Monthly Archive for December, 2010

I am tired!

Published on December 30, 2010 in Biking. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Well there you have it.  I have been sitting on my computer for about 4 hours since we got home and I sent about 3 emails, read 4 blog posts, listened to some music, and that’s about it.  I have work to do and I wanted to write this blog post a couple recipe posts, and even though I did clean my bike, put my laundry on, eat dinner, and drink a beer, it’s almost time for bed and I haven’t done everything.  Certainly not for lack of available hours, but I have been functioning at about 50%, half asleep since I got in the car after the race in Bredene today.

I knew I was tired when I woke up this morning at 10:00!!  I jumped a little and opted to skip my morning devotional to get ready to leave at 10:45.  I made it with no issue, but I guess I needed the rest.  I have been staying up a little later than I should the last few days, what with friends and family and work, but that’s my own silly fault.

I could tell my legs were feeling the last few days as soon as I got on my bike today.  But what are you gonna do about that?!?  Get on the line and race your bike!!

So that’s what I did.  It was a slightly smaller field today with a little less depth, but none other than Styby, Sven, and Neils took to the line (and the 3 podium steps).

I had a pretty good start, moving through the holes again.  I kept my elbows out, chopped a few people (sorry Craig), and felt like I was going pretty well.  Things were not going well on the two long straights on the course.  I was going well on the corners and felt like I was just riding well.  I just couldn’t hold the pace.  I tried as hard as I could to pick up the baseball bats that are my brake hoods and smash it out of every corner and drive as hard as I could, pushing my bike around like the boss taught me.  It helped.  I was spent at the finish.  And by “finish” I mean when I got pulled.  With all these skills and abilities I’m developing and honing, soon that “finish” really will be the finish!  Lead lap here I come!

Oh, and I got to wear whitey today!  I’ll see if it actually came clean in the wash…  But it’s funny how this was a dry race in Belgium, but would be called muddy at home in North America.  I forgot to take a picture of my bike after the race, but it certainly wasn’t sparkly clean.

Here are some photos from current Chainstay resident Tiffany Hore:

Waiting to line up. With some of the Americans for the last time.

Whitey becoming not so white anymore

Um... setting up for a descent?!

Looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow!

::SAdamson

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Azencross

Published on December 29, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

So I had a good conversation yesterday with Adam.  We talked about what I’m doing here and what I came to get out of it.  We concluded that while I don’t want to embarrass myself and make all of you proud, I came here simply to experience, learn, and improve.  And that, I can guarantee you I’m doing.  I know that I will be able to take all of this and be able to pass it on and that it will make me that much better of a coach.

From there we decided that I can’t use that as a reason to give anything less than my best or as an excuse to suck.  The goal for today was to push the limits, race my bike as hard as I possibly could, stick my elbows out, fight for every single position, and just put it all out there.  When we watch the race videos after I realize that the leaders, the best in the world, aren’t riding a whole lot differently than me, just a heck of a lot faster!  Especially in Diegem, Adam noted that they are just absolutely flying and don’t seem to care that if they crash that it will be spectacular, after all, that’s what it takes to beat that guy you’re with.

But back to today.  It was Azencross. A cyclocross classic.  I remember watching it on tv with Greg and Kyle the first year I came over; Albert won it, racing as a beloften with the elites, and it was kind of a big deal.  The next year I raced it myself and wasn’t absolutely in love with the course.  It was hard, there was lots of mud and a bunch of running.  And I’ve always struggled on the whoops; I remember losing 2nd place at nationals in 2006 to Aaron basically on the BMX track in nanaimo.  I know that if I have kids, I’ll want them to wantto race BMX; talk about building skills…

This year I had a more positive attitude going into the race and of the course.  I liked it.  It was muddy.  And it was going to be hard!  I had done 2 preride laps and thought I knew the course and could just go back to the car, but I thought, hey, if I want to learn, why not do another lap and figure out what I could do differrently and/or better.

There were about 75 starters today and when they got past about 50 on the call-up everyone basically swarmed.  I ended up in a decent position and had a good start, avoiding the crash and holding my position on the long pavement straight.  When we hit the mud, it was pretty chaotic, but I felt like I was moving by people pretty well and was able to stay on my bike for most of it.  I felt like I was riding well and getting good lines.  I even rode the whoops reasonably well on the first lap.  But coming down the finishing straight, concluding the first lap, I was toast and just could not pedal any faster.  I was having trouble shifting into my big ring, but I don’t think it would have made any difference as I watched the group of guys I wanted to be with ride away from me.  From there I just kept trying to ride as smoothly as I could and fight for every second, for every acceleration.  I did pretty well.  I think I tried to ride too much of the mud and should have just ran.  I was hurtin’ like crazy and put everything I had onto the course today!  And I was having a lot of fun!  Cyclocross is awesome!

Beauty bike change! Thanks Rick, Hans, and Gregg!

Bredene tomorrow.

::SAdamson

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Oof! Hurtin’

Published on December 28, 2010 in Biking. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

I’m feeling really beaten up tonight.  I just finished two races where the courses really took their toll on me.  I was getting thrown around by all the ruts, crashing, trying not to crash, trying to ride the lines.  All my supporting muscles are really sore, my hips, my glutes, my back.  My knees and ankles feel beat up.  I’m just a mess.

But I’m racing cross!  And I love it!

I wasn’t feeling super excited when we got to the course today in Diegem.  We were a little later than I wanted to be and registration was more like a wild goose chase, so I didn’t get on the course before the Beloften.  But we did have a fair bit of time bfeore our start under the darkening Belgian sky, so I still got a solid warmup and checked out the course.  Once I got on the trainer, threw some DJ Sparls in my ears, and chatted with Dan Seaton on the record for Velonews and I was good to go.  And when I rolled onto the course with all the spotlghts I got really excited.

I strted right near the back again, but I was moving up really well through the first few sections and was feeling good. And then a few more sections go by and I’m at the back… How the heck does that happen?!?

I was behind this one guy that I thought was going to drag me back up to the group about 50 meters ahead of us, but instead he kept slowing down and getting in my way in the snow.  Took me a little while to get around him and then I put on a yard sale on the snowy descent into the woods and the group ahead was gone.  So I just kept riding hard and trying to ride the ruts as well as I could.  Once I got into a bit more of rhythm, I was feeling good and thought it was going to be a good day.  I had another pretty good crash and went to the pits.  And then the next lap I was pulled… dang.

I really am struggling, trying to figure out what I’m doing here.  Am I an embarrasment?  Am I just developing and it’s taking time?  Do I have what it takes?  Should I resign myself to the local series’?

But I am here.  And I am committed.  I am improving.  So get over it and keep going!

::SAdamson

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Zolder World Cup

Published on December 26, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Now that Christmas day has passed, it’s time for more bike racing!  Or maybe we should call today the silly parade…

It was just crazy out there today.  The course would be a bit on the technical side if it was dry or even slightly muddy or snowy, but there was a lot of snow out there.  It wasn’t really packed down at all and there were crazy ruts all over the place.  And that was on the flat, straight, “easy” sections… then there were the descents and climbs… oh my!  At least the sheet of ice that was the start/finish straight on Thursday was melted and wouldn’t cause issues.

I was feeling pretty good going into today, but just knew it was going to be crazy.  It was going to be the guy who just rode steady and didn’t make too many mistakes that would come out on top.

Being on the back row on the start, I gave myself a running start, moving back about 5 meters.  It worked well, but the insanity began as soon as we hit the snow.  I was explaining my first lap to Gabby as I was cooling down and said, “…so then I got off and ran, and then I ran to the next corner, and then I got on for about 5 meters, then got off and ran again, ran all the way through the pit, and just kept running, got back for the next road section, then ran up the little uphill, and kept running and then down the hill and then back up the hill, and then I rode for a bit, then I ran down to the U-turn and back up, then I actually got to ride for a bit, then hit the ruts by the second pit and ran some more and couldn’t get back on with all the ruts, and then I tried to ride the next little uphill, but screwed up because I couldn’t clip in with all the snow, then ran some more… I actually got down the sketchy descent without crashing, but had to run the bottom through all the ruts, then up the “wall” and all the way along the next 2 sections because of the ruts… I made it down the next sketchy descent, but ran the last little snowy, then hit the ramp down to the finishing straight and rolled through, having completed one lap about 3.5 minutes slower than the leaders… oh boy!”

Yup, I definitely ran over 3/4 of that first lap.  You would be riding along in the snow, hit a rut, and then crash or get stuck.

Nope, that's not the line...

My second lap was definitely better as I didn’t really have anybody in my way and could just ride my bike.  Well, sort of… at least I had a clean shot at each section.  I really did think I might get pulled after only 2 laps (which would be pretty embarrassing), but I got out for a third (starting it about 6 minutes down now) and it got better, but I knew I wouldn’t get to do many more laps.  I crashed on the long steep descent on my second two laps and got caught by Niels and Lars just after the “wall” for some quality tv time for Cycle-Smart.  The camera missed my wicked crash on the short steep descent on that last lap (not sure if that’s a good thing or not), but I now have a wicked charlie horse on my right vastus medialis.  Hopefully that will go away for Diegem tomorrow.  I’m pretty excited to race there again; it was the first race I ever did in Europe and a course that I’ve really liked.  Until then, rest up.

Beardy (Brian Matter) and Beardy jr (me)

::SAdamson

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Merry Christmas

Published on December 25, 2010 in Biking and Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Merry Christmas to all of you!  I am sad to be missing Christmas in Canada, but I do really want to be a cross racer and Belgium is where you seem to need to be.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and gets to spend time with people they love!  I know I am away from my family, but I am having a great Christmas with everyone here at The Chainstay.  We had a fantastic Christmas dinner last night, with far too much food, drink, and fun.  I then tried to make the venture out to midnight mass in Oudenaarde.  I rode downtown and couldn’t find anybody and all the doors were locked, so I just came back home and went to bed.

When I got up this morning I found out that I didn’t go to the church, but to the old town hall… oh.  I guess I should have asked for more directions.

This morning we enjoyed some Christmas-shaped pancakes (Thanks Gregg!), opened stockings, and lounged around.  I guess it’s time to go ride bikes now…

I’m excited to skype with my family tonight (their Christmas morning) and just enjoy Christmas!

Then comes Crossmas…

  • December 26 – Zolder World Cup
  • December 27 – Diegem Superprestige
  • December 29 – Azencross
  • December 30 – Bredene
  • January 1 – GP Hotel Threeland in Petange, Luxembourg
  • January 2 – Waregem B race

Should be good times!  Hopefully I can keep you updated regularly!

::SAdamson

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Scheldecross

Published on December 18, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

I was looking forward to the race today.  I remember racing Scheldecross in the mud the first year I came over when Andrea came over from London to watch and hang out.  And it was the first race I did when I came over the second year.  That course was cold and icy and the wonderful Marc helped me out in the pit (Marc also got second in Lichtervelde today!  Congrats Marc!).

I liked the course and was looking forward to racing around in the snow and ice again today!  I was definitely cold all morning, loading up, and driving in.  It was -5 when I got up and checked my computer.  Eek!  The drive in was slow with snow, accidents, and traffic.  Gabby was a little rushed, but I was able to get in 2 laps with her and check out the course.  It was going to be fun!

I was feeling pretty good on the course and was just happy and feeling ready to go.  I ran into a very cold Lyne (her bags still haven’t arrived, 36 hours later!) before the start and talked to Jon Page while we were rolling around before the start.  We talked tires and pressure.  Today seemed to be one of those days where everyone was all over the board.  I went with rhinos at 1.42/1.5.  I probably would have been just as well off with my grifo/fango wheels, but I just happened to feel comfortable on the other tires.  I do like running low tire pressure!  I was bottoming out on a couple sections, but for the most part everything was money!

I forgot to bug the guys at registration about my UCI points and got called up almost last, but such is life.  This was a large field, with about 65 starters.  I knew it was going to be a bit crazy with a slushy road 180 and then a slushy right onto the snow-covered grass.  I was second-last on that right turn.  I love being able to watch the races on tv when we get home… even if I don’t get to see much of myself (yes, I am that vain), I do get to see how the leaders ride sections and what I can do better.

I did start to move up and pass guys here and there with all the congestion.  It really is weird having the first lap be the easiest of a cross race.  There were guys getting off to run on all these relatively easy corners, so I would just slow down, set up my corner, and ride the section.  I was just off the back of a large-ish group and was trying in vain to get up there.  I could see Bart Hofman (a guy I recognize from lots of the B races) up there and knew that would be a good place to be.  But I just couldn’t get there.  I did have a few guys that I was going back and forth with, but eventually ended up mostly by myself and then I kept making mistakes, thinking far too much about other things or getting ahead of myself.  Funny how normally you would make those kinds of mistakes when you’re trying to close gaps in front of you or open gaps behind you, but I was making them when I was all alone.  I really tried to focus and when I could see that the leaders were just past the other pit as I was going by and really thought I could make the lead lap.  I would have been really happy with that.  But I didn’t quite make it and got pulled after 6 laps.  Dang!

It was a lot of fun out there today.  I was really digging the course.  I kept hearing lots of people cheering for me and I saw Gabby cheering at one.  Thanks Gabby and congrats on your 10th today!

Tomorrow is another day, another race… the Kalmthout World Cup!  Watch it live here.

::SAdamson

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Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad

Published on December 17, 2010 in Chef Shaun. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

I seem to either have a million things that I want to make on any one night or nothing at all.  Right now I’m in one of the million ideas time, so get ready for a whirlwind of (hopefully) delicious recipes in the next little while.

The first is a simple one and would make a good side dish or small-ish meal.  The proportions are what I ate for dinner, so expand as necessary.

Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad
adapted from Mark Bittman

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 medium sweet potato
  • 1/2 red bell pepper
  • 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  1. Heat large sauce pan over medium heat, add olive oil.  Heat gently, then add onion and cook until soft.  Add quinoa and water.  Stir gently and cook with the lid on for a few minutes.  Add chopped sweet potato.  Cook over medium heat until almost done, about 10-15 minutes.
  2. When quinoa and potato are almost cooked, about 10-15 minutes, add in chopped bell pepper, stir into mixture, put lid back on for a few minutes, finishing cooking the quinoa and potato.  Remove from heat and stir in balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste.
  3. Enjoy.

::SAdamson

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Happy Birthday Gregg and Gabby

Published on December 16, 2010 in Chef Shaun. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

It’s been pretty quiet around here lately; it’s just been myself, Craig, Gregg, and Holly.  That won’t last long… Gabby came back yesterday and the rush of people coming starts today.  I think there will be about 10 people here over Christmas.  I think we’re going to have a Christmas dinner, a little gift exchange, and hopefully midnight mass!  CHRISTMAS!!!

But first, today is Gregg’s birthday and Gabby’s birthday was while she was visiting home.  So yesterday I made them a cake and we all had a piece.  It didn’t look great or serve well, but it sure tasted great!  I got the recipe from simplyrecipes.com, one of my favourite recipe websites.  But I also adapted an idea from May Contain Nuts.  I just made one pan carrot cake and one pan zucchini cake and then layered it like you normally would with 2 of the same with cream cheese icing.

Carrot Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
adapted from simplyrecipes.com and May Contain Nuts

Cake:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp baking soda
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup oil
  • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 large shredded carrots (~1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 large shredded zucchini (~1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 cup apple sauce

Frosting:

  • 300g cream cheese
  • 6 tbsp butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter two cake pans (9″ round would be ideal, but I used 4×9″ square, which is all I had).
  2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.  Add butter, oil, and eggs.  Beat well.  Fold in apple sauce.
  3. Divide mixture into 2 bowls of equal portions (I weighed them).  Fold carrots into one bowl and zucchini into the other bowl.
  4. Pour batter into pans.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, moving pans around as necessary, until edges have pulled away and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean (the zucchini cake must have had more moisture, as it took about 10 minutes longer).  Let cakes cool.
  5. Meanwhile, prepare frosting.  Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Sift in sugar and beat until mixture is lump free (my hand got tired and I didn’t have an electric mixer, so mine was still a little lumpy… tasted fine).  Stir in vanilla.
  6. Place carrot cake on plate or cake server, frost with icing.  Place zucchini cake on top and frost with more icing.
  7. Enjoy!

It didn’t look absolutely amazing and the cakes lacked vertical sides and were a little too tall.  Let’s call it rustic. But boy, did it sure taste good!

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Cyclocross racing

Published on December 13, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

I woke up kind of late on Saturday, maybe I was tired or maybe I stayed up too late.  But I still had lots of time to eat and get ready to go to the race in Varsenare.  I had also become more and more comfortable with getting ready, driving, and functioning at the races, so I was cutting the time closer and closer every day.  I wanted to leave at 12, but this day that meant leaving my computer at 12, then going to pack my bag, get dressed, and load the car.  Oops.  I still had time to get there and would be fine, but the address I got off the website was wrong and lead me down a bunch of small farm roads to a dead end.  Hmmm…

What scares me though is how easily I was thinking I could turn around and just go home…  But I didn’t, I knew I couldn’t quit before I even started.  I had quit a few too many races, a bit too easily while in New England in September and October, so when I came to Belgium I gave myself the one small, simple goal of not quitting anything!!

So I continued on, went to the town center, drove around in a few small loops and then found some bikes and was waved into a perfect parking spot right by the gate.  Excellent.  Now get ready, check out the course, sign-on, warmup, and go!  Luckily I found none other than Mr. Wellens himself, Bart and Geert’s dad, to take my bike to the pit!  How cool is that?!?

I was liking the course, it was just tacky with a few little muddy sections. I wasn’t feeling great in my warmup, but I knew that I wanted to ride well and ride hard for an hour.

The start was killer. The road was really narrow and everyone was drilling it.  Then it went into a couple tight corners where the whole field jammed up.  I was probably in about 20th. Not even a lap in and I was already off the back of the first chase group…

I was certainly feeling the effects of a pretty solid block of training during the week.  All in the hopes of some solid rides over Christmas and the Kalmthout and Zolder World Cups.

I did have a few guys to battle with and knew I just wanted to ride well and beat the guys I was riding with. I couldn’t believe it was 7 laps to go when I came through after 3 laps… an hour can be so long!  I finished strong, but I lost the battle with the guy I was riding with in the last straight. I was DONE!

I wasn’t feeling too bad on Saturday night and luckily my bikes didn’t need much work, so I just got to rest and go to bed at a reasonable hour.

On Sunday morning I was moving pretty slow and had to work to get motivated.  But I did.  I just kept thinking of all my friends racing at US Nationals.

There were no issues getting to Uitbergen and Craig and I had given ourselves plenty of time.  The course wasn’t really very interesting, just lots of slow, power, mud sections, a bunch of turns, some barriers, and whole lotta bumpy. It was going to be hard!

My back was hurting already after 2 preride laps. I was pretty sure I had the lines and corners dialed though.

There were only 24 people and the field wasn’t super deep, but the top end was still there.  I struggled to find a group on the first lap and was gapped off the lead group.  I found a couple guys to ride with, going back and forth depending on who got a good line through each section, but in the end it was mostly just powering through the mud.

I was able to turn it on in the second half more than I should have been able to, maybe I wasn’t going hard enough in the first half, but I was hurting.  I would try and stand up and my arm would hurt, I would sit down and my back would hurt, I would pedal harder and my legs would hurt.  I just hurt and rode hard.  I did manage to ride in for 16th and definitely I got something out of it.

Hans and his father-in-law were awesome again!  Thanks for everything!  Enjoy the carrot cake!  And then Hans invited us over (they live about 4km from the course) to have pizza (they live above a pizzeria) and watch the recording of the race in Overijse.  It was a good time.

From there we came home, unloaded and got ready to watch the coverage of US Nationals!  Even if it wasn’t even close to Belgian standards, it’s great to have live coverage of this stuff.  I was really rooting for Jeremy and I was almost brought to tears when he crashed.  It’s bike racing, but sometimes it’s just too bad.  Congrats to Todd again of course.  He rode a good, clean race.  Jeremy, you are still my hero!

::SAdamson

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Where am I?!?

Published on December 11, 2010 in Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Sorry for the lack of posts, but not doing anything is making me even lazier than normal… that, and I’m not doing a whole lot worthy of posting… but I do have a bunch of thoughts rolling around in my head, hopefully they’ll get on here soon.

But I’ve been in Belgium for a little over a month now.  How time flies.  I was able to get a real block of training in this week, but I realized that I still have no where the roads go or any idea which direction anything is.  That is a good way to rack up some duration when not entirely motivated… go get lost, then try and find your way home.

I took some cool pictures, but I accidentally deleted them when I was playing with my phone.  I also found the start grid for the race in Otegem, one I did the last time I was here and probably will do again this year.

I was thinking I had more stuff to say, but I can’t think of anything now.  I just wanted to update you all a bit and let you know a little about the goings on here in Belgium, at TheChainstay.  It’s been great so far and I’m looking forward to the next couple months.

I did race today, and I will write a report, but it’s late and I’m tired.  And I have to stay up late tomorrow to cheer for all my friends racing at US Nationals.  Check out the live coverage on cyclingdirt.org.

::SAdamson

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