Desert Life

After the ride mentioned in my last post, I had a pretty rough recovery. I ate, showered then made an attempt at going to the library, (they have places to sit down there.) I was so blasted that I felt that a short nap was necessary. After that I was well enough to move on.

I did the same course on Sunday. This time I packed twice the calories. I made it to Saguaro Lake six minutes faster than Friday and felt great. Continuing from there I climbed Usery Pass and rode down the other side to Mesa, around Las Sendas, down Power Drive by Red Mountain before heading back to Saguaro Lake for more water. The difference between the two rides was quite noticeable. I got home in about 3.5 hours after riding about 62 miles and normalizing 211 watts.

Monday, I went back to work. Things are still pretty new and it had been almost two weeks since I had flown the new airplane. I sat down and it was as if I had never been to training! As James would say, it was "horrible!" To make things worse, the jet acted up every single day of the trip, (4 days in all). If it wasn't the plane it was the passengers showing up early and forcing us to work at crazy fast speeds to get the flight out.

The good thing was that I got to see the Cubbies play at Wrigley in Chicago. I am now a Cubbies fan, sort of. Tigers first but I am hooked! Wrigley is just crazy cool with the old scoreboard, grandstands on the buildings and on this day Michael J. Fox led the chorus of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

At the moment, I am sitting at Sky Harbor airport waiting on a flight to go back to see Jeanne and the kids. It is going to be fun but I already dread the flight back on Monday.

Getting back to the bike

I rode out of Fountain Hills today bent on making it to Saguaro Lake and maybe even Usery Pass. This video is taken on the climb a lot faster than I took it. I was moving along at 10.2 mph pulling 290 watts all the way up. It just kept going and going. When I got to the top I turned around and went back down hitting 43 mph. Incredibly, I had some dude in a pickup truck, (why is it always someone in a pickup?), lean out the window and yell at me for riding on the road and not in the bike lane. I just shook my head. The speed limit is 45! At those speeds I darn sure wasn't going to ride on the loose gravel and all the junk that lives on the shoulder.

Cippo Gets Pranked

Cippo nearly gets clipped on a training ride and is shocked to see that the dude that nearly ran him had two of his bikes strapped to the back of his RV!! Enjoy!

School

Greetings from New Jersey! I am halfway through the training program for my new jet. I have my Blue RC4 here with a set of rollers doing intensity whenever I can. Time is quite limited.

Moving Towards “Normal”, I Hope

They say job disruptions are life events on the same order as divorce and death. I don't know if it is all that bad but to say it is a "major" life event is certainly true. The last week was spent establishing a new life with a new company in a new city. It is so strange to think about moving somewhere to live when you can't even navigate due to unfamiliarity. The first day on the ground, last Sunday, everything seemed so strange and plastic. The first area I explored seemed devoid of character filled with nothing but shopping malls and asphalt. I went back to this area on Thursday and it seemed completely different. I am not saying it was so different that I want to move there but it was better. Well, until I noticed a sign that warned against tree climbing because it may bring about falling scorpions. Geez, falling scorpions; we're not in Kansas anymore Toto!

The job is new in some ways. I will still fly airplanes for corporate America but now I fly for a company that actually produces components for the very airplanes I fly. For my former Ford colleagues, I was shocked to see the same expense reporting system that Ford used. So that hasn't changed but is this a good thing? The weather was near perfect but that will change.

Yesterday was spent looking for temporary housing for the next three months. Wow! You don't get much when you want to spend $500-$700. This was depressing. The apartments smelled and were located in what looked like free-fire zones. Whimpering as I drove, I made my way to the Gilbert Post Office to try and get a box. I was told I could not do this without an AZ address but you might be surprised to hear the best customer service I have experienced in years was had. My clerk kept working the angles until she came up with a solution that required Jeanne to go to the Saline office, fill out forms, fax them to the Gilbert Post Office, etc.. In the end, it worked! Voila, I have an Arizona address, well, kind of. The state is not very tolerant of people dropping into town and trying to establish residency this way. They do allow some flexibility for people in my situation but I am uncertain of the limits of their patience.

While Jeanne was doing her thing at the Saline PO, I worked the internet desperately trying to find a solution to my housing woes. While cruising sublet.com I found a place in Fountain Hills. Now this looked promising. I called the manager up and asked if he could do a 3 month lease and I was shocked to hear "yes". So, after a quick trip to the Ford dealer, (BTW I purchased a new Ford Focus on Tuesday), to drop my new address for the car's title, I rode out to the Hills. Oh man, what a difference! What a beautiful desert setting! There was abundant mountain, cactus and red rocks. Excitement grew as I approached my destination. Upon arrival I was overwhelmed! Now this was more like it! Great views, clean city, great riding possibilities and decent rent! No need to run out and purchase that AK47 here. I plunked down a deposit, filled out an application and drove off with a hopeful feeling that I was almost ready to begin living in Arizona. The way back to Mesa was blessed with a perfect sunset and light playing on shadow over the mountains. Things were improving for sure.

Leaving today, there was a major traffic jam on the 60 which I take to get to the airport. No problem, I re-routed and made it to the airport with only one navigational error. I presented my badge to the guard and was waved in like I belonged. (BTW, my office is actually in the factory at Sky Harbor airport.)

The hard part is being separated from Jean and the kids. I have been away from home for weeks before but never months. Looking ahead a little too much I guess, but I find I'm always a little sad. This is going to be a real tough stretch for us. Next week is the beginning of a three week stint in New Jersey, then, back to the D for an all too brief stay before leaving for Phoenix again on March 28 this time for good except for visits. In the mean time I have to remember that each day is getting us closer to normal again. Nothing has been normal since November but every day since we have been moving towards a goal. Are we half-way? I don't know but we are getting closer all the time.

ATO Goodbye...

Uh-oh! Somebody's numbers aren't lining up!

Lance Armstrong's drug-testing program scrapped

Associated Press

DENVER -- Lance Armstrong scrapped his much-publicized plan to set up an independent drug-testing program on Wednesday because of high costs and nearly impossible logistics.

When Armstrong announced his comeback last year, the seven-time Tour de France winner said he wanted to prove he was clean, and was teaming with anti-doping expert Don Catlin, who would test him and post the results online.

But Catlin told The Associated Press that after months of negotiations, both sides realized the program wasn't workable this year.

"It was going to be difficult," Catlin said. "There were so many issues in trying to get this going -- legal issues, financial issues, and we sort of tried every which way. Finally, it made more sense to put it aside for the moment and maybe take it up at another time."

Armstrong began his comeback last month in Australia. He is training this month with Team Astana in preparation for the Tour of California, which starts Saturday. He also has announced plans to ride in the Tour de France this summer.

Mark Higgins, Armstrong's spokesman, did not immediately return messages left by AP seeking comment.

The news first was reported by The New York Times.

Armstrong still will be subject to testing by UCI, cycling's international body, and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Part of the problem in working out a deal with Catlin was the logistical issues of adding another round of tests.

"And we were having to figure out how to pay for it," Catlin said. "You're coordinating collectors ... doing all these things. It became a nightmare of logistic issues and also, when you're drawing blood, an athlete can rightfully complain if you take too much."

Armstrong bristled at an AP report that came out in November, shortly before he was to begin training in earnest, that said the Web site he promised when he announced his return was nonexistent.

"It's a tough thing to organize, but we'll make it happen," he said.

He added that he stood ready to be tested every day. "Whether I'm in France or in LA, no one's trying to pull a fast one here," he said.

Though he never tested positive during his record-setting career, suspicions were always out there, which was one reason the 37-year-old cyclist went to Catlin to quiet the naysayers.

Catlin long has been acknowledged as the gold standard in anti-doping testing. He ran America's first anti-doping lab in UCLA for 25 years and left to set up the nonprofit Anti-Doping Research to develop new ways of catching drug cheats.

He is a proponent of performing baseline tests of athletes for a number of illegal substances, then comparing subsequent tests against the original results. It is widely considered a more accurate way of testing than the method most commonly used, but is also more expensive and time-intensive.

UCI has begun performing baseline tests. Under Catlin's program, Armstrong presumably would have been tested the same way -- but there were too many moving parts to make it work this year.

"We were going to put it on the Web and that got a lot of internal flak because we didn't have horsepower to deal with it," Catlin said.

He said it would have taken two scientists devoted primarily to the Web site to post the results and explain what they meant.

Home Improvement

I didn't ride the bike today. I didn't ride the bike yesterday either. I did ride the bike on Sunday and it was glorious even though I had to ride before church and again in the evening. We are nearing the end of our home improvements. The counter top is in and the next item is refinishing the wood floors. After that, de-clutter, stage and wait. Phew! Next up will be moving to Phoenix, learning a new airplane and job and learning to survive without my loving family near by. The best thing about losing your job is being able to spend 24 hours/7 days a week at home. This has been awesome! I have not felt a need to get alone time. My family is simply the best. Not perfect but wonderful all the same.

Update

Hi all. I have been taking some hits regarding the paucity of activity on my blog. Well, as most of you know I lost my job with Ford Motor Company this month. We received the news December 2 which was nice because it gave me a couple of months on the payroll to look for a job. I am happy to announce I have secured a position with Honeywell in Phoenix beginning February 23. The company is terrific, the location is great and the airplanes are awesome.

Over the last two months I have worked harder than ever before in my career. It was difficult to get on the bike so blogging just fell by the wayside. I ho


pe to have more free time as we move forward but the sale of our house is going to be a killer for the next couple of weeks. We have contractors and realtors coming in to get things lined up. De-cluttering is also a full time job.

Here's a pic of the new airplane I'll be flying.

And the front office...

Locked Out

So here I sit at my doctor's office helplessly locked out of my car. The keyless entry system is usually wonderful but on this day it lured me into a trap. After locking up the touchpad failed and I am trying to get roadside assistance. Bummer.

CX Fans

Bikeboy read an article in VeloNews about being a proper cx fan recently. Apparently, doing this right means making a complete jackass out of yourself which is right up my alley. For help, I enlisted the help of JoeLek. He took up the challenge and produced not one but three Lion of Flanders flags of varying sizes, multiple cowbells, a bucket with drumstics and last but not least Bobby! It seems like making noise is really the key here and completely abandoning the least bit of self-awareness giving yourself completely to the task of yelling, screaming, waving and in our case banging drums. Our contribution to the cacaphony was a very loud drum from our kit. We yelled, screamed and yes, we did bang the drum silly. We hammered away on that thing carrying it as we yelled disturbing neighborhood dogs and probably their owners too. It was one of the funest bike related things I have ever done. I highly recomend it. In this crazy day in which we live an occasional abandonment of all self-awareness is very threraputic.

mmmm....Bike Food

Eat To Compete: Butternut Squash-Mashed Potato Shepherds Pie & Stout Soda Bread
Friday, October 31, 2008 10:44:00 AM PT

Happy Hallowe'en! Once you've polished off that bucket of candy, you'll be hankerin' for a hearty hungry-man meal with real nutrition, but have no idea how to make. This month’s recipe is as tasty as it sounds, and a lot easier to make…

- By Casey Weaver -


Since I no longer live in West Los Angeles, the enchanted land of the double tail-wind to which I can attest, (see October’s Off-Season Myth Busters), this will be the first time in my life that I’ll have to contend with actual temperature change, and dare I say, precipitation. Though the prospects of this are frightening for someone born and raised in Southern California, the potential for reinvigorated staple Fall dishes to combat the spiteful cold far outweighs any ominous threats from above.




This dish has gone through a couple different variations. It started out as a savory tart, progressed to a pot-pie, lost it’s crust and became a stew, and is now presented to you as a variation of the cold-weather classic, the shepherds pie. The pie calls for stew beef, but can also be made with chicken or turkey. Some athletes are very particular about their consumption of red meat, and wisely so, as some cuts of red meat are very high in saturated fat and cholesterol. And some athletes avoid red meat all together. But not all red meat has the same nutrient profile, and certain cuts are considerably leaner than others. When at the market buying meat for this dish, keep an eye out for extra-lean stew beef if the fat content is a concern of yours; it is almost always available.

Red meat has its upsides, too. During training periods of particularly high intensity or high volume, our bodies can all too easily become iron deficient, leading to reduced performance and feelings of fatigue. The occasional serving of red meat is a great way to fight this, but as previously stated, be vigilant with your selection and always know what you are putting into your body.


Choose a tastey cut of lean beef - you'll be glad you did.


Meal Plan Timing
In terms of timing for this meal, I like to get the meat and potatoes cooking, then make the bread and get it in the oven, then return to the rest of the shepherd’s pie. If you do this, do not forget about the bread in the oven. If timed right, the bread will be done just ahead of the pie, and will be rested and cooled just in time to serve. But do whatever works best for you.


Butternut Squash-Potato topping
1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, about 4
1 medium butternut squash, halved, seeded, and peeled
½ cup beef broth
1 t fennel seed, coarsely chopped
1 T extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
Pecorino-Romano cheese
salt and pepper



Fresher ingredients always make for a better dish.


Filling
1 lb extra-lean stew beef, cubed into 1” pieces
2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets
5 shallots, 1 finely chopped, 4 sliced
2 parsnips, sliced
½ crown cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
½ head radicchio, sliced into ½ inch slices
1 ½ cups beef broth
2 T fresh lemon thyme
black pepper
3 T olive oil, divided
cooking spray


Soda Bread
2 cups bread flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 ¼ cups reduced fat buttermilk
6 oz stout beer
1 egg, beaten
1 T molasses
1 T dark brown sugar
1T baking powder
1 ½ t baking soda
1 t salt




1. To start, cook the meat and potato-squash topping
The first thing you want to do is get the meat cooking. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be, and once it is on the stove you can go about getting everything else ready without having to really think about it.

In a medium saucepan, sauté one finely chopped shallot in one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat for about five minutes; season with salt. Increase the heat to medium high and add the cubed beef. Season with salt and pepper and let cook for about eight minutes, stirring often and making sure all sides get browned. Once browned, add in one and a half cups beef broth and the broccoli florets, stirring a bit to help submerge the broccoli. At this point the florets will not all be totally submerged, this is ok as they will cook down. Cover the pot and reduce heat to low, cooking for at least one half hour, but ideally closer to a full hour. After about fifteen minutes, open the lid and stir the contents, breaking down the now soft broccoli with your spoon. Recover and continue to cook.

Once cooked you will remove the beef and add it to the filling, but be patient and read on and we will get there.


2. Cook the Potatoes and Butternut Squash
Start by cutting the potatoes into about two inch cubes. Personally, I like to leave the skin on my potatoes to add a little more substance to the topping, and frankly, I’ve never been afraid of a little extra fiber. If you want smooth and seamless mashed potatoes, feel free to remove the skin.




The squash is a different story. Halve it lengthwise, remove its seeds, and peel it with a vegetable peeler. Cut it into cubes about the size of your potatoes. Place both the squash and potatoes in a large pot of water on the stove, bring to boil, and cook until soft when pierced with a knife (note: the potatoes will take longer to cook than the squash, so they should be your determining factor of when the two are done).

Once cooked, strain the liquid and return the potatoes and squash to the pot used to cook them in. Mash them to a coarse consistency, then add in one tablespoon of olive oil, one half cup of beef broth, and the coarsely chopped fennel seeds. Continue to mash them to your desired consistency, then season with salt and pepper to taste.


3. For the Filling
At this point, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

I like to bake my shepherd’s pie in a twelve-inch cast-iron skillet. You can do all the preliminary cooking in the same skillet for simplicity’s sake, or if you do not want to dirty another dish. But I find it much easier to sauté all the ingredients in a larger skillet or sauté pan, then transfer them to the smaller twelve incher. This way you have plenty of room to stir and are not constantly knocking little bits onto the stove, which means any time you saved by not having to wash another dish is now irrelevant because you now have to do a major stovetop scrub down.




Sauté the remaining four sliced shallots in two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat for about five to seven minutes, stirring often, until beginning to soften; season with salt. Add in the sliced parsnips and cauliflower florets, continuing to stir.

With a slotted spoon, remove the beef from the saucepan and transfer it to the parsnip and cauliflower sauté, stirring to combine. Pour the melted broccoli into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the pureed broccoli over the beef and vegetables and stir well to combine, then stir in the radicchio and lemon thyme, and cook for an additional one to two minutes. Season with black pepper to taste.





If you are baking your pie in a separate dish, give it a quick shot of cooking spray, then transfer the filling. Spoon the mashed potato-squash-topping evenly over the filling and top with pumpkin seeds and desired amount of Pecorino-Romano cheese.

Place the assembled pie in the preheated oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes.




4. For the Soda Bread
There are a few things the pop culture media and network news absolutely love to report on, and second only to animal heroics are the health benefits of culinary vices such as alcohol and chocolate. Rest assured that not only does the stout in this soda bread add a complexity of flavor, it also improves your health at the same time…



Any stout, such as Guinness, will work just fine, but I strongly recommend going down to the corner store and seeing what some of your local microbreweries have to offer. There is not one microbrewery out there these days not offering a dark and flavorful stout, and it is just these types of details that really create the intriguing nuances in your food. Not to mention if you buy a six pack, you now have the perfect pairing for your meal.

One last quick note. While making this bread, unlike many recipes where all the wet ingredients are mixed then added to the dry, I like to omit the molasses when combining the other wet ingredients, then stir it into the already formed batter. Often times viscous ingredients like molasses or honey do not mix well with other wet ingredients, and are much easier to work with if added straight to the batter and gently stirred in.


Bake the Bread
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl, stirring to combine. Mix all the wet ingredients, except for the molasses in a separate bowl, stirring well to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, then add the molasses, gently stirring to combine.

Dump the dough on a baking sheet or into a skillet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Note: Bread can be separated into two smaller loaves, or baked as one large loaf.



About The Author:
Casey grew up in the kitchen inspired by his mom and grandmother, who ran the catering and cooking instruction company, Cooking in the Canyon, in Brentwood, Ca. He has worked as a private chef and currently works with the catering company Gourmet Solutions. He received his undergraduate degree in Communication Studies from UCLA, currently races for the NOW-MS elite amateur team, and coaches endurance athletes with Velo-Fit, llc.
• See more of Casey’s work online at his website: CulinaryCompetitor.com
• Contact Casey at Casey.b.Weaver@gmail.com.

It is a healthy thing...

Gerdemann criticizes Armstrong comeback

By Agence France Presse

Posted Oct. 30, 2008

Top German cyclist Linus Gerdemann, known for his staunch anti-doping stance, has criticized the return of Lance Armstrong to professional cycling, citing the doping suspicions — all of them unproven — that have dogged the seven-time Tour de France winner.

"This is not positive for the credibility of cycling," said Gerdemann, winner of the Tour of Germany. "But there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Regarded as the rider who could help restore cycling's credibility in Germany, where doping scandals have left it on the scrapheap, the 26-year-old Gerdemann claimed the first mountain stage of the 2007 Tour in his debut but missed this year's race, and the Beijing Olympics, because of a broken leg.

Gerdemann's sentiments echo those of German television chiefs at ARD and ZDF, who have refused to cover the Tour de France next year after a spate of high-profile doping scandals, including positive tests by German riders.

"For us, Armstrong is a piece of the past we don't want to see again," Rolf-Dieter Ganz, head of communications at ARD, told Die Welt newspaper on September 14.

"The future belongs to young riders, certainly not to Armstrong's generation, which we had hoped to have seen the back of."

From Velo News

The Explainer - Why not block?

By Charles Pelkey

Posted Oct. 29, 2008

Cancellara credits this win to effective blocking

Photo: Graham Watson

Dear Explainer guy,
Why is blocking such a rarely used tactic? It seems that when there is a long breakaway that teams with riders in the break do not block or slow down the chase. Why is that? More typically, these riders do not take a turn at the front. I would think it would be better if those riders took their turn at the front and slowed the pace.
Cosmo Scrivanich

Hello Cosmo,
It does seem like there isn’t a lot of blocking going on in big races, but it does happen, albeit subtly.

First off, as I’m sure you know, the term “blocking” isn’t exactly precise. It sure as heck isn’t blocking in the sense that it is in American football. In cycling, blocking obviously doesn’t include physical contact. It’s more disrupting than it is blocking, but we’ll use the standard term, anyway.

Blocking is not really an overt tactic. It can’t be. If a team were simply to move to the front of the peloton en masse and slow the pace dramatically, it would serve only as a temporary disruption. In response, other teams would just move their riders to the front, punch it and fight to keep the blocking team from reaching the head of the peloton. The result would actually be a counterproductive increase in speed.

Successful blocking often takes a much more subtle approach. Teams intent on letting a break survive may move one or two riders up in the peloton. Those riders then “soft pedal” when riding in a pace line up front. They may also let a small gap develop as they ride through, forcing other riders to expend unnecessary energy closing that gap.

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In fact, much of the most successful “blocking” doesn’t take place at the very front of the field, but near the front. Riders can tuck in behind the chasing team’s workhorses and let small gaps form, forcing other riders to close the gap, or to slow the riders in the front.

If the tactic is too overt, it won’t work, as the disruptive riders are either forced out of the paceline or simply ignored in the rotation.

That said, there are some really terrific examples of riders using the technique to great effect. Perhaps the best recent example comes from the seventh stage of this year’s Tour de Suisse. With 5km remaining, CSC’s Fabian Cancellara launched one of his trademark solo attacks, just as the sprinters’ teams were ramping up the pace and trying to form up their finishing trains.

As the reigning world time trial champion, Cancellara was a perfect candidate to make that move and he held off the hard-charging peloton all the way to the line. But there was a moment when it looked like he might be caught in the final kilometer. Just as the gap began to narrow, Cancellara’s teammate Bobby Julich moved to the front of the chase, prompting a “WTF?” reaction from many watching from the sidelines.

Was Julich taking up the chase? It sure looked like it. But the American then allowed a small gap to form behind the rider at the very front of the chase, leaving just one rider to chase Cancellara. It didn’t take long for riders to counter the move and swarm past Julich, but the chase had been temporarily disrupted — long enough, it turned out, to allow Cancellara to reach the line two seconds ahead of the main field.

Cancellara knew where at least part of the credit belonged.

“I was alone out there, but the team really did its part to help me hold the gap," he said.

It’s fun to watch a race at those key moments and see whether anyone is employing tactics to disrupt a chase. It’s often hard to detect, but it's part of what makes bicycle racing so cool.

Dead Blog Again

So sorry my loyal readers. I know you are few but you are a distinguished lot deserving so much more than this meager blog offers. Alas, what a shame.

Anyway, the off-season continues. This thing called "work" has really picked up. I get many more last minute calls to fill in for a sick colleague. It is great to have a job right now but it is more difficult to train.

I came back from the last trip quite dilapidated. My power had dropped dramatically along with my endurance. Since then, I have been working on base period intervals, some long rides and a tempo session here or there. It is a slow process but my form is beginning to return. I don't want to enter build training at this juncture but I need to re-gain some of the lost form then hold it until the training season begins.

Otherwise, the kids and wife are great. Life is great if you don't read the papers or watch TV. I recently put great limits on the amount of TV, radio and internet time. Funny, I am much happier now! It's like that great Police song, "Too Much Information" from the album "Ghost in the Machine". You remember that one Giff?

Chongqing Traffic Accident

Terra Cotta Soldiers Pit 1 Part 2

These pottery soldiers are thought to be the eighth wonder of the world. They date to around 200 BC.

Chongqing walking tour part 3

Sidewalk cafe!

Chongqing walking tour 2

I never felt threatened on the walk. We got some strange looks though.

Walking tour of Chogqing Part 1

My crew and I left the hotel and walked the city for an hour or so. Here's what we saw.