Roubaix.
The six of us all made it to Roubaix on our bikes and with smiles on our face. Getting there we had to negotiate a broken spoke, a broken bottle cage, a shredded tire and three pinch flats. We also stopped four times for various combinations of espresso, Coca-Cola and French pastry which we could not have survived with out. Every section that was paved was rolled at a casual 10mph—needles to say if we were racing we’d never have made it to the velodrome and the finish line in Roubaix. But, since we weren’t racing we did make it—and to our surprise the velodrome was not locked up as we were expecting it to be coming from ‘liability crazy’ America. So, we each got to complete the race course as the races leaders do with a lap and a half on the famous track. For a cyclist this nostalgia was priceless and helped us forget how beaten our bodies were. The worst damage by the way was on our hands. Each of us spent the following two days with inflamed sausage fingers--completely swollen from our knuckles ratling against each other for hours on end. Not to mention the blisters on our palms. Yikes!!
A quick explanation is that the French cobbles make the Belgian cobbles feel like silk. In more detail, while the forest of Arrenburg is beautiful it is traversed by a section of cobblestones that are demonic. Continue along the race route and the cobblestone sectors that follow are said to be a little bit easier—not the case. As each kilometer of cobbled and/or paved roads breaks you down the stones begin to beat you up more and more. The last section of cobbles in Roubaix are practically flat and seamless, but by that point you the rider are so broken it feels like someone is hitting your bike with a jack hammer.
Here’s the deal with riding a road bike on cobblestones. The wheels need to be really strong, the tires need to be fatter and the bike needs to be adjusted to move the riders weight further over the rear wheel. While pedaling over the stones, the technique is to push a larger gear than you typically would given the speed or incline—and then you have to push with all your might. The faster you can go across the cobbles the better off you are. If you get tired and cant go fast anymore—simply put, you’re fucked!!! Speeds in excess of 30mph help you float from one stone to the next, if you slow down to something like 20mph it won’t be long before you’re only doing 10mph. 10mph will leads to any combination of cussing, whimpering, stopping and or throwing your bike into the farmers field beside the course and deciding to walk the rest of the way to Roubaix.
The six of us all made it to Roubaix on our bikes and with smiles on our face. Getting there we had to negotiate a broken spoke, a broken bottle cage, a shredded tire and three pinch flats. We also stopped four times for various combinations of espresso, Coca-Cola and French pastry which we could not have survived with out. Every section that was paved was rolled at a casual 10mph—needles to say if we were racing we’d never have made it to the velodrome and the finish line in Roubaix. But, since we weren’t racing we did make it—and to our surprise the velodrome was not locked up as we were expecting it to be coming from ‘liability crazy’ America. So, we each got to complete the race course as the races leaders do with a lap and a half on the famous track. For a cyclist this nostalgia was priceless and helped us forget how beaten our bodies were. The worst damage by the way was on our hands. Each of us spent the following two days with inflamed sausage fingers--completely swollen from our knuckles ratling against each other for hours on end. Not to mention the blisters on our palms. Yikes!!
Tour of Flanders
We headed out to ride the famous Ronde Von Vlannderen (Tour of Flanders). The start town Odenarde is perhaps the first town in Belgium I (Mitch) could imagine living in. It would be a great place/area for a summer home. The ride was amazing. The scenery was the best part. The rolling hills and twisty often-cobbled roads are a cyclists dream. We rode up the famous Koppenburg (a cobbled and very steep hill). Very impressive as now I understand why you see some of the Pro racers keel over half way up the thing.
I stopped the ride about half way through and headed back for town on my own. Devon and I were celebrating our second anniversary that day and as a consequence I was missing her terribly. I tried to find an internet café or something to be in touch with her somehow but had no such luck. I had to wait until we got home again late that evening, but as soon as I could hear her voice on the phone I was in better spirits and ready to continue with the riding. I know—a bit sappy.
I stopped the ride about half way through and headed back for town on my own. Devon and I were celebrating our second anniversary that day and as a consequence I was missing her terribly. I tried to find an internet café or something to be in touch with her somehow but had no such luck. I had to wait until we got home again late that evening, but as soon as I could hear her voice on the phone I was in better spirits and ready to continue with the riding. I know—a bit sappy.
Kuurne Criterium
The All Stars all missed the winning breakaway—oops! The result there was pack finishes for all of us. One cool note about that race—it was the second race we’ve attended where we were all issued an appearance fee. We all got $12 euro at the end of the race just for the promoters being pleased with our efforts. Add that to the Euro we got for our finishes and you still have a pretty good day at the races—with or without your good finish.
Back on the Network...
Hi All, Mitch here.
It’s almost been a week since I’ve been on a computer or online. Is that possible anymore? Much has happened in that time. Forgive the onslaught of new posts all at once, but enjoy.
It’s almost been a week since I’ve been on a computer or online. Is that possible anymore? Much has happened in that time. Forgive the onslaught of new posts all at once, but enjoy.
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