Day 1 - May 1, 2010, Saturday/May 2, 2010, Sunday

3:00 am wake up call (half way to resetting our clocks!)

4:00 am departure for SFO.

Had boarding passes and got in the short checkin line. No charge for the bike bags...hooray!

We had a relatively short flight to Atlanta (~4:30) and had just enough time to grab a quick healthy-like lunch a "Nature's Bounty". I had a half Greek salad/half lentil salad, which seemed good at the time. Unfortunately, I think the lentils were doused with MSG, which gave me a headache.

At 4:30 EDT, we boarded the 9 hour flight to Zurich. We watched "Leap Year" and "Crazy Heart" on the plane, read a bit, and dozed a bit. We arrived at 7:50 am in Zurich on May 2. We walked out of the airport to find a "Park Inn Zurich" shuttle waiting. Fantastic! It was pouring rain. Bummer! A 10 minute drive had us to the hotel. They checked us in right away - huge customer service points! We put together the bikes and had a shower.

Around 1:00 pm, we took the train to downtown Zurich. It was 12 CHF (~$10.50) per person to ride the train. Kinda steep given it was only about 10km. We emerged from the ginormous, 3-level train station and walked around downtown in the constant, but fairly light rain. We got some Francs from the ATM and stopped for lunch at a falafel joint (the only thing that seemed to have reasonable prices). We struck up a conversation with a guy from Benicia, who happened to be the IT director from Pixar, who was there on business. He recommended we check out two of the churches in town. The first was a church built in the 1100-1200s - in remarkable condition - probably because Switzerland has stayed neutral through the big wars. The 2nd church had a chapel with all the stained glass done by Chagal. That was pretty cool.

We stopped at the local Starbucks for some caffeine (didn't work). It was quite the hopping place on a Sunday afternoon - with lots of students there studying and others enjoying good company. It was hard to even find a place to sit. It was 12 CHF for 2 coffees - yikes!

After our short stop in downtown, we were pretty beat. The staying awake thing wasn't going so well. So, we headed back to the hotel around 4:30. I quickly dozed off into a little nap. At 5:30, my parents called, and we were both so out of it, it took a while to notice it was the phone ringing. They asked a simple question like "have you done anything today?", and I remember not being able to come up with words to complete a simple answer. Yes, I was that tired and out of it. Eventually, I woke up enough to have a perfunctory conversation with them.

Then, we headed down to eat at the hotel restaurant at 6:30. It was either the high-zoot lounge at the hotel or the adjoining McDonald's. So, high-zoot lounge, it was. I had a nice corn and clam chowder with french fries and a nice Swiss wine. We joked that they had gone over to McDonald's to get the fries. But, they were much too good for that. Dinner was 43 CHF.  At 8:30, we finally gave into our jet lag and went to bed. In the future, we will try to get flights that arrive in the early afternoon. It's too hard to stay up from 7:00 am all the way until night.

Cool things about Deutschland

I've finally emerged a bit from my jet lag and flu - enough to finish up my trip journal and ponder all the cool things we experienced on our trip. Here are a few of my favorite things:

1. "Spargel" season. It was asparagus season in full force while we were there, and every menu featured a section dedicated to the hallowed white asparagus of the region.

2. "Spargeltoast". If you have not had this decadent creation, then you have not fully lived. I could feel my arteries crying out as the plate got put in front of me. Buttered, browned bread topped with a row of white asparagus, a slice of ham or pork chop, and a cheesy, melty mixture with Hollandaise sauce poured all over the top. A side of pommes frites and a glass of Badischer wine, and you are good to go for dinner (and your first heart attack).

3. Community gardens. I hadn't quite realized that Germans were so into their fresh produce. Every big city and small village had green space dedicated to community gardens. Each family had a shed and a pretty large plot of land - some even had "winter gardens", or little green-houses on their plots.

4. An unparalleled, separated cycling infrastructure. Both Germany and northern Switzerland have this. Full signed routes (with separate road or mountain bike signage at every intersection). Every fast road - those with 35 mph or higher speeds had a completely separated side path in the greenbelt that was paved. Other routes took us on very small roads with very little traffic. A detailed map is needed to navigate the routes, however, since the villages mentioned on the signs are generally quite small. In the big cities, there was a completely separated cycling infrastructure, as well, with cycling given first-class citizenship, often at the expense of motor vehicle space. Cycling paths were also distinct from walking paths. The routes through cities were not fast for cycling, but very safe and efficient. Of course, German drivers were somewhat less laid-back then their French counterparts - quick to point out a side path if you'd happened to miss it - as they herded you through a roundabout. :)

5. All roads built for speed. Note the thing above about German drivers. They LOVE their speed. This means all the steep mountain roads are perfectly paved, banked, and s-curved. This also means that and adventurous cyclist could easily go well over 50 mph if so desired (I did not, due to the bouncing load of luggage behind my seat), but I had to sit on my brakes HARD to keep it under 40.

6. Red Reisling - who knew it was a red grape? Very tasty.

7. Dunkel weizen - Rick introduced me to this tasty beer variant - by the .5 liter glass, of course.

8. "Real" sauerkraut - who knew that pickled cabbage could be so tasty?!

9. "Real" Schninken (Black Forest Ham) - like a very smoky version of prosciutto. Not at all like what they call "Black Forest Ham" at the supermarket here.

10. The Schwarzwald - what a lovely place! Renamed to "Sarah's Schwarzwald World" for the duration of the trip.

11. Pommes frites - they're just better in Euroland. "Freedom fries" are mostly crap. Or, for some additional fun, try the German-style "croquettes" very tasty fried potato goodness.

12. The "B" that is pronounced as a double-"ss". So weird.

13. Thermalbads (hot springs) - so needed in the cold weather.

14. Apfel struesel (and other tasty bakery creations!)

15. A winter-wonderland in May - inconvenient, but lovely.

16. The cute, gingerbread houses everywhere.

17. Seeing storks and swans in the wild and hearing the "cuku" coming from the forest.

18. Inexpensive, Turkish "pizza and doner (schwarma) places where you can get a hearty lunch.

19. Strong coffee served with real cream.

20. Cheese, lots and lots of cheese - I don't know all the varieties I had, but they were all good.

21. Pork with mushroom gravy and pork topped with cherries. The Germans really know how to do up their pork in 100 different and interesting ways.

best teammates ever!

So, yesterday, a few of us decided to race the Altamont TTT. I raced with Marsha, Sue and Katie. We were a combined 3/4 team racing in the 3's category. We had another team with Liz, Erika, Cammie and Andrea in the 1-2s.

I didn't have a really good day yesterday. I think I was really fighting the cold. It was around 40 degrees or maybe even a bit cooler, and I never really felt loose - even after a 1 hour warmup. But, my teammates, true to their word, stuck with me - even though they probably could have gotten 1st or 2nd if they'd just left me behind. Instead, they were selfless and blocked the wind two-up on the hilly sections so I could catch a breath. What sweet, encouraging teammates. You guys rock! All-in-all it was a fun day, and we even got some quality riding time with the boys afterward on the Wente road race course.

And, of course, there was a posedown complete with cupcakes, Bella style. And, due to the small turnout, there were prizes all around. What a fun day! Thanks all.

coming along nicely

The fitness is starting to come up now. My recovery is better, and I am stronger. I'm going to race the Altamont TTT with Sue, Katie and Marsha on Saturday. It should be a good test of fitness and teamwork. Then, I get to taper down and work on endurance with a little time in Europe. But, I will also be building power while lugging around bags and such on my bike - got to remember to climb out of the valley and up to some castles. I'll be storming into the 2nd half of the season ready to roar. Can't wait. I'm hoping my new TT bike comes in before my next race (Sunol), so I have a chance to race it at least once before Sattley.

I've been doing some super-secret pursuit/sprint training at the adjunct parking lot of Great America. That has been a good spot for me to really focus and relax on my efforts. Unfortunately, a security guard threw us out yesterday. Fortunately, I had already finished my efforts and was just cooling down. He told us it was City of Santa Clara orders not to ride in the parking lot. Conveniently, he ignored the fact that the parking lot is the signed "Bike Route" between the San Tomas Aquino trail and the ACE Train station. I guess I will need to move my super-secret training to hours when Great America is not in operation. Sigh.

I guess I need to get better about writing in the blog. Or not. We shall see if the mood strikes....

The Berkeley 2TTT is Useless for Guaging Fitness

Yesterday, the Boy and I went out for the Berkeley TTT. Really, we signed up just so I could get some "real" race pacing work in. So, the plan was for me to ride the race solo and just make sure he stayed on my wheel for the finish. We finished in 1:06, which was about 8.5 minutes worse than the last time I did it. I'm deciding that I won't let that say anything about my fitness, as there are too many variables at play.

I think a lot of folks - even those with the same riding partner year after year are mystified by this race and times and what it says about fitness.  I say, just have fun! Anyway, the last time I did this race, it was in the W4 category with a team mate. The race was held on March 25 - about 5 weeks later in the season, and I had raced since January that year. This year, my first hard effort was last weekend. Also, last time I rode with booties and aero helmet and shared the effort with my team mate. This time, we were Merckx, but there was no Merckx category for co-ed. I also had a triple crankset last time, which helped me motor up the steeper sections of the Mama and Papa bears. And, yesterday, I dropped my chain so bad I could not get it back on without stopping. Needless to say, I lost actual time plus rhythm with that little issue. I also think it was quite windy yesterday, even for that course, which is always a bit windy.

But, all in all, it was a good, hard effort, a chance to pace, a chance to race with my sweetie, and a good excuse to have breakfast for lunch afterward. :)

Beat the Clock #1

I won a pair of knee warmers for registering first...how cool is that?

In any case, Beat the Clock was my first fitness test of the season. I didn't use any aero gear, except for the bike. Left the race wheels, helmet, skinsuit and booties at home. Just wanted to work on pacing and position on the bike.

I have a theory that if this race was run in the opposite direction, I would race at least 2 minutes faster. I need to go out and test my theory some time. It starts on Canada Rd., just a bit north of the Jefferson intersection - pretty much at the high point of the road. You basically head down hill for the first 1.5 miles and bottom out a bit below Edgewood Rd. Then, you roll your way to near the junction of highway 92 and head back. That last 1.5 miles is what kills me every time. I have a hard time pacing over that section of road even when I am in a pack. It pitches up steeply near Edgewood and then levels into a gentle up-grade the rest of the way to the finish. I blow myself up trying to get over the steep section and then slow way down on the last upward stretch. If anyone has any suggestions on how to pace this, I'd love to hear them! I'm typically turning around at 14 minutes, which means I'm 4+ minutes slower on the way back. Aaack!

Anyway, I finished 32:45 for the 10 miles, which was 45 seconds faster than last year in March. So, I am still seeing significant improvement year over year. Unfortunately, I was still last place of the individual women. But, I have to remember I am on my own journey and not compare with others!

Everything in Moderation

It's been some time since I've written on le blog. It's not that I've been uninspired. I've had a lot of stuff bobbing around in my head, but not enough time to sit down and commit it to the written word. And, a lot of stuff I've been thinking about is non-cycling-related.

One thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is moderation and balance. I had a chat with a good friend this weekend, that while leaving me a bit uncomfortable has me thinking as well. I have many good things in my life - many things that bring me joy - many things I'm afraid to let go - many things that I have taken to extremes where they no longer bring joy. I'm in the midst of a re-evaluation, which I'm going to give a good amount of time before making any changes. Last year, I tried to make a significant change in the job life, and found it was not the right thing. So, I am back where I started in that regard with a new-found joy and happiness in my work. So, maybe it wasn't a worthless exercise after all. Anyway, I digress....

One concept we studied in school in economics is the law of diminishing returns. It seems that applies in life as well. The law goes something like this...you take a bite of something delicious, it is so good that you must take another bite. But, each bite is somewhat less satisfying than the one before, and you can never get back to that original feeling. I feel this way about cycling. When I started, it brought me so much joy. I could not get enough of it. Falling in love with cycling was intertwined with falling in love with my husband. I was on a high. Then, somewhere along the line, I decided to apply discipline to cycling - to get "better" or "faster". Always consuming more and more, revolving more and more of life around the cycling. Then, I decided to take on racing. Honestly, I've never known another sport that at the amateur/beginner level requires so much. There is no "dabbling" in racing. There is a certain level of skill that must be attained just to do it safely. And, you have to become a real athlete to keep up with the fitness demands. Pretty soon all of life revolves around this silly sport. Your sleeping, eating, all your free hours. You force yourself to ride in the rain or on the trainer when you'd rather go for a walk in the woods or meet friends for tea. The balance goes, and shortly after, the joy with it. So, you buckle down with ever more trying to recapture the joy. Maybe if I can get to nationals, I will find the joy again. That is what I tell myself. At the same time, I don't want to lose this part of my life completely and fall into a sedentary hedonism. How do I restore the balance and bring back the joy? That's what I'm going to be thinking about over the next months. I'm hoping a bike trip in Europe with my honey will help rekindle the joy of cycling.

There are other parts of life that I'm trying to find the balance in as well. I'll save those ponderings for another time, though, as this blog is mostly about cycling ;)