Combo-trip of Ardennes training and Int'l Animal Rights Conf.

pre-talk meal

Last week I was back on the road again - but this time for "pure pleasure", yeah a bit of work done but had a BLAST!

Since we had to be in Luxembourg for my talk at International Animal Rights Conference we combined it with a couple of hilly training days in the Ardennes.

We went to La Roche en Ardenne so we'd have a cute town to walk through in the evenings.  Our apartment was just a few meters from town.  Everything in our housing arrangement was great except for two things. The first was that it was spider-central.  Every few minutes i would encounter one of these creatures from the flying variety to the big thick hairy ones.  The first night i had spider nightmares - no sleeping to be had.  It could have also been partly due to the bed, which was the second thing wrong with the apartment.  The bed was more like a U-shape, where the sag in the middle was big enough to get lost in, or to be a great hiding place for yet more spiders. 

La Roche en Ardenne Castle

Thankfully Jonas came up with a way to minimize the sag by placing the spare blankets on top of the metal sagging beam. It wasnt perfect but at least we didnt have to struggle the whole night to crawl out of the hole.

As for the training, it felt fun to be in the hills again where i could interval myself into the ground.

International Animal Rights Conference was a unique experience.  Instead of giving a talk to random folks who were maybe vegetarian, i was speaking to a room full of animal rights activists (obviously all vegan) with maybe the odd vegetarian here and there. 

It was great to hear that my talk was appreciated and valued.  Based on the questions and comments i heard later, it seems that some of them even memorized my key points!  Again, i totally forgot to record my talk to share with those who couldn't make it there. But i was interviewed by a cool Luxembourg radio station shortly afterwards.  I will post the link here shortly!

THANKS PROBAR !!!

I am about to start yet another season of cyclocross, but first wanted to do a shout-out to  PROBAR, my energy bar sponsor for SEVEN YEARS.  All the accomplishments i have made as a pro cyclist in those years - all the wins as well as World Cup/Championship appearances representing USA - could not have been done without my PROBARs to get me through the workouts as well as the races.  Even now, more than seven years later, I am still amazed by how well the bars work for giving me quick yet long lasting energy while taking care of my health needs.  AND most importantly, I am still excited by every bite - especially with the PROBAR bars as every bite is completely different from the last!

PROBAR represents on bike

To give you an idea of how much i rely on PROBARs, during the 8 hard days of climbing during my last training camp in France a couple of weeks ago, I ate 16 PROBARs (good for long, easy rides), 23 Fruition bars (good for racing or other hard efforts...and snacks), and 17 HALO bars. Not once was i bored with my snacks - which is the first time i can say that about an energy bar line.

THANKS AGAIN PROBAR FOR SEVEN WONDERFUL YEARS TOGETHER !!!!

PROBAR bike (foto:marc van est)

Just for the record, my current favorite flavors are: Superfruit Slam PROBAR, Cherry Fruition, and Nutty Marshmallow HALO

Training Camp - Peanut Style!

Just back from 11 days in the Vogezen - a very hilly, beautiful region in France - for a pre-cross-season training camp!  It was such a wonderful experience! Not only did it get to climb forever every day but the pre/post playtime was just as rewarding.  Before every ride, Jonas and i got to sit outside of our camping right on the lake (xonrupt-longemer) enjoying our breakfast of fresh coffee, fruit, and bread (baguette of course) with a bit of muesli.  And after our ride, we'd head into the water to play. 

On one such afternoon, our neighboring camper named Bernd treated us to an impromptu windsurfing lesson. That was simply TOPS!

I still have to accurately calculate my ride details but for my 8 training days in the mountains it is something around 31 hours to cover 650km with 16,000 altitude meters.

More stories to come to cover the rest of my trip to NYC and NJ as well as my trip to France. But first i have to go out for pizza at our favorite restaurant where they make the ideal vegan pizza with fresh arrugula on top.



Back from USA

Dessert at Franchia Cafe NYC

Before i start gushing about my trip to NY i first want to let you know that another interview of me was just posted on the Earth Balance website.  They make some of my favorite vegan products!
Click HERE for the link to the article.
Thanks for reading!

From post-Tour crits to NYC

Kapellen by Luc van der Meiren

Well, I (mainly) successfully completed 5 races out of 6 days. the first was 10th, the second i did a few too many time-wasting efforts in the first round and suffered for the rest so I 'm going to forget about that day, the third was 17th place and feeling better, the fourth was also solid and finished again in the peloton sprint, and finally by the fifth race i was feeling completely comfortable with the pace of the race and finished 22nd i think in the bunch sprint.

The evening of my last race, Jonas and I had a great time hanging out with a great bunch of folks to celebrate the end of my mini-overload of racing.  I lived large with a ProBar in one hand and a Zen Republic Energy Drink in the other!

Haaltert by Linda de Brauwere

The next morning I was on the plane to NY. Going through London was not as crazy as i thought it would be. I think the folks at the London airport were also expecting a mad rush considering the dozens of "information" workers patrolling the terminal in an effort to herd the masses.  They were so bored that i was accosted by a few of them begging to help me find my way - which was unfortunately not necessary.  One such woman ran up to me as i was entering the security baggage check area.  She said, "Hello, are you in a rush?" I replied, "No. Did you want to talk?" She looked confused. It was then that i realized she was just trying to offer me the fast-track lane through the security check.

Wolvertem -by
Lydia Van de Meerssche

On the long flight from London to NY i sat next to a guy flying back from India. He pretty much slept the whole way.  When we did talk for a few minutes in the beginning, I found out that he was 50 years old; I was shocked. he looked about 35.  but when his "special meal" arrived i figured out his secret - a vegetarian! Not only was he an easy flight companion but he proved to be a very kind one as well. We walked to customs together then onto the baggage area. When i attempted to pay for a cart to carry my bike and bag, my Belgian Master Card didnt work - all five times i tried it. I still havent figured out why that happened. But anyway, the stranger treated me to a cart -a whopping $5. How kind.






Ronny and I heading over GW Bridge

The next morning Ronnie and I took off from NJ and rode our bikes over the George Washington Bridge and all around Manhattan. We also stopped off to visit Ruth and Bill who have been like parents to me for a few years in my early 20's. They are my heroes! At 89 and 94 years old, the two of them have such storied histories. What impresses me most about them is that they are more active and living life more than many folks i know.  They still work fulltime doing what they love and every weekend they still drive to their country house to enjoy their downtime.  We are meeting up again with them on Monday for dinner when they return.

Bear Swamp, NJ

The next day Ronnie and I went offroad riding. He took me to Bear Mountain area on some really rocky steep technical trails.  I loved it...until the black flies found me and stayed by my side the whole time.  And just when I am climbing the steepest of all climbs on a bed of rocks, one handed so i can use the other hand to swat the flies, Ronnie yells to me, "Keep your eyes out for black bears with their kids." Shit. I suppose if i would have remembered to lower the tire pressure before i went offroad it would have helped my situation that fraction of a bit.  

Me with Ruth and Bill

That evening we headed back into Manhattan for Afgan food on St. Mark's place.  It was strange to be back in my old stomping ground.  I used to live on St. Mark's Place between 2nd and 3rd avenues where all the grunge wierdos paced back and forth.  Now the block is more like yuppieville with a bunch of chique restaurants and tattoo parlors.  As we passed one of the tattoo parlors, the guy said, "Step inside. We have fresh muffins...or not." If he would have said the word "vegan" i may have given it a gamble.

love the food options in NYC

But instead we headed down the block for dessert to a vegan bakery called Whole Earth Bakery. I opted for the Chocolate Chip Chewy, which looked like a brownie.  How disappointed was I. There was nothing chewy or even tasty about the dessert. it was rather like eating cardboard.  I only had time to visit one bakery so i didnt have a second chance.  Luckily we passed a pizza place on the way home where i could get a garlic knot (with a spot of tomato sauce) and an italian ice for dessert. wow, that tasted unreal. I got the pina colada flavor. 

people have fun with their bikes in NYC

Today we are going for a nice long ride somewhere - not sure yet. The temperature is still hovering around 96°F (36°C) so you can bet my pockets will be filled with water bottles. I cant even remember the last time i was this warm.  Actually i just did.  It was a while back when i raced for Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam.  We drove to France for the Tour de Limousin stage race in a heatwave.  When it came time to suit up for the time trial, we were all almost crying when we had to put our socks on - it was that warm!

Thanks for reading! I'll try to keep this blog updated so you can follow along on my silly adventures.

TOP TEN BABY !!!

Just found out i finished 10th today at the Herentals Criterium. Considering there was only one girl behind me at the finish line our peloton got real small by the end. Either way, TOP TEN BABY!!! I'll gladly take it - especially considering i lost a pile of salt to get that result.

Just finished race 1 of 5 this week

Wow, that was a shock. After a tough recovery process from ripping my back muscles 6 weeks ago, having to do intervals again was a fairly unpleasant experience. 

Luckily, as the peloton got smaller and smaller i was able to stay with them. I may not have won the race (as that honor well deservedly went to Kaat Hannes) or even placed second as that went to little miss powerhouse Ellen van Loy. BUT i did finish the race with the group and that was enough to put a smile on my face!

Thanks to all of you who came out to cheer for me!! Ik heb jullie allemaal gehoord!!

Tomorrow's race is Bambrugge - with a hill. I'll be able to see if my legs held onto any climbing form from Tour of Cyprus or Benidorm Training Camp with the BABOCO boys earlier in the year. fingers crossed!

Almost "ready" to race..

I say "ready" because racing is nothing like training. And when all you do is train, it is hard to have an idea how a race will go. The good news is that my injuries appear to be healed and i am back on Coach Elmo's training program putting in lots and lots of hours on the bike in an attempt to get back to where i was a month ago.  Bad news is that Belgium's weather has really sucked lately but even so, i have been showing up outside to do the work so i'm ready to race again.

I have exactly two weeks before i am back at a start line again. Once back, it will be busy, busy, busy - just how i like it.

My next races are:

July 26 Herentals Post-Tour Criterium

July 27  Bambrugge Road Race

July 28  Wolvertem-Meise Post-Tour Criterium

July 29  Haaltert Road Race    

July 31 Kapellen Post-Tour Criterium

If you are wondering what Post-Tour Criteriums are, they are a collection of "show" events held just after the Tour de France to show off the tour riders to the spectators.  They also invite some other folks to attend who are known to the public such as cross racers like Bart Wellens, Tom Meeusen, etc.  For the women, space is also by invitation only so i am lucky enough to be invited to these events.  Hopefully my legs will be in order enough to put on a good show.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks to those who sent me well wishes when i broke myself a month ago!! That really helped a lot for motivation!!

Today was Old Mans Ride

With cyclocross season on my mind, i have naturally been motivated to get back into a solid training routine after my crash three weeks ago in a race.  Today the plan was to try my luck with the "Bakkers" group ride tonight out of Zaventem so i could gauge where i am in my recovery.  While it is called a ride, it is more like a controlled race where they drive each other into the ground.  It is mainly either racers or unnaturally fast dudes who show.  If i could hold on, then I'd be theoretically ready to race.  As i was not sure if i could do it, i enlisted my friend Kenny to "babysit" me for the evening so that way he could keep me in the group if i have a bad moment.  Kenny is one of those freaks of nature who rides 2-3 times per week at most but somehow remains the guy to watch in a group consisting of crazy fast guys.

But with rain scheduled for tonight, i changed my plans and joined the Old Mans Ride this afternoon instead.  While i didnt get the full test i did get enough of a teaser to have an idea of where my fitness is at the moment, especially when they were pushing the pace at 44kph (27.3mph) for a while.  It took myself out of the line of riders so i could do the work with full wind in my face.   I am pleased to say that, while it didnt feel completely comfortable, it also didnt put me in the red.  I could tell, however, that if it went faster i would feel pain from breathing harder.  And standing on the pedals doesnt work yet without pain - i found out today, again. But it's coming along, and that was the purpose of today's ride - mission accomplished. 

While riding on the Old Mans Ride, i couldnt help but think about how far they've come over the years.  The first time i rode with this group out of Kortenberg located in the center of Belgium was six years ago.  The group consisted mainly of 60-85 years olds (hence, the nickname that a bunch of us use for the group) and rode no faster than 30kph (18.5mph) - ever with an average speed no higher than 26kph (16mph) by the end of their flat tour. But for the last two years, the "Old Mans Ride" nickname has become a bit misleading.  It's still mainly the same guys but now they are fast old guys. Today's ride, for instance, was average 31kph (19.2mph).  When you take into consideration all the turns, stop signs, stop lights, etc that they encounter when riding through a country consisting of little towns that connect to one another, it is very impressive.  They even enjoy playtime where they take turns attacking each other.

As an American, i can't help but to find it bizarre to watch a group of old guys killing each other and periodically exploding with full fireworks coming out of their heads when they go too deep. But i must say that i am inspired by them. I really hope i can be that fast when i am their age.

Today we passed a group of guys who were about the same age as our guys, but the others were all on upright town bikes going about half our speed.  I couldnt have been more proud of my Old Men as we zipped by the other old guys. It is a common occurence here in Belgium to see older folks killing on the bike but i couldnt imagine groups like this in USA. I remember in California and also in NYC, the group rides I knew of (and joined) were basically mainly racer dudes with a few older folks who were mostly former racers.  I must say that it is a nice feeling to know that no matter my age or speed level, here in Belgium i can always find a group to ride with. That is...if i remain in the country long enough to reach that age.  The thought of eventually moving to Spain or southern France still makes me happy - to be warm in the winter is not such a bad thing, i think.

Still in the Neverending Healing Phase

Well, it has now been 2 1/2 weeks since my crash in Aalburg. And as of last night, the torn back muscle pain (that decided to spread completely around to the front of my chest where it deposited a collection of blood bruises) combined with a nasty case of whiplash has diminished enough that i can just now get away with simple "over the counter" pain meds.  How happy am I!! It looks like I'll actually get a full night of sleep at some point in the near future.

With diminished pain, i even got in a couple of rides outdoors although i found i definitely have a limit to how long i can ride.  After about 40 minutes or so the discomfort starts jumping up quickly. I did however figure out a way to cheat the breathing part of the injury a little bit.  If i go faster than a very easy pace where i have to breathe a little deeper, the pain is sharp. But i found that if i just push a bigger gear (haha) it takes a slightly higher speed before the breathing pain kicks in. 

Yeah, sure it's a bummer that it happened but at least i can see now that there can possibly be an end to this where i can start training normally again.  Cyclocross season may still be three months away but this period of the year is really when i needed to be getting in some real training for optimal preparation - so its good to see that i may be "normal" soon.

At least my bike is mostly in good condition, although the wheel took a lethal hit from the gal who was catapulted into me from the domino effect that seemingly started on the other side of her.

Hopefully my next post will be a bit more cheery. And thanks to all of you who sent me well wishes! That really meant a lot!!

Tomorrow is X-ray Day

and this is how i felt!

I earned that honor of subjecting myself to a set of x-rays when i behaved inappropriately at the doctor's office this morning.  My doctor had me lift both arms so he could put his hands on either side of my torso. But when he lightly squeezed, instead of telling him whether or not i felt anything untoward, i sprung across the room to hide behind Jonas.  Well, it was either that or a punch in the face due to my natural "fight or flight response". 

He tried to coerse me into coming back over towards him but i was in such pain I couldnt quite make out his words, although i expect it was something like, "come on over little girly, wanna piece of candy? I dont bite."  It didnt work.

In hindsight i realize that my response was a bit bizarre but at the time it felt like the smartest thing to do.  At least Jonas didnt get up out of his chair and pound his fists against his chest in my defense as i firmly hid behind him. haha!

Wanna know what it's like....

to be at a training camp as the only girl in a boy's cyclocross team?

CLICK HERE to read all about the ins, outs, ups, down, highs, lows...

Shot for the stars but landed on my head

start of Begijnendijk by Peter Schepens

The first of my scheduled four races went quite well. At the Begijnendijk road race in BE i sat comfortably in the peloton, finishing 29th in the bunch sprint out of 70 starters.

As my next two races located in Holland were UCI international events, where you need to be part of a team to participate, I guest rode for the  Green Coaching UK team. 




Valkenburg RR by Anton Vos

The first was Valkenburg Hills road race.  It was unfortunately not as easy as my last road race which i expected considering it was a higher level of competition.  With little peloton experience this season i found myself too far back when the neutral section ended and we were dumped at the base of narrow climbs at the start of the race.  My "excuse me, pardon me, can i get by" only got me so far - ok, well actually not one gal moved out of the way at my request. So by the time i got to the top of the narrowest climb, the gaps were already formed. Considering it is not possible for me to ride faster than or even as fast as the fastest gals in the race, i was pretty much relegated to my position.  I was, however, able to move a few spots up over the next kilometers to somewhere around 80th (out of around 150 riders) but since they only counted up to 72nd position in the official results, you wont find me and the rest of the gals who came in after the cut. 

me, Jonas, and Claire Fraser

The second race of 7-Dorpenomloop Aalburg was significantly worse than the first considering it left me in agonizing pain and covered in itchy welts.  This time around i got to the start line early so i didnt have to fight to get near the front during the neutral section before the race started. Somewhere after 10km into the race, i thought to myself, well this is going well. I feel nice and comfy. BUT shortly thereafter I was smacked into by an out-of-control cyclist. She hit me so hard that two of my spokes were crumpled. I had a split second to choose if i land in Nettle bushes or on the pavement and i chose the former. Still not sure if i made the right decision as i sit here, not even able to breathe without pain - and the itchies from head to ankle surely dont make things easier. In addition to the Nettle poisoning, i severely tore the muscles in my back in the rib area. If i find a comfy position and dont move, then i only have pain from breathing. Otherwise, if i make a wrong move - or almost any move - i have a stabbing pain in my back so strong that at times i come really close to the lights going out. Ugh. 

I know this too shall pass and i should consider myself lucky considering it could have been worse (ie. Marianne Vos broke her collarbone in Valkenburg Hills) but it doesnt seem to make the pain go away.

With all this said, I am sorry to say i will be sitting this weekend out from racing - no Belgacom Antwerpen MTB for me.  My goal is to try and get on the trainer by the end of the week - fingers crossed.  I miss my bike already.

Summer Race Schedule - in progress

As i have not received a team mountain bike this season (and my current bike is 10 years old and half falling apart), i have changed my whole race schedule around for the summer - now focusing more on road races.   But as i am changing it all around so late in the season, my racing will be limited.  I will try to throw in a few mtb races here and there because it's so much fun, although my current mtb may not be so happy about this!

My next 4 races are:

Begijnendijk  18 May
Valkenburg Hills Classic (UCI event) 25 May 
7-dorpenomloop Aalburg (UCI event) 26 May
Belgacom MTB GP: Antwerpen (UCI event)  2 June

Tour of Cyprus reports

Sorry...again...for being so lax on my blog updates. Just to catch you up quickly, here are links to two stories i wrote on my Tour of Cyprus race experience almost a couple months back.

For CYCLOCROSS Magazine's coverage, click HERE.

For Pelotonpost.com 's coverage, click HERE.

They are completely different stories from different angles, by the way. One is more of my goofy view of the trip and the other is more of what it is was like to be in Cyprus.

Happy reading!