What to do?

Distance: 29km
Duration: 1:17:40
Calories: 1063
Terrain: 100% Tarmac
May mileage: 360.6km

Its not often there's cycling on the telly and its not often that its one of the Grand Tours, especially my favorite. I mean we're talking once a year and unlike the Tour de Pooh where the ASO needs to jump on its high horse in Napoleon like tantrums, the Giro is just pure pain. I mean who in their right mind has two tough mountain stages followed up by a 26% time trial. The answer has to be those crazy Romans. The last few week has been amazing with attack's coming from every corner, little Sella making huge time cuts and taking his third victory today moving him into the top-5. Then there's the reigning champ, di Luca making a real fight of it yesterday to move within striking distance on the young guns only to completely fall apart today. The wild Rico making every journalists dream come true with his swash buckling statements only topped by his even braver riding. Lastly Contodor comes to the fore with his quite style of just turning the pedals and like the deadly assassin appearing from no where to take you out. I'm a mountain biker and have not had the pleasure of going out on a road bike but watching the ballet of road cycling leaves me drooling to taste the tarmac with the wind howling around my aero form stretched over the handlebars. This leads to my dilemma, as you can see my passion for watching cycling is on par with getting out there and tearing through the single track. Today would be a pivotal day for the GC but I slept in this morning and really wanted to get a ride in. The proactive choice won over I'm lucky to announce and I was even able to get back for the exciting part of the race. Now I ask you what would you do if faced with this dilemma? A critical day in the mountains that could decide the outcome of the race or hopping on the bike for your required practice.

Giro - Stage 18

Giro 2008 18e étape final
Uploaded by lauryne-75

Giro '88

Probably go down as one of the toughest in history. The 20th anniversary of Andy Hampsten magnificent claim on the Maglia Rosa has arrived along with this year's Giro d'Italia. The name has been popping into my reader more often during this month as the Giro kicked off and the memory of a stage came back into focus of the climb up 8600 foot Passo di Gavia. By what I've read floating around the web this was a stage of mammoth proportions on a good day, sun shining and the robins singing. After an emergency meeting the race directors decided that the stage would continue through the treacherous conditions. Snow was pelting down, sometimes in big flakes near the top but ice cold slush at the bottom. When Hampsten summited the temperature had dipped bellow zero reading -4C on the thermometer. Vaseline, neoprene gloves and wool hats were all put to use but with conditions like these the wind still cut the peleton to pieces. That was just to get to the top as the storm was coming in from the north and the riders still needed to battle down the other side. Although Hampsten did not win the stage, urged on by his director sportif, Peter Post, Bruekink won the stage but left Hampsten win the pink.

Cyclingnews also wrote an article on his current titanium beast that he commutes on and wonders around the hills of Boulder, Colorado. Veolnews is also running a multipart series of articles on him: part 1, part 2, part 3. Andy Hampsten gave an interview and this was one of the best things I've read. "But I knew everyone was terrified… I was scared… So I attacked". Thats the best advice to anyone, when in doubt attack. Read the whole article for his version of events on that fateful day.
If you feeling really inspired by all this and have some spare change clanking around in your pockets, send it to me. No just kidding, but Rapha is offering a limited edition Hampsten Giro Jersey replica, made from wool with all the classic lines of the 80's jersey.

Profesional answer

Kathy Sherwin gives an answer I asked about on tire pressure. Nice technical article for all you bike geeks. Go check it out.

Over the bars

Distance: 13.7km
Duration: 00:58:34
Calories: 876
Terrain: Single Track 40%, Forrest roads 60%
May Mileage: 308.8km

Went for a bit of a flying lesson today. Bent my dropout hanger and luckily had a spare, unluckily it was lying at home. I was going down a rocky section when all of a sudden my front tire bit in, hissed at me and threw me sideways. Obviously not used to single track or just getting me back for not taking her on the trip. The sideways action also landed me on the hanger and bent it. I didn't have a pump as my pump fell out my pack yesterday. The group was at the bottom of the hill and Omri gave me a spare tube and I hopped on the bike only to look down at the funny way my chain was feeding through the dérailleur. I can't say i was to disappointed to be limping home because I was pretty buggered from this week. I had a great ride yesterday and guess my body is still not in the shape I wish it was in. Tomorrow its of the the Meggido, apparently the place where the end of the world will take place. If it happens tomorrow I'll have front line seat's. hope someone lugs a camera along.

Giro - Stage 17 final 2km

Giro d`Italia 2008 - 17.Etappe
Uploaded by hautacam2000

Been on the down low

Distance: 42.2
Duration: 1:56:22
Calories: 1657
Terrain: 70% service roads, 30% tarmac
May Mileage: 295.1

As you can see by the time I'm back on track. Went out after work today for a spin up towards the northern border. Been wanting to check out if there was a way to get to the forests of Hanita only by the service roads so I wouldn't have to ride on the road. I found a way so I will be incorporating this little jaunt into my book of rides from now on, especially as it hits the two hour mark which is what I'm looking to spend on the bike. I didn't go up to the forest but back along the beach road. Was a brilliant afternoon although I started out a bit tired. Difficult coming home from work and then jumping on the bike after sitting on my lard all day staring at my flickering screen. My heart rate shot up really fast which was a further indicator that I was tired but I kept turning and about half an hour in I got into a rhythm, it may have been earlier but i noticed it at about this stage. So just pedaled along in Zone 2, at least high zone two range to get some work into these legs of mine. Went really well and this evening not feeling the Achilles at all. I'll ice them down just before bed time and the tomorrow its back with the group. Won't be doing anything hectic as Ofir has told me to work my way back up building my volume. So all in all a good bike day, as good as I've had since getting back from the trip. I'll try put in about two hours again tomorrow, it'll be hilly so another test of the tendons.

Pushing on

Distance: 37.6km
Duration: 1:40:25
Calories: 1246
Terrain: 50% Asphalt, 50% Service roads
May Mileage: 252.9km

This mornings ride was a great ride, the first in a long time that I was able to push it a bit. I went along the service roads around the fields so that I could get a little grit between the teeth and get the smell of dust in my nostrils. normally I would not be that keen but with my current situation i would probable bath in the stuff. Enough on my personal hygiene and back to the ride. The roads wind between banana and avocado fields with no real climbing just the occasional rise. I managed to keep my heart rate up there and the cadence pretty high. I've found that it helps to keep the cadence high rather than pushing the high gears, a could tip to anyone coming back from an Achilles injury. After getting to the asphalt along the beach where I was pedaling last week I pushed into tempo mode for about ten minutes and felt great. I met a friend along the way, which turned out to be a blessing as i cut back down on my pace and coasted along with him. Great start to the week and hopefully will be building some more as I go along.

Bicycle repairman

Beach ride with Mirit

Kilometers: 17.1km
Duration: 1:22
Calories: 379
Terrain: Asphalt
May Mileage: 215.3km

Really easy ride with Mirit today. We went along the beach, my regular easy morning ride up to Rosh Ha'Nikra. Early out of bed this morning and into an old shirt and pants. I can't say the pace was exhiliranting but it was great fun spending time with Mirit on the bike. We were talking the whole way enjoying each others companies on a brilliant morning. Saw someone actually pull out a fish so there is still some left on our side of the Mediterranean. Stopped just before Kziv beach were there are some old ruins to make some tea. We took the herbs from the garden, mint, zuta and verbena. Lovely sweet tea but looks alarmingly like watered down urine with its yellow tint.
Got back to the house and decided to mow the lawn and work in the garden. Spent about two hours sweeting in the sun so sure it counts as a bit of cross training on top of the easy ride this morning. I'm thinking about taking a ride after the Giro this afternoon. I realized the sun is setting closer to eight in the evening so with a six 'o clock finish I could still get in a descent ride.

Photo's from Mirit's first ride

Went for a ride last weekend with Mirit. Her first ride that we took and I hope there will be many more. Will need to look at getting her a descent bike cause this is a fixed gear and heavy as a tank.

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Single Track

Kilometers: 13.2km
Duration: 1:11:52
Calories: 967
Terrain: Single track in the hills, rocks&drops, bit of pumping. Very dry and packed. Either up or down no flats
May Mileage: 192km

Great to be back on a bit of single track. Been bit unmotivated lately and yesterday didn't go out for a ride. Two reasons for that, firstly the football game went into overtime and penalties and then I was just to lazy to get out in the afternoon. I hate myself afterwards when I don't go out but was pretty tired after not getting much sleep, I knew this becasue I get really grumpy when I'm tired and I was a real grouch in the afternoon.

Back to today's ride. Went out with Erez and Omri into Misgav, one of the top area's for cycling in Israel and the place of last years Championships. I can also add that this is our training ground so I loved getting back after been out of practice for over a month. So played around but I was very gentle on the Achilles and had to jealously watch as they were working on the technical pieces. As you can see we didn't do much but jst going out and playing around in the hills was great fun.

Coach returns

So Ofir, my coach, returned today from the European Champs that took over the weekend. He was there with the Israeli MTB champion, Rotem Ishai. I had a chat with him about the injury and where I can go from here with regards to the season and what I will need to do. Just a short one and I'll be speaking with him tomorrow when I go to team practice for the first time in about a month and a half. Looking forward to getting back onto some single track although I'll just be trundling through so keep my wheels turning. I mentioned I'd been doing hour and a half session's at just above recovery pace. He said this was the best thing to do so I don't loose any of that building, the little I've done this season. Being my first year I'm not sure what to expect after this injury or where I can go the rest of the season. I'll try update on this after I've have a proper talk with him. Today was a rest day and just sitting watching the carnage of the Giro. Man these boys seem to be riding on ice while the chase just put in attack after attack. Hope you enjoying the riding. Today will be a complete sport day for me becasue this evening the Champions League takes place in Moscow.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the mend

Kilometers: 28.2km
Duration: 1:13:38
Calories: 842
Terrain: Flat tarmac
May Mileage: 28.2km

Tender is about all I can say right now. I have not been pushing it but I did up the tempo a bit. Glad to report that no pain but I was aware that I'm coming off an injury. Can't explain how frustrating it is to ride so slow!! Decided I'd also start posting my mileage and monthly miles so I can keep track of it online while I throw an spreadsheet together that I can draw fancy graph's with. I must though give the inspiration to Jill, who would make most of us look like wimps when it came to daily mileage as she racks up the training and commuting miles. Dreaming about commuting to work as soon as I'm feeling 80% without any serious pain. The tendons were creaking today which is weird but luckily not painful.

And down again....

If you read yesterday's post about my recovery, it looks like I jinxed myself. Woke up this morning and the Achilles were tight again... I reckon I will go along with Jason to the next sacrifice to the cycling gods or visit the Museo del Cyclismo.

Up we go

Todays things have gotten much better on the Achilles front. Went for my beach ride up towards the white cliff's of Rosh Ha'nikra. Had the wind in my face for the northern part but kept my cadence high and the heart rate down. I was feeling great all the way up without any pulling or pain so once I got to the turn around point I decided to up the ante. I had the wind on my back so geared up a gear or two and pushed the pedals a bit harder. I was on the lookout all the way back to check if anything was out of sorts but all the tendons were well behaved. Haven't had a ride like that in a while so to my surprise when I got to work I was feeling the legs. It was the first time that I was smirking at feeling the pain in my legs after training. So anothe easy week and I should be on my way back to getting into race shape. Thats a story for another day and right now its just concentrating on taking it easy and resting up. So I'm about to put my feet up, wrapped in ice and enjoy House. There's nothing like dark twisted comedy to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Museo del Ciclismo

If you haven't noticed the first grand tour is underway in Italy. The weather is often unpredictable and we have already been riddled with big crashes and early exists. These guys should have visited the shrine. I'm a keen reader of the Italian Cycling Journal and Angelo has posted some great pictures of his ride to the Madoona del Ghisallo. This is the patroness of cyclists, and actually got the nod from Pope Pius XII himself during the 1949 Giro d'Italia. So we do have someone looking out for us. Apparently the museum has old jersey's, bikes and plenty of pictures. Check out his site for some more pictures. Each photo will take you to the separate entries he has of his ride to the shrine and well worth a visit if you have any sort of passion for cycling:

All images are property of Angelo from Italian Cycling Journal

Painless

Well today I was undecided about riding. Back and forth between riding or not. I wanted to go out this morning but there was lighting and thunder!!! This may sound normal for some folks but over here by the time May comes around water is the last thing falling out the air. So I snuggled under the blanket and went back to sleep. I was feeling my Achilles the whole day, testing to see if it was in any condition to go for a ride. I eventually made my mind up this afternoon to stop being scared and be more positive. After reading Dave's Blog I thought that I needed to be more positive in my outlook on life. So off i went on my merry little way willing my weakest point to keep itself in check. It worked, I think the fact that I was not concentrating on saving my heels from pain and just relaxing to enjoy the ride. I wasn't tense, just turning the pedals at a high cadence but lower gear to keep the pressure off. Anyone coming back from and Achilles injury on a bike should just remember to take it slow. I worked at a recovery pace the entire ride after Monday's ride where I felt the burn coming back when I was anywhere above that. At about three quarters of an hour in I started feeling that they were taking strain so I knocked off the pace and returned home. All in all I did just under an hour and a half. Very easy and relaxed. Another point that I'd like to put ouyt there although I can't test it for sure is that a single speed may improve the recovery ride. I shifted into my desired gear for the cadence I wanted to stay at and kept it there the entire ride without changing again. This may also have contributed to lack of pain but don't put money on it.

If its true

This just came in over the RSS feed I have. Mr Sauser himself has proclaimed that a live feed for the weekends Eurochamps will be available. Popped over to the site to check it out and low and behold there was a link. I hope it becomes a live feed this weekend. In that case my weekend has been sorted out for me. One of my team mates is racing, Rotem, so it should be good to see some action of him live.

So little

Short and Sweet

Can't say that I've been inspired to write about much lately since being off the bike. Seems the two go hand in hand so I'm hoping that I get back on the bike regularly before chasing you all off with to many boring stories about lying around waiting for the healing process to take full affect. From today I'm trying something new when I get home. Instead of flopping onto the couch and lazing my way through the evening reading I've decided to get flexible. I find in difficult to get home and do exercise, not sure why but I'm a morning person. So got a few back strengthening exercises and stretches becasue I had some problems in the beginning of the season. Pretty simple and only takes about half an hour so I don't feel like a sloth. Tomorrow I'm going to try for and hour and a half on the bike, and hour like Monday and then half an hour really easy just to get the legs used to the fact that I want them working for longer than an hour.

Slowly recovering

Not my first ride since my trip but the first training ride. My Achilles has now subdued to the point of being bearable to ride for about an hour. So I headed out early this morning before work for about an hour in zone 2. This is basically a bit faster than a recovery ride but nothing to serious, normally. I haven't held this type of pace for a while and I have to say that at the half hour mark I was feeling it. I pushed through and happily turned at the white cliff's of Rosh Ha'Nikra, our white cliff's of Dover. Glad to be back and tomorrow I'll be out again trying to keep that pace. I need to get into some sort of fitness again becasue we have some marathon's coming up but I doubt I will be able to compete competitively for it because of the lack of training. I'll spend a week or so getting back into things and then speaking with the coach about how to start building back up to a competitive level. Bit of a bummer as I have also moved up to the expert class so I'll not only need to get to the previous level but somehow need to find a bit extra to compete against the more experienced guys. Glad to be back in training though. Short post but tired from the drive back from work. Another stroke of bad luck is that I will need to travel the full distance to work an extra day in the week, that means more hours on the road and less on the saddle. I have thought about taking the bike half way and then doing a bit of a commute so I will let you know how that pans out.

So yesterday was Independence Day here in Israel. Had a great time by visiting the base of Mirit's brother and seeing the jets up close. These jets are massive and when you see them in the air above you doing maneuvers you start to appreciate the forces of the body. A turn is done in a 3-d plain not just left or right. They have the up and down to deal with too, you can actually see how they slide around when they make a turn. So the actual event of the day is the BBQ. The air fills with the smell of burning meat from about ten in the morning and does not leave till you go to bed. I ate like a pig and was more than happy with myself after having my fill.

Quick one

Just got back from a great day. What day could be better than celebrating with a BBQ. Independence day here in Israel is celebrated quite ironically for a country that is constantly under fire by having BBQ. We ate as much meat as the eye's could see with the grill over flowing and needing to call in a second fire place for extra help. This morning also went to an airforce base here, it was the open day and we went to check how these beasts that protect us lok from up close. In one word, impressive. I'll post more tomorrow as we just got back from the center of Israel and I'm pretty buggered. Went for a ride yesterday that I want to tell you about as it might give you some idea's for your area.

Shvil Israel - Day 4

Sorry about not actually giving any info on the rides so far. Thought that the captions would explain more or less what was going on in the photo's. This day we went from YeHarkon Spring to Rehovot. It was a shorter day and one of the hottest. We wanted to get to Rehovot for two reasons. One being the fact that this is where Ofir stay so a so creature comforts were waiting for us. We would have had lunch there and then moved on the the Horashim Forrest for the eveing. The second reason was lunch, there is an awesome restaurant called Lebanese Petra?!?! The name was all to confusing for us but Ofir promised the humus there along with kebab's was brilliant. He wasn't wrong and after suffering to get there it was worth it. We had woken a bit later due to the supper the previous night that was potjie that the girls brought us. This was a mistake in the end as we found ourselves in no-mans land at about twelve either parking off for lunch in a forest or pushing on a bit. The sun baked us good and proper and we were truly well done by the time we reached Ofir's place. This made us less than enthusiastic for the afternoon ride but we thought that as we rode until two we could sleep the night and then be up and out of there early. Proved to be the correct decision becasue we prepared the bikes in the evening and were out the house by half four the next day.

Also apologies for lack of ride report but my Achilles is still in recovery mode so have only been on the bike once since getting back!!! Well I can happily say that the R&R is paying off and keeping it iced as much as possible is doing the trick. I woke up without any pain or pulling so things are going well. We have some public holidays coming up so I may use these to get back into the swing of things. I need to start doing something becasue I have the marathon nationals coming up at the end of the month!!

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Trip to heavan

Shvil Israel - Day 3

Return

On my bike for the first time since getting back from the trip. Been six days since I've been on a bike and more than two weeks since I've been on a bike weighing race weight. We were carrying an extra twenty kilograms around on our touring and the bike was an old beater which added another five kilograms to the tally. The achilles has still, excuse the pun, been my weak spot for the week. I've been limping around trying to save them from as much action as possible. Quite difficult when that basically means I would need to be off my legs. Well I made sure to take it easy this ride and did a ride with Ofir and Omri so they were also still fresh off the long ride. Decided that hills would be detrimental to an quick recovery but still wanted to get back on the bike. We went up to Ein Tamir, translated as Tamir's Spring. You go up a canyon that has a old crusader castle protecting the way. Montfort basically means strong mountain and is one of the old crusader relic's left in the region. A beautiful castle built of white stone and nestled inside the oak forest's endemic to this area. We rode here because the road is pretty flat with a gentle rise to the spring although there is one kicker but I really took it easy up the hill and rode as slow as possible in the lowest gear. So the round trip was about 30km, I didn't have my heart rate monitor with me because I still haven't transfered everything from. Was a bit of a blessing, one less thing to worry about. We got to the spring without any problems and Ofir's girlfriend Orli had joined us. Glad she came along because the pace was more manageable for me. We had some coffee, sandwiches and then a dip in the ice cold mountain water. Quite unimaginable that there would be a place like this in a dry country like Israel but these places exist and its amazing to find them hidden away. Like jewels where in other countries they lie scattered all over. I hope to show more of these gems as I find them. The racing has taken me away from the fun part of riding and to get back to these roots is brilliant.

Shvil Israel - Day 2

The morning cuppa on the brew

Setting off for the day from Nahal Arbel

Lunch?!?!?

Emek HaNetofah