Miscellaneous pictures from the trip

Here are more shots from the trip to Belgium:

Orange loop, in Kwaremont

Kwaremont

Kwaremont

Others:

Dried fish, a kermis staple

Our team car

Team car

Oude Kwaremont

Some race pictures from Geluveld:

To the muur

Everyone but me slept late today. The guys did not wake up until 10:30. After breakfast we decided to go to Geraardsbergen and ride the muur. Since everyone is racing tomorrow we did not want to ride too long, so we took the highway to Brakel and from there to Geraardsbergen. It isn't the nicest biking road around but it is quite fast. After climbing Edelare berg, we headed out to Brakel.

Trying on the team clothing

Addison getting ready

From Brakel we went to Geraardsbergen. Once we got to there, we got ready for the 1km climb from the vesten up the muur and the kapelmuur. John and Addison went up the front and climbed the stretch in 3+ minutes, or about as fast as the Ronde riders do it. We took some pictures near the top and then headed down for a quick coffee on the Markt.

On top of the kapelmuur

The cafe on top of the muur proper

Fixing the bike in Geraardsbergen

We rode back and descended Volkegemberg. Then we did a quick ascent of the Wolvenberg and headed back to Oudenaarde, where we stopped by the Flanders store to secure some spare wheels for our stage race next week. All in all it was a very fun ride and the temperature was great at 17C/63F. Most of the time it was overcast but occasionally we saw some sun.

"filter" the quintessential Belgian coffee

Some more pictures

The obligatory Ronde Centrum shot

The bike room, all racks are filled

In all the excitement we almost forgot that Gilbert won de Brabantse Pijl, beating Leukemans in the sprint. His team, Omega Pharma-Lotto fired Matthew Lloyd and the Italian police took Katuscha's files from their headquarters in a doping sting.

Also in the Pijl, Peter Vanspeybrouck suffered a bad crash that broke his larynx and his eye socket. The rider lost consciousness as a result of the crash. He will be out for several weeks.

Next up the Amstel Gold Race, where Cadel, the soon-to-be oldest winner of the Tour, passed due to a quadriceps lesion and Quick-step will field only one Belgian, Dries Devenys.

Monday, the Boston Marathon. Monday is a holiday in all of New England, called Patriot's day. On this day, New Englanders remember the war of independence, and busy themselves re-enacting some key scenes that led up to that war.

What else is happening?

I have been focused on racing in Belgium over the past month so you may wonder what else is happening? I no longer use this blog to keep track of my workouts because it was simply too complicated to keep all the different sites updated. I did not give up training though -except for swimming which I no longer do on a regular basis- and I am happy to announce that I am planning some major event in the near future.

I have my sights set on a 50 mile ultramarathon. Just recently I ran another 100k week, only the second time I have done so. Earlier I ran my 100 on a treadmill, but this time around I ran outside in the hills. That means a very hilly one hundred kilometers! I also ran it over six days at a rate of 10.5 miles a day. All went well and I suffered no injuries.

I had planned to run 12 hours in the San Francisco One Day event on October 23, but a severe weather warning kept me back. Turns out to have been a good call. The weather was miserable and the event was a slog for all participants. I would not have minded the rain, but I did not want to run my first ultra in the rain. Too many other variables to consider.

TeamCindy has also been doing well and BAF just announced they have several slots for key events in 2011. They have five for Escape from Alcatraz, five for IM Lake Placid, five for the Nation's triathlon and five for the London Tri. Quite a step up from our very first solo adventure at IM Arizona! Unfortunately I do not think I will participate in any of the events as I plan to spend much of the 2011 season in Belgium for racing. While there I hope to spend a bit more time exploring the bierkroegen.

I will continue my series on things to know about Belgium and racing in Belgium next week. Stay tuned. Also, if you have a minute give me some feedback on what topics you would like me to cover. Thanks for reading.

Long summer

It's been quite a while since I posted something on this blog. Unfortunately it is not because nothing happened. Quite to the contrary, I had a very eventful and exciting summer. I think I simply needed a break and some time away from blogging. Call it a long vacation.

Here is what happened since the end of June and Nationals in Bend. We had our house broken into while we were away and computers stolen, but overall the damage was pretty limited. Some bike stuff was stolen too, don't ask me why. Maybe because it was easy to grab and looked expensive? In any case, the damage was limited and from the looks of it, it appears the thieves were in here for less than 10 minutes. Most of the damage was to the front entryway where they made a mess prying open the door.

Over the summer I coached a group of 18 riders who are raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). I organized several rides in different locations and rode with beginners, intermediates and advanced riders, most of whom were getting ready to ride 72 miles around Tahoe in September. The JDRF ride was part of a larger ride, known as Tour de Tahoe or Big Blue. Not all riders went there and there were others who will ride the Death Valley and Tucson rides later in the year. The Tucson ride is part of the El Tour de Tucson.

In August, I went to Belgium with Alistair and a fellow junior Kyle Torres. We had a great time and did lots of sightseeing, lots of riding and (the kids) lots of racing. For the first time I drove a team car in a large caravan of follow vehicles. It was a very exciting experience that I won't soon forget.

Alistair and Kyle with Team Rosen Meents

Overall the trip was a huge success and it motivated me to try and do it again next year. I think I can offer coaching and trips to Belgium for junior riders of all ages (nieuwelingen: 15-16, juniores: 17-18, and beloften (U23). I am working with some folks in Belgium to get things ready for next summer so if you are interested stay tuned. Hopefully we can offer something special that makes a difference to folks.

Since we got back from Belgium at the end of August I have been taking it easy. I completed the Tahoe ride on September 12, adding an extra 8 miles looping back and forth to make sure people were OK. Overall it was great fun but I think Tahoe would be so much better without all the traffic and the aggressive driving. It is a beautiful place for sure, but much of that beauty is now gone, covered in concrete and hugely oversized mac-mansions.

Penticton

I am done with Tribike Transport, never again. What good is a service if you can't count on them? I packed my bike and I am ready to roll. It wasn't so bad after all and it is cheaper and more convenient in some ways. At least this time, where there are scratches or scuff marks I will know who to blame.

On Wednesday I ran for an hour on the treadmill covering about 7.5 miles. I ran three intervals at 10 mph. First a mile and then two half miles. For me that is pretty hard running. My best mile time is just under 6 minutes, but somehow I find running outside on the track easier than running on the treadmill.

On Thursday I swam for 45 minutes, focusing all my energy on technique, but without much progress. I still can't breathe easily on the left and I still run out of breath when I breathe every other stroke. And that is in an empty pool, calm water... forget about the Ironman laundromat.

On Friday I rode on rollers for 1.2 hours and on Sat I swam once more (same end result). Yesterday I rode 30 miles to the top of Redwood. I went with Barbara and so I rode slow, except for the climbs where I hammered.

Alistair is coming back from Belgium tomorrow. He finally finished a race and placed in the middle of the pack. But overall, the trip was a mixed bag. He was just recovering from a nasty crash in Oregon before he left, and then on August 16, he crashed pretty hard again so that pretty much wrecked his program right there. We will see when he returns.