Vuelta Independencia Nacional (UCI 2.2)

Back in 2001 the Vuelta Independencia Nacional was my first UCI race outside of Europe and I remember a pretty exciting trip for a 19-year old kid. So when I was asked to go down again I thought it would be good to see how things are 10 years later and maybe get to see some old friends. Most importantly, though doing a 8-day stage race in mid-February is a great way to get ready for a long domestic season in the US. There's no much better way to get the "moto" going then doing a week of medium-intense racing in. The racing is not easy by any means but not too intense to crack you or make you dig too deep. So as long as you stay off the pavement and don't get sick you get a great training effect out of it - mostly done at 43-45kph for most stages. Most of the Latino teams (Venezuela, Colombia, etc.) have done quite some races already and the local teams from the D.R. are eager to show themselves at the front at the highlight event of Dominican Cycling throughout the year - culminating with the last stage being held on February 27, the "Independence Day" of the DR.

back in 2001...

...and 10 years later in 2011

I was guest-riding with a young group from Texas (Park Place) and even with me, the "old" guy, our average age of the team 22.5years! Zach, Nathaniel, Kolt, Wes & Wade, and Leo as DS made for a entertaining group for the whole trip. Stage 1 started with a 120km, 4-corner, circuit-race close to downtown. It was a short, traffic-eventful, ride from the hotel and even at 10am we already had 90F. After a short & light week of training and a day of traveling the legs felt a bit rusty and I was definitely not up to normal form. Kazakhstan showed up with 12 riders this year (on 2 teams) and were racing like mad-man out there. I don't know why the UCI allows 2 pretty much national teams from the same country in a race. They sure won't race against each other and in my opinion made the race a bit less open as you always had the "Borat-green" countering any moves - at least for the first few stages. A break of 13 stayed away and last year's Overall GC winner (and local rider) Sanchez won the stage. But we all made it through w/ out problems.

Park Place p/b ROTHE Training at start of Stage 1

Stage 2a was the first "real" stage when we hit the coast East of Santo Domingo and rode along the highway all the way to La Romana. Within the first 30km Team Kazakhstan (12 dudes, not 6 like all the other teams) took over at the front and put it in the gutter. It was hard but good and suddenly we're only 50guys left in the front group. I rear flatted right then hitting some metal piece on the shoulder. I stopped and 45seconds later the rest of the field browses by. After a wheel change I make my way through traffic thanks to our Hyundai Piccolo(sp?) back to the tail end of the large field which got dropped by our front group from earlier. I was not a happy camper, especially since some Colombians decided to take this group in the gutter while trying to catch the front 50guys. After a few pulls and some "organized yelling" we caught up the front again. Wade and I made it to the finish in the front group. The race commissaries didn't like my pacing after my flat and gave me a 1min time penalty...:-( It was a rough stage. We got to hang out for a few hours at a local Museum with pool (?), eat and sleep.

guys catching a break between half-stages at La Romana Retreat-center/museum

Stage 2b to Higuey was going to be short and punchy. Only 48km with crosswinds and the famous little "valley" where you descent on a shitty road, cross a bridge, and then ride up a short, steep climb on - I have to say - very nice, wide open tarmac. We all made it over there but the flats hit us again and Wade flatted right next to me as he hit another giant pothole. USA U23's Larry hit the same hole I think, broke his carbon front wheel, and did a somersault but luckily didn't break anything and was able to continue. The crosswinds made it a bit tricky but I was able to stay up the front and just follow wheels until the finish. Funny note: Rob Squire was in the yellow jersey after Stage 2a but the old leader (local D.R. rider Sanchez) still got to wear it on Stage 2b while the USA controlled the field and rode at the front the entire 48K. Not sure what to think about that, but I think Squire was not happy. If you're leading a UCI stage race you should get to wear the leader jersey and not someone else.

the "hill"

Fun on the MTB

The cold weather this week forced most of us (cyclist) to improvise a bit. Riding the trainer is one option but getting out on the CX or MTB was another. Thanks to Robert I had a Cannondale Lefty still sitting in the garage and that's how this week of training ended up being - MTB miles. If you gotta get in 3-41/2 hrs or so on the road and the weather is like this...then you might as well get in ~3hrs on the MTB. Best thing, you don't get cold as quick as you're moving the whole time (at least if you're off-road).

So after living for 3years in the ATX I finally went the first time down the Greenbelt. As a "true roadie" with a bit of CX experience it was lots of fun. Tuesday afternoon it was chilly around 30*F but at least the sun was out and we had blue sky. Great 2.5hrs down there:


On Wednesday it started to get a bit colder and the sun was gone but by now we had a good group together. Early afternoon super-sprinter Willy Ross & his friend (name?), Adam G, MMayo and I hopped on the 'belt and spent some time on trails I've never imagined we had in Austin. Very challenging for "roadie" again and they had to wait a few times for me :-) But it got better over time. So much to learn. When riding road bikes or TT bikes you often think you know it all but once you're off-road and some big dudes on fat tires ride away from you you're starting to doubt your own ability. Steep learning-curve for me for sure. I ended up close to 3hrs. Later that day we went to PURE gym and sure enough I see WRoss teach a intense spin-class only 3hrs after our "little" excursion to the greenbelt. He's got lots of energy!

quick photo-stop at a chilly 26*F with Ross + friend, Mayo and Adam's taking pic

a chilly Willy w/ Greenbelt drop in background. He tough a 1hr spin-class a few hours later!

Thursday it got even colder and I still had no intentions to hop on the rollers so I headed out to Slaughter Creek South West of town and did a few laps there. Almost missed the automated/timed gate-closure at 6:35pm but got in a couple of hours on a easy trail comparing what we did the days before.

down to 25*F now on Thursday afternoon

Then finally on Friday, the snow was here! Last time I got to have some fun in the snow on the MTB was a year ago back home in Germany with my old teammates. If you got the right bike, the right (lower) pressure in the tires, and the right trail it's even more fun than just riding on dirt. Most of Austin had a "Snow Day" and so had Adam, Kelly, and I ;-) I thought most the snow didn't make it all the way on the trail with all the thick trees etc. but it was actually pretty "white" down there. But my mid-day most of it started to melt already (at least what was exposed to the sun) so we got pretty dirty in the 2-3hrs we spent down there. Kelly got "skillz", that's for sure. I rode with him at the first Mellow Johnny's Classic 2 years ago and we were head-to-head quite a bit off the back but he spent some serious time off-road and I can definitely tell. I wouldn't even think about riding up stuff, and he just does it. Pretty cool. Some pics from Friday's "excursion":

Kelly smiling... comin' in hot....

Mulch Hill... Adam G taking a break

COBRA !

Spend a bit more time in the garage lately, mostly late evenings with a good glass of red wine. Why? Well, I needed to built up a nice new bike for the wifey. After Specialized, and another Specialized it was time for something custom and thanks to Russ Walker I got her a full-custom painted COBRA. Made in Taiwan, just like any other frameset you buy in the store but 70% cheaper. And the Austin Flyers paint scheme came with it. While I never got a chance to talk/chat with the guy who painted that frame in some factory in Taiwan I sure know he did an amazing job getting the colors right and most importantly made the wifey happy ;-)

Here are a few pics. Complete SRAM Red with a VCRC BB, an Easton stem/bar combo and of course a pair of COBRA 101 "Comin' in Hot"-edition wheels straight from Russ Walker's Auto Mall Accessories in Shreveport, Louisiana ;-)

PEZ Daily Distraction!

Ultra Romance with Wooly Mammoth

This past weekend I participated in Team Wooly Mammoth' 1st Ultra Provocatorio Invitationale. Tons of fun with Andrew, Jen, and Francis. We (unofficially) won, too and all got some nice swag. Thanks Wooly's! Total 117miles for the day.

Watch a video-recap here:

Try something new: Dirty Du!

Next to cyclocross, there are a few more things which can be tons of fun (and challenging) as part of any off-season. For example, a off-road duathlon like Jack and Adams puts on every year out at Rocky Hill Ranch near Smithville: the Dirty Du!

Thanks to Robert I had a nice MTB to ride around for a bit and Adam "guided" me through the singletracks of Rocky Hill Ranch on a pre-ride a few days before the race. As a "roadie", I've never been out there before but I can tell you that you miss a lot by not going out there and spending a couple of laps on the MTB. Tons of good, fast, semi-technical trails through a mostly thick forest.

The 2x5K off-road up "Fat Chuck's Revenge" are obviously the hardest task of the whole things - at least when you're not a real runner. Like cyclocross, the time on the MTB is pretty intense and fun, but comparing to the road you have to make so many quick decisions on where to go, brake, pedal, lift, balance etc. in such short amount of time that you're "always on the move". Wes and Tommy F came out, too so we lined up with about 150 others to take on two 5K's and the 12mile loop on the MTB. After coming out 5th or 6th from the run I quickly got on the Cannondale Scalpel and tried not to lose too much time on Jason from MJ's and Andy Lee, the eventual winner and former MTB-pro. I was still leaping behind Jason and Andy but passed a few "quick" runners and was in third coming into T2. Unfortunately, one of "those runners" was Lance Parker and he ran me down pretty good - putting 2+minutes into me within 2.5K. But I heard he's fast, so that's okay ;-) Desiree Ficker ran the 2nd run quite fast, too and with Eric Hess she had a great teammate for the team relay which they won by minutes ahead of 2nd place.

Thanks again to Jack Murray and Jack & Adam's for giving me the opportunity to try out that duathlon thing on dirt!

running up Fat Chuck's revenge

Cyclocross Fun

What do you do when off-season training becomes boring? You add some bits of intensity to it. In this example, cyclocross. I've done a few races over the last few winters and it never gets old. I know I'll never be "great" at it but you can learn tons of stuff in every race and get better quickly. Besides, it gives you 60min of great, High Intensity Training, with tons and tons of micro-intervals, sprints, etc.

The first time (and for long time last time) I raced a CX bike was back in the mid-or late nineties and it was on a Diamant (oldest German bicycle manufacturer) steel frame with out clipless pedals and down-tube shifters. It must have weight 25lbs or something because I didn't like it at all.

But nowadays it's much more fun (Texas weather helps - of course, too) and thanks to some good people in the industry I have some sponsors which support me for the Texas CX races. Specifically, Sean & Charles at ROL Wheels and Sol & team at Austin Bikes! Check out the ROL Carbon 38mm tubular wheels here - solid, affordable, carbon tubular wheels at 1190grams/set. Built in Austin by Austin Bikes' very own Sam Frost. A bombproof wheelset for off-road fun.

photo KGS Bikes

Stories from India (भारत) - Bicycles in India

coconut bicycle

commuter bicycle

banana leave bicycle

silk production (cocoon) carrying bicycle

tricked out Durga Puja festival bicycle

Stories from India (भारत) - How Silk is Made

more to come

Stories from India (भारत) - Flora & Fauna

Besides big cities with lots of traffic and people, India has to offer a big variety of open nature and wildlife. There a plenty of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks spread across the country - fortunately, because only in the last 40 or so years the preservation and protection of the Indian wildlife became a topic. Before that, plenty of hunting for elephant, tiger, was totally normal and widely common over there.

While in Bangalore we visited the Bannerghatta Biological Park which has a zoo and safari area with has plenty of adopted and rescued animals in a nice place south of town. Entry fee for zoo & safari was $3.50 and you could spend pretty much all day there. We saw some cobras, pythons, leopards, monkey, siamese(!) jackals, elephants in the zoo and plenty of tiger, lions, bears on the safari.

The Nagarhole National Park, where we spent 3 days, is 4-5hrs southwest of Bangalore and if you ever in India I recommend you go there for a few days. This park and the neighbouring Bandipur park has the highest density of elephants in entire Asia (1500+) and around 65 tigers living free and roaming the 248 sq mile (Nagarhole) area. Traveling via boat on the Kabini river, we saw elephants, marsh crocodiles, deer, lots of monkeys (rhesus macaque and langur), and many different birds.

After getting up at 5am in the morning on Saturday, we headed out via boat to cross the river and then onwards on a Safari truck in search for tigers. Unfortunately, there was no sighting of them that day but still plenty of langur monkeys, gaur, wild dogs, hogs, and again all types of birds to watch.

buck fight!

Stories from India (भारत) - Traffic

-After a long season it was time to take a break and we headed to India to visit family in Bangalore, India who moved there for work a year ago. I've seen parts of South East Asia but India is so much different, from culture, religion, food, languages and much more. Plenty of things to see and explore. 2 weeks are not enough time to see and understand everything but you get a descent idea of what life is like over here.

Traffic is crazy here, at least when you're coming from Europe or the US where driving is somewhat 'regulated'. Not here. Someone said you don't use your brakes, you use your horn instead. Having a horn is more important than having a working turn signal or lights on your car. It 'regulates' the traffic - Indian style. As a driver you are responsible for what you see ahead of you - the operators of other vehicles (bikes, rickshaw, scooters, cars, buses, etc.) just have to watch out to not hit you from behind or side. It all looks weird, and - for western standards - dangerous but it works out just fine and you rarely see any accidents. And last but not least, you don't want to hit a cow - ever. They are holy here and traffic comes to a halt if there's one on the road. And that happens quite often and everywhere - you just make your way around it or honk your way by.