Couldn't resist

Gas prices are going up

And up..

12 mile run in the Berkeley Hills, on Strawberry Canyon trail. Overcast with occasional sun, 12C/54F. Started out to do 7 but ended up doing 12!!

Endurance racing: it's not about horses or cars. It's all about human power!

Taking a break

Yesterday I found out that I passed my power based training exam. I heard from the cycling manager that I had been power licensed for some time, but nobody had notified me and he could not tell me exactly what happened or why. In any case I am happy to say that I passed the test and if you have any questions regarding training with power, feel free to contact me.

I also want to let everyone know that I will be taking a break from this blog for a while. I am not sure how long yet, but 1 to 3 weeks seems in order. During that time I want to think more about the future of the blog and what direction I want to take in. I want to thank all my readers for sticking with me, and for all the comments I received -although most were not posted here, but arrived on facebook, or in emails, or in conversations with friends.

This blog has been undergoing a steady metamorphosis. It started out as a way for me to keep track of my workouts and write an occasional piece about my racing and training experience. Then I added more comments about training in general, but last year after the summer after a brief recess, I took a different tack and began writing about Belgium and bike racing in Belgium. That dramatically increased my readership but it also brought on a lot of extra work. Although I was able to promote the blog with some measure of success, the increased workload is catching up to me.

Look here for information on cyclist housing in Belgium.
Look here for information on traveling to Belgium to race.
Look here for information on what you need to race your bike in Belgium.
Look here for information on how to read the race calendar.


And that is why I have to say, later. Hang in there and check back in a few weeks.

Wildcards

Bjorn Leukemans' solo performance ended 6 km from the finish today, depriving victory-starved Belgium of yet another win in the early season. The GP Samyn is the season opener for Wallonia. The race was won by 24 yr old Dominic Klemme from Germany. It also marks the first victory for the LAY-o-par Trek Team. Belgian Kevin Ista found the race "three hundred meters too long." Last year's edition was won by neo-pro Jens Keukeleire, who also won the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, and Nokere Koerse.

In much anticipated news, Flanders Classics gave out seven wildcards for the Ronde (4/3). The wildcards also apply to Dwars door Vlaanderen (3/23), Gent-Wevelgem (3/27), Scheldeprijs (4/6) and Brabantse Pijl (4/13). Three went to Belgian teams, Landbouwkrediet, Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator and Veranda's Willems-Accent. The others went to Dutch team Skil-Shimano, and the French Teams Cofidis, Europcar and Française des Jeux.

And speaking of wildcards, Alberto Contador announced that he will ride the Giro. That is, of course, if UCI will let him. Matti Breschel on the other hand is suffering from knee pain and the Danish rider from Rabobank is likely to miss all the classics.

Vacansoleil canceled Flavio Mongiardo's contract. Flavio was Riccardo Ricco's personal trainer. Flavio, who calls Ricco a personal friend, denies all wrongdoing.

Of course the biggest wildcard of them all is whether Steve Jobs will appear at the iPad2 event in San Francisco. I can tell you that this matter is now resolved, and Steve has appeared, not looking any skinnier or worse than he looked at previous events. His enthusiasm is every bit as infectious as it was before. Now we can only wait and see if the iPad2 will live up to its hype?

Bike culture

Much has been said and written about bike culture. The topic is a favorite for infamous bicycle blogger Eben Weiss, aka as the snob. I will leave it to said individual to poke fun of bike culture in all its forms. Personally I just want to address the notion that cyclists are environmentalists. It is a notion that is rather widespread and it is one of the reasons why cyclists evoke the ire of some drivers, in particular those who prefer oversized pickups and SUV's.

People assume that just because one rides a bike one must be opposed to cars and driving. But nothing could be further from the truth. Cyclists, and especially racers, gladly drive hundreds or even thousands of miles to ride their bikes for a few hours at most. As a matter of fact, most California racers drive at least an order of magnitude more miles to get to their races, than they do racing.

And if you think cyclists drive Prius's think again. Most cyclists I know drive monster SUV's or vans. Even when it comes to carpooling the track record is poor. Although most cars arriving at a race venue contain more than one person, the rule is one racer per car. Much the same applies to century and double century riders. Or mountain bikers getting to that trail head, three miles from home...

It is sad to say, but most cyclists are not even what I would call environmentally conscious. They don't even consider the impact their hobby has on the environment. At best, they support a token environmentalism that consists of getting angry at individuals who throw candy bar wrappers and gel packages on the ground.

It is also instructive to note that many cyclists make fun of global warming. None other than Johan Bruyneel posted pictures of his snowy Madrid back yard last winter with the rhetorical question, "Global warming?"

Speaking of cars, none other than Peter van Petegem was seen on the Paris-Roubaix cobbles. This time he wasn't riding his bike with Alberto Contador. Instead he was driving behind Thor Husovd, the current world champion who is dreaming of winning the classic in his rainbow jersey. No word if Husovd is staying at Le Pave.

Van Petegem was quoted as saying," I found it instructive to drive a car over the cobbles. I will do that a few more times, and I will return with Thor after the Tour." The appropriate bike culture hipster response to this (and I warn you, unsafe for work) is:  All you environmentalists (...).

I noted yesterday that Cadel is taking it easy in preparation to become the oldest Tour de France winner in recent history -or much of history for that matter. Not so with missile man Mark Cavendish. The Brit is going to race the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta this year. Mark may not be the oldest, but he is certainly bringing back old time competitiveness.

When it comes to old and old glory though, nothing can match the return of none other than Alexi Grewal, of 1984 Olympic fame. Alexi's return has rekindled the warm feelings Americans had when one of theirs first won an Olympic gold medal in cycling.

The 1984 Olympic team is also famous, or should I say infamous for the extensive use of blood doping. Although the practice was legal at the time, it is something people would rather forget. Maybe that is why Alexi preferred to hit the issue head on as he did in this (largely forgotten) VeloNews essay.

Don't cry for me

To say that the Belgian cycling world is disappointed with Opening Weekend is an understatement. "We wait and look out for more and better," read one headline. Another proclaimed, "Crying for the Belgians ? Yes, that is possible."

Belgian Champion Stijn Devolder was even more blunt, saying he was disgusted with Opening Weekend. "It is a weekend to quickly forget." he added. Devolder had problems in both races. He blamed the lack of radios with having to wait 20 km before he could change bikes after his derailleur malfunctioned on Saturday. And on Sunday he crashed on the Oude Kwaremont. Tom Boonen also blamed the absence of radios for bad results. That and plenty of "fresh cowboys in the peloton."

Not a bad weekend for Ivan Basso apparently. The Italian went on to win the GP of Lugano in neighboring Switzerland.

Cadel Evans, meanwhile is taking it easy. The Australian will start his season on Thursday in Fruili, Italy. Evans is aiming for the Tour and he plans to only race 30 or so times before that event. "He could become the oldest winner since Henri Pelissier in 1923," said his manager. That is if he wins! Evans will be 34 by the time the Tour comes along, the same age as Pelissier.

It was pretty cold, but sunny in Northern California. On Saturday I went on a 28 mile bike ride, but yesterday I opted for some indoor training on the treadmill. I have lost some weight since the holiday and that appears to have helped my performance. I managed 325W on my 20 minute test recently and yesterday I ran 8.35 miles on the treadmill in one hour (including warmup). That means I ran over 8.5 for most of the hour.

Getting your goat

The second race of opening weekend saw a further upset. None other than an Australian by the name of Christopher Sutton won the 67th edition of Kuurne Brussel Kuurne. American expatriate Tyler Farrar was fourth. Tom Boonen tried twice to get some action going, including a break 4km from the finish, but in the end he got caught and it was all over.

Christopher who?

Flecha showed his determination in going with Tommeke early on, but his effort too was not good enough. Last year's winner, Bobby Traksel ended up in the (un)lucky thirteenth spot. This is just one of the many upsets we have seen so far this spring. From goats to road pirates, to absent favorites and lack of earphones, the pre-season has been anything but normal.

Speaking of goats disrupting bike races, I just read a herd of goats ran onto Northbound I-5 last night, forcing an hour long highway closure. No, there were no bikers involved, and as you might imagine in the land of oversized pickups and SUV's the goats did not escape unharmed either. About two dozen animals were struck and killed.

This is not the only way America is starting to look like a middle earth empire. According to recent reports on NPR, the income inequality in this country now exceeds anything we find in the First World, by an huge margin. It is also growing at an amazingly fast pace and if we keep this up, pretty soon the situation will not look all that different from that of some countries that have been much in the news recently.

America also exceeds its peers in two other attributes that featured prominently in recent turmoil. One is food insecurity, where 16% of the population said there have been times in the past 12 months when they did not have enough money to buy food. (I agree that this may sound hard to believe in a country where 60% of the population is overweight or obese, but everything is relative of course.)

The other attribute is the prison population per 100,000, which stands at 743, a number that is almost  double that of our nearest wealthy competitor.

Finally there is the issue of net worth. America's net worth now stands at about $182,000 per person, according to the WSJ, although they admit the number is pulled up significantly by a small group of very wealthy individuals. A more realistic and much more bleak report says that half the American population has zero net worth.

If you believe what you read in the popular press you may think these recent revolts were led by people who yearn for freedom and now that they have FaceBook they are empowered to find it. But if you are the more cynical type you might observe that high unemployment, high food prices, and income inequality are rampant in these locales.

Free range ice cream

The big news of the day- well of last night that is- was snow in San Francisco, a phenomenon that hasn't happened for at least 35 years. The weatherman at KTVU was positively giddy. He could barely contain himself. But before you set out with your cross country skis and mittens let me just warn you that that the snow did not stay on the ground. In many places it did not even hit the ground. It was visible as night time flurries from surveillance cameras mounted atop Twin Peaks (at 900ft/275 m) and on the Avenues closest to the ocean. The whole thing looked like the San Francisco version of Paranormal Activity.

And speaking of the paranormal, have you seen the trailer for the new movie Apollo 18? If you've ever wondered why we did not go back to the moon, here is your answer. That is, of course if you believe we went there in the first place.



And while we are on the subject of Blair Witch Projects, I am happy to let you know that a Covent Garden -that is a place in London, England not far from Diagon Alley- ice cream maker Matt O'Connor rolled out a new flavor, called Baby Gaga. Exclaiming, "it's pure, it's natural, it's organic and it's free-range," the ice cream maker revealed that its source was human breast milk collected over the internet. Here you can see it being offered for tasting by appropriately dressed waitresses.

Have some free-range ice cream ladies!

Rumor has it a recovery drink version of Baby Gaga is in the works. It is expected to compete well with Erdinger Alcoholfrei in the adult male masters segment.

Meanwhile, real men braved the rain and cold to compete in the Belgian season opener now known as Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. While not as bad as last year's Kuurne Brussel Kuurne, it was definitely an eventful race. First 2007 winner Pozzato found himself on the wrong side of the guard rails and was forced to jump the fence, and later Langeveld and Flecha displayed some bizarre track moves in the outskirts of Gent before starting a sprint that saw the Dutchman win by millimeters.

The lonely rider on the right is Pozzato, who was forced to cross the median and jump the guardrail

Flecha testing out the sidewalk in Gent

Sebastian Langeveld was in a solo breakaway when last year's winner Juan Antonio Flecha took off after him. Langeveld waited -initially there was confusion and some wondered whether the lack of headphones and radios had caused Langeveld to make a crucial mistake- and the two joined forces 15km from the finish.

Then in the last kilometer they started playing a cat and mouse game that ended with Langeveld initiating  the sprint and keeping Flecha behind him to win by millimeters. The move kept Flecha from doing a Van Petegem by winning the race two years in a row.

Flecha tried but could not pass Langeveld