Le Tour de France

i figured there was no better way to prepare for (watching) the Tour by doing a bit of biking. i got up at 5:30 and did an hour, i knew i would be hyper motivated to bike after watching. so i did a preemptive strike. i did not hit me i was going to the tour until i started to the train station. so i got my crap bike up to terminal velocity on the way. how exciting. i could bore you all with the details of my train ride there, and the two guys from my dorm i met. but i know what you really want...(i have to type a bit more, the pictures are still downloading)
upon arriving in strasbourg i made a b-line to a known bakery. got a baguette that was almost to hot to eat since it was right out of the oven. it was amazing. i shoulda bought 10. i finished it in about 10 minutes. mmm.
it took me a good 25 minutes or so to find the course. but i did. i thought about trying to go check out the riders warming up, but it was really well blocked off down that way. so i walked away from the start/finish. i was really surprised at how few people there were, it was only 2 hours before the race, the parade was goinging, and yet right at the finish people were only 2 deep. i knew i could find better, so i walked a bit. about 20 meters after the 1k to go banner i found my spot. i could see the riders going up and out on the far side of the street (a simple french 4 lane street, so not that wide) and watch them coming in on my side of the street. perfect. so i set up camp there right under a nestle banner. front row space enough for 2 people, and next to an australian family. the parade was already going when i arrived. i collect a few hats, candy, a crappy draw string bag, and a really really nice draw string bag. it feels like it is actally worth something. i had a water bottle in my hand, but i fumbled and lost it, and cut my little toes kinda bad (oh, side note, some glass got in my sandle at the konstanz train station, left big toe, and it bled pretty well. all good now though). anyways i got some good stuff. during the parade there were lots of guys warming up on the course, they dont look so fast when they are all alone like that...
then the race came. the only word to describe it is amazing. so ill let a few of my pictures do it. i have id say 80 quite good ones. so they will be going up for a few days now.
and sorry no names for most, to lazy to figure it out.




he came a bit close...


simoni

the thunder god

boonen

george

more tomorrow...
the only thing i have in complaint about going to the tour is i never know who wins the stage till a bit later. if i knew french i could easily find out. but they just say a whole bunch of names, i never know which order they go in. but i can live with that complaint.

Tour eve day

got out of the excursion without much trouble, wrote 4 pages about Salem. Then i was interrupted.

At about 11 i got a most unexpected call. it was from the guy i was going to go with to the tour tomorrow. not that he calling was unepexted, but just the news that came with it. after saying who was on the phone, he said Ulle is out. a pause, then explaining. that jolted me instantly out of work mode. then he proceeded to tell me he had no desire to go any more, and i would be going alone if i still went. after that i read the news multiple times. still finding it hard to digest. after the initial shock of reading that both Ullrich and Basso are not starting tomorrow i read a bit better and as sean and the uci director point out, everyone accused is still innocent. so now i guess we just have to wait and see who is actually doping. a flaw to the fact that either Ullrich or Basso are doping is that the bust of the head of the doping ring took place in may. and all the doping materials were confiscated. im sure the athletes could have some private stores of whatever they needed, but for the bulk of it, and doing it as to be undectable, would they not need the doctor to help them out? how then did Ullrich win the Tour de Suisse? of course i could be totally wrong since i have no knowledge of doping practices, but thats just my thoughts.
also i dont really like how this information was released today. it was done just to have the effect it did. why wasnt the information released as soon as the report was completed, im sure it was done more than a week or two ago, that would allow time to get the doping proof. or for the accused to prove their innocence. but i guess it has the most effect by doing it now, thus sending out a strong message. you dope your done. i also found it strange as to why the other 150 names they have are being held. why keep the suspense, just let it all go now so the race will be totally clean instead of just a few big names being taken out.
thats enough about that for now...

on to other news.
germany advances to the semi-finals. during the game it looked like they were going to get beaten. but regulation time ended with a score of 1-1, as did two overtimes. after that it goes to a shootout. 5 chances for each team. the argentinians starting goalie was hurt sometime during the game, so it was the backup. germany score, arg. did as well. then again the same. then germany scored, and saved. then both scored, then germany went unanswered again. they had 4 points, arg. 2. no way for arg. to make up the difference with one shot left. in the shootout the saves brought more cheers then the goals. after the game people were going crazy. im sure still are. im glad i got to watch it.
the only complaint i have is that the guys upstairs need some new cheers. they have been yelling, deutschland, deutschland...for the last 3 hours.



ive decided that i am still going tomorrow, despite the news. there is still a race (hopefully) and there are still people to cheer on. im still happy to get a chance to go watch. surely with the news, there will be less people there. more place to watch, and more free stuff for me. now two questions remain. who to cheer on? and is the pink hat still wearable?

more assigned

last night that storm i mentioned at the end hit soon after. it start with huge rain drops, then the wind picked up lightly blowing into my window. so i shut that and about 30 seconds later it was pouring and starting to hail. then soon after that the wind went insane and it looked like my window was getting pressure washed, which was nice cause now its clean. after a min. or so the storm was over...

the only thing worth mentioning about class today is that i figured out i have to do another paper for witch hunting. i shoulda known that from the start, but i was in denial. so now i have the soc. paper and witch hunting papers to do before i come home. hopefully the weather is crappy so i can get them done. hopefully i will be able to write it on the salem witch trails. all the literatur is in english, making my life easier, and the prof. does not seem to know much about it.

after class i waited a bit and found out no one was racing today. i was of course a bit disapointed, but it might be good for me. I have been hitting it hard these last few weeks, and since i had been going easy this week up to now, i decided to make this week a recovery one. so i took off soon after that and went on some roads ive been neglecting. then i continued on a road that i found last month, but never went down. it turned out to be amazing. very nice going through forest so think it was cold and i coulda used a head lamp, and then fields. the only bad part was that i got hit in the ear by a bug almost big enough to take me off the bike. it hurt. the road came out right next to one i use fairly often, so that was great. its my new favorite loop. a good amount of climbing, some steep (16%) some not steep. then some decent decending, with a flat area thats fun. ill definatley be going back.


other night on the way to soccer #1. (to bad for the rain drop on the lens)


#2


retreating storm cloud last night

printing

since i have class at 12:15 on tuesdays i decided to go for my bike in the morning. just a prerace (tomorrow hopefully schaffhausen) hour with a few sprints. my legs were tired at the start, but then were good by the end. i kept it easier that most prerace days though. then got home. at a bit. then was off to class. which was nothing to interesting. we were supposed to have our research questions set, but mine apparently did not work. so anyone got any idea of how to make the difference between online and off line communites more specific?
after that i went to the libary to try and print out my witch hunting paper which was corrected last night. i tried for about 15 min, then my stomach decided to try and eat itself so i came home and made lunch. then went back again. i found out you have to open the document and push print on one computer, then find the printer computer. find your document in a huge list of to be printed things, put in the copy card (each page is 5 cents) then push print. if you cant find your document you have to go wait for a computer to open the document and click print again, because as soon as ones stands up someone else sits down. then once you send it to the printer again, be sure not to click on anything else that might be your document. because that gets printed too. costing 5 cents per page...eventually i got it printed and went to drop it off. so i waited outside the profs. office sweating for 30 min while other people talked to him (he is only available to talk to one hour per week). then i tried handing him the paper and he wouldnt take it. apparently i have to give it to some secretary who is probably the one who grades it. so confusing...
when i got home from that i had an email waiting for me that there is another "excursion" this friday. shit. it is to the alps this time. so a bit nicer place. however. it said we are leaving at 7:30 and getting back at 7. i dont see how on earth that is possible since i am 90% sure we would be going to the mnt. i biked to. which took me 3 hours to get to by bike. and apparently i took the long way. by car thats 45 minutes. probably less with the highway. if there are bikes involved i am simply going to turn around and walk back into the dorm. im not kidding either.

then for dinner i had really good penne, peppers, chicken, olive oil, and half a water melon.
now i hear distant thunder, hopefully a good storm tonight.

people are filthy

over the weekend people apparently decided that doing their dishes is just to much work. and since the cleaner has not washed the kitchen floor in 2 weeks or so. the kitchen is filthy and stinks. i really dont see how hard it is to clean up after you are done eating. it take all of 5 minutes. and people also forgot how to flush the urnal. so that smells terrible to. then outside there is compost. 2 buckets for it, and if they are not overflowing people seem to not want to do it. so then it smells terrible, then the person who gets the job when it smells and is overflowing sometimes does not do it because it is to much for them or something. I dont get it!! its easy when it is only half full or so.
enough complaining for now.

this morning i had grammar, the last student taught session. but nothing new besides that. then since i provided the gas money for yesterday i took the reciepe down to the boss and got my money back. then grocery, then lunch, then bike. a faily easy 2 hours. on the downhill sections i was assulted by bugs. they were exceptionally painful today, and plentiful. and on the uphills it was really hot. on the way home i went to 4 bike shops looking for vanilla or peanut butter powerbars since im fresh out. noone had any so i got a raspberry, 3 wild berry, and a cookies and cream. also a few sport gels to try out. next weekend is a Team TT with a reluglar race after, so i might need the extra energy.
oh also next weekend is the tour! horray! so sat. morning early im off to straßbourg to eat baggeutes (sp?) eat cheese, wonderful deserts, and watch some bike racing. sounds like a good day. then i am staying at some guys house up near there for sunday is the race mentioned above.
tonight is taco night. im excited. hopefully the dirty dishes wont contaminate my food.

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.