We arrived in Madrid and were greeted by hot, dry weather- pretty similar to summer in Colorado. The course was almost the same as last year- dry, sandy and fast.
And then it rained.
I thought the rain would only make it faster (firming up some of the sandy corners, etc), but it was enough rain that the sand was soft and slow, and some of the corners, climbs and downhills were a little bit slick. The course dried out a bit during the pre-ride, and I think if conditions stayed the same it would have been FAST on Sunday. However, it rained some more Saturday night, and the weather Sunday morning was overcast, cool and humid. I did my customary pre-ride before my warm-up, and the course was quite a bit more slippery than the day before. I didn't even ride the one steep downhill, because it looked like someone had already attempted that (unsuccessfully...) and it was muddy and torn-up.
This is not how I like to spend the hour before a race: hemming and hawing over the benefits of one tire over another. I'm not really a fan of changing anything at the last minute, but I did anyway. I thought that putting a mud tire on the back would give me confidence to ride the steep downhill, and more traction on the steep climbs and in the corners. So I switched my rear tire 45 minutes before the start.
I squeezed my way onto the 2nd row (thanks Waldek...), and had a great start. Then I realized my rear tire was way too soft and that it probably hadn't fully sealed. I was still at the tail end of the front group when, about 7 minutes into the race, I went over a root and burped all the air out of my tire. Luckily I wasn't too far from the tech zone, and I was able to ride it in and get a new wheel. Waldek performed a super-fast wheel change, and I was back on my way, but I had lost a bunch of spots. I'll admit that I lost some motivation too. I rode around the next few laps, picked a few people off and ended up finishing 14th.
I was bummed, but then I was thinking about it and that was the first mechanical I've ever had since I've been on the Luna team. That is a testament to how hard-working and professional our mechanics Chris and Zeph are. Those guys keep everything running so smoothly that we never have to worry about the bikes, and that makes racing so much easier.
Now hopefully I can pull it together and have a good race here in Alabama!
We have a lot of subscriptions to different magazines, but one of our staples is Harper's. If you haven't ever checked it out, you should- there are all kinds of articles about all kinds of things. Here are a few excerpts from the "Findings" section, which is just that- a collection of different findings, scientific and otherwise:
"Scientists built a handheld mosquito-killing laser that can be mounted on aerial drones, which will track the mosquitoes and shoot them out of the sky.
In the Gulf of Aden, a massive pod of dolphins thwarted a band of pirates.
Chinese scientists announced that stem-cell injections had repopulated with fresh eggs the ovaries of barren mice.
Rich parents favor firstborn children more than poor parents do.
People who live in the tropics are more likely to have baby girls.
Crabs remember being hurt.
Facebook may lower the grades of college students, and Twitter dulls compassion for human suffering.
Surgeons in Russia removed a fir sapling from a man's lung."
Just think about that.
As temperatures rise, I become less and less excited about turning on my oven- it just makes the house too hot (we don't have air conditioning). Bread, pizza and other things that require a hot oven suddenly become less appealing to cook- however, they don't become less appealing to EAT, so I've been getting creative. Here's what I learned today-
1. Don't put your nice Le Creuset pots on your grill (I was going for no-knead bread on the grill, but wasn't attentive enough to the temperature and ended up burning the bread and chipping some of the enamel off the inside of the pot. Lose-lose situation there, sadly.)
2. DO put your pizza stone on the grill and cook some delicious pizzas on it! The pizzas cooked way faster on the grill (in about 5 minutes) and they were perfect- thin and crispy!
Here is the crust recipe I used: Pizza crust (makes about 6 small pizzas): 1 cup luke-warm water 1 envelope active dry yeast 1 tbsp honey 1 tsp olive oil combine water, honey and olive oil, sprinkle yeast on top and let sit until yeast is foamy (or gets cloudy) in another bowl mix: 1 cup flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used Bluebird Farm Emmer flour) 1 tsp salt add yeast mixture and mix well until it forms a sticky dough (you will probably need to add quite a bit more flour, just add it a little at a time). Turn dough out onto counter and knead for a few minutes until smooth. Keep adding flour if dough is really sticky, but it's ok if it's a little sticky. Lightly oil a bowl, put the dough in and turn it over to coat with oil, then put it in a warm place and let it rise for an hour, or until doubled in size. I've made this recipe a bunch of times and for some reason it didn't rise much at all this time. I didn't have the time or patience to make another batch, so I used it anyway, and it turned out great. Dusty said, and I quote "this is the perfect crust." Maybe the not-rising was a good thing... Anyway, if your dough does rise....after about an hour, punch it down and pinch off a small handful. I use a rolling pin to roll it out nice and thin, but if you want to get all "pizza-parlor" you can stretch and toss... Then, because I don't have a peel, I coat the BACK of a sheet pan with flour (make sure it is the back side or your pizza won't be able to slide off), and put the rolled-out dough on top. Then it's ready for topping. Here are the toppings I used tonight: Quick basil pesto: big handful basil handful pine nuts 1 or 2 cloves garlic salt and pepper olive oil puree everything in food processor and drizzle in olive oil until it reaches desired consistency Fresh tomato sauce- I usually make a cooked tomato sauce, but I didn't have time so I just pureed 1 tomato with 1/2 clove of garlic, some salt, pepper, oregano and parsley- it worked just fine. Sauteed oyster and shitake mushrooms with a little garlic, salt and pepper and threw in some dried parsley at the end. Chicken sausage (you can buy them fully cooked, which saves some time) Thinly sliced zucchini Variety of cheeses (mozzarella, chevre, parmesan, romano, etc). I used mozzarella and romano today. IMPORTANT! Preheat your grill (to 400-450 degrees) WITH the pizza stone in it, so the stone is nice and hot when you put the pizza on it. Now comes the fun/risky part: holding the sheet pan (with your pizza on it) over the hot pizza stone, jiggle it back and forth to loosen the pizza, then with a quick forward-and-back shake, let the pizza fall onto the stone. You have to commit, though, no wimpy shakes or you get a crumpled pizza (that will still taste good, just won't look as pro...). close the lid of the grill, but keep an eye on it- it will cook fast! Have a rack nearby that you can put the hot pizzas on to cool, then cut them up and eat them (and save some for the next day's lunch)!
Well, spring is in full swing and most of my daffodils and tulips have come and gone. The flax and the small lilac in our front yard are blooming now and everything looks nice. New sprouts are popping up in the garden every day (turnips and kohlrabi in photos below), and I have expanded my couple of berry bushes into more of a berry patch- I've added another raspberry, some black raspberries and some strawberries. The grape vine has a ton of new growth on it, and I am hoping we get some grapes this year- we didn't last year and I was pretty disappointed.
It remains to be seen if I can keep the squirrels from demolishing everything. Several squirrels have grown fat from feasting on our compost pile all winter, and they aren't scared of us at all. Dusty keeps threatening to buy a BB gun. Hopefully they will stick to the compost...
Dusty bought some more roses to add to his collection. He aspires to grow "prize winning" roses, but I don't think you can buy those at Home Depot.
The weather has been fantastic, wildflowers are blooming and the trails are all in great shape, so training has been pretty fun lately.
I've always wanted a vegetable garden, but with the amount that Dusty and I travel it never seemed very practical. Until now. I decided there was no reason I couldn't plant a garden full of fall-bearing veggies, and that way I would be around to enjoy them.
So we took a day, cleared and tilled our overgrown garden area, planted a bunch of seeds and set up drip irrigation lines on a timer so we can still water when we are traveling. I am anxiously awaiting the first little sprouts. We planted beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, kohlrabi and butternut, delicata and acorn squash. And some pumpkins. (Although Dusty told me he is still going to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins at Halloween- I believe his words were "does EVERYTHING have to be homemade?")
Here is a quick and delicious braised cabbage recipe I came up with when I had a bunch of leftover shredded cabbage from fish tacos (I've found that cabbage is best used up pretty quickly or it gets a little funky). I just shredded the cabbage on my cheese grater.
The apple juice and the balsamic vinegar add a nice sweetness to this easy dish. I ate it with roasted chicken and potatoes.
Braised Purple Cabbage
about 3 cups shredded cabbage
a few dashes of balsamic vinegar
1 cup apple juice or cider
salt and pepper to taste
heat a pan with a little oil, throw in the cabbage and when it softens add the vinegar and juice and cook until most of the liquid is evaporated.
I'll just blame my lack of updates on jetlag...
After a disappointing finish in Offenburg and a pretty light load of training heading into the Houffalize World Cup, I was hoping for some snappy legs and a great result. Unfortunately, I didn't have the result I was looking for, and I haven't come up with any excuses why not. Just one of those mediocre days for no reason I guess.
I did manage to get a start spot on the outside of the 5th row (technically I only had to pass the 4 people in front of me, right?). The start was hard, but I was able to move up a fair amount on the start climb. In retrospect I should have DESTROYED myself up that first paved climb, because I still had to do a fair amount of passing in the singletrack. I was moving up steadily, but I had missed the front group and was riding around 10th place for most of the race. The race was very short- only 3 laps which ended up being under 1:30 at the finish. .
Those last two races have been frustrating for me, I know that my fitness is good right now- I'm riding well, but somehow I just haven't been able to pull it together and get the results. Now I've got a couple weeks at home to do some training and get fast before Madrid.
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