USA Cycling

Thought that I would like to make a few fair comparisons as to why I am exceedingly disappointed in USA Cycling and quite impressed with the race structure over here:

1.Registration over here is not a huge ordeal-show up and give your John Hancock next to your name, finit
2-I do not have to fill out god knows how many number of forms that we have to back home, guess how many I fill out here? 1 at the beginning of year and its good for the whole season-what a concept?
3-Races cost like 4 euro-top that
4-Officials here are not yelling at everyone for stupid shit i.e.-no helmet when rolling around, folded numbers because guess what numbers here actually fit, especially a relief to not have a yellow line for racing, and frankly no one here cares where you go piss. For those who do not know at Tour of Utah we were able to skip the first 8 km of a stage of the race to go to bathroom so that we would not go midrace-major lame
5-The FFC is meant to turn out good racers, not make money for a few folks
6-Officials here have somehow figured out to do all of the placings by eye and no of this new electronic stuff and they get it right, even with a field of 175!
7-Guess what USA cycling, bidons are going to get tossed mid race-waste of energy to go back and give them to a car. Here they just get picked up post race and its not a big deal. No need to fine everyone for every bottle tossed, races are charging enough, just pay someone to pick them up.

To round this out pretty darn impressed with how fluid everything seems here and looking back on it, there is a lot that racing back home leaves me wondering why it doesn't get changed? Got a fun race coming up on Monday, 30 tours of a 3 km circuit. Day is going to be 1 km uphill 1 k flat and 1 k downhill. Wish me luck.

dinner last night

Well, as you can see in this shot, my meat sure is looking pretty red. Apparently, to go fast on the bike, as they say here this specific meat will help me out. If you are trying to guess what it is-its a raw steak. Yes, i said RAW. lets just say that it does not go down awesome nor does it feel awesome in the morning.


I have been suffering quite a bit today and I think that I now know why they eat it-it helps you get down to race weight on this tool. Lets just say my stomach has not been a huge fan of the raw meat that has been consumed-ham, pork, and beef.

Also wanted to show you guys one of my new favorite drinks over here. Not sure why I can't find this anywhere in the states?

Old Men

had a great day today. Missed the move of the day of 6 riders with 15 km to finish of the race but, was still the first chase group on the road and finished around 20th out of 175 today. I am starting to get the hang of things. I don't want to do a play by play of racing on here, but spent lots of first half of day trying to get away in the circuit race. the race was a 3 hour race on a 6 km circuit with lots of hills and descents. Had lots of fun racing, but something more odd sticks out on the day. At the start and finish of race, there is lots of euro pop and techno music getting blared and I cannot help but laugh at old men tapping their toes to artist like Lady Gaga and others of this genre. There is something quite amusing at seeing old men that seem set in their ways having a genuine good time semi dancing in the cold to crazy American women artists. On that note, seeing as this is the music I now get to listen to this year, I believe I know the words to all of Lady Gaga's songs seeing as it is a nice English break when I hear it. I know that this is pretty scattered, but I think that this is a great indication of where my life is at-scattered and spending lots of my day confused and in a state of constant translation.

pave

Yesterday had a race over some pretty crazy little roads. The race went much better than last weeks and I was actually learning how to surf the group a bit better over here. I made it into a few different moves on the day and even got my chance at the pave or cobblestone racing. Needless to say, my back arms and shoulders feel like they got hit by a semi yesterday from racing on them. I misssed the key split in the group with 15 km to go but was extremely happy with how the day went. Was at the front for all the splits on the climbs and had a few important folk take notice of it. The race into the pave every time is like a race to the finish then keep it rolling through. Feeling good for todays race, little bit tired though. I had a fair amount of yesterday in the red, but happy with my progress in just 1 week. Cheers to a great day today.

photos from the area

Just a quick compilation of some photos around here. The pic with me in it is after 4.5 hours of crosswind racing. The energy to even move is hours away and at least 3 plates of food down the road. notice my teammates shoulder to my left, yeah everyone here is big. The chateau at the bottom is all of 15 minutes away from my house too.

french eating

Had a great ride today with some teammates. They were able to show me some awesome new roads. We have had some very spirited discussions lately on nutrition and lifestyles. My teammates and director were aghast that I would eat potatoes and eggs for breakfast and drink milk for dinner. Some of the other things that made them crazy were the fact that i enjoy some candy every now and then and maybe some ice cream. however, the biggest no no to them was that I love to eat red meat-they told me it will untrain you. All of these things will make you fat and slow as a cyclist according to them. However, for these guys, bucket loads of amazing fatty cheeses after lunch and dinner are ok and they see nothing wrong with a casual smoke for an opening of the lungs. I know, some differences here. One of the guys on team is crazy tiny, his dinner takes about 2 bites to eat-a spoonful of yogurt and a forkful of pasta. He says all the food he needs he takes on the bike and all other food will make him fat. Needless to say I cannot do the french food lifestyle of some of these guys and will continue to eat french toast, omelettes, and meat.

On a side note since seeing a gal on horseback the other day in town-all I have had in my head is Big and Rich's song-"save a horse, ride a cowboy" maybe some country music can set these guys straight?

first full week

today marks the first full week that I have had here in France. After a few days to decompress from my first race on Sunday I have been able to take away a few things. The biggest thing to take away is just to be much more attentive and expect the unexpected to happen. On another note, with Paris Nice happening it has been amazing being able to watch the race Live on National t.v.-we can't even get that on cable in the states.
It has been quite fun to watch the town that I live in come to life this week. I am living in Giverny, France which is the hometown of Claude Monet. The whole town is built around the Impressionist movement and full of museums and Monets' gardens. On the 1st of April everything will be opening and it appears that with each day new life arrives in the town.
Training is going well and stay tuned this week for photos of the area