Back in the saddle

Solid day. Both ignoring the random cycling news (aka Astana debacle) and ride wise. About 4:15 with Keith, 130km. Started off with 4 of us, but Geoff and Dave turned home a little early with some knee issues. Felt pretty solid for sure. A couple of us are looking at heading to Greenville at the end of February for a solid 100km early season road race to test the legs. Could be good times. Pretty rolling ride, no major climbs though. But a nice solid pace. First day in knee warmers too. A solid high of 18 and some sun. Needless to say, some knee warmer tan lines have begun to appear. Solid. Some stuffed & wrapped chicken to come for dinner soon I feel. Plus Ramsey's Kitchey Nightmares is on BBC next, should be a good evening. Hopefully another solid 4-5 hours tomorrow. Wait and see weather wise, but I hear similar today but a few degrees cooler. House will be changing some in the coming day, a few moving out to the more controlled house for the camp with Denise and a few other younger ones moving in. Time to teach kids how to do dishes I fear. Could be interesting. At least I have a routine now. Just got to avoid the knee issues some of hte boys are having from all the miles and some cold knees. No good. Enjoy your day.

Good day for me, bad for cycling.

Wicked recovery day for me. Pretty sure that if anti-dope came knocking I'm test positive for a caffeine overdose.
I'd write something about the ongoing (and escalating) battle between the Grand Tour organizers and the UCI, but not only would it work me up (and ruin my no stress rule) but enough has been written by many others. For a nice solid rant, check on poor Keir's blog (who seems to have been pretty worked up) or many of the other cycling websites. All I have to say, the rider's union needs to stand up and be heard. The riders are what makes it all work. Take a stand for all.
On a cooler and much less talked about note, I am pretty much an espresso king and full fledged barrista now. Wicked course. Seven of us with 2 teachers with more coffee knowledge than you could shake your fist at. Full day. Started off with espresso basics and tastings. Tried with different grindings, and different pour lengths, and then got down to business ourselves of playing with their multi-thousands of dollar espresso machines. Quick lunch break with the class to a local (and excellent) Indian buffet. Best $8 buffet I've ever had, fresh and well done. Back to class and time to work on espresso bevies (cappuccino and latte) and basically playing with the milk frothers. And of course the usual sampling of our creations. A little work on machine maintenance and we were done. And wired. Back home now and preparing for a nice salad for dinner. Back to riding and business as usual for tomorrow. I'm thinking a good ol' solid 3-4 hour spin. Nothing strenuous. Just spin de legs. You know, 90... 10 rpm.... 53x11... just spin.

Side note: I was fully the only one to be able to make milk explode. Don't worry, its cool now. Apparently when the milk is ready you turn the steam DOWN, not onto the higher settings. Who knew? Now, some coffee extravaganza pictures. Wicked.

Partners in crime: Adam Thuss (l) & Dave Vukets.

Vukets in learning mode by the chalk board.

Me working the machine like a seasoned pro.

Enjoying our cappuccinos like good little cyclists.

EPIC

Cycling never gets easier, you just go faster. That basically sums up my day. My body decided to get into the hurt box and join the team RACE boys (minus Keir) for their 7 hour jaunt through the mountains of South and North Carolina. Some peer pressure may have been applied by a select few... aka Pozzy. Either way, 201km and 7 hours later, I'm home. More named climbs than I could shake my tired fists at, and plenty of fun times. In that weird and painful cycling kinda way. Had a solid 2 hour period towards the second half of the day were I felt like complete garbage, right around the time we hit the Blue Ridge parkway climb, a little after THIS sign...

Not sure about you, but this is exactly what I like to see 4 hours from home.

I gritted my teeth, road my pace and sucked some wheels. Everyone kinda went at their own pace up the Blue Ridge, as it is a roughly 40-45 minute ascent with temps at the top dropping nicely below 5 degrees. We all re-grouped on the descent and demolished a local gas station of its collection of Coke, Pop Tarts, water and my personal favourite - Fried Apple Pie (looks like a fried, icing covered pizza pop, AND packs a nice 450 cal). Back on the road for the remaining 3:30 home. Plenty more climbing to add to our original, but also some wicked (and frigid) descents. I pretty much tail gunned it back into home, and played mental games with myself on some of the longer climbs (basically called myself a wuss if I were to consider letting go of the wheel in front of me). Either way, the first real serious day in the mountains is done, and hopefully many more to come... along with ideally some better climbing legs for me. Belgium, this is not. A nice long shower, an omlette and tea and now some relaxing waiting for an opening in the kitchen to swoop in for some stir fry action. Hope you all enjoyed your day too. Life is good. Ah, yesterday was an uneventful first day in some real climbs with a solid 30-40 minute ascent u towards Cashiers with Mundy and Keir. Good day, road decently. A nice 4 hours to warm me up for todays epic cruise. Time for more food I think, today will be a well deserved off day. Spending the day with a few of the boys in Ashville taking a wicked looking barrista course. Counter Culture Coffee. Check it.

Interesting stats for the inner bike dork in you:
Total kms: 201.2
avg speed: 28.5
max speed: 90.1km/h
Energy cosumed: 3740Kj

Let the good times roll

First 'real' ride yesterday went well. Not magic kinda dancing on the pedals kinda feelings, but not pedaling squares with lead legs. Managed a solid 4 hours (115km) with Keir and Geoff. No real route, though the rolling terrain and weather were quite agreeable. Did have to ask for directions home at a gas station at one point, but otherwise no worries. And of course leave it to Keir to try pushing the pace on the last couple climbs on the way home. Luckily I remembered to back it off a bit and me and Geoff chilled it out a bit and let the leash go. On the other hand, I dusted the little bugger in his "town line sprint challenge". Looks like I'll be taking the sprint jersey into today's climbing stage, while 'Il pirate' (Kier) will be pulling on the climbers jersey. Today appears to be a little more climbing, still finalizing the route, but appears to be made up of myself, Keir, and Mundy. Geoff and his Maglia Nera will be doing his own shorter ride to try and find his legs. Got the workings of a sweet long day planned out for Wednesday... all I can say is Caesar's Head. Looking like a solid 5 hours or about. Then rest Thursday with the cool looking Barista course. Nothing like spending a rest day learning about good coffee.

Settling in

Day 2 here, and life is beginning to settle into a grove. Bed at 10, up at 7 eat, ride, recover. There are many benefits to being an early riser in a house with so many occupants, most importantly is full kitchen access. Generally at the 7am mark it appears to be myself and Keir taking full advantage of this situation. Share a coffee and chef up some eats. Today: pannakoken with apple slices grilled in brown sugar and a little butter. Then comes coffee and the morning internet checks. Everyone has their morning routines, long rides are busy planning their routes on google maps. By 8, there seem to be about 5 or 6 of us in the kitchen while many continue snoring away. Its a good time. Managed to squeeze in 2 nice spins yesterday in the sun. Hit 17 degree. A little windy, but a very welcome change from the -17 I see some are dealing with back in Ottawa. Not that I'm rubbing it in, I'm just saying. Had a quick relax session after groceries (a relatively expensive expedition to start from scratch) and then out for a another spin for a tad under 2 hours. Legs started to feel as though they were coming around for sure. No longer the squares I found myself pedaling on the morning jaunt, but much more fluid. Dinner appears to be the most hotly contested and tricky hour in the house. Generally you find all 9 boys getting hungry around the same time. And with one kitchen and limited cutting boards and pots, you can see the issues. Basically a system comes similar to an assembly line. Yesterday I tried the tactic of early dinner. Worked well with good access to equipment, but after finishing my jalapeño and herb stuffed chicken (prosciutto wrapped with sweet potato and lentils) I found it to be 6:10. Hunger hits again before bed at that kind of time line. Perhaps today will be a wait until the end of the kitchen rush. Got a solid 3-4 hour easy ride planned with Keir and Geoff today. Going to head out a bit to find some climbs and give the legs a bit of a better test. Not going to lie, I'm pretty pumped on this idea. Not sure what dinner will bring today, but I've got enough stuff to be able to chef something together. Should be able to grab some more photo action from the ride and perhaps of our humble abode.

Photos

Driving through New York State as the sun is coming up. Not really visible due
to the ridiculous weather.

The sunset driving through Virginia. Getting close.

Unfortunately it was not Tuesday. Though that could have been a good thing for the
smell of the car.... This is also a good sign you've reached the Southern US.

Welcome to our "mansion" here in Seneca. haha

Out for a morning spin on day one with Geoff. Nothing like a spin in with the sunrise.

Arrived.

16 hours in the car. Snow and nasty until West Virginia. But then sun and warmth down here to the wonderful land of South Carolina. Got in about 11, after a few wrongs turns on side roads reminding us of a bad horror movie. But we found the place. Pretty much by driving down the street and looking for a house with cars with Ontario plates and bike racks. To be fair, its pretty hard to miss our place... its basically a mansion. We are pretty full right now, at capacity one might say, with 9 of us here. Got some pics to come, but gotta get out for groceries first. Geoff and I woke ourselves up with the sunrise and hit the road to spin our legs. Hour and a half of quality easy spinning, with a few canine induced sprints thrown in for good measure. Perfect way to start our first day here. High of 16 today and bloody clear skies. The boys are heading out for a solid 5 hour jaunt, be we figure that may not be the best plan for Geoff and I. Relax and easy are the order of the day. Otherwise life is as good as can be after nearly 1800kms driving in a day. We did stop 3 times for gas and once for dinner. 'Mac n' Bobs' restaurant. Seemed more funny and appealing than McDonalds. Me and Geoff are currently rooming with my boy Evan Mundy, but will soon have the room to ourselves when he moves down the road for the camp. Its time for some work. Maybe a nap. Cause I'm a cyclist.