Started on-bike training today. Nothing crazy, an hour on the trainer to just get the feel back. Felt good, hopefuly will still feel good tmrw, and hopefully the core and other work I have done will have paid off a bit. Watching free tour of qatar on cycling.tv was pretty nice as well. Steels's crash 30m from the line looked terrible.
It feels good to be back home in the states and I actaully am not jet-lagged (yet)....staying up all night and then sleeping on the plane, staying awake all evening after landing and then crashing again last night may have done the trick.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
time to work
Italy is wrapping up. No more traveling around, a bit of packing and walking around for the last time tmrw, then a final dinner and night out, and then a daaaaarnnnn early bus ride, short flight, long flight, car ride, and ill be home for a week before heading back to school. On-bike training starts the night I get home on the trainer, and will be intense from now until mid-july. Since I am a bit "behind" everyone I am going to have much less of a base, a shorter build-up period, and a later peak, which hasn't been set as the racing calender was just released, but should be post-collegiate and will probably be either fitchburg or housatonic or some other decent climbing race....unless things go really well and I aim for the last month of the season which is super hilly, however getting to peak in 2.5 months from 0 could be alot of work. All this is fine because it will provide me with a break and two or three weeks off mid-summer to come back to europe hopefully, and then really work super hard ahead of 'cross season, with the pan-mass, a crit or two, the gmsr and then the late season crits all as training. Planning time is over, action time is about to start, and I am very excited.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
italian bike shops
Verona apparently has something like 50 clubs in town, and more than enough shops to serve those teams, rec riders, etc. I have seen about 10 bike shops in town, which is 300k people (or so I was told, feels smaller than that though). I finally had some time and went and checked one out. I ended up spending 45 minutes talking with the wrenches there in a mix of broken italian/english about road racing, 'cross, racing in the states, racing in italy, pro racing, and bikes in general. They said they had heard of wicks and page, but not trebon...we were talking about the upcoming 'cross worlds, and if I understood correct Hanka kuperwhatever is either friends, used to be a team with, has the same sponsor, or something related to one of the wrenches, because he showed me a picture of her and talked about her for awhile. I just said "si' and nodded, as per usual. They talked about Cunego, they love him here (he's from here).
In the end, I bought a long sleeve jersey, size XXS (usually im S or XS) but darn italian sizing....it took me 2 weeks to find a belt for the equivelent of a 28 waist.....Anyways, the long sleeve jersey is not only my first ever ls jersey (although I'm getting a colby one in a month or so) but it is awesome (I won't freeze in maine anymore) and says a bunch of stuff in Italian on it (see below), plus being the colors it is, it's highly visible, another first for me and bike clothing. It cost 35 euro, but the dude gave it to me for 25......Imagine buying a very nice, full-custom, full zip, top of the line ls jersey for roughly 30 bucks in the states.....I was tempted to buy a pair of bibs, which were like 40 euro, but they didn't have my size. Time to write my last paper for this class, one more idea to flush out, edit, and then I have till monday to enjoy Italy.
In the end, I bought a long sleeve jersey, size XXS (usually im S or XS) but darn italian sizing....it took me 2 weeks to find a belt for the equivelent of a 28 waist.....Anyways, the long sleeve jersey is not only my first ever ls jersey (although I'm getting a colby one in a month or so) but it is awesome (I won't freeze in maine anymore) and says a bunch of stuff in Italian on it (see below), plus being the colors it is, it's highly visible, another first for me and bike clothing. It cost 35 euro, but the dude gave it to me for 25......Imagine buying a very nice, full-custom, full zip, top of the line ls jersey for roughly 30 bucks in the states.....I was tempted to buy a pair of bibs, which were like 40 euro, but they didn't have my size. Time to write my last paper for this class, one more idea to flush out, edit, and then I have till monday to enjoy Italy.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
sooooo-euro
It's my birthday, at least here on Euro time...no craziness tonight, in fact, its 2:11am and i'm about 30 minutes from finishing a paper. Tmrw, however, will have celebrations.
Last night I think I offically became euro-trash. I spiked my hair into a faux-hawk, wore a blazer over a sweater with the blazers collar popped (not really popped, just up, like euro's wear them) with tight jeans on, and sneakers that have graffiti-style painting on the side. In fact, my shoes don't even match, and its on purpose...one is camo w/ a bulldog painted, the other white with a rose....So euro in fact, I got told at a bar that I looked like a euro (by an american living here) and at another bar I shocked some austrian chic telling her I was from the states....
In important news, I messed up my ankle. Something is wrong, seriously. I can't walk normal, I have to walk on the outer edge of my right foot, otherwise it hurts worse than a knife stabbing. This all started friday in Venice. I took sat. off from excersise, but walked a bunch on it in Bologna (where I saw a sweet commi-rally, flags, bullhorn, everything). Today I took off again and sat arond and read/wrote my paper, but it still hurts. It does not feel any worse today, and is maybe marginally better than it was yesterday. Hopefully with some more sleep and rest, and ice and elevation (its somewhat swollen) it will get better in time to do some more running/lifting by the middle of the week. It hurts alot more like when I tore a ligament in my ankle then when I sprained/twisted my ankle, which isn't good. The pain isn't as severe, but the location and the type of pain and the motion that causes it is the exact same. Hopefully, it will heel and be fine and won't mess up riding.
Monday (in addition to being my birthday) marks 1 week untill I come home. I am looking forward to riding (alot) but not looking forward to leaving europe, I really like it here. If only we got cycling on tv (im sure we do, but I can't figure it out)...I would have liked to have seen page/trebon take 9/10 in the worldcup 'cross race today. Alas, I need to write this paper so I can go to bed, and then celebrate.
Last night I think I offically became euro-trash. I spiked my hair into a faux-hawk, wore a blazer over a sweater with the blazers collar popped (not really popped, just up, like euro's wear them) with tight jeans on, and sneakers that have graffiti-style painting on the side. In fact, my shoes don't even match, and its on purpose...one is camo w/ a bulldog painted, the other white with a rose....So euro in fact, I got told at a bar that I looked like a euro (by an american living here) and at another bar I shocked some austrian chic telling her I was from the states....
In important news, I messed up my ankle. Something is wrong, seriously. I can't walk normal, I have to walk on the outer edge of my right foot, otherwise it hurts worse than a knife stabbing. This all started friday in Venice. I took sat. off from excersise, but walked a bunch on it in Bologna (where I saw a sweet commi-rally, flags, bullhorn, everything). Today I took off again and sat arond and read/wrote my paper, but it still hurts. It does not feel any worse today, and is maybe marginally better than it was yesterday. Hopefully with some more sleep and rest, and ice and elevation (its somewhat swollen) it will get better in time to do some more running/lifting by the middle of the week. It hurts alot more like when I tore a ligament in my ankle then when I sprained/twisted my ankle, which isn't good. The pain isn't as severe, but the location and the type of pain and the motion that causes it is the exact same. Hopefully, it will heel and be fine and won't mess up riding.
Monday (in addition to being my birthday) marks 1 week untill I come home. I am looking forward to riding (alot) but not looking forward to leaving europe, I really like it here. If only we got cycling on tv (im sure we do, but I can't figure it out)...I would have liked to have seen page/trebon take 9/10 in the worldcup 'cross race today. Alas, I need to write this paper so I can go to bed, and then celebrate.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
pan-mass challenge
I officially signed up for the 2007 pan-mass challenge this morning (well afternoon here, but registration was 9am eastern time). It is something I am really looking forward to doing; its a great cause, its not that hard, and it should be fun. With the myriad of charity rides out there, it is not often I see all that many racers showing up to participate, which I sort of understand (sketchy bike handling, etc.) but I think its something all of us should do, and if its just a part of our normal training, why not raise some money for a good cause (cancer research in my case).
Personally, I am happy my mom and dad agreed to do it as well. It will be a huge challenge for them (and for me) at 110 miles saturday, 82 miles sunday (or so...) but with my mom having gotten and beaten cancer twice, and her mom having died from cancer, I think it will be a very special "life experience"
If you read this and think I am talking about mars, then read more here:
http://www.pmc.org/
Also, if anyone wants to contribute money towards the $3,600 I need to raise, leave a comment or email me and I can set that up (its easy, you can do it all online w/ a CC, I would assume its all tax-deductable but don't quote me).
Anyways, that will give me good incentive to keep on training on top of the fast approaching race season (pro racing in australia already started, wtf) and hopefully will keep me motivated this winter/spring/summer....the ride is only 200 days away.
Personally, I am happy my mom and dad agreed to do it as well. It will be a huge challenge for them (and for me) at 110 miles saturday, 82 miles sunday (or so...) but with my mom having gotten and beaten cancer twice, and her mom having died from cancer, I think it will be a very special "life experience"
If you read this and think I am talking about mars, then read more here:
http://www.pmc.org/
Also, if anyone wants to contribute money towards the $3,600 I need to raise, leave a comment or email me and I can set that up (its easy, you can do it all online w/ a CC, I would assume its all tax-deductable but don't quote me).
Anyways, that will give me good incentive to keep on training on top of the fast approaching race season (pro racing in australia already started, wtf) and hopefully will keep me motivated this winter/spring/summer....the ride is only 200 days away.
Friday, January 12, 2007
gym
I have been hitting the gym quite a bit in the last week...Feels good to be getting some excercise again. Then my knee started to hurt, so I stopped with the lifting for a day and took a sauna, which was amazingly nice. I need to get one of those in my dormroom.
Today I travelled to Ferrara. We saw a jewish cemetery, had a great lunch, then visited this massive castle. By far the coolest part was the dungeons, of which you could go into 3 of them. One had grafitti from prisoners from 500 years ago...The poor guy spent his whole life in the dungeon...he was let out at 81 years old, then was thrown back in shortly after for "treason" and died there. They were very small, cold, dark, drafty stone rooms with no windows and multiple heavy doors...Very creepy.
Picture adequately describes thursday night....in fact, I don't even remember where/when it was taken...
Today I travelled to Ferrara. We saw a jewish cemetery, had a great lunch, then visited this massive castle. By far the coolest part was the dungeons, of which you could go into 3 of them. One had grafitti from prisoners from 500 years ago...The poor guy spent his whole life in the dungeon...he was let out at 81 years old, then was thrown back in shortly after for "treason" and died there. They were very small, cold, dark, drafty stone rooms with no windows and multiple heavy doors...Very creepy.
Picture adequately describes thursday night....in fact, I don't even remember where/when it was taken...
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
uh-oh
I think I have been in europe too long....I had a craving for nutella after I finished lunch today (which by the way was an amazing sandwich of bread, oil, provelone, some other italian sounding cheese, salami and prosciutto....the same thing I have had every day for lunch since getting to this country).....well, maybe it was more of a desire for nutella and less of a craving.
Check out colin r's cool new(ish) cross result site
http://crossresults.com/
its a great procrastination tool and fun to play with...
Check out colin r's cool new(ish) cross result site
http://crossresults.com/
its a great procrastination tool and fun to play with...
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
molto bene
got my pictures working.....just a few for now:
the alps have snow, contrary to popular belief
we are clearly not stateside anymore....piazza bra, the collesium
and the view up the river from the footbridge at castlevecchio (i think)
the alps have snow, contrary to popular belief
we are clearly not stateside anymore....piazza bra, the collesium
and the view up the river from the footbridge at castlevecchio (i think)
Sunday, January 7, 2007
ouch
I have blisters on my feet, and it hurts. Right in the arch on the side, on both of them. I woke up at 9am here (our time) today and decided to go for a run. Got dressed (its warm here, mid 50's), grabbed some euro's and the ipod and decided to go to the path on which I saw tons of cyclists, runners, etc...
I did an hour ten minutes, not sure of the distance, I think I got to the next town over, perona? It was very lovely scenery, I will do it again with a camera at some point. I saw soooooo many rollerbladers, I guess that is a big thing here. Many were wearing cycling type jerseys, I saw one old guy in a Fasso jersey and rollerblades. A bunch of teams out on training rides rode past, which was cool. Despite it being warmish out (I'd guess mid 50's) I was wearing long spandex top and bottom w/ a sweatshirt and was hot, rolling up sleeves, etc....everyone else was bundled up warmer than I do for riding in winter in Maine. Full on hats, face guards, gloves, booties, etc. etc. Crazy. I would be running along and then anwhere from 6-20 guys/girls in matching kits would whir past. Hopefully I will be able to find a bike soon so I can ride if it stays nice, if not, our residence has spin classes in the gym a few days a week. I think I am just going to walk into a bike store (I found one wandering around yesterday) and in broken Italian say something along the lines of "I am an american cyclist here for awhile who would like to do some training"....we will see how that goes.
My Italian is actaully not that bad, I was fully able to order drinks last night at the bars and also ask questions of the waitress at dinner (about the food) and also in the residence. Last night was a big fesitval where they burned a giant witch in front of the collesium thingy. Sort of cool/weird, I didn't have a camera but many of my friends did. It is 7:51am at school/home, wake up sleepyheads.
I did an hour ten minutes, not sure of the distance, I think I got to the next town over, perona? It was very lovely scenery, I will do it again with a camera at some point. I saw soooooo many rollerbladers, I guess that is a big thing here. Many were wearing cycling type jerseys, I saw one old guy in a Fasso jersey and rollerblades. A bunch of teams out on training rides rode past, which was cool. Despite it being warmish out (I'd guess mid 50's) I was wearing long spandex top and bottom w/ a sweatshirt and was hot, rolling up sleeves, etc....everyone else was bundled up warmer than I do for riding in winter in Maine. Full on hats, face guards, gloves, booties, etc. etc. Crazy. I would be running along and then anwhere from 6-20 guys/girls in matching kits would whir past. Hopefully I will be able to find a bike soon so I can ride if it stays nice, if not, our residence has spin classes in the gym a few days a week. I think I am just going to walk into a bike store (I found one wandering around yesterday) and in broken Italian say something along the lines of "I am an american cyclist here for awhile who would like to do some training"....we will see how that goes.
My Italian is actaully not that bad, I was fully able to order drinks last night at the bars and also ask questions of the waitress at dinner (about the food) and also in the residence. Last night was a big fesitval where they burned a giant witch in front of the collesium thingy. Sort of cool/weird, I didn't have a camera but many of my friends did. It is 7:51am at school/home, wake up sleepyheads.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
ciao ciao
So I'm in Italy. Not without a bit of an adventure. Getting off our plane in Paris, we had like an hour before our next flight left. Well we had to take a bus to get to a new terminal, which took awhile. Then we had to wait awhile to get our passports stamped. Then we had to go through security again, which was super slow. 8 of us showed up at the gate as the plane left, out of a 25 person group. This was at 650am (euro time, so like 1am your time). We found some lady who worked there who spoke english and was very nice, and she got all 8 of us onto the next flight (2 hours later) and gave us vouchers for b-fast. Major shoutout to Airfrance, you guys rock, that was cool of you. Luckily the rest of the group (and our bus from venice to verona) waited for us at the end of the flight, and all worked out well...
Verona is cool. After getting some groceries and crashing hard, my roomate and I went for a walk around Verona today. Its a pretty neat city, I'll get around to some pictures at some point. We live across the river from a road that seems to be frequented by cyclsits. Seriously, I have seen more cyclists looking out the window this morning in an hour than I have in the US, ever.....Hundreds of them, most in full kits for a sat. morning ride. There are some mtns we can see from our window, so I guess they are heading there. Seeing some many cyclists makes me want to ride, so I think sometime i'll try to find a place to rent a bike and go for a ride while I'm here. I checked out the gym here also, which should be fine, plenty of spinning machines, full weights, balance stuff, etc....even a sauna and turkish bath, whatever the latter is. So far I think Europe is pretty cool, and I want a bike to ride. Is about 3pm here, meaning its around 9am there, so I'm gonna try and call my house. Another cool thing is the blogger website is in Italian, which luckily I know a bit of...
Verona is cool. After getting some groceries and crashing hard, my roomate and I went for a walk around Verona today. Its a pretty neat city, I'll get around to some pictures at some point. We live across the river from a road that seems to be frequented by cyclsits. Seriously, I have seen more cyclists looking out the window this morning in an hour than I have in the US, ever.....Hundreds of them, most in full kits for a sat. morning ride. There are some mtns we can see from our window, so I guess they are heading there. Seeing some many cyclists makes me want to ride, so I think sometime i'll try to find a place to rent a bike and go for a ride while I'm here. I checked out the gym here also, which should be fine, plenty of spinning machines, full weights, balance stuff, etc....even a sauna and turkish bath, whatever the latter is. So far I think Europe is pretty cool, and I want a bike to ride. Is about 3pm here, meaning its around 9am there, so I'm gonna try and call my house. Another cool thing is the blogger website is in Italian, which luckily I know a bit of...
Thursday, January 4, 2007
arrivederci
It's 1:07am, I haven't even began to pack, and I am leaving for Italy today (not for awhile).
I weighed myself for the first time in awhile today. In the last 8 weeks I have been on the bike 18 times (inluding not being on the bike the week before and during finals, and last week). So 18 rides in 5 weeks and 3 weeks off. Anyways, 8 weeks ago, I weighed a whopping 123.5 lbs. I know, I need to get on a diet or something (I'm roughly 5'8"-5'9"). So one would think with very little riding, lots of lounging/couching, a fair amount of festivities, and generally being lazy(other than finals of course, which did NOT go well, I got results today and hit a few things) that I would have maybe gained some weight going into winter training.
So what was my weight tonight? 118.0 lbs. I friggen lost 5.5 lbs in two months of being idle. What the heck is going on with my body? I need to gain some weight, preferably muscle (leg muscle). Being so light has some advantages, such as higher power/weight ratio numbers, and being able to climb, and being skinny, but it comes with disadvantages to; ordering S or XS or XXS bike clothing, getting blown around in strong winds on high profile rims (even mid-depth rims), and even the smallest bike clothing still being baggy/loose fitting.
Wow, enough of that. I need to pack, sleep, and leave the country. I am bringing my computer and believe I should have wifi, and im bringing my camera, so hopefully I'll be able to keep somewhat in touch w/ cool pictures for the next month. If something goes wrong, I'll be back jan. 29th (I think).
Things I am looking forward to in Italy:
Being able to drink (legally) not that I will really drink all that much, but it will be nice to be able to walk into a bar or a liquor store and not care, especially on the b-day
My 1st passport stamp - been to canada and the carribean, but never europe
Being in Verona, and hopefully trips to venice, cortina, florence, others?
My brother hooked me up with like 30 euro's (mostly coins) from his trip last summer, plus my parents gave me some money to "enjoy the trip with" which was very nice of them
Being in the hometown of Damiano Cunego for a while (and more pro's ?)
Possibly seeing a FIS Womens World Cup race at Cortina, is there snow?
Things I am not looking forward to in Italy:
The euro...exchange rates are not in our favor
Blowing money on things that aren't bike-related
Jet-lag
Flying home the day after cx-worlds, meaning I can't go (have to be at my last class)
Not having a bike (or even bringing bike stuff other than the hrm for "other" training) for 25 days
Ciao!
I weighed myself for the first time in awhile today. In the last 8 weeks I have been on the bike 18 times (inluding not being on the bike the week before and during finals, and last week). So 18 rides in 5 weeks and 3 weeks off. Anyways, 8 weeks ago, I weighed a whopping 123.5 lbs. I know, I need to get on a diet or something (I'm roughly 5'8"-5'9"). So one would think with very little riding, lots of lounging/couching, a fair amount of festivities, and generally being lazy(other than finals of course, which did NOT go well, I got results today and hit a few things) that I would have maybe gained some weight going into winter training.
So what was my weight tonight? 118.0 lbs. I friggen lost 5.5 lbs in two months of being idle. What the heck is going on with my body? I need to gain some weight, preferably muscle (leg muscle). Being so light has some advantages, such as higher power/weight ratio numbers, and being able to climb, and being skinny, but it comes with disadvantages to; ordering S or XS or XXS bike clothing, getting blown around in strong winds on high profile rims (even mid-depth rims), and even the smallest bike clothing still being baggy/loose fitting.
Wow, enough of that. I need to pack, sleep, and leave the country. I am bringing my computer and believe I should have wifi, and im bringing my camera, so hopefully I'll be able to keep somewhat in touch w/ cool pictures for the next month. If something goes wrong, I'll be back jan. 29th (I think).
Things I am looking forward to in Italy:
Being able to drink (legally) not that I will really drink all that much, but it will be nice to be able to walk into a bar or a liquor store and not care, especially on the b-day
My 1st passport stamp - been to canada and the carribean, but never europe
Being in Verona, and hopefully trips to venice, cortina, florence, others?
My brother hooked me up with like 30 euro's (mostly coins) from his trip last summer, plus my parents gave me some money to "enjoy the trip with" which was very nice of them
Being in the hometown of Damiano Cunego for a while (and more pro's ?)
Possibly seeing a FIS Womens World Cup race at Cortina, is there snow?
Things I am not looking forward to in Italy:
The euro...exchange rates are not in our favor
Blowing money on things that aren't bike-related
Jet-lag
Flying home the day after cx-worlds, meaning I can't go (have to be at my last class)
Not having a bike (or even bringing bike stuff other than the hrm for "other" training) for 25 days
Ciao!
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
woo woo
2 days to Italy......
I am debating riding. On one hand I have only had 1 true week off the bike since 'cross season. On the other, my 'cross "season" ended before thanksgiving, and I just pieced together rides here and there since then for the most part. The few rides I did were mostly short and easy. I am leaving for Italy in two days and won't have the chance to ride again for 25 days. I will be doing other sorts of excercise there however (gym, running, other sports, etc.). At the least I would like to get on the bike for a short easy spin, but knowing myself I could easily put in two good rides and a short one the morning before I leave...who knows/cares?
Happy new years and all that jazz.
I turn 20 in 20 days.
I am debating riding. On one hand I have only had 1 true week off the bike since 'cross season. On the other, my 'cross "season" ended before thanksgiving, and I just pieced together rides here and there since then for the most part. The few rides I did were mostly short and easy. I am leaving for Italy in two days and won't have the chance to ride again for 25 days. I will be doing other sorts of excercise there however (gym, running, other sports, etc.). At the least I would like to get on the bike for a short easy spin, but knowing myself I could easily put in two good rides and a short one the morning before I leave...who knows/cares?
Happy new years and all that jazz.
I turn 20 in 20 days.
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