Radler

Phew! The marathon stage racing has finally come to a stop. Three weeks and three stage races in three different countries has made us all tired, hungry and ready to go home for some R&R (rest and relaxation).

We got to share the last two days of racing with The Uncle, who took the train south from Berlin. He got his first time trial spectating experience followed by a ride in the team car for the last day of racing. Due to being car #14 he didn't get to see a lot of the race, but had a good time nonetheless.


We celebrated the end of the marathon stage racing with beer.
Thanks to the teams help, I was able to win the most aggressive rider jersey for the race. I won the biggest beer I have ever seen. Actually it was a Radler which is a mixture of beer and lemon-lime.

It was a most fantastic way to end the month of racing; success, happiness, family and beer.

The Magic of Chocolate

After 12 races in 14 days and in three different countries, my legs, body and mind were starting to get a little cooked. In fact, Tuesday’s race was one of the worst I have ever had. My legs have NEVER felt the way they felt during that race. I woke up yesterday morning and even my arms hurt. I thought I was done for.

Then came the chocolate. As I start to get more and more tired I crave chocolate and I don’t have the will power to not eat it (that was one of the reasons I gave it up for Lent). So yesterday, I ate some chocolate cereal with breakfast. A few hours later, I ate A WHOLE BUNCH of chocolate cereal. I mean a whole bunch. Then I had some chocolate cookies before the race started. During the race, something magical happened. I never got tired. The day before, I was dropped 40km into the race. Yesterday I was able to sprint at the end. I attribute this turn-a-round to the magic of chocolate. To celebrate, I ate chocolate cookies after the race, and after dinner in the form of chocolate pudding.

Good things about France

Today in the car, while driving from France to Germany, we were trying to come up with things that are good about France and french people. Here's what we came up with-

• Baguettes
• Croissants
• Speaking French well

End of list.

Annual Ying-Yang

Last July I wrote about the ying-yang of cycling, which could also include the ying-yang of life. You have your ups and you have your downs. Good things happen and bad things happen. That's the way the world works.

After racing for 4 days in the rain, in the Czech Republic without any of my clothes or any good results to write home about, we drove west to France. My clothes arrived and the sun came out.

Day one of our "Brittany" stage race was going as planned. We had a three person lead out going for our sprinter Lauren, when at 1km to go 2/3 of us crashed. Ouch. A lot of road rash, a broken bike, and low moral brought us into stage two. Finally, the ying-yang made it's turn. Lauren was second in the stage, I was third and we are now 2 and 3 in the GC. Yippy!
We have 2 days left and 3 stages. Hopefully we will be left with results to write home about.

This picture is of Chrissy in our small French bunk room.

If you're happy and you it...

10 days, 4 countries, 1 raining stage race later this stuff, that I had nicely packed for a 3.5 week trip, finally arrived. I couldn't have been happier. Well actually, there are several ways I could have been happier, but it did feel like Christmas.

Perfect Freedom

Yesterday while on the way to the Czech Rebublic, we stopped in Salzburg to spend the night. Before sleeping and before dinner was a ride. It was the most perfect ride I have had in a long time.

I arrived in Pisa on Sunday with non of my bags. 4 days and three countries later, that continues to be the case. And I dedicate my perfect ride to that; lack of baggage.

When I got to the hotel room yesterday in Salzburg, I put on my one pair of chamois, undershirt, jersey, helmet, glasses, socks and shoes. Filled my one water bottle with water and out the door I went. I didn't have to worry about sunscreen, gatorade, gels or bars, camera, SRM, bra, arm band etc. I don't have any of that stuff to worry about. I just went and rode.

I knew I had less than 2 hours to ride, so I turned around when I had almost finished my water bottle. I got rained on. Didn't matter. I don't have a rain jacket anyway. I got to see 2 rainbows. I had no idea where I was going, how fast I was going there, or how many watts I was pushing. I just rode. I would have liked to take some pictures of the "hills are alive with the sound of music" scenery, but I didn't have my camera. I was free to ride. It was awesome!