A new beginning...

After many hours in isolation this weekend, I have decided to turn a corner so to speak. More on what caused that later. However, it will become fairly obvious that the winds of change are not just stirring, but causing a storm. Unlike many other parts of my life, I will make sure to record this so it is not just another vague wish list or set of resolutions. It seems that accountability does have its virtues and I see no reason it would not work again. Apparently while having put on the blinders for the better part of a year and assuming things are a certain way, a whole lot has changed and I have been impervious to these events. Monday August 31st will be a very interesting landmark.

A year gone by...

After checking out everyone's awesome blog posts, I realized I stopped writing my own for the better part of a year. Clearly something had happened.

Not just one "something" but many somethings. A few days before that great club extravaganza with DaniJay and my good friend Damian, I rode a circuit race that almost put an end to my life. Having been off the front twice already, I was being marked when the break that stuck took off. I was already fairly tired as was most of the remaining pack. The course was pretty much an out and back 2-mile loop with roundabouts at each end. I've been in crits where it's just out-and-back and everyone can deal with 180 deg turns no problem. However when you throw roundabouts in the mix there is bound to be trouble.

Sure enough, coming out of a turn, everyone shifted over (echelons ina crit? come on!) and I was pushed from my inside and caught a teammate's calf with my front wheel. This at high rate of speed. I flipped over in mid-air and landed helmet first on the ground with my bike in the air. I bounced off my head and then hit the ground again with the shattering helmet and slid across pavement as my legs and bike finally hit the ground. I stopped barely a couple of inches from the curb which would have been instant death due to my exposed head. Having been in my fair share of crits my first instinct was to see if my bike was ok and if I could rejoin. A few spectators tried to move me but I had intense pain in my right elbow. Later I found out I had a radial head fracture, similar to one I sustained a few years before. No free lap.

After that injury I was never quite the same. The last week of my Europe adventure was spent in Paris visiting with friends and that's where I found I had nerve damage in my lower left leg. Basically I had managed to pinch nerves that help fire the calf and also bend the ankle. Coming back to the US, I felt more like a cripple than a Euro stage racer. Cycling for me was done.

Out of Order

While I've been trying to chronologically catch up to my adventures, I want to take a break from that and tell everyone that DaniJay is the COOLEST DJ EVER! Once I get the pictures off my camera I will post them up. I managed to snag a cool hat, and got a picture with him and an autographed card. Best concert/performance EVER! So if you're sharp, you'll notice it's 5:30 AM here in Spain. He came on close to 3:45 AM to a pretty packed house and played a set close to an hour or so. Check out his site: www.danijay.com Off to sleep now...

Finally...a Good Ride and Day

Yesterday (June 3) I did a very touristy ride with Duilio which involved going into Portugal. Once there we encountered the famous cobblestone sections that Portugal is so well known for. It was pretty fun going up the cobbled road and then descending it I felt the vibrations that Paris-Roubaix guys must feel for miles at a time.

Today (June 4), I finally managed to go out with the "grupeta" or group that gathers by the fountain to get water and ride in the mornings. Fountains are an awesome thing that Spain has. Basically, due to the severe seasonal rains, a lot of spring and groundwater is available and these fountains have been built in the centers of town and in remote locations such as near the middle of mountain climbs, where people can get the cleanest water available. This is for sure one thing I will miss from here since I can definitely taste the difference and I have been told that fountain water is much cleaner and better than tap water. In any case, we went and rode Vuelta al Valle and then ended up adding another 20 km afterwards just for fun and to build endurance. Another odd thing is that people take 20 km pulls when in a group ride. That way the pace is kept at a fairly moderate and conversational pace. Among other traditions is to stop to take a "natural break" about 35 km into the ride where there is a cutout in the rocks. Also a town about 65 km into the route called Baiona which has some beautiful beaches, is the place where everyone stops and buys food at this store nicknamed "La Piluca". Some people even go into the bars and cafes to drink coffee and have a roll before continuing. This training is definitely much different from the mini-races we have for training back home.

Somehow I was at the front while pulling out of Baiona and was riding with Ramon Troncoso who races for Karpin Galicia, a Pro Continental team, and that's when I realized we were going to climb San Cosme at the head of the bunch. Definitely an eye-opening experience. I have not suffered this much in my life on the bike. I was later told that we went up it just a bit slower than they normally would climb it but I was down in my 39x25 giving it my all and trying not to die up the 11 km climb! I started to see numbers that I did not think were available in my PowerTap for that long a period of time. After cresting the mountain, I had a great feeling of accomplishment and I was happy to have stayed up front the whole time!

Anyway, I decided enough was enough and have decided to put up the rest of my Barcelona pics so I can finally start putting up pictures of Vigo, Porrino, Portugal, and all the other cool things that I'm seeing now.

So a quick rundown of the pictures from Barcelona. Up near the Olympic Village, there is an amphitheater which is the first picture above. The second picture is the outside of the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 Olympics. I am not entirely convinced but I think the small protuberance is where the arrow was shot with fire from the Olympic torch to initiate the Games. The third picture is a view of the port area of Barcelona from Montjuic. From a previous post, I ran up Montjuic and after seeing all these great views, I decided to drag my cousin back in his car to check out all these places and take pictures. There I am with Barcelona in the background. Montjuic is so long and steep that there is a lift service to get to the top. There are also a lot of tour buses that go up there as well.

Nourishment! Nuttela and baguettes! Essence of life. The stadium of the Barcelona Football Club that has so many stars is the following pic. Right now the Eurocup is being played in Austria and Spain has won all its games so far and is headed to the finals for the first time in 24 years versus Germany. Hopefully all goes well and this motivated Spanish squad can pull it off!

Two views from the beach in Barcelona. Very warm weather and warm water from the Mediterranean! Beautiful beaches and it wasn't even June yet! The inside of the Olympic Stadium is the next to last picture. I was actually able to do a short stair run before I was chased away by the Guardia Civil. The last picture is of a castle up high in Barcelona. It had some kind of museum inside but there was no time to check it out, it just seemed neat to take a picture of it and its moat with an actual river running around it.

During this flash 1-day excursion I got to see a lot of Barcelona. This is a wonderful city and I hope to have more time to look around a bit more at the tail end of the trip. Onwards now to Galicia!

Pereiro Sighting

Today while riding by myself for the first time, I saw Oscar Pereiro out training. He was just coming home through the "Poligono" which is essentially the industrial area just outside Porrino. It was really cool to be able to finally see the famous yellow jersey winner.

Continuing with the set of Barcelona pics. The first one is the outside of a bullfighting ring and the next one is a very cool-looking building. Barcelona is a very modern city with a really great blend of ancient historical buildings and very forward-thinking futuristic architectural designs. It was definitely a change to be in the Old Continent. I have a few more Barcelona pics to put up and then it'll be time to put up the more recent ones from racing, training, mountains, Portugal, etc...

Hardest Climb

So after last night's extracurricular activities, David and I decided to ride around Porrino a bit. He wanted to show me a few roads and climbs so I would not be so lost. The most impressive part of the ride was the climb up Monte Aloia. This was far and away the toughest climb I've ever done. Although Mt. Nebo in Arkansas is extremely tough and steeper, it is only about 5 km compared to the almost 7.5 km of punishment that Aloia dishes out. The toughest psychological bit is that you actually can see the entire hill at each step of the climb so you can see how much you have left. After that, we went down and tied it with a climb up San Cosme. During the regular group rides on weekdays at 11 AM and weekends at 10:30 AM, we follow the same route called Vuelta al Valle. We climb San Cosme from the longer, but much easier side but today we went up the steeper shorter side. After having climbed it and descended home, I was pretty much spent.

This is another set of Barcelona pictures. The dock at the end of La Rambla and a boat parked there are the first two pictures. The third picture is of a group of friends and my cousin having dinner my last night in Barcelona.

1st Race - Or Not (and Afterhours in Vigo)

So less than 1 day after having my first bike ride, I'm on the team bus headed to a race. It's a 140 km loop that has 4 major climbs. Barely having had much sleep since I got to meet the guys and trying to recover. A very interesting thing is that these guys go to bed close to 2 or 3 AM. The reason is that we all tend to wake up around 9:30 or 10 AM to get ready for the ride that leaves at 11 AM. Therefore, in order not to be hungry we try to have breakfast as close to ride time as possible. I normally go to bed around 1 or 2 AM back home anyway, it's just that that would put me close to 7 or 8 AM here. But I'm getting used to the time change. By the way this first picture is a long boulevard in Barcelona filled with cool street performers (like the following 2 pictures which show 'human statues') and outdoor merchants and bazaars. The last picture shows a really nice shot of a neighborhood where I hung out for a bit and it reminds me of Times Square in New York...
I diverge. After getting to the race, we are told that due to some kind of Galician/Spanish regulation, the team is only allowed to start 2 non-EU riders. Jose Ramos and Dimitry Pozanov are the two guys who get to start since they are going really well. Duilio, Roman, and I don't start and ride the course backwards which means that we get to hit all the climbs, twice, since we have to ride forward before we get in the way of the race. Caputi has an Italian license so he starts. Torres just had a root canal and does not want to have any testing issues with novocaine so he also takes the day off from racing.
Lesson #1 - Pack your clothes. I rode around in thermal bibtights and a long sleeve jersey in 70 degree weather. Not a good idea. Better yet, I HAD packed my short sleeve/leg stuff but I was unable to find it in the duffel bag. Odd.

Lesson #2 - Get your food before the team truck gets locked. I had a full small water bottle that I was warming up with and then when we were told that we wouldn't start and just to ride around, I saw that the truck had closed. It being warm and having to ride close to 100km over the mountains, on 1 bottle made me sad. And worried. By the way, from now on, due to the nature of this, I'll be writing all distances/speeds in metric units. If you don't know them learn them!

So while riding, I started to realize the toughness of the racing here. Duilio and Roman easily rode up the mountains while I struggled mightily. Sure, it helped that they were between 30-40 pounds (I just use km - pounds are what I'll keep using for weights) lighter than I but they had such a fluid pedal stroke and awareness of the terrain. I have 12 weeks here, hopefully I pick up on a lot of it.

Although I did not get to race, I still got to go to the team presentation before call-ups. It was pretty cool to get up on the stage (bibtights and all) and get pictures taken. Ramos finished in the top 10 and Dimitry was in the back of the main pack, around 20-30th. He had an unfortunate fall in a roundabout, about 3 km before the finish but picked himself up and rode himself back into the lead group.

It was finally time to enjoy the mythical Spanish nightlife. David came to pick me up around 12:30 (yes, 30 minutes past midnight) to hang out. We went to his house in Vigo where I met a whole bunch of his friends, about 30 people or so in total. They were mainly hanging out outside his house drinking on the street and trying to not get too rowdy. The rowdy happened once we went in the house.

David lives in a pretty sweet attic space and among the amenities there is a big room with workout stuff, treadmill, his bike, etc. We all just hung out there and had a pretty good time drinking whiskey, rum, absinthe, Kas (it's just soda but sounds hardcore). Around 3:30 AM we decided it was time to hit the town. Normally we would drink in the town square for a couple of hours but decided that it was too late for that. Therefore we just went to a bar until about 5 and then left to go to another one until close to 7 when we decided to call it a night. The interesting thing about bars here is that if you are not done with your drink by the time they close it down (after-hours bars open at 5 AM when 'normal' bars shut down) they give you a plastic cup to take your unfinished drink with you to wherever you end up going next...