Monday is over

Another evening on the bike. We had a big group today - it's not raining any more so everybody wants to ride. Where were you yesterday, ha?

I can sum up January now - I'm short 65 miles to last years Jan mileage, but I still managed to put in over 1000 km. That's not too bad, considering that I was out of town for more than a week.

Let's just see what February will bring. All I know so far is that it'll bring a trip to FL for an early season low priority race at Razorback. Heading down there for some trail miles in the sun.

Also thinking about a trip during March. Last year I went to Sicily for a training camp - don't want to travel that far any more. But it would still be nice to go some place that has big mountains, loooong climbs and good weather. Any ideas?

Rain ride

The rain finally found Michigan. But that's no reason not to ride. Soaked after 1 hour, just when it finally stopped raining. Still got 4 hours in today. Enough. Plus I could feel that I rode twice as much yesterday. The legs didn't hurt, just wouldn't turn as easy as they used to.

We only had the hardcore WRCS riders out today, plus one guy from Ohio. Unfortunately we lost him at one point of time - it actually was pretty early. We wondered if we took off while he might have still been on the pot while the ride started?

Picture in "Mountainbike Action"

I was told by Joe to check the latest Mountainbike Action magazine - for some reason he found me in one of the pictures on the race report for the Cheq 40, a race I did with 1699 other riders last year in WI. And here I am:

I'm simply a busy man

I think that's why the blog has been so quiet over the last week. In addition I had some internet access issues at home, and work is too busy to spend time telling the world what's new in my life.

So, lot's of exiting news to come here soon: Details about
--> the new MTB Team I'll be joining, which I'm totally excited about
--> the new bike I'll be gettin through the team
--> first races that will come up soon

So, keep checking. Can't post more right now, have to head out for food. Don't need to tell anybody how hungry you are after riding 111 miles - yep, the first century of the season. Getting those basemiles in. Ride ride ride.

I want to ride my bicycle

I haven't been on a real bike in 9 days. I want to go outside, ride my bike, see my biker friends, freeze my ass off, take a hot shower when I get home. But all I did this week was work and eat (at least I got to see many of my German friends I haven't seen in a long time).

At least tomorrow should be a good day. Heading to Austria for some skiing in St. Anton.

Sunday I'll take the train up to Cologn. It's a long story, but of course it involvs a girl. More details when I'm back in the US and when I have a computer where the 'z' and 'y' and special characters are in the place where I'm used to them (typing on a German keyboard drives me crayz).

Yes, there is internet in Germany

Haven't posted in a while, simply because it's hard for me to find internet access. Somehow the hotel won't work, and I'm having problems hooking up at work.

Was at breakfast this morning and overheard a conversation from another group of engineers from my company at the table next to mine. They don't know me, but I know one of the guys they talked about. Mike S., he is another biker I know who is working in our big corporation. It was totally strange hearing his name in that environment - usually I only hear his name when I'm riding my bike. Oh, all they said about him was that he did a great job collecting the info...

Big news of the day: My bag is back!

Have you seen my bag?

I'm in Germany now, but not my bag. Only one piece of luggage made it, the other one is still missing in action. I got here on Saturday, and Lufthansa still has no idea where it is. I was now told to go shopping, they will cover 50% of the cost - but I hate cloth shopping!

Unfortunatelly the missing bag had a lot of my winter biking clothing in it, since I wanted to go for a ride this weekend or hit the gym. I would have gone naked for a bikeride, no problem, but it's just way too cold here (10 F).

Preview of 2006 season: Looks like I'll be on a new team this year, but it's still too early to talk about details.

What have you eaten today?

7:30 AM: 2 slices of bread with a ton of honey

9:45 AM: Quaker breakfast bar

11:30 AM: Taiwan buffet (2 full plates of chicken in all kinds of variations), soup and dessert

3:30 PM: Fuji Apple

7:45 PM: Protein bar

9:45 PM: Big bowl of cereal

It's confirmed again - riding makes me hungry.

Oatmeal cookies burned off

After all the food from yesterday I needed to get out. Thanks to the WRCS and some extra miles before and after the ride I got a couple of hours of riding in.

Some guy at work asked me today if I'm already back in the trainig? You should have seen the look on his face when I told him how much I rode last weekend...

Today was the last day on the bike until the 23rd. Heading to Germany on Friday and probably won't get a chance to ride over there. Hopefully I can squeeze in a ski day and visits to the gym.

Rest and recover

and eat oatmeal cookies. That was todays agenda. The only excercise I got was a 1 mile walk (rountrip) to the grocery store. Not much, but enought for the day.

A little longer, a little further and a little faster

Compared to yesterdays ride, this pretty much sums up the Sunday spin around town.

Did the official WRCS ride, plus some more before and a lot more after the ride. Still trying to find my way around the new neighborhood - when I stopped to buy some more Gatorade, somewhere east from where I lived, the party store had some of that thick glass between the cashier and the customer. Might be a sign that it's not the best area for a bike ride, I'll try to avoid it the next time...

Update on the brake pads

Couldn't find them.

Longest ride so far

Just got back from my longest ride of the brand new 2006 season. 5:20 and 78 miles - not fast, but it felt good. The official WRCS ride wasn't that long, but I just added a little more "secret training" at the end. Well, I guess now it's no longer a secret...

Main obstacle in todays rides:

#1 - The constant rain on the glasses made it hard to see.

#2 - I lost 90 percent of my breaking power, at the end I could ride with my rear brake full engaged and it didn't even cause any drag. Time to go and search for those new brake pads that must be somewhere...

Yep, I'm still alive

Haven't posted for a while, I was just too busy during my vacation!

2006 started for me with a roadbike ride... yes, that's right. No roadbike riding for me in 2005, and then all of a sudden I'm on one. Since we finally saw some sun in Salt Lake we decided to go for a ride rather than spend another day in the snowstorm.

Finally I'm back home, already did a 3+ hour ride Wednesday night outside (wasn't supposed to be that long initially, but after 2 hours I though "aaah, just add another 30 minutes"; once they were over it was thinking "I should just make it 3 hours", and once I broke this mark the final thought ws "I should finish with 75 km"), and realized I lost a lot of points in the WRCS. Screw it - I had fun skiing.

Some pics from the Salt Lake Trip: I'm just a lucky guy (Robbin left, Karen to the right, about 5 Gin Tonic in my head)


Aaron from Salt Lake - it stayed with him and Robbin out there, thanks again!


Me on a roadbike (I know, you can't see it, but it really wasn't a mountainbike) - but even more impressive: after all the drinking the night before my head still fit in a helmet...


The tandem, leading the ride