Some things are just different here: Part 30,000,000

Some things are just different here: Part 30,000,000

Equine abundance-
The number of horses per capita here is rather high, at least as far as I can tell. Everything from miniatures to draft. One of the coolest things I have seen here so far is when people bust out the old wagons and hook up a team of horses to go for a Sunday afternoon ride. Mom, I know you’ll appreciate this one.

Jelly-
Jelly, preserves, whatever you want to call the stuff most people would spread on toast that isn’t butter. Even the cheep store brand stuff is ridiculously good.

Diesel-
Most vehicles here run on diesel, maybe all of you smartie pants knew this already, but I didn’t until I got here. Finding regular gasoline is like finding diesel back home. Not every station will have it. Hey, no spark plugs, longer running vehicles, maybe they’re on to something?? OK not going to go into the alternative fuel topic…

The Bio-farm-
I’m sure there are bio-farms back home, but about a week ago I wandered down to the bio-farm here in Hertsberg and they had some pretty cool stuff; natural almond butter, cashew butter, and even peanut butter. They were a bit pricy, but the peanut butter looks to be many times better than what the grocery store has, and might even be getting close to the good ol’ Holsum brand natural stuff from back home…but it still won't be quite the same. That will be for the next adventure to the bio-farm. BUT, the yogurt they have there is, I think, quite literally the best I have ever had. Its dangerous stuff, I can’t really read the ingredients so well, but I think they are using cream, whole milk and all that other stuff that spells trouble for the lean (or at least trying to be lean) cyclist.

Springtime in Belgium

Springtime in Belgium:

One day about a week ago I was just riding along on one of my training rides, just an average training ride, nothing too special and it dawned on me that the farmers here in Belgium have come up with an amazing array of ways to spread manure on to the fields. I’ve done a decent amount of riding and training in rural Wisconsin and I have yet to see half of the elaborate machinery that they seem to have here. I must say there is no delicate way to explain this, but when you are riding down wind of a piece of machinery that is literally flinging the stuff in hay bail size chunks into the air, it just doesn’t make for a pleasant ride. Yet, it will definitely get you to speed up a bit, especially if your mind is wandering a little. Oh, and I forgot to mention that all of this dawned on me when I rolled up a little close behind one of these big ol’ pieces that liquefies the stuff and almost caught a splash…ummm yeah you’re all disgusted and grossed out now, but hey, I’m talking about reality here. You all eat food that grows in fields treated in a similar manner, so deal with it. Or send me an e-mail telling me how much you love this topic.

Equally numerous are the factories producing the manure. Every farm has at least a few cattle. Slightly different than what I am used to seeing back home. If a farm has cattle they usually have a good solid number of them, or none at all. Also, I feel the need to make note of the breed I believe is called the Belgian Blue. Man, these guys have been bred for sheer mass. I mean they look like one big muscle. They are either capable of kicking some serious a#@ or just tipping over on their stubby legs, not entirely sure which one.

All in all it has been pretty cool to see a country I have never seen before go from grey winter dull colors to springtime colors and smells…good or bad.

Race Report 5, UCI 1.2 Ronde van Overijssel - 5/8/05, and UCI 1.2 Omloop der Kempen - 5/9/05

Race Report 5, UCI 1.2 Ronde van Overijssel - 5/8/05, and UCI 1.2 Omloop der Kempen - 5/9/05 (The US National Team experience)

This was the first time I have been in Holland and lets just say I have some impressions that beat out Belgium, especially in the weather department. At Overijssel it was rain, rain, and….oh yeah, more rain, and did I mention it was cold. At Kempen I got to see all four seasons and more, hail included. Yes, that stung a bit, and of course it had to be on the cobbled sections.

Hmmm….so what else do I want to say about these races?? Well, I was rollin’ with a little bit different of a crew than usual. I got a chance to start with the US National Team. I am very grateful to have gotten the opportunity. Overijssel started out pretty good from the gun, there was a crash before the one and only climb on the whole course, and a couple of random crashes on the climb. It then proceeded to shatter to pieces just after the top of the climb.

I’m going to focus on one of the races. So as to kindly keep all of your eyes from falling out of their sockets, and save my delicate little fingers.

Kempen was similar to Overijssel, but rolled out a bit slower and more nervous. Most of the starters had been at Overihisel as well. For future reference, when I say rolled out I mean somewhat comfortably sitting in your 53/16 or harder. Oh yeah, there was no climb, just two really long cobbled sections. I feel the need to mention that in Holland they like to allow 200 or so riders to start these races. That is a lot of bikes and people to cram through some of these small sections of road! Up until now, the UCI races I have done in Belgium had around 150 starters. Another 50 guys makes for a really nervous field…and did I mention that in Holland there seems to be even more random obstacles in the road, although the surface quality seems to be a bit better.

Riding at the front was a battle in itself. Man, I was ready to start throwing fists a number of times! Usually when you are in the top 30 or 40 there is a bit of rotation/flow going on, but it seemed that the million-and-one road obstacles kept disrupting this and adding to the nervousness of the field. So, I chilled a little further back until we got into Belgium. I then got closer to the front, and ended up sticking my nose in the wind a bit more than I wanted to, but it seemed to get me close to where I wanted to be. About 15 min after crossing the boarder the sh#! hit the fan. The shattering happened just before the cobbles in some crosswind sections. I was crying for a 54 or 55 tooth chainring while I was damn near spinning out my 53, ahhh!! My positioning had not been good enough and I got to cling to the sh!# end of the second echelon, until the couple of us that were in the gutter got shot into the third echelon and then into the caravan. I worked my way out of the caravan and got into a group that ended up catching a few other small groups that were ahead of it, but never getting close enough to the lead group. Frustrating because there was NO physical reason I should not have been in that front group.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2005/may05/kempen05

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2005/may05/overijssel05

Above, are links to the results of each of the races. Both were 200 km long. Note: no US rider finished. Not something I’m proud to say. It does bring some points to mind that I would like to make about racing in Europe vs. the US.

- The difficulty of many of the courses. You just wouldn’t see a race allowed to take place on some of these courses back home. One, there would be too many insurance problems. Two, racers would really hurt themselves. If the majority of the field was not used to these types of courses, I couldn’t imagine the carnage.
- There seems to be no such thing as a “mass sprint.” Maybe, a “bunch sprint” in some cases. There is just not that much left of the field at the end of these races. Everyone means business and is going to race aggressively from the beginning to end.
- Only a select few of the races in the US are 4 or more hours long, try naming a few…its pretty hard.
- Physical contact, who said cycling isn’t a contact sport??
- They actually know how to organize a road race here. I know most of you have at least seen a stage or two of the Tour de France. These interclub, or UCI races are not too far off in organization level. The caravan is there in full force. Support vehicles, team cars, motorcycles, etc. Sure there isn’t as much sponsorship money and advertisements associated, but all the basic workings are all there.
- Director sportif…not sure if most US teams actually know what this is, much less all of the behind the scenes stuff that should go on before/during a race.
- If you or the group you are with is 5 minutes back you get yanked. None of this “oh they paid the entry fee bla bla bla” so they should be allowed to finish…or they might catch the group…yeah right. 5 minutes is being extreamly generous. Its more likely to be on the order of a 1 maybe 2 minutes.

Alright, enough. That was longer than I had intended but I hope it was at least somewhat interesting for those of you who have been tuning in.

The Poo Egg and the Garbage Can

The Poo Egg and the Garbage Can

On our weekly grocery runs 5 of us here at the Cycling Center decided to split the cost of some of the essential items dish soap, toilet paper, milk, eggs, etc. We usually end up buying a fairly decent batch of eggs. Here you can buy them in a flat or in a carton, they don’t refrigerate them at the store, and in general don’t seem to be washed quite as thoroughly as back home. It gives you a bit of the “fresh off the farm” feel, and I have no complaints about this.

These “fresh off the farm” eggs have usually been occupying one of the veggie drawers in the fridge. In every batch there seems to be one, just one, egg that has a nice spot of chicken excrement on it. This single egg will start out on the top of the pile and never get touched. With amazing effort everyone avoids this egg. My only question is…who took that egg last week. Brave man, brave man indeed.

Speaking of amazing daily efforts, the skill demonstrated in stuffing the kitchen garbage can far beyond its limits is starting to become a form of art. Of course it all boils down to not really wanting to take the garbage out, and a little bit of that rising to the challenge/ competitive instinct. But, man, this morning the top was ready to fall off (and I mean ready) and I still got that banana peel in there!! Ha, one more chance for someone else to have to take the garbage out, and struggle with that overflowing bag!

Back to the Fundamentals

Back to the Fundamentals

Alright, so after racing for a number of years in the US I developed a pretty consistent routine. I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done the day before a race, the day of a race, and in the hours before a race, and even (so I would like to think) during a race. Barring any drastic mishaps, I would effortlessly deal with any delays or small unexpected problems.

To dig into some examples…

If it is a weekend of racing that involves some (or tons) of car travel. I know enough to bring a cooler stuffed with some decent food, just in case the only viable food source near the hotel is a McDonalds. In most cases I will have good idea of what to expect with the type or level of racing (local race, NRC, collegiate…). I will recognize a majority of the teams and riders that show up. I will also be able to read all of the signs/postings at registration, and in most cases figure out where the f@#! the start line is!

All of the above items and much more are things that become routine and in most cases very much an instinct that requires less and less mental energy as time goes on. Now use your imagination, some of you may not have to, and make all those individual tasks require some, if not lots of thought. They add up quick (even with all of the amazing efforts by Ann and Bernard to alleviate stressors like this), and easily disrupt others that are still relatively easy to do…looking for the start line instead of going through your full pre-race/warm-up routine. Or in the days prior, trying to figure out a sports drink that doesn’t mess with you stomach during the race…now you’re an American who just started racing in Belgium! Now all you have to do is learn to recognize the good riders and be able to distinguish them from all the rest of their thirty million teammates…

The point of all this rambling is that simple things, fundamentals, never hurt to practice, review, and perfect before you really need them. Whatever the subject be…unless you are there to just slide by in whatever you do.

On the other side of the coin, you can’t waste energy thinking about stuff you have already figured out or have no control over.

The fundamentals will not make you win the race but, lack there of can easily lose the race.