Gran Fondo! HOLY GROUP RIDE BATMAN!

WOW! Today we did our first Gran Fondo... I had never heard of them before, but I guess that they happen every weekend all over Italy. Today’s was right in our backyard- it started in Viariggio and wound around the hills, through Lucca and back.

It was SO much fun! Supposedly, and I believe it, there were 3,000 riders who did it. The best way to describe it... Imagine the most agro group ride (Spectrum, Santa Cruz Harbor ride, Piggy Market ride... you name it), add 3,000 riders, have them all RACE and race hard, now have that course cover 100 k (the long course does 140k, but we did the shorter course) and have it go into the mountains... not hills, mountains. Just for kicks- add a dash of Pro Tour riders to make things interesting... now you have a Gran Fondo! The good news is that no one is throwing water bottles at cars though since the roads are closed for you and spectators are cheering.

We were really luck and got a “call up”--- Pino, the head of SRM Italy- told them to introduce us and put us up at the front of the pack. Good thing too, since the start was madness! It would not have been the same had we not gotten a front row start!

Kristin expressed it best in saying that it felt like we were doing a running of the bulls- but we were followed by a pack of 3,000 crazy cyclists, that by the looks of it, must have been followed themselves by a tag-team of cheetahs! It started out SO fast and so crazy! We got right up in there- after racing in Holland- this felt like a piece of cake! I chased a few attacks and mustered up a lot of self-control to not attack myself! We had 10K before the first climb and I was having a blast! Up in the front, there were some pro riders... I was on Francesco Chicchi’s wheel from Liquigas for a while, which was pretty cool. Mario had been telling us about how fast he was last time when we rode with him.

I was glad I was up front, since apparently, there were some horrendous crashes that I missed. One of them though, happened right in front of me and took down Chicchi. I was going pretty fast when a few riders in front of me started going down. I was heading straight for one and locked my breaks up- skidding right into him. “That is” I thought, “I am going down now”. Miraculously though, I slammed into him, bruised my arm a bit, but bounced along his side as he went crashing down. I was then able to swerve past the riders who littered the pavement ahead of me. Thankfully, I did not hear or see the carnage- as I guess it was quite traumatic. I did look down at my heart rate just as I cleared the wreckage... 185.

Then we hit the climbs- WOW. There were people lining the tops of the climbs and cheering. The first climb was 10K long, then we had a bunch more. In the end, we went over 6 climbs. I had not gone too hard on the climbs and found myself into a group of 30-50 riders for most of the ride who were climbing at a good pace for me. It fed my ego to be with a group of riders who I could climb with- but I forget that there were probably a few hundred riders up the road already!

On the descents- I had a fun time. I had a buddy- some Italian guy who I THINK rode with us and Mario last time. I trusted his descending- he was pirating the ride and had no helmet or numbers. And he was flying down the hills. I trusted his lines and we had no cars to worry about, so we had a good time. He would check that he was not dropping me and then pick up the pace. I actually learned a lot about descending today too- I started shifting my weight differently and played around with my balance. I did not take any corners very fast- but did nearly run off the road when I got stung on the face by a bee and I could not wipe it away since we were on a downhill! I make it sound more dramatic than it is--- but it hurt!

When we hit the flats- I was really feeling my oats and got up to the front and started drilling it. I heard some riders in my little group huffing and puffing, so I would ride harder. It was fun to have it string out behind me- something that I am not use to doing. Then I pulled over and no one would pull though! I am just a girl dammit!

As we headed into the finish, I was not sure if there would be a sprint. After the first climb, the ride turns into a bunch of small pelotons finishing in groups. I saw them start to get a lead out going and wind up- so I jumped and won the sprint. It was a blast!!!! Certainly the most fun and craziest group ride that I have ever done! Holy Cow! 4 hours and nearly 3,000 calories later... I ate the kitchen sink.

Day off- Rest, recoup, recover

i had been planning on doing a big ride today- but woke up a bit too tired. i knew that i needed a bit more recovery after how much i have been wearing myself down... so after some consulting with my coach, we decided to take today and rest.

resting is hard sometimes- i was once told you have to rest as hard as you train: a maxim that is often harder to follow than to let roll off your tongue to others. we all know it- but we don’t always practice it. today- i had a nagging voice telling me that i needed to take the day off... but i really wanted to ride. i was not being lazy today... i know that. i was listening to my body and listening to the little hints before you dig yourself into a hole. i have been racing and training hard and we have one more race here- next weekend. i want to be on form for it and leave europe strong- not weak. so, with my eye on next weekend, i took today and backed off.

i also feel good today- got my chapter 2 submitted- and so i am not working on my thesis. i am reading and sitting around. it is hard on a day as beautiful as this to resist that temptation to go into lucca and wander around... or skip on down to pisa to peak inside the cathedral... but no. that will make me tired. sight seeing is hard work! today- i have to sit around and be ok with it. that is hard work too!

but it is a great place for R&R. everyone else went riding, but i have been napping and reading my book.

tomorrow should be fun- we are doing a gran fondo ride (http://www.versiliabike.it/percorsi.asp#) i guess they have them here all the time... 3,000 people riding/racing through the hills. it will be hard, so i am hoping that i can do it and not over-do it. i have been told that i should be able to find my way home on the flat roads if i am not ready for it by tomorrow. i can’t wait though- i think that it is going to be a blast. i have no idea what to expect. it does go right by the house though- so if i get tired, i can just pull into the drive way and go hop my legs in the pool to cool off.

for now- back to reading.

BikeLove in Lucca

Didn’t take my camera today... bummer too! I had a great day. For the first time in ages, I rode by myself. Nothing against riding with anyone here- I really like them all- but when you get to ride by yourself, you get to do YOUR ride. It had been so long since I had gotten a chance to have my mind wander and just do what I want on the bike. Today- that was what I got to do.

It was, once again, a spectacular day. I decided to try and get myself lost heading toward the ocean. I wrote down my address and phone number, grabbed 30 euros and headed out. It was so much fun to just explore and ride around. I ended up finding a great route and just felt wonderful. I had been really tired from all the racing and training--- so I had been worried that I needed another rest day. But today, I just had to hold myself back. I kept looking down at my power and realizing that I was going too hard... that felt good. It was beautiful too- the flowers are really starting to explode and the hills are brilliant. Wow.

So, then it was back to the casa where I finally got chapter 2 comments done and submitted to my committee. I will hear back soon, I imagine- and then it is just a few more pushes to finish things up. It is so hard to believe that this big chapter of my life is very likely coming to an end. I can hardly begin to realize it. My final deadline: May 21st... I will give my public defense where I get up there and tell everyone and their mothers what I have done for the last 7 years. All are welcome to come. I need to start working on my talk soon... that is my next step.

One funny thing- Tyler Hamilton is staying at the house here. He and his wife just bought a place in old Lucca, but until they move in, he is staying here and training. Anyway, I was on the phone with Andrew when he left to go for a ride. He had just gotten here and I had not met him yet. As he rolled by, I said, “Hi. I’m Brooke”, since everyone had been doing quickie introductions but I was on the phone. He said back, and Andrew heard, “Hey. I’m Tyler”. I then said to Andrew, “Yeah, that was Tyler Hamilton”. “SHUT UP!” “No, seriously.... he is staying here.” So, then anytime that Andrew heard anyone in the background... “Oh, what? Did Lance just stop on by? Who was that? Lemond?” Haha... Nope... just Mario and Tyler. Mario has not been riding with us lately since he got sick. Had some nasty infection.

That is all for now- Mark? I thank you for your generous supply of capital letters. I really appreciate them.

Plugging a fellow blogger... Tracie Nelson is hilarious! Check out her blog.

i can’t resist plugging this blog.

tracie nelson is a local rider who races for velo bella and use to race for cal cycling. i know her from collegiate racing.

this woman is SUCH a great writer- she has a blog that i have just learned about and love. it is hilarious. she covers material that is a bit different from mine, but it is so well written and so funny, that i just had to give her a shamelesss plug... i hope she is ok with it since i did not ask. i am operating on the assumption that a blog is public domain and that she will have to be ok with it. if not, i will just have to take this down.

and SHE uses capitol letters... i am getting better, but that lazy left pinkie never seems to make it all the way over to the shift key...

anyway, the moment you have been waiting for: enjoy...

http://trac-trac.blogspot.com/

Hard day... Meet Fleche

Yesterday was a hard day for me. I had been REALLY excited to help the team- this was a race where we were setting Kristin up for the win, and the course was a very hard one. It had 8 QOM climbs and 104 km- not super long. In our pre-race meeting, we had figured that the selection would be made on the third to last climb and that the race would be won on the second to last climb. The final climb would be an all out suffering where only the strong would survive... it was about 1k long and an average grade of 19%... pitching up to 21%

My goal for the race was to make it to that third to last climb and make sure that Kristin was in position. I was really eager to get to work for her and contribute. I had been feeling really good and really strong, so I did not think that it was too unrealistic to think that I could make it that far and help.

Unfortunately though- I did not have. It was hot out there- well into the 80*’s and it felt a bit humid too-- my stomach was really giving me trouble. I had food issues and could not eat or drink enough. I knew it- but my stomach was not working well. I was nauseous and was puking up a bit. My legs were not there and I felt horrible. I have had stomach issues before and it is very frustrating- I am not sure if it was the sandwich that I ate before, or what. But when I get it, I can’t eat, can’t keep things down and struggle to take in water. With the heat, I knew that I needed water, but could not get it in-- the drink mix was making my stomach feel worse and I had no plain water. Argh.

I was just feeling horrible. I got dropped on the second QOM, as I drifted back, desperately looking for Jessie, our seignior, to get a bottle of water, the rest of the field pulled away from me. I was drifting into the caravan and watching riders slip away as I searched for water. Unfortunately, Jessie had gotten lost on the way to the feedzone and she was positioned on the downhill where I had no chance to get a bottle. Now, I had to chase. I was fortunate to get a ride back onto the pack behind Amber Neben and her teammate, as she had a minor crash just over the top of the hill. Amber, her teammate and one T-Mobile rider (Oenone? I can’t remember) managed to get me back up to the tail end of the pack just as we hit the third QOM. As I passed Jim in the Caravan, I was able to grab a bottle for me and one more bottle. Rebecca had already grabbed a bunch of bottles for Kristin, Alison and Katheryn- but it was my hope that my lone bottle would not be in vain.

As we approached the bottle of the climb- I had one thought in my mind. I knew that I was done with my race, I was going to get dropped. And, I knew that I would not catch back on. All I wanted to do was help... I had a bottle and hoped that I could find a teammate who needed it. Just as we were heading into the climb, I saw that Alison had not gotten a bottle from Rebecca- so I wove through the pack and caught up to Ali. I handed off a well appreciated bottle just as the road pitched up. YES! I was NOT worthless!

I am not writing up a race report- since I did not finish. I was pulled and rode back to Huy to watch the finish of the race... but it was a great finish for the team. All four riders did great, and in the end, Kristin finished 5th in a very strong finishing climb.

For me though- it was hard. I was so disappointed in myself. I felt so weak and frustrated that I could not hang on. It is not always that you have a good race- and some days, you just don’t have it. It is particularly hard when you don’t have it on a big day when you really are hungry to help. And, when you don’t have it on a race that is inherently hard for you- the effect is magnified. It was funny though- I was throwing myself a good old fashion pity party on my ride home. At that moment when the whole caravan had passed me and the roads were open, (I even had some spectators who were sitting on a porch laugh at me), I was beating myself up and pissed, and I had forgotten all the races here where I have done well. All I knew is that at that moment- I was feeling pathetic and dwelling in my own bad moment....

The funny part? Just at that moment though- the radio crackled... and I heard Jim say, “SUPER SUPER SUPER!” and I started to smile... the pity party started to shut down. Only the last hangers-on of the emotional soiree remained, until I heard “GREAT JOB KATHERYN! YOU HAVE 15 SECONDS”... then the final guests left and I was happy again. I listened intently- Katheryn was off the front on the third climb, “YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS AND ARE PULLING AWAY. GREAT JOB!”. I was picturing it in my head and I was pounding on my handlebars in delight. GO GO GO!!!!!! Then I ran out of radio contact. I knew that my team was doing well. It was a matter of getting Kristin in to position in the last climb.

At this point, I was in the middle of nowhere that I knew, but I saw signs to Huy and just went straight back to town. I knew that I would beat them to town, since they had a few more climbs in the inland roads. I ran into one of the men on the Rabobank team who pointed me to the finishing climb when I got to town (another droppsie rider) and I proceeded to puzzle the fans by riding up the Huy. I rode up to the last 400 m, where the road curves and then pitches up for the final grueling drive. It was the best spot to watch.

I pulled to the side and took my place next to the fans that lined the streets. I was heckled by some- but two nice Americans gave me a bottle of water (unopened) and some dried fruit (which I should probably not have eaten). I was able to swallow my pride of being dropped by telling them all, “Watch for Kristin Armstrong- she is going to win. She is a World Champion”. “For USA? For you team?” “Yes. For MY team.”

It was exciting to watch. I knew that Vos and Cooke would be up there... and I KNEW that Kristin would be up there. Our girls did their job and she does hers. Sure enough, the first rider I saw was Cooke- she had attacked the base of the Mur de Huy, followed by a white jerseyed Vos. There was a small group of 5 or 6 riders, then a gap of about 20 m at most to the next group- I saw Stars and Stripes and unleashed my vocal cords... my last chance to help my team: cheer for her. I did. I yelled so loudly- as I watched, Kristin attacked on the steep pitch and started to close in on the riders ahead of her. She passed a few riders in my sight, but then the road curved and I did not know how she did. Turns out that she finished 5th! I was so excited when I saw her and found out. It really helps to get you to forget your bad day when the team had SUCH a great ride! Alison and Katheryn had attacked and countered- covered all moves that needed to be covered. Rebecca did the crucial task of making sure everyone had water in the heat, and I had done my best. We all felt great to be part of it. Happy day in the end. I am so honored to get to be a part of it all- I really was proud to be there, even if I was not able to help as much as my high expectations of myself had wanted.

One last funny story- I can laugh at this now, but at the time? No a happy Brooke.

Just after I had handed off my bottle to Alison- we hit the third QOM. This climb was a few k and started out steady and pretty hard, but then, the last 50m or so pitched up to a really steep angle. I did not know that. All I knew was that I was getting dropped again and was going backward past caravan cars. All the sudden, I looked up and saw the riders ahead out of the saddle on the pitch that, at that point, looked impossible to get up. The director in the car next to me yelled at me to go harder and encouraged me. I mustered up a last bit of courage, after a fair bit of mumbled swear words, and came out of the saddle for one more surge. I passed his car... passed the T-Mobile car on the right (not knowing that I should ALWAYS pass on the left), and just as we hit the steepest section... I ran out of road (since the T-Mobile car was moved all the way to the right, to let riders pass on the left!) and ran off the road into the dirt. I unclipped with only a short bit to the crest of the monster. I cursed again and got off my bike. I had no choice but to walk, pushing my bike, up the hill, since it was too steep for me to clip back in. Just then, Frank and Jim passed me and yelled out, “Everything all right?”... a curt, “yes”... “uh, ok, we have to go now”, another curt, “ok”. I was not happy Brooke.

Well, from Frank and Jim’s point of view- at the bottom of the hill, the sprinters had begun to get dropped. Jim was pointing out sprinter after sprinter- “that is so and so’s sprinter. She will win 15+ races this year... and there is so and so’s sprinter...” then they rounded the corner and saw me walking up the hill... “aaaannnnddd there is OUR sprinter”- apparently it took all the energy that the could muster to stifle the guffawing as they slowed to ask if I was, in fact, OK... “yes”. I am glad that I can see the humor in it now... it was not so funny for a while.

Downtime

we race tomorrow- so today, we rest. we recover. we eat, nap and sit around. i am a mover. we all are. we would not be cyclists if we were not active people. so one of the challenges of this type of a situation is dealing with downtime. letting yourself relax and NOT do a million things. today- is downtime.

we started our day with a short, super easy ride to wake the legs up and get race ready with a few jumps. check- legs feel good. ready to race.

then it was back to the hotel room to whittle away the day and conserve energy: tomorrow is going to be a big day and it is gonna hurt! i am not always so good with conserving energy... as most of my friends and family can attest. although i confess that this trip has been the first time in months that i have been ABLE to relax. i have been reading fiction (a great book- “the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay”- taking me a while to get through it) and napping when i get a chance. i have been bad in that i have neglected some aspects of my thesis from time to time, but it has been so good for me to actually get a chance to slow down. we don’t always have a lot of slow time, as we are frequently traveling, riding, eating, running around. but i realize that those moments that have found us idle have been good for me. there is a huge part of me that really needed a break. and here, in between our hard racing and our hard training rides, i have been able to find it.

now i SHOULD be working on my thesis- and i will go back to it after this is posted. i am going to get my chapter 2 sent off to my committee today. i have been making some changes to it that i hope will meet with their approval. but in the mean time, i have been really enjoying my downtime today. i have not been feeling the typical antsy-must-get-outside-brooke rearing her head. instead, i feel relaxed and calm. i have been thinking about my thesis and feel optimistic that i can get it off today. unfortunately, our evening will be interupted with a hour long drive to the race presentation and back this evening. before world cup races- there is a team presentation to the press, where we go there and they take our picture and what not. it is cool that they do it and makes the race that much more of a big deal... but it will take several hours out of our evening... time that i had been originally planning to spend at the computer doing that odd thing called work...

ps... the picture above was amusing to me. katheryn and i did a big load of laundry in the tub and had turned our hotel room into a large indoor drying rack. we are leaving for italy tomorrow after the race, so we had to get laundry washed and get everything packed tonight to be ready to catch a plane after fleche.

Pre-riding in Belgium

Today- we pre-rode part of the Fleche Wallonee course in preparation for Wednesday’s World Cup--- it was a great day on the bike!

Fleche is just across the boarder from the Netherlands in the French region of Belgium. It is very VERY different from racing in Holland- and is also very different from Flanders. The course is going to be very hard. It is only 100k (wow, what a change in my perspective!), but it is all hills. Most of the race is rolling up and down along the countryside that is blanketed in bright yellow mustard blossoms (as you can see from above!), but there are a few notable climbs...

When I say this- really, what I mostly mean is the last climb is brutal! It is a little less than 1 km long and is probably 20-25% grade the entire way! there are only two switchbacks to give any break- be it mental or physical- so it really is just plain grueling! I have a hard time of thinking of any hill that I know that can rival it- and the only two that I can think of would be maybe Filmore in SF, but 1 k long... or Marin in the North Berkeley Hills... but steeper and longer. It was hard to RIDE up... the thought of racing up after a hard long day in the saddle? Wow. It is going to be a hard hard ride.

Anyway- I am tired from a long day and am off to bed. I would have posted this earlier, but my internet was down in the hotel. Good Night!

PS--- Mark? Do you like my capitol letters? A whole blog’s worth!

I am back- Amstel and Holland again!

sorry for the long delay- on friday, we flew back up to holland since we had one more holland race on saturday before fleche... i will do the race report, but the short short is that it was a good race. the lipton team was racing there too, so we had a BIG american squad. i had a lot of fun having more friendly faces in the peloton and it came down to a sprint finish. i finished 6th in yet another aggressive bunch sprint. i am getting better at it, but i still have a lot to learn. marianne vos had a VERY impressive race and won... details in the report.

oh, i was going to use capitol letters in this blog for mark... MWS loves to give me a hard time, so, I will oblige him in my proper use of the larger variety of letters... This will, of course, slow me down since I have an added keystroke. Mark? See, I CAN do it.

Anyway- after the race, which was late (the race stared at 2:30, ended at 6, then back to the hotel, dinner, sleep), I did not have much energy for race reports and blogs. So that is why I have been absent. But, now I am back.

We traveled on Sunday down to Maastrich where we will be staying through Fleche. Then on Wed after the race, we will fly back to our castle in Lucca. A lot of traveling, but I am feeling really good.

So, we are down in Maastrich (spelling) where we got to watch the end of the men’s Amstel Gold race. We had a good day yesterday- doing a super easy recover ride and heading over to watch their race. We got to the 1k marker and the streets were barricaded off with spectators mobbing the sidewalks. We decided that the best course of action was to ride up the course amid the cheers of the fans for the men’s race. That led us to a great spot right at the 800m to go mack at the base of the climb. It was a lot of fun to watch the riders, cars, motorcycles, and helicopters... the races are just such big events. In the end, Schuemaker from Gerolsteiner won with an impressive gap on the rest of the break. Hometown hero Michael Boogerd finished 5th, but you would never that he did not win with how much the announcer was jabbering about him in Dutch.

When we got back to the hotel (we are staying at the same hotel as Rabobank and T-Mobile men), we were in time to watch the enormous Rabo bus pull up to a small flock of little boys, excitedly waiting for their race heros. It was cute.

That night, we had dinner at a buffet in the hotel with all those guys. It is funny to see just how small they are. I don’t think that one of them was taller than me and all probably weigh 20 lbs less. They are tiny. I figured I could probably out-eat all of them! Especially with the dessert bar! This is a 5-star hotel and the food is unreal! Jim knows everyone, so we always get to stay in really really nice places where they hook Jim up. This is the nicest hotel so far. I can’t wait for the breakfast bar this morning- I hear that they have crepes that they make for us...

Later on today, we will pre-ride the Fleche course and that will be exciting. It is supposed to be REALY hard, but beautiful. I am VERY tired of flat flat flat riding, so hills will be a welcome, albeit it painful, change. The terrain down here is very different from northern Holland were we have been. Everything is rolling. Still lush and beautiful, but with a little topography to keep things interesting. I will be taking a lot of pictures today, I hope... Frank promised that it was pretty and I would like the course... so, I will busting out the camera.

Race report coming... check back soon!

Oh, and I will post a movie of Amstel on my movie page. But that will be a while. Bye!

Not bad for a training partner!

today- mario came and rode with us again. it is so cool to have him ride with us. he is just super nice and seems to just love riding. he is perpetually smiling and joking and has a good sense of humor.

today- we had a pretty chill ride after yesterday’s long hard, hilly day. today, it was the flats and sprinting. he took us down to the ocean and cruised around, stopping for a goodie along the water. then we met up with a group ride for our last hour in our three hour ride.

i had to do some sprints and although mario declined to sprint with me (he was OBVIOUSLY scared)... he was telling me where to go. my sprint was not great, but i was playing around with a few different things that he had been telling me to try yesterday.

so, most of the ride was pretty low key and uneventful. after we met up with the group though... then i had my fun! the group rode along, but as we headed back into lucca- there was, of course, a city limit sprint.

the thing is though... i did not know where the heck it was. i can tell you now though- that it was a 5 k full on leadout until the sprint! a good 4 k before the final sprint, we had a lead out going and i was on mario’s wheel. he had told me that there was a sprint coming- so when he gassed it and flicked his elbow at me, i jumped hard and sprinted, looking for some unknown sign. there was no sign.

next thing i know- the leadout comes flying along by me and i hope back on. we were pretty much full speed with about a dozen guys just hammering, pulling through, hammering and occasionally, one or two flying into full sprints off the front. i took some good hard pulls though and was charging to stay on.

heading into town, mario got up front and gassed it. we were going 60k an hour behind him! he ended up riding me off his wheel, but i am proud to say that we had dropped everyone else before i slipped off! (i like to neglect to realize that i am a MUCH smaller draft than he is!)...

he slowed and we regrouped and started charging again. when we hit the town, mario jumped and so did i. it was impressive to see. he makes it look so easy. it is interesting to watch him sprint- it is very different from most people who i have seen sprint. he is a big gear masher and sprinted in a slow, methodical gear, but he was smooth and just so powerful. he FLEW- and was barely even trying, or so he made it seem... me? on the other hand... i was going as hard as i could and felt like i was all over the place! (he was, of course, WAY in front of me!) i did take second in the sprint, though i am not sure where the final line was. mario said that i did a good job. so i have got that going for me!

after we got back to the house, i met up with lise, a danish woman who lives in lucca and has been showing us around. she is super cool and i really like her a lot. anyway, she took me into lucca for the first time.

lucca is a spectacular city! it is an old city, still surrounded by the old city wall. inside, cars are not really allowed and most people walk or ride bikes. there are bikes everywhere! the streets are cobbled and very narrow- with buildings shooting up along the each side. every nook and cranny of the city is beautiful and interesting... in short, i LOVED it! i took a bunch of pictures, but, of course, they do not do it justice. the bricks, stones and cobbles... all telling some rich history that to me is still unknown... just wonderful. i had no idea that the city was like that. i figured that it would be a modern city interspersed with ruins or something along those lines- like pisa- a compound surrounded by chaotic city. this? this i did not expect and was charmed. i loved it.

i have not taken great pictures of the area- but i have posted a few to give a bit of an idea of how great it is here. it is wonderful and i love it. i hope to take more on our next jaunt down here in a week...

until then- off to bed... then up early to pack and catch a fight to belgium (or holland)... not even sure which! but we race in holland then flesche! should be fun!

Super Mario as a tour guide... not bad!

so today was a good day. not only did we do a PURE BIKE LOVE type of ride- up into the tuscan hills... but we had a pretty good tour guide too. mario cipollini is our neighbor and decided to take us around today on our 4 hour incredible ride! it is pretty cool to have a world champion and one of the legends of cycling as your personal tour guide.

mario is a great guy. he was super nice... and the ride was unbelievable! we started out with a small group ride. as we hit the hills, some of them left, and by the end, it was just mario taking us around.

i wish that i had pictures to describe how incredibly gorgeous this ride was. the hills that we were riding through are dotted with ancient little towns built out of stone and brick. they would be nestled into the hillside, often with a church perched precariously above. the roads in and out were narrow and twisty- often barely wide enough for a single car. the flowers had just come out- dotting the roadsides in white, yellow and some gorgeous bright red of large solitary poppies.

we left our little castle in lucca and mario took us on our first climb- it was 6 km long and i lasted about 2 km on the front before getting dropped... it was not bad to get dropped- i got to look at the scenery. sadly, i did not take my camera out to take pictures, since i knew that everyone would be waiting at the top and i did not want to be THAT slow!

on the descent after the second climb- i had a treat. mario is QUITE the descender. he is so fluid and graceful on the bike and he just pours himself through corners like water. i am a big fan of the downhill.... i can’t lay off a descent, so i took off after mario. he was not going that fast, so i could keep up and not feel i was pushing the envelope. he kept looking back and was clearly amused that i was on his wheel. he would then speed up a bit and see if i would stay on and would laugh when he saw that i did.

when we got to the bottom, he asked in his broken english, “you crazy?”. i replied, “yes, but only a little”. he got a big kick out of that and then we were buddies. i told him i was a sprinter, so he was helping me with my sprint a bit. it really was very cool. when he asked us what the rest of our training plan was for the week, i told him that i was supposed to do sprints tomorrow, i asked him if he wanted to sprint with me and again, he got a good laugh before saying, “sure. why no”. so, mario is joining us for our sprint workout tomorrow. pretty slick.

i put up another little movie- it is not that exciting, since i did not have my camera out when it was REALLY cool. but you do get a sense of what the riding is like. mario is on it- lying to me- telling me the climb is 6 k or so when it was 9! Click here for the movie

HOLY COW! training in Italy!

wow. so i have not much better to say at this particular instant than... wow.

we are staying in lucca, a little town just outside pisa. the house that we are staying at is owned by SRM and it is a mansion- to put it mildly. granted, it is a mansion under construction... but still. it is up in the hills, nestled into gorgeous gardens blooming with azaleas, olive trees and lemon trees that are cheery with brilliant yellow fruits. those lemon trees, by the way, are planted in enormous clay pots that once graced the estate of Napoleon. not kidding.

we are staying in the pool house- which has been converted into four wonderful little apartments and we are the first people to get to stay here. the building is in a beautiful tuscan style, with exposed beams and tile roof, hardwood floors and the genuine feel of age and splendor. but the inside is decorated in the bright and clean lines of Scandinavian design (thank you ikea!) and each one has it’s own bright colors and charm. i love the combo between classic and modern, and these are artfully designed and put together. each one has a loft above a small kitchen, where there are two beds. a pullout sofa on the downstairs serves as bed number 3 when more riders come. the bathroom has both a great tub and a shower, as well as a beday (spelling?)... something that i am not quite use to!

the neighbors are well esteemed in the cycling world too- our next door neighbor is bjarne riis... and just a little bit down the road is the residence of one mario cipollini. yesterday, a few of the guys here went on a group ride with the later.

the weather could not be better. it is sunny, gorgeous and warm, but not hot. our training ride today was an easy spin down to pisa to see the tower and the masses of tourists swarming it. it was funny- we all were getting pictures taken in front of it and caused quite the spectacle. a bunch of japaneese tourists came up and were taking pictures of us with them. not saying anything, just coming up and taking pictures. it really was quite amusing.

i have taken a few pictures, but i forgot my camera today on my ride- so i don’t have many to post yet. we will be here for a while and so i am sure that there will be time to get more. but for now... i will bid farewell and go back enjyoing this day. i am one lucky person and i don’t forget it for a minute.

How can a trash pile hurt THAT badly?

well- it is not fair to call it a trash pile, just because it was a trash pile in a former life... the Vam Berg is a nice little grassy green hill that we climbed over 5 times today.

i had a long hard day in the saddle. i will write a race report and post it later- but the short short is that my job today was to go for the prime sprints. jim wanted me to start out with sprint jersey sprints and then work my way up to finishes. he wants me to learn how the sprints work here and build from there. so, today? it was all about the three prime sprints.

the first one was at 10 k, and i was able to take second. the second one- i did a great sprint and won the 500m mark, only to have the other sprinters take the REAL sprint from me. then, going into the last sprint, kristin gave me a great leadout- and i went uncontested... but i sprinted HARD. that lead to me being off the front. i was joined by one other rider and then spent the next 30k suffering off the front and convincing her to pull faster. she dropped me on the vam berg (we had three more times up it), and i ended up getting caught on our last trip up... 15k from the finish. too bad too- since apparently, had i taken second on the hill sprint, i would have won the climber jersey! anyway, i won the sprinter jersey and so that was awesome. it was a big deal for me and i was thrilled. more later- since it was a great team effort and i have to give it justice.

then it was back to the hotel to do laundry in a bathtub since we did not have time for the washer, box our bikes while being assaulted by mosquitos that are beyond imagination... and then pack our stuff. tomorrow, we fly to italy for a training block and then head back up here for flesche. bye!

this might be my last post for a while... i don’t think that we will have internet access down in italy.

Racing- World Cup in Holland

don’t ask why i have a picture of sheep on the front here... i just wanted to put them in since i did not have any other good pictures for the time being.

wow. today was a hard day. one of the most frustrating races that i have ever raced in terms of fighting for position... and i am mentally exhausted.

it was hard today- racing 130 km of flat, fast riding will definitely take it out of you. click on racing to get the race report... i will write it tonight... but some non-race report things to talk about.

we had a big bummer today- lauren broke her hand. she got hooked by another rider who took her into a metal fence. fortunately, SHE is ok... but her hand is broken and so is her bike. she has really had a bad luck streak- just about everything that CAN go wrong... has gone wrong for her. between her bike arriving broken, her luggage getting lost, her getting tangled in the first crash at flanders... and now this. it sucks and i am so sorry for her. but i will certainly giver her this- that girl is tough. very very tough. she is frustrated and bummed- but not rattled. she just moves on. it is impressive and inspiring to see how well she handles this.

today was frustrating in that i have never had a race that is SO hard to move up in. the roads were just plugged with riders and you would fight and fight and fight to move into position- only to have a group of 30+ riders swarm up alongside you and send you sailing to the dungeons of the peloton. it was mentally exhausting... i did find that today, i LOVED the cobbles. absolutely LOVED them. first off- they were one of the few sections on the course that pruned the field down a bit. 180 riders is not fun to ride with- since the just all GET IN THE WAY! but also- it was the ONLY section that i could take a mental break. when you go into the cobbles, if you are in good position and around strong riders, you can just focus on maintaining your position. you just have to follow wheels. i put my hands on the tops of the bars, let my bike bounce away merrily underneath me, and just stay where i am. i am not worried about moving up. i had to do that earlier. so, you get a break. you get to just hang where you are. provided you are not having riders gapping off in front of you and making you chase (THAT is hard), it is just a nice break. i confess that i even got to enjoy the scenery for a few quick moments during the first cobbled section.

the rest of the race? it is a mental battle- constantly trying to find nooks and crannies in front of you that you can squeeze yourself into to gain precious positioning... fining gutters that are not being ridden in to shoot up the side... judging if there is enough room on the right or left where you can skirt around that rider in front of you who has been driving you nuts for the last 10k. then there is the gamble where you moved to the right, thinking that the waves would flow up there, only to have the flow of the peloton change to have the left side move forward. there is so much focus involved that the few moments when you can give you mind a break are wonderful.

we were lucky on the weather- with gorgeous skies and warm air. it was actually HOT when we were racing! thankfully, i was able to grab two bottles in the feedzone and kathryn brought me a bottle from the car. as it was- at the end of the race, my braids were soaked and the ends crispy with dried salt.

ok, now off to write the race report. next race? TOMORROW! i have no idea how we will do ANOTHER one... but we will!

Bike Love in Holland!

wow... today was gorgeous! i am very keenly aware of how lucky i am to be here, but today... today was one of those days where that reality of just how lucky you are grabs you and shakes you. i was giddy today on the bike. loving every minute of where we were and what we were doing.

we had SUCH a great ride today... we were pre-riding some of the sections of tomorrow’s world cup race, and this area is particularly beautiful. i am posting a video of today’s riding, so that you can see what it is going to be like- but it is going to be INSANE!

we have a few cobble sections, and this time, the cobbles are more like small rocks glued together with concrete. but they are through gorgeous wooded areas that are bright green with the new leaves. we race here though small towns, but also through the woods and countryside. it is simply beautiful- but not something that we will have the luxury of enjoying tomorrow!

the race has a bunch of intermediate sprints tomorrow... not joking here- they are on the COBBLES! i can’t imagine the insanity of it! i think that tomorrow’s race might just break up. the roads are so narrow, that position from the gun will be critical. either way- we are expecting another flat, fast one... more hard racing in the netherlands!

Welcome to racing in Holland! DAMN TIRED!

wow. i am not sure if i am more physically or mentally tired. i am going to keep this short since i am tired... i will most likely not get to my race report until the morning.

the race today was... hard. it was as we expected. i will save all the details for the report- but it was a lot of fun. even though i am too tired to show it- i had a heck of a lot of fun up there and was happy with how i raced. i mis-read the sprint finish and moved up too soon... but i was in the mix. i had to throw elbows and i have a new definition of aggressive sprint... but i LIKE it. i think that i have a healthy dose of crazy, since i enjoy getting up there and going for the line.

i am not sure where i finished, but i think that i was top 10-15. and the team did great... we all stayed rubber side down, which can be quite the challenge in a field like this. there were something along the lines of 150+ riders. i have never had a race be SO hard to move up in. thankfully- i was informed that on a course like this, since there is nothing selective- you can hang out for a while before needing to move up. that was good for me since i was sitting around 100 riders back for a lap and a half before i caught a break on jojo from raligh-lifeforce’s wheel... she moved me right up to the front. but for a lap an a half- i was buried with no hope of moving. but i did not stress and just worked to save as much energy as i could. ok, for now- i am going to check my email and go to bed. i am POOPED!

but- this ends another great day. a good hard race to put me to sleep. i have some good 411 for the race report about how great the team was... and how much horsepower they have. it is such a great experience to race with them. anyway, tata for now.

SHEEP

today- we just did a nice little two hour ride to open up the legs for the race tomorrow. we pre-rode the course and it looks to be HARD! it is pancake flat- but the winds will be a bear and we expect that it is going to be very very fast! the area that we are in is much more rural than izegem- so we were riding today through some beautiful wooded areas and out into the countryside more. unfortunately- i did not take pictures of the cute towns that we rode through and the beautiful areas- i took pics of some sheep and in one area where we stopped. but i was not snap happy today.

but i have made and posted a movie. i am not happy with where i decided to film today- since i only brought out my camera when we were riding along a boring area- but i realize that the camera shows the towns better. i am going to be posting movies more often now that i have figured out how to compress them. so, click HERE (or the title picture) to get to the movies. i will change them out on that page, i think, as opposed to putting up too many movies. maybe if i get some good ones, i can throw them up on Utube and feel special. for now though- i will just put them here if you want to see what the riding is like around here.

for the race tomorrow- we do 6 circuits in a figure 8 through the countryside and in and out of small towns. in the towns, we ride on bricks, which after the cobbles on flanders- feel smooth as fresh asphalt! it should not be too bad to race on. in my movie that is posted, i have some film of riding on some cobbles in brugge, but they are NOTHING like the flanders cobbles. i would not be able to hold the camera on those cobbles! anyway, so for now- i am going to try and work on my thesis... got an email from my advisor that reminded me that i still have a day job.

so, for now- that is all. back to work for me and later on, i will focus more on the race tomorrow. will have to take a nice bath and shave my legs and arms (that weird pre-race ritual that i have adopted for races that i am really focused on...). in the mean time- BYE!

The Netherlands...

today- we drove to the netherlands for our next three races. we have three drenthe races- thurs, sat and sunday. they are LONG, FLAT, fast windy and VERY hard! so- we are expecting to suffer.

for now though- today was a day off of training since we spent four hours in the car. my ass is really starting to show the colors of the bruise from my crash. it hurts badly when i sit down, but thankfully- it does not hurt while riding. toilet seats hurt the most. i also found some various other bruises on my body, they are sore and bruised too. but, given JUST how hard i went down?! i am very happy with the low degree of damage to both body and bike! when i went down- we were going at full speed and i was just about to jump for the sprint. i am not sure HOW fast we were going since i did not get the powerdata- but it was fast. a fully wound up lead out mass. i was very relaxed when i crashed, so i think that helped me not be as injured as i could have been. it is nice that the bruising is starting to show now though- since there are few things more annoying than pain that is not on display! if it is going to hurt that badly- it better look bad! in this case, i think that it looks much worse than it feels since it is on the side of my butt more than the bottom half. i am just glad that i am not a skinny little climber who went down!

so far- it has been uneventful. we are staying in spier holland- in a super nice hotel. it is the race hotel and really quite swanky. we have been living pretty high on the hog here... the whole trip really. i had been expecting us to be sleeping in a trailer and eating peanut butter and jelly. but no... we stay in nice hotels and eat REALLY good food! this hotel is no exception. it is nice and the food is really good. we just had a buffet dinner (VERY nice to have buffet since the 3 hour european dinners really start to get old quickly- especially when your butt is swollen and the seats are hard). next to the hotel is a nice wooded area where i went for a walk for about an hour today to wake my legs up after being in the car for so long.

one thing that i have noticed about both the areas that we have been- is that it is all cultivated. every square inch that we have seen has been cultivated at some point. there are no natural areas. people are big on planting trees here- which is awesome- but there are no natural stands. all the trees are in rows or are planted in grids. even this wooded area- which is billed as a natural area- is clearly planted in at least some spots. so that is kind of interesting. and i have seen storks! one farm that we drove by had a platform for the storks to nest on and sure enough- there was a big nest with a stork sitting on top. the birds have been really interesting, but i don’t know them and i don’t have a book or binocs. that is a bummer- the biologist in me was coming out today on my walk. i am the lone biologist here- that is for sure. so i can’t ask for help.

tomorrow- we are just riding for a couple hours and getting ready for the next race. i am very excited- we are expecting a bunch sprint and i get a chance to redo what i wanted to do on sunday!

as it is now- this hotel is nice, but it does not have great internet access. so, i might not get to post every day. but i will try and keep it up as much as i can. bye!

Tour of Flanders part two- 160 km of training ride!

today was a training day. but we sort of got lost. our 3-4 hours or riding turned into 5 and a half. oops. we had a great time though, but i had only enough food for about 2 hours! fortunately, kristin had some euros on her and two chocolate eclairs managed to fuel me on the way home...

it was great riding around though. we were riding easy and just getting a chance to check out the countryside- for the most part. it was gorgeous. tomorrow- we head out to holland for our next series of races. for now though- i am POOPED. it was a long day. check pics on the pics site. i have some new ones from the really cool town that we rode though- brugge (spelling). it was really quite a place.

ps... so i don’t have the energy to give the full story here, but you can imagine that a ride that ends up 5.5 hours probably has some good ones along the way. kristin just came in here and reminded me (i had almost forgotten) that we ended up in some fair/fesitval place at the start of the race in oudinaare (or wherever that was!)... we were pretty damn hungry at that point and the buttocks were not happy to be on the saddle. i had been hungry for over an hour and a half and had a local guy not donated a banana to me earlier (after begging him)- i might not have made it THAT far. we knew that it was at least 30k home after that point and we were in the coffee shop where i proceeded to stuff my face with the two chocolate eclairs... but i was worried that my sugar high would wear off and that it was going to be closer to 60k back. so... i stuff my pockets with sugar cubes- just in case! fortunately chocolate eclairs have enough butter and flour to make it home without resorting to the sugar cubes! but now, i have a plethora of cubes to truck around with me. i might have to start using them in my coffee...

First UCI experience, the painful way... Flanders

well- i am not going to go into full details on what happened in the race, and will instead, just post my race report under my race page. but the short story is that i had a BLAST out there today!!!!! i LOVED racing in europe! it was fun, fast, aggressive moving through the field and i am now fluent in “HEY!”... it is international for “what the hell are you doing?!”, “get the hell out of my way!” and “HOLY HECK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”. i speak and am conversational in it.

i was surprised that the course was not what i expected. basically, position is everything and if you are in good position, the race is not hard. it is only hard when you are in bad position and have to chase to close small gaps. then it is REALLY hard. but for the most part- the #1 thing that i worked on in this race was positioning and i did a good job of it mostly... i was where i wanted to be or could get there for almost the whole race. so- the race was not as hard as i thought that it would be. i felt great and was shocked when i heard that we only had three climbs left... then even more surprised when i hung on over the Muur... and when i was able to hang on again on the last climb...

there were 6 riders off the front and i was in the lead pack. i was VERY excited for the bunch sprint. it was my chance to see what euro pros throw at the line. long story short- i crossed wheels and went down. hard too. but, fortunately, i rolled and was hardly hurt at all. i have a contusion on my butt that i think will bruise nicely... i have posted a picture and am hoping to do a daily ass-shot to document the color changes... my fingers are crossed for good gory shots! ps... my site is no long PG... you need a parental notification to view future sequences.

other things of note- it was SUPER cool to be part of this race in general. it would be fun to go to watch it even. people were coming up and taking pictures, asking for autographs... bottles, jerseys... anything is a souvenir here. walking around and seeing the team cars and the riders is really interesting. so many world and national champions... it is impressive.

and you get yelled at and bumped a lot. riders are very aggressive about moving up and around in the peloton and will just shoot you to the back if you are not paying attention. the strange thing is though- i have NEVER felt more comfortable or relaxed in a race before. i just held my line and asserted myself. i was so relaxed- it was strange. i was not even nervous before the race. but it was a heck of a lot of fun.

The night before...

i am tried- so i am going to keep it a bit quick here today. we pre-rode the first half of the course today... along with about 30,000 other cyclists- cycling fans arrive en-mass to ride the course before watching their favorite riders race.

i actually ran into two people that i know today. one was a rider on the local webcor alto velo team. i had ridden with him once when i was doing TT intervals with patty. his name is alan. the other was a woman named anne- who works in the local evanston bike shop and who i met last fall. both were out to watch the races and have a fun ride. small world.

today- we saw cobbles as we have never seen them before. there was a 3km section that was pretty hard to believe. JUST when we thought that it was over, the cobbles changed from small stones to boulders- SUPER rough cobbles that were really hard to go over. i have new found admiration for the riders of paris-roubiax!

well- not much exciting to report other than it was funny to watch this guy above draft off a tractor... and i am going to pin my number and go to bed. numbers are vinyl! so much cooler than paper! good night!

Zuli makes it to Belgium...

we arrived yesterday- after a long flight- into brussels. it was a long travel day, but my flight was actually really good. i had gotten up at 3AM on tuesday to catch a 6AM flight to DC- then had a 4 hour layover and then an 8 hour flight to brussels, getting in at 7 or 8 in the morning. both flights were undersold- so i had the luxury of not having seatmates next to me and could spread out a bit. i tried to not sleep on the first flight and sleep on the second- so that i could escape too much jet lag. it worked. i felt pretty good when we touched down in belgium.

unfortunately though- a 4 hour layover was not enough time for them to get zuli off the DC flight and onto the belgium flight... so no zuli. that was a bummer, but i was not too worried. they at least knew where she was. last time they lost her... they had no idea where she had gone too and it took several days to even FIND my bike. and when she did arrive this morning- she was in one piece. only minor scratches. lauren franges was not so lucky as her rear chain stay was destroyed and her bike ruined. she is riding a team bike until a new frame gets here. what a bummer!

yesterday was uneventful other than that. to get over the jet lag, we all stayed up and did not go to bed until 10. that was a challenge... we took a few walks, got a massage from jessie, our soignier, and just milled around a bit. we are staying in izegem, which is just west of brussels. not much here to see, but it is just still SO cool to be in europe. i can hardly believe that i am here and am going to be racing my bike here! the roads that we are going to be racing on are narrow (about 10ft wide) and cobbled. riding on cobblestones is not super fun... racing on them?! it will be epic, for sure!

the team had some last minute changes before we got here- now, it is lauren franges, alison powers (my roomy), rebecca larson (not here yet, gets in tomorrow), katheryn curi and kristin armstrong. so far, we are all getting along well and it seems like it is really going to be a great group. i really like all the women a lot and am just so happy to be a part of it.

today- we got out and rode for the first time and just explored a bit. nothing too exciting, just an easy ride. i am going to head out again for an hour to get a little bit more intensity in to wake my legs up a bit. but this morning, it was just easy. anyway, i am setting up a page for pics, so click on the picture above to get to belgium pics of the day. i am going to try and bring my camera as much as i can!

EUROPE! HERE I COME!

“i’m leaving, on a jet plane... don’t know when i’ll return again...”

it does not feel real. somehow, i am sitting here on an airplane, heading to dulles then on to brussels... why? to go race my bike. to go and race my bike for the us national team. against the top competition in the world. in two world cup races.

i need to take a breath. wow. how am i here? it does not feel real and it has not sunk in. i am sure it won’t sink in until i am on the start line, wearing the blue and red spiderman kit of the us national team. or will it even then?

as it is now, i am finally getting a chance to catch up and relax a bit. as you can tell from that last blog- the last few weeks have been madness. pure crazy and exhausting. the races this last weekend were, well, not great. i have not gotten the race reports up and will try and get them up soon, so you can read about it if you want. but what stands out from this last week was more car time than ride time and more pre-dawn wake-ups than a normal person should ever have. 5 AM now seems like sleeping in. this morning’s alarm was a crisp 3AM, after an 11PM night of packing and last minute errands.

i don’t feel fatigued, i feel excited. i am very much looking forward to just getting to focus on racing. my thesis is a bit back burner right now- since i have only edits and revisions to make at this point. no more data analyses and no more bulk writing. it is fairly well set and not i just have to make all the changes that my committee wants. that means that i can focus a lot more on the bike. i am glad for it too!

for now- i am excited... it is STARTING to feel real...