Fourth Festivities

Wee-man is taller than my son

Wee-man (Jason Acuna) from the highly acclaimed MTV series and movies “Jackass”, is on a USO tour of Europe with Monster energy drinks and stopped in on base yesterday for autographs and photos.  Gavin and I stood in line for 30 minutes to get this pic and autographed picture.  Very nice guy with plenty of enthusiasm cracking jokes the whole time.

It turns out I have not developed any symptoms of TBE, so my little tick friend was a dud.  Speaking of duds,  the geriatric minor leaguer (aka National league) Smoltz may have been the biggest off-season screwupacquisition for the BoSox, getting shelled last night and giving the Nats a victory.  Hopefully the US’s  football victory over Spain made the front page of U.S. papers.  The nationalism that comes with World cups and Federation Cups is something we as Americans can learn something from, the time when ignoring world football, written off as a third world sport is over. 

To the hell with 20 million dollar shiesty athletes.  Pay teachers more, pay good teachers even more, give us a choice of universal healthcare, take care of the people in uniform when they return, and don’t give Michael Jackson’s death more than a few minutes on primetime.

This weekends race, part of a series, was cancelled with a mere week of notice, due to lack of interest as I understand it.  Their excuse was something more like a conflict with national races, but I only see one UCI cat 3 marathon on the same day, but I’m going to opt for big training miles, a local fest in Amberg,  and catch Transformers (english theater) in Nurnberg.

Hohenfels USFE

Saturday we drove south to the 4th race of  the U.S. forces Europe mountain bike championship race series.  The is the first one we have made it to, the first one being in Aviano, Italy, which we will make it to next year.  This race has the reputation as being one of the most brutal courses in Germany, the guys added more singletrack for this year’s installment making it a 15km lap, with 60 or so percent singletrack, the rest two track and rough grass sections.  I was thoroughly impressed with the course, felt like being back in Colorado on the Super Loop race course in Winter Park.

Much to my disappointment, the directors decided on just 2 laps, I was campaigning for 3.  A Leman’s start was in order, and I got my bike moving behind only one other who I passed within the first few seconds, and basically didn’t look back from there.  First lap was good, building a 10 minute lead, but the second lap I lost some motivation and ended up giving back 5 minutes.  I must say this course challenged the handling of the 29er like no other has with some very tight, twisty stuff. 

Crossing the finish line.

Angela had a super race, winning the overall women’s class by 13 minutes!!  If only the BWRE kits had arrived by Friday,  they would have been on the podium.  Overall, I finished 1st out of 25 competitors, one of them winning the 2 previous races where I did not attend.

Up next is the Hirschau marathon where the start is 5km from our front door.

Can’t concentrate

This is the little blood sucker I dug out of my leg, which has a high probability of carrying the tick-born encephalitis virus.  TBE is rampant in Bavaria.

I may have only days left of normalcy as my neurological system may begin shutting down any moment, causing possible paralysis and death in 1% percent of the affected.

Down with the Sickness

I have been disturbed for the past few weeks with a cold that has over stayed its welcome, caused me to cancel a few races including this weekends Germany marathon championships in Garmish, and ran up a huge kleenex bill.  I refused to see a doc and be prescribed anti’s, even though they probably would have shorted the virus turned bacteria infection by a few days.  But conditions are on the upswing, except the weather, where the “Sheep’s chill” has arrived to Germany dropping temps dramatically.

I’ve been contemplating a new frame upgrade for next year and I may have just found it sitting next to a river in the Bavarian Alps.

The T-ball season is coming to an end tonight, of course we don’t keep score, but we are unofficially undefeated and expect to claim the championship tonight. 

Last weekend Angela and I did get out for a little exploration of singletrack, and this one ended up at a sports bar/biergarten, as all one track should.

Spent Memorial weekend in the Alps camping, sort of, and the views were smashing.  If I ever take the time to get a flckr acct, you will find them there.  Don’t hold your breath.

Drove through Austria a bit then back into Germany to visit the castle that Disneyland was modeled from, Neuschwanstein, which was pretty cool but hardly primitive since King Ludwig had a flushing toilet and a phone system to call his servants.

Litzendorf Marathon

Drove north an hour or so for a Ritchey sponsored 80k marathon race just outside of Bamberg.  They call the area “little Switzerland”, with some decent hills.  Climbing for the race was listed at 5000ft, enough to take notice, probably not enough to help me.  We got there a little late, by the time I picked up my packet, strapped on the number plate and transponder, I had about 15 minutes to get to the start.  Still no kits for ’09, so I threw on an old chupacabras jersey.  I’ll throw a couple of “borrowed” photos up.  The camera died so there are no good photos.

The warmup  consisted of a downhill ride to the venue, to find a massive crowd lined up that stretched way back.  I was probably the last person to line up.  I asked a guy if everyone here was racing the 80k, and he said yeah, but the 40k guys were also lined up and had the same sendoff.  So I estimate there were between 400-500 people between me and the starting line.  Wonderful.  Lesson 1.  Get here early. 

By time I got to the starting line, the clock read 4 minutes and some change.  The first few kilometers were on city streets and bike paths, there was limited passing going on.  A short climb allowed some, but then a long forest single/double track section began that was a little slick due to the rain the day before.  Very rideable.  But not for this crowd.  You know, for a bunch of people that really dig full suspension bikes, new sidis, and beef tires, they ought to put more emphasis on learning to ride their bike over twigs and pebbles.  Everyone was walking.  Nothing you could do but get in line and walk a few more k.  By then I knew the lead pack was atleast 10 if not 15 minutes and putting more time in for every step I took.  Revisit lesson 1.

Finally it opened up and stretched out, and I settled into my pace.  Spent the next few hours just passing people, letting the 29er rip the forest road downhills.  The race was 2 laps, each 40k, so I skipped the feed zone knowing I would be picking up cytomax from Gavin at the half way point.  Just before that though, a stretch of forest was in complete shambles, muddy for a good 200 meters.  The GEAX Barro Races and I made it through the entire way without getting the shoes muddy.  Passed a many of people pushing their bikes, who have a granny gear.  I didn’t see one person ride that section. 

So through the feed zone, refueled, and hit the first section of muddy singletrack again, but this time I was by myself.  Again, passed people who were not even attempting at riding it.  What’s worse, is they don’t move out of your way, they have never heard of the one riding the bike has priority over the douche pushing the bike.  So I would come as close as possible and gently nudge them off the track.  My bike, nothing pretty to look at, drew some stares before and after the race, and I would guess it would have to do with the swollen wheels.  Well if riding a 29er through mud and short technical climbs right by those walking doesn’t sell the 29er thing here, I don’t know what will.

Second time through I did stop at the aid station to help myself to some orange slices, cookies, and two new water bottles.   Rest of the lap was uneventful.  This time the finish wasn’t a guessing game, and I clocked in at 3hours 37min.  Looks like that put me in 87th and a good 45min down from the winner.

After the race, we stopped at a trout farm where we got to feed them.  The kids really liked this.

Stopped at a roadside stand and picked up fresh spargel, a white asparagus grown under the soil.  It was a perfect complement to the mahi mahi. (No, not bought at the trout farm)

Fruhlingsfest

We loaded up the kids into the trailer and headed out to a nearby town with some friends to attend a spring fest complete with a beer tent and carnies.  Ate some pig knuckle for the first time, and it wasn’t to bad.

MutterTag

The rapeseed  or canola is everywhere, fields and fields of it.  Germany is the world’s 4th largest producer, used mainly for animal feed.

Other fields are set aside and wildflowers take over.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Weekend wrapup

It rained so much Thursday and Friday, that the trails were not dry enough to ride until Sunday.  Even got caught in a hail storm on Friday in an underpass.    Saturday the sun came back and I got in some quality specific work in the morning then dropped the wife off for a spa treatment and then the kids and I went to the park.  Never a dull moment.

Then on Sunday Gavin lined up for a 400m hill climb (bergsprint).  Now this was the under 11 crowd, and I saw better kits and bikes on this line than many races I have done.  They are not messing around, there were no 100 pound Walmart bikes, and a few were sporting some spd action.  Last year I bought Gavin a pretty nice Specialized with a front fork that actually was tuned to his weight, but the selection in the states for light kids bikes is crap.  Over here, they are plentiful, the manufacturers cater to the crowd, and the crowd starts at a very young age.  Awesome.

Gavin started a little hesitant, but finished strong, he really needed some more kilometers. 

Angela went off next, with plenty of confusion.  I kinda forgot to mention to her that this was a 5km hillclimb, so she thought she was doing this hill a few more times.  She rode conservative and I take full responsibility for the mistake.

This was a nice little kickoff for her anaerobic system, since she is now just approaching the time for these kind of workouts.  She still has plenty of muscular endurance to work on.

On a coaching/workout note.  Forge your training to mimic your race, how many times in a race do you follow a 15min at LT span with a 5 min recovery span?  How many times in a race do you perform anaerobic ladders? Never.  So what I’m saying is don’t approach a workout with rigidity, be flexible and creative.  When the gun goes off, you should be able to turn the autopilot on and concentrate on tactics and nutrition, because your body already knows what it feels like to peg it for the first hour.

May day

The cannachopper, Netherlands attempt to locate cannabis fields with high-tech sensors.  My favorite headline of the day comes from the country of Switzerland, where a container exploded carrying the swine flu on a train.  Fortunately it was the non-mutated type.   And we do have a confirmed case in Regensburg, just an hour south.  More importantly, today is May day, and here in Germany it is a historic day of civil unrest and another holiday, spent either protesting or sleeping off the debaucherous shenanigans committed the night before.  The best I saw as I rolled through rural little farm towns in heavy fog this morning were tp’d bushes and trees, and street painting.   

No racing for me this or next weekend, Angela will be racing this weekend in the first stop on the OTV cup series in Bavaria.  Then starting May16, every weekend is booked until the middle of July.  I finally bought a 1:50k map of the hiking and biking trails in the area, so I am trying to put together a rather large ride manana, seeking out primo singletrack.