never flat

well it was another early morning. 5 to be exact. after oatmeal it was off the race. we got there and i think i took the worlds longest pee. i think 3 water bottles were stored up. after that i could move again so i quick went and rode the course before the time trail for the people in the "1000 km" (racing series) started. i got here to late to register for the series so not TT. for me. but the course was nice. never flat. always going up or down. it was a 4ish km loop that started high went down a nice hill, up a shortish one, then down again. up another short one. a 180 degree turn. down a bit. then a longer 1 km or a bit more hill back up to the start. the down hills were pretty fast (over 70) and the uphills i found were not to hard, even though still fast.
so we all (170 or so people) lined up for the start and we were off. i was in the top 1/3 for the first 3 or 4 or 18 laps, after that i figured out how the peleton was working. such as where i could get a hole to move up. so the next few laps were spent doing that. then a bunch more laps of dripping sweat. at 5 or so laps to go i was able to hold my position in the first 20 really nicely. just sitting not working to hard, sweating, that kinda thing. i think at 3 laps (because of a sprint) a group of 10 or so had gotten away and i thought they might have a chance. the guys pulling the main group were not catching up. so i took off and got up to the group pretty quick. unfourtunatley i brought the whole field with me. so i sat near the front until the last lap. 2 guys had gotten away again, and it was close enough to the end i thought they might have a chance. so again i attacked to go join them, but yet again the field came with. the two up ahead rapidly came back and i ended up at the front of the train for longer than i wanted. going into the last hill i was still out front and a bit winded from doing so. but it ended up being a sprinters race today. the peleton just did not want to give up any time at all. i finished right behind the sprint, probably around 30th again. right after the race the temp. was 35 degrees or 95 in F. thats pretty dang hot.
on the way home i drank 2 water bottles and a litre of apple juice, then another bottle since ive been home. i havent had to pee yet. so that is how much i sweated.
if my HR monitor was working right today, it says my avg. was 125. that is not very high. so either i was just not working at all. or i am getting into really quite good shape. or both. and the race was not slow either. if it would have been there would have been a successful break. the avg. was 40km/h.

on to the next round

today i woke up at 8 to go help one of the biker guys move from his old apartment (in germany) to his new apartment (in switzerland). his old one was on the second floor and we had to carry stuff to the garage which was basement level. so i was going up and down stairs for a good two hours this morning. once all the stuff was moved out i saw that the only thing left in the apartment was the toilet and sink in the bathroom. everything else was gone.
then i transported his bike over to his new apartment. and luckily that was on the 1st floor. stuff right out of the transporter up 3 or 4 stairs and into the house. it was a bazillion times faster. the new apartment is nice. it even came with washer and dryer! and a kitchen too.
by the time we were done with that it was 3:30. the german game started at 5. and i was not allowed to miss it. so we went to the "strand bar" (beach bar) and watched and cheered (we being the people that moved.)
the germans took the lead i think it was 4 minutes into the game. and then scored a bit later. sweden never had a chance. but the germans were very very happy. everyone was singing "wir fahren nach berlin" (we travel to berlin) in referance to the final which is there. after that i came home made speghetti and all the usual prerace stuff. tomorrow i get up at 5. i think the race might be a bit slower that normal due to the parties which will happen tonight.

pent up national pride

this is just a family, with a lot of flags. just about every other car had at least one flag out the window, and the horn blazing

bikes and berries

the sun was out once again this morning. always nice to wake up to. after a quick breakfast i went down the the grocery store hoping for cheap meat. no luck. so i bought my hamburger for tomorrow speghetti. after that it was biking time. i went through Jans village again today (by the way he just got engaged). i was hoping id get a chance to ride with him. haha. but didnt happen. so i made a nice loop, on some previously un-ridden roads. and got home at 2 hours and 11 seconds. it was a nice recovery ride. my legs feel good though. no complications at all from running yesterday. so that is good.
after my bike i made some pancakes. then was off to the strawberry field. the field is about 20-25 min away by bike, so i took my madONE. i did not feel like lugging the junker around. i found the field and started picking and eating. and did that for an hour or so, until my crate was full and i had eaten a good amount. i brought home 3.25 kilos (x 2.2 for pounds), at a cost of 5.25 €. so not bad.

on the way home from picking i encountered the fastest tour biker ever. i could make up a whole bunch of excuses as to why this guy was going as fast or im sure at times faster than me, but i just think he was a really fast tour biker. maybe he was doing intervals or something? ha. i even drafted off him for a short time. that was at about 30 km/h on a slight uphill. most tour bikers dont even hit that on downhills!
eventually he slowed down, or mysteriously turned, because he disappeared after a bit. then i was home. cut up the berries, or put chocolate on them. reorganized my fridge to fit them (it must be forced closed), and now i am thinking about dinner. fish or cheeseburger?

ready to eat

its been awhile

since i woke up to clouds and cool. and also since ive worn pants. recently been shorts shorts shorts.
after breakfast, class. no test back. just more student teaching. after class i was in a mildly studios mood so i went and read my soc. by the end i was to hungry to care. so i did not finish. later...
then made some soup i picked up at a race for lunch. it was not to bad. then it was digesting for a bit. after that i decide to go for a run. its been quite awhile since ive done that. i wanted to see if i could still run. so i set out for a planned 30 min. after 10 minutes or so my legs rememberd how to go up and down instead of in circles. i did some exploring in the woods nearby, which i had not yet been in. and i got a bit turned around and ended up on the far side of the woods. that was at about 25 min. i was on the street for a few min. but then went back into the woods up a large hill i did not even know exsisted. then down, at the bottom i figured out where i was. and then at 45 min i stopped running. dont want to work those muscles to hard right away! haha. a bit later i got home. and went immediatley for a bike ride. a nice 1:20. i just stayed in germany, and rode by my strawberry fields. i decided that tomorrow i will go picking. its supposed to be nice, and ive got nothing better to do.
after getting back from the bike, i went and watched the US get elimnated by Ghana in the world cup. Ghana is a good team to be eliminated by. they are the only African team left, good to seem them doing pretty well. the commentator said now they have a whole continent behind them.
soon its alfredo time.

dessert last night

locker room

this morning when i woke up my room smelled like as said above a locker room. i think it was from the sweaty bike clothes hanging. and also maybe i smelled bad too. no matter. i am doing laundry right now. that should take care of it!

i had my presentation on bikes today. for the amount of preparing i did, it went well. i had a list of bike parts, and i just pointed to the part and read the name. very easy. then i showed how to change a flat tire, adjust the seat, and a few small other things. the class was awake during it, so that is always a good sign. even the teacher was getting involved! i was hoping noone would ask the cost of my bike. people look at you weird when they hear how much you spend. but of course, it was the first question asked...
after that it was off to witch hunting, nothing special there.
then some french toast, then grocery. strawberries were on super sale today. at first i thought it was because it was just a bunch of old crappy ones out, but then as i was leaving fresh crates were being put out. wahooo. two good looking pacakges.
then biking. today i was tired. i kept it nice and easy. it was also fairly windy, good for the way home.
now i am waiting for my launrdy, and after that. stir fry.

happy solstice.

less hair

today i took the visitors to the train station just so they would not get lost on the way, plus needed to go downtown. i decided it was finally time to get my hair cut, it was long and hot. i got the haircut place where i saw the sign said 4.99 (a good deal i think) and took a waiting seat. it was early so i was the only one waiting at the time, during my cut 4 others came in. but anyway, there was a poster of my normal haircut and i said like that. and i was told i would need to have my hair washed first, thus raising the price to 12.90. no thanks. for some reason the guy could cut my hair shorter, but not longer??? figure that one out. but i got it short, which is ok i guess. less heat trapped and more wind to the scalp.
after that i went to my favorite baker. i think i will come downtown to get my bread from now on. there are more choices, its cheaper, and better. plus so many other good things to eat.

everything soccer...
after that it was class time. nothing to entertaining. we got some homework though, and i have to have my exact research question by next week.
then it was off to bike. my helmet needed to be tighten 4 notches, thats how much hair i had.
after 30 minutes i was feeling pretty good, so i did 30 sec. sprints for a bit. then was at the hill i wanted to be at. and i did it as fast as possible. my HR monitor was working once in a while here, and the highest i saw before it quite totally was 98%, that was right before i sprinted for the top. so i red lined it today. then a bit later i did some more 30 sec sprints. all of it felt good, and i recovered quickly. so a good hard workout.
on the hill it felt almost like i was in the shower from sweat dripping down my face. i think my long hair was acting like a towel and soaking up all the sweat, handy. but it feels good with less hair.

got home. made jerked chicken for dinner. it was really good. much better than the other 2 times, i think because i used orange juice like one is supposed to, instead of water. much better. then i ate a crate of strawberries, now time to prepare for my presentation on bikes tomorrow.

deodorant

Last night some guys from duluth showed up (scheduled). they had been at a world cup game and had no where else to stay. that was at a bit after 10. and they were hungry so i made some food, and it is a lot easier cooking for more than myself. dunno why, but it is.
the test this morning was not quite as easy as i had expected it would be. yesterday i had gotten some good studying down. i knew my notes backwards and forwards, and the notes were exactly what was taught. i wrote down pretty much everything the student teachers or teacher wrote on the board, and what i didnt there were sheets with the info. so some of the stuff was a bit more complex then i thought it would be. oh well. i think i did ok.
after that i came home and the others were still sleeping in the crowed room. so i sat around for a bit. thought about doing homework. decided not to and went and woke them up by getting my bike stuff out.
i wasnt sure how my legs were today, so i decided on the lenght while riding. legs were not tired. but not energized. so i did a nice easy hour 20, with a stop to buy some...

in switzerland. they were 4.5 francs (2.35€ i think) so a bit expensive, i only had 4.30 but the lady gave em to me anyway. i dont think that that would ever happen in germany...
after that i came home. the others were just on the way out the door to go to Meersberg, across the lake. and they are not back with food for dinner yet. im hungry.
then i actually went and did the homework i was going to in the morning. reading for soc. it was mildly interesting stuff on how peoples identities in chat rooms and such.
after that i went to the grocery store cause i just ran out of deodorant. one container for 4 months. not bad...and there was not a single thing of stick deodorant. only spray on and then ball on. so after browsing the selection i went with the ball on. it was the same price per 100 mL as the spray, but just smaller. so cheaper. that was my adventure for the day.
then i found this.

no explaination required

a hot one.

this morning it was off to the races at 7:30. this race was near Freiburg. right near the hottest area in germany.
we got there a good hour and a half before. plenty of time to pick up the number and get a good warm up in, the registration list for my race had 249 people on it. i dont know if they all showed up, but it was a big race nontheless. not that i needed to be any warmer since it was already quite hot. a good 30 minute warm up then to the line. i went to the line a bit early since i did not want to be stuck far back. and we were off. each lap was a bit over 4 km and we did 18, 78.33 km by my speedometer. about 10 minutes after starting i was already dripping sweat. on the second lap on the backside of the course, where the pace was never under 50, there was a large crash, behind me. i got lucky since it developed in front and to the side, but took up the whole road behind me. i was in the middle quater for the first couple of laps. then i follow a guy who was attacking up to the front, but for some reason i did not keep going. i coulda got a prize! but i was then at the front, until the sprint about 5 min. later. then some more laps. sometime around here i followed an attack and was in a 4 man break for about a lap. but the peleton did not want to let us go at all. so we got caught before the line. then i was back in the front middle of the pack for a few more laps. then on the 3rd to last lap or so i was in the middle and someone attacked, and was followed by a few. i really really wanted to get in on the action, but there was no way for me to get there. i also had a feeling that that was the break of the day. but alas. no luck this time. after that i wiggled my way to the front and just stayed right up in the first 10 people or so. which was working great, but then an attack a bit later from 2 guys made me the leader, i tried pulling back up to them, but no luck they had gotten a good gap. and no one from behind would take over. so then i ended up 20 or so back. the last lap everyone was trying to get up to the front and there were a lot of people yelling at each other. luckily no more crashes. and then the finish where i was hopefully in the top 30, but i dont really know. ill try to find a result soon. but even though i wasnt on the front at the end it still was a decent race. i attacked a few times. and felt good at the finish still. so im mildly happy.
with the heat today and the wind and the work i did today my avg. HR was 158.
the 78.33 km took just under 1 hour 48.
a guy that rode with us today got some really good video of the race. to bad i cant or at least dont know how to put it here.

after the race got home cooked, then watched brazil vs. australia. everyone thought brazil would dominate just because they are always good. australia played really well and had they just not kicked the ball so hard they would have at least tied.

sometime during

7 bikes today

strawberry season.

this morning i had the first omlet i have had in a very long time. it was quite good, it was with peppers and cheese. after that i went to the grocery store and got bread and some other things. then it was biking time. just a nice easy hour with some sprints. there is this one place on my hour long loop that is a big strawberry field, i first noticed last week that it smelled like strawberries. and then yesterday the price of 500 grams of stawberries went from 2.50 to .99. so i had a crate yesterday and almost a half so far today. good stuff. but the field smells good...
after the bike i made some lunch. a very successful spanish rice. quite good.

for lack of other pictures at the moment.
just a few minutes ago i gave up on studying. i have no idea why, but i just cannot concentrate. luckily the test wont be too hard. it is pretty easy material. but it is always nice when you dont even have to think during a test.

tonight is the US vs. Italy game. i havent decide if i am going to watch it, because of tomorrows race. but i am happy. a 6:30 wake up, not a 4:00. wahoo!

the other day some questions were asked:
most people here seem to use energy gel during races. and coke and water is very popular for near the end.
also asked was my opinion on the TdF. i really dont know how it will turn out this year. i think it will be a good race. Basso clean up in italy, but that was a month ago. maybe he is recovered maybe not. Ullrich is looking pretty good now too. and of course a bunch of others like landis and leipheimer have been doing well this season.
so again i think it will be a close race. hopefully. more fun to watch then!

coming along

Last night i was not really tired and my room was a billion degrees. so after watch 2 soccer games on the balcony, then sweating in my room. i decided to go out and watch a thunder storm that was somewhere over switzerland. i thought it might come here, but never did. it would have been very pleasant, except for the really drunk americans a few floors down swearing at each other and apparently pukeing too. ahh my fellow country men, im so lucky!
today has not been the most fun of days. but i have been at least mildly efficent in writing my essay on witch hunting. in fact i have decided that i will finish it tonight. i think after dinner i will have the ability to work again.
besides the essay all i have done is gone to the grocery store, and gone biking. i am still feeling pretty good, meaning my legs are not tired. so that is always fun. but still no pictures. soon i hope!
tomorrow is looking like it is going to be a bit the same. ive got to study for a grammar test on monday. and prepare my presentation on bikes. after that i am going to try and start on my sociology paper, which is due august 29. but i dont want to do any work while at home. so ill hopefully finish it up soon. 6 to 8 pages, luckily in english.

the bottom step.

last night i realized that i am only here once for the world cup. i was going to just watch the game nearby but decided to go downtown with some others. it was insane down there. so many people. faces paint, flags, beer. some tables had their own private kegs. the game was not very interesting untill the last 5 minutes. everyone seemed down before that time, but then germany started getting some good chances. and within the last minute score. everyone went completely nuts for a good 5 minutes. then of course the game was over and germany had won. so the parties began. i however went home to bed for i had to get up at 6.
this morning as i was rolling out to meet the others i still heard a party i think. it was 7:15...
anyways. Singen is where the race was. 30 km from here. so we just rode our bikes. an hour 15 minute warmup...i was not sure whether i would benefit from that or not.
got there, rode the course, it was fairly flat. the main drag was about 400 or 500 meters or so, slightly uphill. but hardly noticeable. then 100 meters after then finish a right. then another soon after. then a short straight. then a right. then a left then two rights. 1.3 or so km total. today was a 35 lap crit.
at a bit after 9:30 we were off. and of course i was stuck at the back for the first 5 laps or so, eventually i moved up. feeling decent the whole time. eventually i made it into the middle of the pack (35ish i think) and just hung out there for awhile. with 18 laps to go i was feeling good, and on the back straight away a hole opened up in front of me and i took off. i was hoping to hold my lead for a few laps, so i could get the points from the sprint (every 5 laps), but got caught by the sprinters when it mattered. oh well. after that little excursion i just mixed in with the pack again. even though the speed was around 50 km/h nearly the whole time i was simply not tired. not even breathing hard in fact. just sitting. i tried moving up for a sprint, but im no sprinter, so no luck. then lap 5 (after the lap sprint) came around. i was right near the front, or must have been. some guy attacked and i being right there took off as well. to my extrodinary luck, the 3 other team mates of mine happened to be in the front with me. they saw me go and apparently blocked (i was told so afterward), and it worked quite well. this all occured somewhere on the back stretch. me and the other guy had gotten a decent gap and started working together. since he was the first to go out i had been on his wheel for a bit, then i took over for a while, then him. this worked well until finishing up the 3 to go lap. he was either pretending to hurt or was hurting, cause everytime he took the lead we slowed 4 km/h. so in the last 2.5 laps he led not much more than 500 meters. which i guess was just fine. i still had plenty of gas left so i just kept on pedaling. at about this same time, i realized we were going to succeed so that gave me a bit of energy too. as we came around the corner for the finish he tried to make a move, but i was just feeling to good, and he never made it in front of me. i just pushed it all the way home and ended up a good 10 meters in front of him at the end. and man o man does it feel good to cross the line first.
unfourtunatley since it was a crit. simply finishing first does not mean first place. i scored 10 points with the finish. as i was packing up the awards cerimonie started. and the kid that seems to always win crits won, with the guy i was in the break with second. and i got the bottom step. flowers, and 30€.
but im happy, i now know i can break away and keep it. so hopefully i can do that in a road race.
my avg HR was only 137 that is not high at all. and my max was 192. and this race was faster than all the other races so far i think. 45 km in pretty close to exactly an hour. a good sign of progress i hope!


there were lots of people taking photos, so when i find them. ill post em.

i tell ya...

the internet here is about the least reliable thing on the planet. in the last 3 days it has worked no more than 3 hours. maybe it has worked more than that, when i dont need it of course. but it is getting really annoying. at home i dont think i would care to much, everyone i email with is phoneable. but here, trying to figure out race details and all. it is really bugging me. especially cause i paid a insane price for it.
anyways. yesterday. hot.

today the usual wednesday, choco rice perals, two classes. absolutley starving. lunch. then digestion time. i worked a bit on my witch hunting paper. i got the hardest part done. the intro! horray! then for a bike that made me really grumpy. first it was hot, and windy. then my legs were tired. my bike was making really annoying sounds (the bottom bracket/crank arm clunk), that was really pissing me off. then my stomach started hurting. and i got a headache somewhere in there...so not a good bike today.
on the way home i remembered the "self-help bike work shop" so i stopped by. and luckily it was open so i cleaned then tightened my crank arms. the way home (all of 2 minutes) no noise. so hopefully tightening it was the fix. after not have the noise my mood was much improved. got home. nutellaed up some bread and starting eating it. the second piece i noticed a large piece of mold. my stomach hurt even more for the next half hour. eventually that calmed down and i was able to function again.
now that my bread was moldy i wanted new bread. as i was leaving i noticed some abandoned bottles (turn them in get money) so i took those. made 24 cents. and then instead of buying a whole loaf of bread, that will mold. i got a half loaf. i did this before but i ate it in 2 days. but i guess that is good. fresh bread is always better.
tonight i am finally going to eat the speghetti i have been craving since sunday. and then at 9 the germans play. i can already hear the parties starting...
hopefully all the bikers will be partying as well. then tomorrow will be hard for them! hehehe.

on the side: for those of you who have Google Earth. search "Schwägalp, Switzerland" that is the name of the place on the side of the mountain i visited.

nearly bonked

i have heard that to get the proper amount of sleep, one is supposed to sleep 8 hours, then another hour for every one you workout. if thats the case i was supposed to sleep 16 hours. i definatley did not get that, close to 7 was all i managed. despite this after waking up my body felt great. the only bad thing was that when i stood up i was dizzy. without a doubt from dehydration.
after breakfast and grammar class (which i have a test in next monday). i went to the grocery store to get food for a while. i was pretty hungry on the way there, and after being there deciding what to eat i was really hungry. and on the way home from the grocery store i nearly bonked...haha. the 4 km ride too its toll! after a good lunch of maultauschen (a Swäbisch thing, noodle filled with pork and spinich really quite good), i was feeling good again. i waited a bit then took off an my actually bike ride. after about 20 minutes i was properly warmed up (because it is HOT now, no more cold muscles) and i felt great. it felt like yesterday was a much much much shorter ride than it actually was. i did my steep hill. not all out by any means, but not easy either. then continued on to end up doing 2 hours and 15 minutes. i tasted the large lunch at one point, but that eventually subsided. and the only other problem that was plauging me was my butt hurt. i really need to look into getting some chamoi (sp?) gel or something for at least the long days.
someone just scored in some soccer game. i hear yelling and cheer all around. haha.
dinner was tacos, then i finished up the Da Vinci Code. i have to say it is a pretty good book. now that i am done with that i guess i can do my essays and study since ive got nothing more fun to do.
tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter than today, and the next day even more...30 degrees is predicted. thats just about my upper functioning limit..uh oh!

off the map.

this morning at 6:45 i got the negative call from the driver. so i fell back asleep for 2 hours. after waking up i ate a bowl of oatmeal got ready to go and took off to see if i could find the alps.
The other day i had been riding and i was able to see the foot (or so i thought) of one of the nearer mountains. so today i started in that direction. by now (10:00) the calm of the morning had gone and it was getting faily windy. and i had to go into the wind. but i thought it would be fine cause then i would have a tail wind for coming home.
anyways i was able to see the mountain enough to just aim for it and go. i just followed the roads that went towards it for 2 hours or so. eventually i realized i had been going up slightly for a bit. i was in the foothills! so i just kept following the roads going towards the mountain. and most of my pedal strokes taking me higher (there were a few flats or downhills). soon enough there were no more small downhills and i was climbing up up and away.

onward and upward!
with the road getting ever steeper. shortly after the steep fields stopped and turned into trees, it got steep. i started to feel the weight of the bag with food and extra water i was carrying (i was not sure if anything would be open). but climbing felt good, even though i stopped to take a few pictures it still was hard work.

switchbacks

moo.
the steepest part with switchbacks. it does not look to steep but it was.
the steep part (the part i clocked) was 7 km. from the time i started climbing, i have no idea. but i got to bischofzell (the edge of the map) at two hours and reached the top of the road at 3.5 hours.

just after lunch
on the way up i had seen quite a few bikers going down. and when i got to the chalete/restraunt thing at the top of the road i saw that there must be a marathon ride or something, cause lots of bikers and lots of bikes were eating lunch. i was going to try to get in on that deal, but i noticed they all had tickets...nuts, speghetti would have been good. so i ate a pb-n-j sandwich i had caried up the mountain. i was planning on having lunch when i got to the summit, but there was no road up there. probably becuase the last quite a bit of mountain was cliff, but thats just a guess. i had also want to get above tree line, just because that is fun. but the road just did not go higher, even though the trees stopped not a whole lot higher.
anyways i sat and ate lunch at looked at the mountian. for some reason i did not take any pictures except one of me eating lunch at the high point. i think it was because the mountain would just simply not fit into the viewer, it would have just been a picture of a cliff.
soon after finishing lunch i picked up some snow nearby just to do it, then headed down to the split i took to get to where i was. i decided to go left instead of right (the way i came up) so it was off to new territory (since the two hour mark id been off the map).
down down down i went. wondering the whole time if i should have gone the way i came up. but evenutally i came to an intersection in a city, one way had the name of a city i recognized, the other way went up. i went up. and for quite some time i rode on lightly increasing terrain, when i passed the city called Unterwasser ("under water" translated, even thought it was on the side of the mountain???) the rode increased in steepness and kept going for quite some time. it was now 4.5 hours since departing and i decided to turn around at the top of this hill or 5 hours. the top came first, i stopped and took a little break. i found out that i was on the back side of the mountain i had gone up before. kinda funny, without going over i was on the other side. soon a man came running out of a house below looking up to my position and walking very very fast, i decided it was time to go and went down down down again. this time i paid attention to my speedometer and from the point i had turned in the city it was 12 km. and the road went downwards for another 10 or so before leveling out.

the view from the backside
i was now in Watwil, which was the city name i recognized. or thought i did, i was actually think of Wil, which is on the very bottom of my map. but i just followed the signs to Wil. however once i had gotten out from behind my mountain the wind was coming directly at me with quite some force. this headwind remained with me until i got to konstanz. it was so strong and i was tired, and needed water by this time (6 hours) that i considered hoping a train. i went to the Wil train station and tried to buy a ticket. i could not figure the machine out, so instead i got my water bottles filled. this short stop gave me a new energy and the signs for Konstanz started coming. the first sign said 39 km or so. i had gone just under 160 km at this point so i decided to do 200 km. kinda weird how i went from almost getting on a train, to deciding to push it all the way. but into the headwind and over many 2 or so km hills. and i was back into familiar territory. eventually i made it back to Konstanz, and hit the 200 km mark at exactly 8 hours. i decided for having a headwind whenever i was not going up a mountain, and i was by myself the whole time. it was a decent time. the total gone time was just under 9 hours, so a whole lot of break time. and the highest elevation sign i saw was 1300 m, but lunch was above that. the lake is at 398m.
once i got home i ate a bit. showered, then ate the equivalent of two regular dinners. and i still am not completely full.
that was my day not at the races, kinda sad though, i felt great for the first 5 hours or so, i think i would have done well at the race...but it was a good adventure, and something i wanted to do before i left. overall i have no idea of the total amount of climbing, but if coming down from Unterwasser was 20some km. and that was lower than the lunch break. who knows...

cold water

this morning i took a chance and made "german" pancakes. basically just thinner and a little more sugar. they actually turned out well. considering the receipe said to let the batter sit for 20 minutes before frying, i thought 2 min. would do just fine. and it did.
after that it was onto the bike ride. a short hour with sprints. the first few sprints i did i felt great. no problem getting up around 50km/h on the shortish uphills. the last few however were not good. all of a sudden my legs got sluggish. dont know why for real, but i think it may have to do with the fact that i ate a lot of snack food yesterday. just did not sit well. so hopefully i will feel good tomorrow! (i think)
after that i went down to the beach since it was so nice an i did not want to sit inside. it took me a bit to find the people i knew were down there. but i did eventually. after a bit of sitting i went swimming. the water was surprisingly cold. it even took my breath away a bit at first, or when hitting a cold patch while swimming a bit. by the way today was the first time ive been swimming since november. and that was in a pool that i could stand up in the whole time. before that the last time was in the summer! but i had forgotten how much drag water had. swimming was a bit of work.
then i came home, preped my bike for tomorrow by cleaning it and putting on its race uniform (black tires).
then an absolutley delightful dinner of chicken, peppers, and penne. it was really good. i opted for this because last week i had it before the monday race and that went well. so maybe it works better than speghetti.

my ride for tomorrow just called, he is feeling a bit ill so he is not sure if he will race. nuts. but he is going to call at 7 tomorrow with the decision. if he does not drive i dont race, so i guess ill just have to wait and see. if its a no go i am going to bike to the mountains, see what there is to see. so either way a good bike is in store.

ducks like a day at the beach too.

the streets are deserted

this morning i was able to sleep in a bit, no lawn mower. after a bit it was off on my recovery ride, which was really windy. but i kept i tried to keep it easy, hopefully it was enough. after that i got back home and had some lunch, then headed downtown to do a few things i needed to. coming out of the grocery store there were some kids around my city bike, they asked me who i wanted to win, i said neutral. then they ran off a list of other teams. and i said it does not really matter, they looked at me in disbelief. it was kinda entertaining.
then back home and started dinner at around 5:30.
at 5:45 a friend told me that he was not going to the big screen to watch the game, he was going up a floor. i had no idea the game started at 6, so i figured that was a much better idea so i joined. the group had 2 tvs on a small belcony with grills and everthing that goes with that. also the couch from my floor, how they got it there i am not quite sure. anyway the world cup has started and the germans could not be any happier. ever since i got back from the store i have seen one car go by on the street outside my window, usually its fairly busy. everyone is glued to the tv now. and will be for the next month. its like the superbowl, except bigger and more popular, and no comercials during the game. but the game went off without a hitch for the germans who scored the first goal, and won 4 to 2.

the lake was nice today.

enjoying the sun.

last night when i was trying to fall asleep there were a few people yelling about soccer in the street, really loud...a preview of whats to come? (world cup starts tomorrow).
then this morning i was woken by a lawn mower at 7 A.M. honestly. wait at least another hour. after the rude awakening i picked up my package that just got here. more chips! then off to class. nothing special. then lunch, digesting time. bike time. i decided to do a harder workout today. so after 30 min warm up i was planning on doing 10, 30 sec. bits really quite hard in a row. 30 seconds rest inbetween. then 10 min rest between sets. all 3 times. the first set i lost count and ended up only doing 5. simple math figured that out. so the next 2 sets went off without a hitch besides the fact that they hurt like crazy and a permanent headwind. after the second set the Alps were in great view, i had never seen them from that particular angle before, but i could see all the way to the base of them. so now i know how to get there. just have to wait for a chance. next weekend i dont have a race is it. weather permiting of course. then i made up for the missed 5 intervals and got a nice 30 min cool down in. in total 2 hours 40 of nice sunny weather (in the Team Beat jersey, sorry dave no chance for a photo shoot). tomorrow is a rest day in prep for sunday. a race in stuttgart. a big race i assume too. its only the top 4 groups racing. no kids at all. so it should be really fast. im excited for the competition to increase even more. see if i can still do it.
the german girl that was at olaf last year just stopped by to say hi. that was nice.
now its time to go try my hand at fried rice again, although i am not looking forward to going in the kitchen because one of the asians just cooked something that smells like wet dog...

oh, by the way. the T-mobile rider i saw 2 days ago, and again yesterday. i think is Matthias Kessler, although it could also be Klöden. both live in kreuzlingen, but i am pretty sure i saw blonde hair, not dark...
also, bert, the phonak guy i rode with last month just finished 5th in the TT in the big race thats happening right now. he was the first non-american.

pretty normal

today was nothing special of a day. got up went to speaking class. decided that my presentation, since it can be on anything we want, will be on basic bike repair. so that will be really easy, take the stress that could come from that away. then to witch hunting. nothing new.
lunch of chocolate chip pancakes. i think pancakes have got to be one of the cheapest foods to make. egg, flour, milk, backing powder, sugar. easily under 20 cents for lunch. they are also really easy to make.
then i wait a bit to go biking. to digest.
went towards the hill i did last week. against the almost steady stream of tourist bikers, konstanz will soon be crowded. up the hill once, down the other side into switzerland. a little ways there, saw the same T-Mobile guy as yesterday, but again going the other way. then i went up the hill on a new hill. a very nice one, fairly steep for 3km. then cruised along the side of my valley for an hour into the wind. had the wind been going the opposite way today it would have been the perfect loop. but regardless it was a nice 3 hours.
then alfredo for dinner, and now i am actually going to read my book for witch hunting, i want to finish this essay before long. get it out of the way...

11 hours

is the amount of sleep i got last night. it was good.
today after getting up i got a new part for my bike, went to sociology. told the world my topic for my paper will be, why online communities are so popular, how are they different from each other and real communities or clubs. any ideas let me know.
then since yesterday i was in Merdingen, or Jan Ullrichs former place of residence. i decided to go today to his current town of residence. its only 10 km away. so off to switzerland. to the village and i looked for his house. i hear it is big and yellow, so i saw all the big yellow houses in the village, so one must have been it, actually one was really nice, so i think thats it but not sure. but no jan. however i did see what i think was a different T-Mobile rider on the way there. he had all the clothes and the bike, and there are a few of them that live in kreuzlingen which is the swiss side of konstanz. ill find a possible list.
after tour jans village i cruised easily around some roads over there to rack up sometime, then i came home. a nice easy 2 hour ride. then made scalloped potatoes and schnitzle for dinner. won 2 games of chess and now read a bit.

jans village

red bull mini i was talking about the other day

15€

last night as i was reading my book for witch hunting i got a call from a guy that said he could help me out with my seatpost issue, so i immediately went to his house, got it all figured out and was in bed 11. a bit later then i wanted, but given the circumstances, just fine with me.
again i woke up at 4, ate my oatmeal and was in the car on my way to the race by 5. the guy who drove is about exactly my speed (biking), so it worked out well today.
we got to the race area at 6:45 with a 8 start. after getting numbers and getting everything ready i had time for a good 30 mintue warm up, it made a huge difference. at 8 the boys went out and we followed 5 minutes after. it was a good size peleton i think around 90. the weather was 12 degrees and DRY!!! so i was able to wear just my regular jersey. the course took a few sharp corners to get out of the start area then got took a left onto what i think was a bike path, only for about 100 meters or so then uphill on a nice little street through vineyards for 1.5 km or so, it was mildly steep in some parts and not so much in others, but it was enough to spread the group out right away. after the hill it went down a nice road the same distance as the uphill, but wider with more turns. a few good sharp smooth ones, they were really fun. then a really quick S curve and onto flats, this flat part was done at full bore by everyone everytime. that was usually the hardest part of the race. then a fast (45 km/h) pace for the next 10 km on flats back to the start/finish. then again. the first lap i felt decent, but the next 4 or 5 laps i felt great. my cornering was good, i did not have to kick my own butt to get back to the group. it was really nice. at one point a few groups came into being and i ended up working hard with some others to get back to the ones further up. it was pretty tough. but eventually we caught up. with 3 laps to go i started getting cramps, partly because i was feeling yesterdays freeze, and also i did not drink nearly enough water yesterday or this morning. i was unsure if i would be able to keep with the group, but i spun a high cadence for a bit and the cramps calmed down. second to last lap nothing extraordinary besides using up a bit more energy. the last lap the hill hurt me a bit, i got stuck in a gap between the fast group and the slower, so i decided to take some risks on the downhill and try to catch up. it was working great till i took a corner to fast and went into the grass and came close to a fence, the small group just behind me passed me which ended up being great cause i just sat there and they pulled up to the front. plus it was kinda fun. i went to the limit on the curve.
the rest of the lap was faster than the others and i was able to move up near the front where i held my place to the finish. i came across 17th. at the time i did not know they were giving out money to the top 20 so i figured the group is the group and didnt really kick it at the end (of course with the little i had left). but i ended up getting 15€ so my race fee today and half of yesterday was covered. fun fun.
then we hung around and watched the elite race, some guys from the Milram and Rabobank continetal teams were there (Mil. and Rab. are pro teams). they have cool cars. and were even using radios.
then we came home.
now i am tired.

rabobank car.

early, wet, and cold

this moring i woke up to the sound of light rain, well i guess i woke up to my alarms. but with rain in the background. by the time i was done with my oatmeal it was starting to get light out and then rain had ceased. i was hoping the sun would come up and dry the roads real well. got in the car and off to villingen-schwenningen which is about 80 km. when we got there at 6 the roads were dry and the temp. not too bad, a bit chilly, but livable. so we registered late, like many others who i think were seeing if it was going to rain. got back to the car and started changing. and guess what came along! rain! oh boy! and i am sure the temp dropped as well. so after a 15 minute short warm up i was on the start line at 6:55 A.M. absolutley ridiculos. honestly an hour later at least, 7 is just so damn early. then we were off and about 20 seconds after that i was soaked. the course started up a 1.5 or 2 km hill, not that steep, but definatley enough to hurt by the top. once at the top a nice long flat/downhill section for 3 or 4 km, everytime time we were on this section the speed was above 55km/h. then a series of corners in a downhill slope, then a tight corner and a small rise and about 1 km later a 200 meter steep hill. then a 2 turns and that was a lap. around 6.5 km was the actual distance. it was not a super easy course, but not hard. well should not have been. my legs felt like lead right from the get go, i remember counting 3 laps (out of 10). then i lost track. partly cause i was not feeling the best and i was really cold. the only way i know time progessed was because i kept checking the time on my watch hoping that soon id pass the finally warmed up mark. 30 minutes came and went, still sluggish, 56 minutes came, still slugish. at this point i was able to see the lap counter and it was already at 3 to go. other than looking at my watch a few times i have no memory of the middle of the race, other than water water everywhere and thinking i might drown from it. i had gotten to the warmed up phase finally and some spring in my legs. it stayed for all of a lap an a half before the lack of fluid intake took its toll. my legs were just not that good today. but i put it to the back of my mind and noticed a guy in front of me that i have seen sprint in other races. perfect, ill follow him and place high. the plan was working great until the penultimate corner where he took a risk and cut inside real quickly i tried following but got cut off. i have great luck with that happening, in fact i just remembered i nearly got run into a curb today. anyway my plan was foiled and i just sat up and finished somewhere in the middle.
after the race i searched for a water bottle that i threw on the last lap. it is lost in the weeds forever...sad.
race was 78 km,
i think in 1 hour 56
HR avg. 155, max of 184. i think the cold really slows it down.

when i changed into dry clothes my skin was so cold that when i rubbed it or bumbed it with a finger or something it felt like it was getting ripped off. not fun.
took me an hour in a hot car to feel warm again. got home. showered. cleaned bike. a long long nap. and soon it is dinner time. wahoo!

the only plus i have found about all the crappy weather and racing is that i am getting more confident in the wet. other than that it just sucks. at least tomorrow is supposed to be dry, not warm though. anyone know if the gulf stream has shut down recently?


Shit: an update.
well there i was bike nice and clean and all that, and i noticed my seat was not centered. so i go to do that loosen the bolt that holds the clamp, and snap. now i dont have a seat clamp. thus no seat. thus no way to ride my bike, thus no race, or even biking until at least tuesday. but with my luck recently probably not till next year. shit.

swiss withdrawl

it had been over a week and a half since the last time i was in switzerland. thats the longest since getting here, by far. so i was going through withdrawl from simply not being there. anyways what this is leading to is that i did my bike ride there today. just over an hour with some sprints. less than normal since i am racing two days in a row here. conserve some energy. and no i am not missing school on monday. its another holiday for something.
after biking it was lunch, groceries for the next few days, and laudry. oh an of course pre-race bike cleaning. a nice dinner of my own garlic bread, speghetti, and salad. now it is nearly bed time. about as soon as i pack thats where i am headed.

today on my bike i was thinking. i wonder if people are like goldfish, the bigger the tank you have them in the bigger they get. therefore american cars, houses, everything else being so big simply makes the people bigger too. it cant just be the food and such. people here eat so much fat and drink so much beer, then not workout. not huge...
anyways that was my deep thought of the day.
i also saw the red bull car here. instead of a pickup with a big can in the back its a modified mini. kinda funny.

fahrrad kaiser

i was finally able to sleep in this morning. it was the latest i have slept in since who knows when. a whopping 10 30. after getting up i checked my email. last night i had sent an email to the bike shop in rottweil that if i could exchange the tires i could come today. the email said ok, so i quick made some chocolate pancakes ate them and was off to rottweil. an hour an a half later i was at the shop (fahrrad kaiser.) luckily the guy who originally sold me the tires was there, so i did not have to explain anything at all. they were all out of red, so that was unfourtunatley not an option, it looked pretty cool. so it was between black, brown, blue, or pink. black is boring, everyone has it, brown was ugly, and i dont have any blue in my bike. i asked if i could exchange both tires, thus making things match, i was able to and now i have pink tires. ha. it actually does not look to bad. and it is for sure different.
then i also showed them my crank, they were smart enough to get it off. and did so, a quick clean and put it back on nice and tight. wahoo. the whole deal cost me nothing! supposedly there was a price difference in the tires, but last time we were told there was not (the red were more expensive), but i also remeber that Leo said something and we got them for cheaper than retail. so really there was no loss. but one of the guys just counted the "difference" for the labor time i took up.
as soon as i left and biked back towards the train station i could feel the difference. much better. nice and solid once again.

pretty in pink, with rottweils towers behind.
i had an hour till my train left. and would have liked to meet up with the Bühlers, but my cell phone is out of money. no calling. so that did not work. but i bike a bit in the city and went to my train. back to konstanz. grocery store. home. i decided to try for my carribean cuisne tonight. i looked up a reciepe online and i think i did it right. if not who cares. whatever spice i created for my pork was good.

also i found out today that the plans for me and another to race both sunday and monday are going to work. so two races there. im interested to see how ill hold up. because of this i decided that with the ammount of commuting on the bike today, ill be fine with taking an active rest day. the only problem with the races is i have to get up at 4 A.M. both mornings...

mistakes made right

another morning shared with cocoa rice perals and it was off to grammar. for a while we just reviewed what we had done in the last few classes. then the teacher put up a picture with the middle plotted out and a bunch of african kids standing around laughing, handed out "possible" things that could be there. the class was split (before getting the pictures) and i was stuck with 2 people who think they are all that and another girl who is a bit better. all the other groups made up funny interesting stories about their pictures which ranged from an astronaut to a bicycle. my group got a man standing on one foot holding an elefant in the air. so totally made up. but the people in my group had absolutley no imagination and made up a crappy story which involved describing the picture (which was shown to the class) to a "mother" then in the end made it an april fools joke. so it was short and boring. they did not take my adivce at all either. so im not to blame. anyways, after that it was back through the still cold and still rainy weather to the dorm. ate some lunch. and eventually said im not waiting for the dry and took off towards Radolfzell to see if my bike could get fixed up there. on the way it was not acting up much at all. so i dont know what was with yesterday. also my knee had been hurting from yesterday and i realized it was most likely from my seat being to high. i was experimenting the other day and it was higher than i though. thus stretching my leg out to much. i put it down and almost instantly the pain began to reside. the highness probably also was part of why my legs were crap yesterday. in the cold and rain it took me 56 minutes to feel good today. thats a long warmup! soon after i was at the bike shop, which did not help at all. in fact they could not even figure out how to take the crank off. it was pretty funny. ha!
i then came back to konstanz 15 minutes faster than getting there. and again bike was not being so difficult today. i love it when things self repair.
cleaned everything, and was off to the grocery store. i wanted to try my hand at jamican type cooking. like the Whistling Bird by giants ridge. so i bought a sauce. however my brain got confused and i bought Mediteranien sauce not carribean. oops. i realized that when i got home. when i did start to cook i did dads "one pot" with potatoes and pork and vegtables and the sauce. and it turned into a really good stew type thing. everyone was looking at it admiringly, saying mmm soup...

after dinner the sun came out for a few minutes, and for lack of a better picture...

no race

due to the weather earlier today, and that two of the four who were going to race are sick. and those two happen to be the ones with cars. i did not go to the race today.
so after class which was nothing interesting at all thus a waste of space on the internet to write about was over. i had an email frenzy with the other guy that was going to race. we decided to go for a nice hardish ride starting at 5.
so i suited up in lots of clothes again, but no hat! and met him at the appointed place. this was half hour into my ride, and i was warm so i even took off my shoe covers. we continued to the local mountain and did once hard. i felt like crap. i ate to much after lunch. didnt drink enough water. throat was blocking air intake and making legs tired. and all that kind of fun stuff. so i guess it was good i did not race. but anyway. he was not feeling great either so we did it one more time med easy except the very top. then down the other side of the hill. back towards konstanz doing short sprints up the small hills we came across. those did not make me feel quite so crappy. but my legs were tired. in one of the bigger towns along the way we came across one of his friends. they talked for a bit and i was noticing issues on my bike. the guy worked in the bike shop in town and noticed what i was doing and came and looked. my bottom bracket is really quite loose and wiggly, and then i would guess the mystery sound of something seemingly skipping is from this, but it might not be. but i am going to his shop to get it looked at tomorrow. hopefully they can fix it. if not i need to take a train to fix it. i cant race on it cause it make a bad sound/feel when i accel hard. and that is what a race is. after this we continued on aways and after 3 hours and 40 minutes of biking i was home.
and that was pretty much my day.

hats, cramps, and shoe covers

unlike those of you at home (at least in the cities) i have not been broiled by the sun for the past few days, but have enjoyed on occasion hail and being able to see my breath.
so the above things were all included on my bike today, but the only thing that was plural were shoe covers. it just did not sound right for the other two to be singular.
i decided to go for my bike this morning since it was mostly dry and was supposed to rain this afternoon. with the high temp today of 10. it did not really matter when i went. id be cold the whole day. so i dressed up in basically my winter bike clothes i brought here and was off. i judged right and my body was the perfect temp. the roads were mostly dry and the sun even started coming out. the first 3 or four minutes were cramp free, then from then to about 15 minutes a cramp in my right quad was prominent. i have been consuming electrolytes so that rules out that for the reason. dads theory of lactic acid build up seems to be the only one left. that could very well be the reason today, for sunday my legs cramped up when the guy in front of me crashed at the finish and i unclipped and stopped to avoid him. then almost no cool down, and nothing yesterday...
the cramp was not as bad as usual though and i easily rode through it. about 20 mintues into the ride it had faded quite a bit, not totally, in fact i can tense my leg now and still feel it.
anyhow, i did my sprints to prepare for tomorrows race, those felt pretty good. after i got to the high point of my ride i did a 180 and came back a little ways before continuing the usual loop. i heard a loud crunch and saw something fly off into the grass by the bike trail. i still had air in the tires and all so i thought nothing of it. got home 40 mintues later, and found out what it was...

mmmmm...snail guts. how they got to here i dont know, but they sure were there.

after a shower and stretching it was off to soc. good discussion about how internet can be both social and anti-social. how it can cause depersonalization, lead people to express or surpress their opinion more, and other things along those lines. pretty interesting.
then came home. it started to rain, or hail, or both. i was happy i biked earlier. somehow blew 4 hours doing a whole lot of nothing. then went to talk to the witch hunting prof. about an alternative thing to do. i explained to him that i was having trouble understanding thus could not write and present a protokoll which is kinda like a summary of the last class. i asked if i could do something in english, he said then what is the point of studying in germany (good observation) and i am going to do an essay on a book. but thats a good prof. telling me i should write in german cause thats what i am here for. i think most would just go yeah ok. and id do it in english.
and thats my day in fairly good detail

simple pleasures

compared to yesterday it was a late morning, but normally it is early. 7:30 the day began. had my usual ceral and 3 kiwis. they were good. off into the cold air and rain to grammar to be talked at by more student teachers. once that was over i tried to read a bit of witch hunting, but it was in the old fashioned german, making it impossible for me to understand. i gave up soon after and found 2 witch hunting books in english. tomorrow i am going to talk to the prof. to see if i can use those instead.
back through the even colder rain to the dorm where i contimplated (sp) going biking. my legs feel great and all, but my throat was a little soar. so i decided to not go get hypothermia and took a day off.
i then went to the grocery store, got food which i think i will easily be able to last the week on. then came home. read a bit of a book.
it was then dinner time, i was having trouble deciding between tacos (hardshell) and frech fries with pork. in the end i went with tacos and my oh my. what a good choice. my first hard shell tacos in over 3 months. how i have missed them. i also opened the bag of tostidos dad brough. again been 3 months. good stuff...i also made up some spanish rice to see what would happen, and it turned out really good. only needed a bit of corn and taco sauce to do the trick.

mom sent me this link the other day. i tested it on some people here and a few of them cant hear it. i can turn the volume down pretty low and still hear it. others cant when i do so. that makes me happy.
now it is off to battle on the chess board.
tomorrow forcast is for snow above 1000 meters. luckily im under. but it is still going to be cold.

a few things about yesterday. i saw the results, i was 39th out of at least 99. so middle. but nothing special.
also the other day i asked one guy if he was going to go watch the tour. he said what a good idea, so now i think there a few of us going to Straßbourg for the start. then the next day is a Team Time Trial somewhere up there for us. we are staying over somewhere and then doing that. should be a fun weekend!

this one was a bit faster.

waking up at 4 A.M. was not as bad as i thought it would be. as the sun was starting to bring light to the sky i finished up my oatmeal and went outside into the surprsingly warm dawn, i mounted the bike for the ride through the early morning konstanz. it was not deserted like i thought. music was still loudly playing as i left my dorm, the hard-core partiers still going strong. the birds unlike partiers were just starting their day, every tree seemed to contain a bird waking up happily from slumber. as i rode briskly by the "dance palace" (which as the name suggests is a dance hall) there were people staggering out the door and along the sidewalk. soon i was smashed in the middle of the back seat of the team car whizzing through the new rain down the autobahn. two and a half hours later we all unfolded and picked up our race numbers. quickly pinned them to the jerseys and off to the start. 5 minutes after the U-19 boys went off. the announcer said "los" and with cold engines my first road race in europe had begun. with wet roads and a short tricky desecent it was pretty catious throughout the peleton. around a few corners, though a road not wide enough for 3 bikers side by side and out onto the open road. a full road totally free of cars, a road where bikers ruled. the pace had picked up now, nearly at 50 km/h flying toward a totally unknown course. an easy left and it was up a few kilometers of easy hill. a corner and a steep short incline greeted us next, a few riders on the inside slipped their tires on the painted road and caused a backup, luckily i was on the outside. the top came soon and the road leveled off. now came a long decent with the speed not going below 65 for a while. then a traffic circle came up and the peleton split like water around a rock, then quickly became one again. two more corners and the steep 400 meter starting hill was attacked by all. 12.4 km were done. 6 more times. this lap the trafic cirlce had some fun and a crash developed to the right of me. and then it was on to lap 3 then 4. the pace was starting to take its toll on some, on the starting hill some gaps opened up and at a bunch of small groups formed. i was stuck in the third on the downhill, the small road and then on the open road i had some energy, the guys up front pulling my group were tiring. i put the pedal to the metal and the power and speed the i jumped forward with surprised me. in 20 seconds i was in the second group. a corner and i was in the first group. which had now slowed as the riders up front were looking for their teammates. the peleton was big again. up the hill flowing around the round-about on the now dry roads. an uneventful 6th lap. the final lap the pace picked up and as i sat in the front 1/4 of the group down the fast hill the roar of wind and bikes was nearly defening. one more time around the round-about. and the sprinting for the finish began. being in the middle of the group i could not make any move, not that i had enough strenght left to do anything that would result in anything spectacular so i sat. and sprinted up the last hill like everyone around me. i came across in the now smaller first group in the 30s. after two hours and 18 minutes and 87 km, the guy in front of me collapsed after the line and went down, as did some others. some quick manuvering and i was safe. a quick cool down and it was off to the showers where it looked like a bunch of guys were getting into the shower with clothes on. and back into the car. 2 and a half hours later back at home. now with tired legs i am trying to motivate myself to go make some food.

5 bikes and cookies...

early bed

last night there must have been a big party somewhere, not only cause i could hear it through ear plugs when trying to fall asleep, but also because there were only a few chairs left in the kitchen this morning. people got tired of standing i guess!
i tried out my oatmeal this morning. it worked out pretty well. the only problem was that i had to use the biggest pot i know of here. all the small pots were missing. i dont know if that was related to the party or what, and now most of them are back. hmmm...
after my oatmeal i went out for my bike. i wanted to get it done before the rain that looked like it was coming. so just over and hour. with some sprints. everything feels pretty good. so hopefully tomorrow i will feel even better.
next to the uni to read my sociology, partly cause i had nothing better to do. and then also to get it out of the way. we are finally getting into the actual use of the internet in terms of sociology so it was pretty interesting.
came home got the bike all ready. saw some big, cool clouds.

the biggest i saw, unfoutunatley it grew to fast an i did not get my camera out in time to get it at its coolest point.

next in line
then made my usually pre race meal of speghetti and green beans (not mixed, seperated).
and pretty soon it is time for bed here. i hope to be asleep by at least 9:30. 4 is going to come early!

searching for the right thing

the other day i wanted to put new cleats on my bike shoes. my old ones were really worn down, thus loose in the pedals. for some reason i had to twist my left foot really far to get it out. not fun. i had brought some new cleats along figuring i would need them. when i took them out of the bag i had them in i discovered i was missing 2 screws and a washer. and the washers from the old cleats were to big for the new ones.
so today my plan was to get my shoes updated and tighten a washer on my back wheel. also i wanted to get another part checked out too. so first i went to the second nearest bike shop cause i read they are a trek dealer. thus if needed to be fixed i could figure out someway to get it for free. i got there and there were a few other people in the shop. who i assume the owner is was helping another so i waited, then he finished and asked what i needed. i asked if he was a trek dealer. he said it did not matter and what the problem was (which actually it does matter), i told him. he said something i did not understand. the guy next to him said something too. then he said to the other guy. he does not understand, then turned away from me. just like that. it was my first real experience with what could be considered some kinda of racism i guess. i have heard some germans strongly dislike outsiders, i am one. and i would bet that this guy is one of those who dislikes us...
so after about 20 seconds i realized what had happened and promptly left. and i am planning on not returning.
i then went to the bike shop which i consider to be the best in this town. tightened my back wheel up. and asked if they had any washers/screws for my shoes. they did not have them individually, only with cleats. so i came home and switched bikes (so i could go to the grocery store).
after changing bikes i went to the nearest bike store, which i thought would for sure have some washers near what i needed because it is kinda like a hardwear store. they didnt. i went to the next shop. no luck. then went way out to the industrial zone to a shop i did not know about, no luck. then back downtown to a shop about a block from where i started. they had what i needed. so my 6th shop of the day ended my search.
on the way home i stopped at the grocery to get some meat and milk. saw one of many people like the lady below..

both the nearest carts are hers...
changed my pedals. went for an easy bike. nearly was blown over by the wind multiple times. an hour and a half later i was back here.
i then found out we are leaving at 5 a.m. sunday morning. the race is at 8 30 or something crazy like that. my usual 2 hours of prep time will not be available. thus no french toast. also that is a bit close to race time in order to properly digest it all. i decided i would find some oatmeal. so it was back to the grocery store. i was armed with the translate word this time and found it right away. 2 kinds. i was not sure which i should get so i got both. no biggy. 24 cents for one and 29 for the other. both 500 gram packs. i found out one is ground the other is not. i want to make sure i feel ok after eating it so thats why i got it today.
got home. made chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes. was quite good. then played chess. lost the first two games on dumb mistakes and won the third on a good move.
now it is bed time.

Tübingen (updated)

i woke up this morning with kinda tired legs. that is never a good thing on a race day...but i did not let it deter me and went and made my french toast. got all my stuff ready. and was off to catch my ride to the race.
Tübingen is about an hour or so away i think, so not to bad at all. i was hoping the weather would be different there then here (which is cold and windy) but it was the same, actually now that i think about it, even windier. luckily the race today was another criterium (laps with sprints basically) so it was sheltered by buildings and such for a little bit.
during the warm up we (the other two konstanz guys and i) took a wrong turn and ended up biking on the autobahn for a bit. so that was interesting. the we were finally able to ride the course, and did so. it had 6 corners. an uphill! which was nothing big, maybe 300 meters long at 6%, but it was the first hill i have raced on here. haha. the rest of the corse was flat. oh the hill was into the wind as well. so that made it a bit harder. the start/finish was in the middle of the hill.
soon the 71 riders were off. i was having a lot of trouble the first 12 or so (out of 30, 45 km race. do the math) laps, just working my butt off to hang on and that kinda thing. it seems to be a recent theme. at one point when i was in the middle of the group near the start going around a corner my front wheel hit a little rock and i nearly went down taking some others with me. but i managed to pull in together and stay up thankfully. eventually i got my legs under me and decided to see what i could do. i attacked a little and got a little bit away, but no attacks at all were getting away today. so i lasted about 3/4 of a lap and was back in the pack. a little bit later one of the other konstanz guys got in a small breakaway and i did a bit of blocking. but others got fed up with that and pulled them back. which caused a counter attack. which i pulled back without feeling to tired after. by this time the race had 3 or so laps to go so i moved back a bit and rested up. on the last lap with about 3/4 to go i attacked and got a little gap. i just have to try every race! cant let the sprinters just have it. and i made it quite a ways i got caught probably 30 meters from the finish and crossed the line in 6th i think. unfourtunatley since it was a crit. i did not get 6th place. i did not get enough points. sad. oh well.
after the race i froze. then we took off back to konstanz. now i am off for a beer with the other bikers. hopefully i can find the place.

i rode in the team car today.

i forgot about a few things i was going to say.
first, one the second lap some guy blew a tire or broke a rim which in turn blew the tire. at home both times a tired has blown near me massive crashes have resulted. this time not a single person went down. not even the guy with the tire. this proves to me that races here are not only faster and harder. but also much safer.
the other thing was that my max HR was only up to 195 today. i am getting in better shape!
also the cookies dad made yesterday, well i brought a bunch along. and they were a huge, i mean huge hit. both the other guys asked for the reciepe and were still talking about them tonight! haha

departure

just a quickie on dads departure. i lost track of the time and just realized its late and i race tomorrow! (another crit)
anyways. dad migrated to frankfurt today because of an early flight tomorrow. it was nice having him here to do some cooking and just to take up my time. today he was bored while i was at class so he made cookies. i ate to many and felt sick. legs got really tired to. made me worry about tomorrow. but after my stomach cleared up i felt much better. i decided to go only an hour with sprints today instead of the usual 90 minutes. i will see tomorrow how i feel and if it helps or not.
now it is bed time.

auf wiedersehen!

dad went biking.

yup thats right. without my encouragement either. he decided he wanted to, so that is what we did.
but first i got my race license this morning. very nice. credit card size with my picture and all on it. kinda cool. then i went to soc. and there was lots of talk about blogs today, so i was finally able to contribute a little bit. the prof. even liked what i had to say. then after that i got back and dad wanted to go to Reichnau (an island about 10km away) i said why go there when we could go to switzerland and have a good view of the lake and so he could see my biking valley. so i won and off we went. he got tired going up. which i guess is understandable and then had to go slow on the downhills as to not hurt himself by crashing on my crappy bike. but no worries he made it...it was in the end a perfect workout for me too. really really easy (avg. HR of 89) and close to two hours long. resting up for the race on thursday! wahoo.
now he is tired and wants to go to bed.
on the way home from the bike we stopped at the best buy type store and i got a case for the ipod so i wont crush it again.
this evening we went into town. got him some chocolate to bring home, went out to eat. we had fish and chips and beer and an irish pub. not bad at all. then ice cream at the little shop i go to.

one for mom

proof

a windy weekend at the Bühlers

the title just about says it all. this weekend was windy. definatley the strongest wind i have ever experienced while in europe. and for 3 days! even for most of today, so i guess that is 4 days of wind.
anyways. dad and i went up to the Bühlers this weekend. he got some nice walking in, i got some hard biking in. and we both got good food in, although not nearly as much as usual which was a good thing. i dont think i gained weight going there this time! on saturday i managed to convince dad to get me some new tires, because my old ones were not round any longer. they were not fun to ride on. i was very close to getting pink ones, but he was buying and he liked the red... saturday night we went to Da Vinci code. i got some good popcorn so i was very pleased. the movie was pretty good, from what i understood. i want to see it in english now. as well as read the book (no i have not read it yet). sunday the clouds finally broke and the sun came out again. when we got back to konstanz the air was very clear and the alps very very visable. so that was cool.

one of my favorite mtns. with one of the harbors.

a view from the uni with my "dorm" out front

approaching rain

swiss traffic

people from duluth bring rain.

ive thought about it, thats the only explaination. whenever someone from home is here it rains. hopefully it wont last long. but today it rained all day. not just sprinkling either. a full fledged rainy day.
so after class. i took dad to the grocery store to get food for today and tomorrow, just enough until we go to bühlers. and i finally found taco shells. i think they just put them out. cause ive walked that isle a million times. and they were right there in the open today.
so after that we came home. made tacos. ate them. played some chess (dad one this one somehow). then a bit of sitting around. actually a lot of sitting around. then more chess. which i won. then a bit more sitting. at this time i caught up with what was happening in the Giro d'italia (bike race) and at the end found out good ol' jan won the 50km Time Trial by nearly 30 seconds. go jan.
then somehow it was dinner time already. so while that was cooking we started another game of chess. ate. then finished. i won again! wahoo. jake 2 dad 1.
and now it is nearly time to get to bed.
hopefully he wont snore tonight and the weather will be nice tomorrow!

arrival

two classes to lead of the day. speaking, was first, in which we did absoultley nothing of worth. one girl mentioned she played saxaphone, so the next 30 minutes were all about saxaphones. oh boy!
then it was witch hunting which was the first day of "real" class. in which students present the information on what we read each followed by a short discussion led by the prof. i understood a bit more today. but not enough...
then lunch
then dad got here on the train. which the original was apparently canceled, but there was a smaller train shortly after. so he was all of 22 minutes late.
then he got a little bit of time to relax and it was off to the races!

today as usual i had trouble getting started. i was at the back for quite some time. i think i need to warm up more...the back was dangerous today. one kid on a 7000 dollar bike was all over the place. forced me onto the shoulder once even. that was a little before half way. i also kept getting cut off from others as well. so i said screw it and attacked to get out of there. it did not last very long. but it sped the group up enough to drop the kid in the yellow which was the plan. hehehe. revenge. then some more laps, i got antsy so i attacked again. which lasted nearly two laps. and on a sprint lap one of the VMC konstanz guys used me as a launch pad (i was caught by this time anyways), and he got the sprint points. then i was in the front of the group the rest of the race keeping it mildly fast (i think) and then on the last lap i tried attacking again because there was a lull for the sprinters. i got cut off just enough to slow me down right as i was making my move. so ill blame not succeding on that, even though i think i might have been caught anyhow. oh well. i tried!
now it is bed time.
happy birthday ingrid, and happy norwegian indepdence day as well.

racin...

dang rain.

For some reason while being here in germany sleeping in has been hard work. today i did not have class until noon, but was going to get up at 9 30 as to get some reading for tomorrow done. last night i went to bed at around 12 and woke up this morning at 7. and had a very very hard time falling back asleep only to wake up for good an hour and a half later. and now i am tired. what the heck!
anyways...after eating breakfast i went up to the uni, and read my witch hunting stuff for tomorrow. it took me an hour to read 7 pages. thats kinda slow...after that i went to sociology where we have finally finished talking about the theroetical (sp?) stuff and next week we get to move onto the actually internet studying. so that should be good. this morning it was nice. and i was excited to get a nice bike ride in to prepare for racing tomorrow again (hopefully it does not rain). but as i was getting out of class the wind was picking up quite rapidly, and by the time i was in my dorm it was really windy. and 30 minutes later it started to rain. i really did not want to bike in the rain today. i even considered going running because i did not want to clean the bike. after 2 hours of self debate and even a little homework, i decided it would be a good idea to test the new chain, make sure it was on solid as not to break during the race. so i went out to dodge the worms, snails, and slugs (which i did quite successfully). the bike was actually not to bad, did some short sprints again, and saw a really cool cloud that looked like a mini hurricane. really cool...
soon i got back showered the bike cleaned it up nicely (again) and got hungry for dinner. more speghetti!
tomorrow dad gets here, so that should start a fun just over a week.
and my birthday package from my mom still has not arrived. even though she paid a lot to have it get here on time. i think the german customs have something against stuff for me. dads test package took 3 weeks! and all it was was two paperback books...

since writing even this much requires thinking i simply look up and out the window at the clouds whizzing by, and i realized that i am looking at clouds whizzing by at 9:30 p.m. summer is definatley on its way!

this is good.

for the next bunch on mondays my grammar class will be taught by future "german as a foreign language" student teachers, thus having no homework because they switch every week. this could be good. less worrying about my grammar, but that means worse grammar. oh well!
after class as i was walking back to get to my commute bike the view of the alps was amazing. best thus far. i was hoping that it would stay clear until after my bike, but lunch and reading my sociology got in the way. so by the time i did get going on my ride it had become a bit hazy, just enough to make the mountains not show up on camera.


another cow however did show up.
todays ride was nice and easy. for recovery from yesterday and resting for wednesday. the other day i bought some magnesium and calcium tablets at the store (50 cents for 20 tablets) since those were suggested to help stop the cramping. i decided to try something new and threw one of each in my waterbottle and made my own sports drink. surprisingly it was good. anyways at first i was a bit stiff from yesterday but that wore off soon enough and i felt great. i felt like i could sprint up all the hills around and just keep going. this is good. very good, for obvious reasons. my sports drink kept me hydrated well enough for my hour and 30 min or so ride.
i also noticed that my speedometer is at 3223.7 km which is just over 2000 miles (this is without the 10 or 15 hours of trainer time too. i had not yet changed my chain out, so i stopped by the bike shop that i have found to be the one catering to racers and got my self a nice new (expensive even with my small discount) chain. this is very good because old chains make me work harder. plus they dont look as pretty! after getting home i really really cleaned my bike. and changed the chain. now the bike is really ready for racing action.
after that i made homade chicken strips with french fries

yes i made those without have them prebattered and frozen. they were good.

now i am tired.

i began my day with some french toast. a good way to start any day i guess. then i sat around drinking water (i think i bit too much) until noon when i went down to the start area. on the way down my right quad cramped up a bit, and i think it might have been because i drank so much water yesterday and today, flushing all good and bad things out of my system! oops! lesson learned. after sitting around down at the start for a bit i did a short early warmup, then got back and a few of the others from the team were starting theirs so i joined them. we went to switzerland (all of 2 min away) and did some sprints. lucky they were not checking passes today!!! while we were doing these, the nice dry (partly cloudy) weather changed. it began to rain. no pour. for a good solid 20 minutes. soaking everything, we just stood under the border roof until it let up a bit. i would not have cared much had this rain been early this morning, but it was 15 min. before the start of my race. so it changed from a dry race, to a very wet start.
nonetheless, everyone lined up at the start line (80ish people). I was approched by Thomas, the guy who is in charge of the konstanz bike club, and who i registered for my license with, and he told me: first dont crash, that would be very bad cause you dont have you license making things difficult. then he told me i could not get better than 11th or go for the premiums (prizes) cause again without a license things would get sketchy...
then the race was off! the rain had stopped by this time. but still very wet. the course had two 180 degree corners so those were taken slow. then after exploding. when i had the chance to look we went from 45km/h to 25 then up to 45 or 50 right away. very taxing on the legs. for the first 15 laps or so (out of 50) i kept getting popped off the back of the group on each corner then work hard to get back on, just to do it all over again. there was a 2 man crash somewhere in these laps, but noone hurt. just a broken bike. so by lap 35 i was finally starting to feel decent. i was able to stay with the group on the corners and all. by lap 25 i was feeling quite good. by this time the peleton was probably about 50 or so, people who were far behind were being pulled out to make it stay safe. about this time there was a bigger crash in the front of the group that took out 6 or 7. i was luckily far enough back to easily avoid it. i was unfourtunatley at the very back at this time, so little groups of 2 or 3 guys would drop of the back. slowing up because they were dead, so i would have to bridge up to the group again and again. then with 15 or so laps to go it was down to i suppose the 25 that finished. i had managed to stay in there quite nicely after 20 laps to go. i was feeling quite good now. after a few more laps there was a 7 or 8 man breakaway that had been out for a bit, i attacked to see if i could get up, but everyone stuck on me. which i guess was ok cause my group then caught this breakaway (however 2 guys were way out front). then the race quickly came to a close after that. after the race my legs felt pretty dang good (tired now), but my arms were toast. partly from being the the drops for an hour 30, and from the bumpy road...
i am not sure exactly when during the race, but the sun did come out and started to dry things out, to late to matter for my race of course, but thats ok.
today out of the 10 or so guys from konstanz that started, only i and one other finished. he finished 15th and me 16th. so thats fun to know that i am up there with the best in the city. or at least those in the club.
after the race and showering and such i went back down to help clean up, knowing there was left over drinks and food. i got a loaf of bread, which is good cause i am nearly out. some buns. 2 things of apple juice. and shared a mug of beer with the others. all for free!
and now after all that i am tired

breaking up and getting strung out.

along the way. im there on the far side

happy mothers day mum...