Still in Recovery Mode

The post trip buzz wore off and has been replaced by the reality of what we accomplished in just nine days. I've been trying to come to grips with life again becasue the tiredness of the trip finally made itself felt and I really want a great post for the trip to possibly inspire others to come and visit the country. Unfortunately it would be impossible to convey how great it was to travel across this ancient country was in words. It has also whet my appetite to do more touring like this and I can definitely see my weekends filled with a day or two in the wilderness pumping up the hills with everything on the bike. I can give you a run down of the various days activities and then fill it in but I'm sure you would rather see pictures of a country more associated with war than an epic bike adventure. We would wake up early 4 or 5 in the morning, start packing up while boiling some water for the morning cuppa. If we managed to find bread, it was Pessach so finding bread was rather harder than usual, we would make a sandwich. The first days we had a jar of peanut butter the last half chocolate spread. After our groggy rising and strapping down of the everything, a quick double check and the daily photo we where off. My legs were heavy for the first hour or so and near the end when my Achilles was swollen up until we took our morning break. Mainly we ate dried fruit and nuts as this gave us the nutrients we needed to keep us going till lunch time. After a bit of Turkish coffee, a thick coffee with the granules of ground coffee still in the brew, we would be off. Most days we would have done about forty or fifty kilometers by the lunch time and then we learnt early on it was wise to get out of the sun. I felt like a roasting chicken after 10 'o clock so we would find a bit of shade and have our afternoon lunch, tuna and rice. This became a staple for us although I must say we had various meals along the way as we would find a restaurant or local shop to get a bit of variety. I was never hungry during our trip and also never got tired of the tin of tuna we would each eat after the days completion. I reckon this helped in the recovery because other than my Achilles I never suffered tight legs. We also made sure to stretch after the ride and this also played a big part in feeling good the whole way through. The afternoon session would only start after three or four depending on how hot it was. We would then have a shorter session to our final destination. Luckily becasue of the lack of rain this time of year all we needed we sleeping bags and shared the stars as our cover. I hope the photo's give an idea of how the trip was.

The first day, more to come as I upload

What a trip!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a short one to let say I managed to make it safely through the trip. Plenty of photo's taken, many can's of tuna consumed, litre upon litre of water drank and sun beaten body produced enough sweat to keep the flies away. Full report to come but I'm pretty bushed and the memories of the trip are still flashing before my eyes, sure I was pedaling in my sleep last night lying in a comfortable bed with clean sheets and Mirit lying on my chest. Heaven!!!

The trip is almost here

So our trip across the holy land is drawing near. Two more days and we'll be on our happy way. I can't wait for the simplicity of riding all day, every day for nine days. Also be quite interesting to see if we'll make it in nine days as the route is about 900km. We won't have any rest days due to afore mentioned tight schedule but sure we'll sleep like logs every evening. Also managed to fix the Giant that's thread had gone. A friends uncle took a look and re-threaded the hole and inserted a new bolt into the dérailleur. It may take some doing to undo the bolt now but hopefully won't be needing anything to serious for the next week or so. I'll be assembling the bike this afternoon to its previous grandeur and then taking it up to the LBS for cabling and a last once over from a pro to make sure all's well.
This week I only got on the bike for the first time today. Had an awesome ride with some friends. One of them bought a new Yeti Arc or something to that effect. This of course gave him an extra 10% in new-bike power that wasn't there before. Felt good to push it with him and we ended up having to wait for the rest to catch up. I wasn't idle yesterday as I played a bit of football in the kibbutz. I enjoy playing but yet again I came away with back pain. Every time I say I won't play but then I go down and its the same story. Will I ever learn? Probably not.

Week has only just begun...

And I'm already dead tired. Not sure if I didn't get enough sleep or simply over did it this weekend trying to get things organized and then still putting the rubber down for more than my normal time. Really not sure why I'm feeling so run down but hope I get over it sooner rather than later. felt really good over the weekend but I've somehow slumped yet again into this lethargic melancholy mood. I have started swimming to spice things up and to get my back a bit stronger. I haven't been feeling the back but I want to build it up now before I hurt it again. So I'm sitting here in a half dazed mindset wondering about our trip next week. Got off the phone with Ofir about our ride so we're trying to get some of the final things organized. So I'll sign off now and be back tomorrow with hopefully better news.

Feeling the love

I won't mince my words but the last few weeks I have been shite in practice and completely not enjoying the rides. Just flat with no inspiration to go out there and push a bit harder. i think after the hectic early season we have over here weekend after weekend, racing and training at full tilt i was a bit run down. It all sort of leaped up on me after only just starting and got swept away by the intensity of it all. Like most things that have peaks this roller coaster needed to come back down to earth. Last two weeks have been tough training weeks for me because I had nothing to motivate me to get on with it. There was avoid that I think the professionals are so afraid of reaching after their careers come to an end. You seem to have an emptiness without that adrenaline which kept you pushing your own limits. An example is that I would get up in the freezing cold darkness and go for a ride or spend time in the gym on a trainer keeping myself pumped by thinking about the payoff's. Now the season's have changed, I don't need warmers for either arms or legs. I might start with something warm but I take it off as soon as I've warmed up. The sun seems to be beating me up and there is no more chill in the once crisp morning air. The problem with this new found possibility of getting out there in comfortable conditions?? I just don't have that lust to leave my bed. Work has been an element but still not the main force behind it.
That was until Thursday and Friday's riding. I simply took off from my regular training program and went exploring around the area. I've wanted to do something like this for a long time and now was also the time before our trip next weekend. All in all I put in 100km in just under five hours. My legs were feeling it and I'm wondering how good things are going to go when we'll be doing similar distances in 1 day, 9 days in a row. Helped Mirit's brother set his bike up for their trip with the panniers and rack, quite tricky on a bike with disk brakes and not made for touring. I had a bit of a shock when cleaning my old bike, a Giant Boulder. Decided I'd use these with my panniers that I bought instead of the Epic with the trailer. Problem in that the rear dropouts thread has worn out and you can't replace it becasue is built into the frame. Not sure if I'll be able to re-thread it or if I'll need to make another plan with a spare dérailleur hanger and some super glue. Life is always interesting.

Le Blaireau

I couldn't resist this post about Bernard Hinault. Belgium Knee Warmers is always good for a classic video and their latest offering is no exception. What got my attention was that it is the Paris-Roubaix, one of the races I'm looking forward to watching for the first time. Having just being introduced to the whole racing scene it has been a baptism of fire trying to understand all the terminology and even the faintest of knowledge of the history behind these epic races. Being a mountain biker my fist taste was the TDF about two years ago, I watched it on and off not to interested. Now I can't wait for a race to show on the tellie. Well back to the Paris-Roubaix!! The second thing about the video was that it was the race that took place in the year of my birth. Technically I was still swimming in amniotic fluid at this stage, probably kicking around preparing those meat stick's for their eventual use. Its great to see these old video's, the way the camera still bounces around and the team cars that now fill the roads with their carbon monoxide but were the cream back in the day. The riders also don't where helmets which is pretty weird watching as they still came off the bike as you see in the video. I also can't believe that they were going that much slower than the guys today so cracking a skull must have been a real bother for the pro's. The last little tidbit of info is the winner of the '81 race, Bernard Hinault. I didn't know much about him but after reading a bit I came across his name in the peleton, Le Blaireau. The tenacity of the rider earned him to be named after a badger so I was quite happy to share a nickname with one of the best for a similar tendency that I had while playing hockey. So this is dedicated from one badger to another:

Lemond blah blah blah

So the blogosphere has been on fire the last day or so with posts about LeMond/Trek Royal Rumble. I first came across it on BikeSnob although I think he gave a pretty lame-come-comical thrust on the story. I thought it was another of his ego boosting post's, I really enjoy his writing.. normally. Well if you want a bit of a twist on the story you need to check out Jennifer's take on it. So I've done my bit on reporting this bit of bubble and squeak... onto a less controversial topic.Doping, yes we haven't heard much about this subject for all of five minutes so thought I'd bring it up again. Since the start of the year I started racing and this has brought about a few changes in lifestyle. Firstly I have been getting up really early in the morning to be able to get my training in. Not so much the fact that I mind getting up early but rather that it was mighty cold during the winter months. My diet has also changed for the better, it terms of health not always taste. I have been a bit lax lately and feel the difference becasue I've been much more lethargic lately. Basically before I was only nodding off at work after lunch but now I basically can't open my email without requiring a Powernap. So I'll be going back to my Low GI diet and regain that zip that made me the star in the office. Well this leads into the subject of supplements and to the topic I was aiming for. In the beginning all I used was a bit of water and maybe some dates on a ride. Soon realizing that during a race handling sticky little pieces of fruit with a pip in them was not going to work I discovered the simplicity of gels. OK not too bad I was able to get a quick bit of energy from a small packet without making my gloves to sticky that I couldn't change gears. Next came the drink, water was no longer as beneficial as an electrolyte loaded energy drink. So I was soon sipping Isotone during my laps of tearing down the track and then taking water at the feeding zones. I must say that these two have given me a huge advantage in the races becasue I am actually not depleting my resources so quick in the body. Sure its more complicated than that but I have felt stronger and with a little more in the tank at the end of a race. Lately I have also been advised that directly after training or a race I should be ingesting about 30g of protein. Why you may ask?? Well it speeds up recovery of the muscles. Yet again I have actually felt the difference between a week of missing getting these proteins into my system and it does actually speed up recovery, sometimes by a few days. The catch is you need to get them in within 30-45 minutes of the session. So you can either carry a can of tuna around with you or use weigh protein powder. I was leaning towards the first option but then decided that the joy of adding a can opener to my keyring would wear off far to quickly. My last bit of supplementation is to help with cartridge. Everytime I bend my knees they crack!! I don't mean rub something rubbing against my knee, sometimes you can actually hear the cracking. The weird thing is that it doesn't hurt... yet. About a week ago I started a taking glucosamine and chondroitin tablets. The first is made from glucose and the amino acid glutamine and helps build and repair the cartlidge the second a carbohydrate that acts as oil to keep things moving. From what I've read there is conflicting studies on how effective this treatment is so I'll be trying it on a half year basis to see whether anything stop's cracking.
Now why have I rambled on about all my supplements and what does this have to do with doping? Well as you can see it has taken me less than a few month's to find ways to improve performance. These are all legal things that I have been taking but still they have improved my performance or helped in recovery. So have I not been partaking in the whole doping scandal. Filling the pockets of pharmaceutical companies for the promise of better health in return. If I were to ride more often and possibly become a pro would you not be required to use other performance enhancers. I'm not saying its right, actually quite the opposite. The fact remains though as a racer you are faced with trying to get more out of your body where a bottle of water a a few dates just won't cut it. I can why these chap's would be trying to increase their performance when everyone around them is moving to the front of the pack and all your training is still not help you move up the ladder.
So I leave you with one question: How doped up are you on your average ride?

Society vs Bike Geek

Picking up from yesterday's post about our office co-workers who don't understand us I got into thinking why are we so different. I can't believe I have gotten to the stage where it's us and them yet slowly but surely I have transformed from weekend warrior into full on bike geek. There I've said it, the denial is over and I am now at your mercy. Although mercy is far from what I desire, after all my zen training on the bike, force my legs to grind up that last bit of the hill, mercy is definitely the last thing on my mind. What I would like to understand is how all this came about. One day I was a normal nine to five worker with want for nothing more than to finish work and then enjoy my free time. now I find myself writing on a daily basis about how my training is going, fiddling with my bike when I get home just to make sure she's tip top.... wait, reverse there for a second. Yes I just referred to my trusty steed in a personal form, as you can see this is not just a pass fad but rather a full blown affliction of how addictive and awesome bike riding can become. Sometime, OK, most days Mirit is quite worried that I may one day leave her and ride off into the sunset with Ami(that's the name Mirit has christened her with). So I give myself over fully to this new found joy. Many have tried to resist but now find themselves with that stupid happy smile on their faces on the weekend ride. I'm sure the thought in their mind is: "Why did I not start riding earlier?". Even Mirit who once looked at my spandex arse in dismay is now tempting to get on a bike for a Saturday ride... as long as there are no mountains!!! Need to start somewhere I guess so I'm building her an old beater from parts I've found around the Kibbutz. Not top of the range but by the end of the week she'll have something to ride on. From there I'm sure I'll let the geek virus take over and do its work.

Office bike geek

My collegues at work have been quite impressed with my season so far and come to me every now and again for bike advice. Only just beginning myself it is a bit difficult to give sage advice when you yourself lack the knowledge. They sometimes ask about where to ride or what type of bike they should buy. I think all my talk has infected them because the only time in the day when I light up is when talking about my bike so they sort of understand that its something I'm passionate about. I'd say about three or four of the people around the office have started riding since I began my evangelical proclamation of seeing the light of self propelled bliss. Do I hear a hallelujah brothers? Often I get ot work on a Sunday and they'll wander up to me to start a conversation, generally something like: "how much sweat did you work up this weekend". This of course is just the precursor to their own weekend adventure on our two wheeled friends. Then they jump into their own story and I sit back with a smile on my face as I listen to them explain how much fun they had making it up an epic climb or finding some single track haven. I sit back and smile becasue I feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that others are enjoying and discovering how great it is to ride. I love the fact that they will share these stories with me, somehow I feel that there is a change.
Yesterday I put in my leave for the trip across the Holy Land. My boss came in about midday, I didn't notice a limp but his face gave me the impression I had done something wrong (not that I'd know becasue I'm a model-A employee). We had a bit of banter about the holiday I wanted, saying that the eleven hour days I've been putting in don't equate to some leisure time. All in jest as I said but then he mentions his "weekend ride". Ahhhh. I didn't see that one coming but glad to see he's left the knee jarring activity of running and taken up a more comfortable sport like cycling. he was worried that there was numbness in his legs. I explained that there were different muscles at work when grinding around on your bike. Needless to say he was quite chuffed that he had started riding and I am never one to waste an opportunity to get someone even more interested in riding.
As for training today. Eish!!!! I'm feeling like I have rust in the muscles and nothing wants to get going. Like watching wet wood burn, it just doesn't give that same intensity as nice dry wood. Well I tried to push through and we had some hill intervals, 2.5 minutes up a hill then coast down to the bottom until 3.5 minutes were up. no problem right?? Well the catch was that we had to do this in the big gear, so basically crawling up the hill with a cadence of 60rpm. Not pretty when you felt like I did this morning. We also did spin ups which is spinning at higher cadence. I need some work there because I tend to try and use big gears instead of spinning so I benefit from these workouts. I was buggered by the end and almost didn't finish but thats the great thing when riding in a group, there is always someone to encourage you at the right time. Uriel was there this morning and he is a super strong rider, one of my goals is to beat him so we have a great rivalry. Well he took me apart today but it makes me want to work harder. Reckon I'll be in bed early tonight becasue I think lack of sleep may be one of the reason's I'm suffering a bit.

Back to work

Decided to take ten minutes out of my day to empty my mind. The thing about working on a Sunday is that most people in the world are relaxing next to a pool and sipping cold drinks, well they would be if it wasn't snowing. So our trip across Israel has officially been confirmed, I've put in the time off and ordered the panniers. I would love to say we've been planning like crazy and organization all the needed logistics but alas it is not so. We'll basically take it day by day and see where we get. Luckily this is not like taking a trip overseas where you land in a foreign country and are not sure about the availability of things. Accommodation is taken care of, open starry skies. We decided against a tent simply becasue if it does rain then a miracle has taken place and the water will sure be holy or something like that. Also it's not so cold in the evenings so a sleeping bag will keep the chill at bay. Worst comes to worst we phone a friend and ask them to bring us the tent. Food again will not be a problem becasue the route is not in complete wilderness and we will buy what we need on a daily basis. This again is a weight saving option as well as the fact that I enjoy fresh food. Water is probably the most important thing we'll need to worry about but I want to buy a 3 liter camel back and the 2 bottles on the bike it should be enough to get through the day. Clothing will be kept to a minimum because we'll be spending most of the day on the bikes so will not need any extra clothing other than the things we'll throw on after the day is over. I wouldn't recommend getting to close to us near the end of the trip becasue I'm sure it will have a bit of odour. Getting to the start and from the finish will be done by bus as we can put the likes underneath. I'll keep updating as we find out more info ourselves. The other little point of interest will be the maps and route....

Back on track

Finally end of the week and I was able to relax a bit. Been a bit rough the past few weeks so glad this weekend came around. Problem is that I have been far too busy at work to get riding. This does not equate to happy being, especially after eleven hours at work and then the two hour commute. Wanted to cycle yesterday but then went with Mirit and finished up some stuff that we've been meaning to do at the shops, retail therapy got the weekend off to a good start. For those of you wondering why I'm talking about Friday being a weekend well here in Israel we have the weekend a day early but that also means that we start the week on a Sunday. Bit weird in the beginning seeing as all the good sport is generally scheduled for the end of the weekend when everyone is chilling, here its the first day of the grind. So with that out the way I had today to do my shite. Well actually it was half n half, becasue went up to the LBS to take the BB off an old frame I found in the trash. The bike was in terrible condition with every exposed bit of metal rusted, well except the frame. So i took every thing off and now am converting it into a single speed for Mirit. She has hinted at wanting to start riding so decided i would take my old junker apart and put all the components on her new bike. The frame is all chrome and silver, looks pretty sweet even though it won't be top of the range. Its my first bike build so sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell. Pity I don't have a camera or i could post some pic's along the way. (Note to self: MUST get digital camera) We've been meaning to buy one after our other one was stolen but just haven't got around to doing anything about it. So that took up the morning as I used what tools I had to put the bike together, basically allen keys, a hammer and pliers. Still far from done as I need a headset, seatpost and probably a new BB. Also converting to a SS will be a bit easier as there are no gears to worry about. The bonus is that I will be get new tools along the way so my toolkit will be expanding in the next few weeks.
The second part of the day was even more interesting because this involved actually riding the bike and not tinkering. I must add though that I did enjoy taking the old Giant apart and putting the pieces onto the new bike. Went out for a sixty kilometer loop, took about three and a half hours. Two gels and a Nature Bar later I was back home and stoked that I went out for a long ride again. Got rid of all that rust and I finally did over three hours of riding non stop. I have done it before but not at the pace I was pushing today so it felt really good. Tomorrow will be an easy ride with Mirit's brother Omri. Should be good. Tired now so going to hit the hay. Have a fantastic weekend all.

Cape Epic - Stage 5

Two day special today due to me being up to my ears in work and simply passing out when I got home. I literally collapsed onto our couch after sitting in traffic for two hours. I need to get something closer to home, must bike to work!! OK now onto a more positive note, the Cape Epic. Stage 5 was supposed to be an easier day after leaving the hectic climbs of the garden route behind. Unfortunately 146km is never going to be easy. ALB went head to head for the stage spoils against Bull's Team mates Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm who would take the win for the first time this year. The longest ride of the this years race also saw the tightest finish with the top four finishing within 4 seconds of each other. MTN Energade came in fourth and amazingly Roel Paulissen came in with no rear tire, riding only on his rim as punctures hounding the leaders. The leaders still held a comfortable lead of 18 minutes but then again nothing is comfortable on the world toughest MTB stage race. The leaders did get some help though as bad luck stuck them in the stage today. Their pump adapter was not working and after two failed attemps and one cartridge left Etto Hoydahl 2 came to their rescue. After inflating the tire they discovered that the tire itself was torn so more repairs were made. This all happened at the 40km mark, that means there were still 100 to go. The effort to get back to the front must have taken it out of them as they finished 8 minutes down. Team BBB's take on the day, seems as the days go by just staying in the race is impressive.Jerimiah Bishop and Chris Eatough fell out of top ten contention today finishing 11th. There is still time in the race as these hardy competitors know but they will need to put in some monumetal effort to get to there.The Specialized Team riders are not having so much fun as their partners seems to be much the worse for wear after the grueling stages of the Cape Epic. After Christoph Sauser's exit his team mate Rebecca Rusch suffered similar although more dramatic effects. Christina Begy suffered a fall on one of the steep rocky section's and seems to have broken her collarbone. Luckily medical assistance was on the scene fast enough so we hope she'll recover quickly. Team BBB coming through again with some inside information on how their day went. May be slightly behind but always a good read.

What Darth Vader had for lunch

Cape Epic - Stage 4

Yet another epic day;) Sorry its April Fool's and the silliness has infected me quite badly and been jack assing around all day. Relaxed day for me but not so for our front runners. The Dolphins have arrived and took the lead early on never to look back. Their lead went up to three minutes at one stage but the chasers took up the slack again today to close the gap in the end down to just a minute and a half. Yesterdays sprint finish was repeated again this time for second by the same two teams as yesterday, MTN Energade and Cannondale Vredestein. However roles were reveresed today as Kevin Evans and David George got their own back again only a second separating these two teams. Although not as demanding as yesterday's ride, today's ride saw rolling hill's where the boys with power could show their prowess. A day without hills in this part of the country would be sacrilegious so two lovingly named hills, Heart Break 1 & 2, are thrown in for good measure. If you think that bike racing won't change you then take a look at this article. Thys Dullaart an avid vegetarian has sen his diet altered by this race to no extent. Trek seems to be keeping updated photo's on the race on their team website, I must add that these photo's are of real quality and could be considered art. Links to the regular guys who make this race possible can be found here, team BBB suffering from mechanical problems that we all love so much. Velowoo also seemed to have run into problems but then they did spot an ostrich.

Whose your fool

Well been waiting for today in quiet anticipation to see what the web would spit out at us gullible people's. Creative juices would be squeezed to their maximum and there have been a few stories flying around on this the first day of Spring. If you have not realized or heard GM's lack luster sales will soon be propped up with their acquisition of Specialized. Most of the main blog's have covered it in one way or another. Another fantastic breakthrough has been discovered that will make blending your bike into the background much easier. B.A.I.N.T is a new product of astounding visual qualities soon to be released after passing health and safety regulations. A full article on all its applications can be found here. Sadly I must also report that those bastards at Mountain Bike Riders have decided to sell us out. Evomo have bought them out and we will know be required to read all the droll race reports produced by their riders. Sure there will be some harsh word from some riders as to this disappointing news. On a more distant front, we finally have hope with regards to global warming. The giants Google and Virgin are getting together and forming an expedition to Mars starting 2014. Lets hope they haven't left it too late. the project will sensibly be called Virgle, sign up now before its too late. I'm joining to be the first mountain biker to the top of Mount Pikipiki on the southern quadrant, the highest of the continent.