Deluxe-mbourg

For the past two and a half weeks I have been living in a small town called Kautenbach, Luxembourg.  The country is the most beautiful place I have ever been, with vast forests, small mountains, and amazing roads.  The training here is unbeatable, with numerous roads going in every direction, all with great pavement and over challenging terrain.  Today was about 75 degrees and sunny, so the weather isn’t too bad either.

Last weekend I finished up a five day stage race here in Luxembourg called Fleche du Sud.  The race was probably one of the most difficult I have ever competed in, with an extremely strong field of guys from all over Europe.  It is one of the first times I have ever considered finishing a race an accomplishment, something that for me is difficult to get accustomed to.  U23 racing is a whole new level compared to the juniors, but so far the transition has gone well.  Before the race in Luxembourg I raced a 2-day elite race in France called Boucles de la Marne.  In the second stage I made the lead group of 17 riders and was on my way to a great result until I went down on the final descent, my second crash of the day, due to the wet, slippery roads.  I finished the race though, which wasn’t too bad, considering only around 50 of the 130 starters could say that.  So overall, the racing has been great, and should get even better this upcoming week when we go to a race called the Volta Ciclista a Tarragona on the mediterranean coast of Spain.  Apparently we stay in a plush hotel on the coast, so I am pretty excited for that.  The racing should be great as well, with some tough climbs over the 5 days of racing.  

Aside from racing, we have gotten to do a little sight seeing while here in Europe.  While in Belgium the week I arrived we kept ourselves occupied by going to the town square for a coffee every once in a while, and even going to the market in downtown Izegem on the weekend.   The day before yesterday we took the train to Luxembourg City for the day.  It is by far one of the coolest cities I have ever been to, with many restaurants, shops, castles, and pretty much everything you could think of.  The town is built on a sort of plateau, with stone walls surrounding the whole city, each around 300 feet tall.  The walls are a pretty amazing sight to see, and for the few hours we spent in the city, we had a great time.  Aside from that, all I have been doing is just racing, training, and recovering, and I look forward to hopefully getting a result in the near future. My lack of blogging has been mostly due to the fact that we do not have internet access where we are staying, and as a result, we have to walk down the street to the local hotel to surf the web.  It is a bit of a hassle, so I usually only cover the basics while here.  But I didn’t want to keep everyone waiting too (considering it has been wayyy too long since my last post), so I decided to write today.   

I just realized I forgot to explain the title of this post…  While riding my bike the other day (when I come up with all great ideas/what I believe to be great ideas) I thought about how nice the entire country of Luxembourg is.  Everything about it is extremely nice–the houses are nice, the cars are nice, the roads are nice, and even the people are really nice.  It is pretty much the definition of deluxe, and I thought to myself maybe that is where the word is derived from… De (spanish and I believe French for of) and Luxe(mbourg).  Of Luxembourg.  Just a thought.  Maybe not.  Haha, well I will try to update more in the near future.  Hope all is well.

 

–Larry

A Day of Rest? Not for me…

I am finally sitting here in Izegem, BE after a few flights and a lot of waiting.  Currently, I am in the middle of the toughest aspect of European travel–trying to adjust to the time change.  My flight left yesterday, May 2nd, from Traverse City at 10:30 in the morning, and arrived in Brussels at 7:30 am today, May 3rd.  The fact that I got to Belgium at 7:30 makes the time change that much harder because I am not really allowed to go to sleep until it is night here, or else my sleep schedule will be out of whack.  That means I have to stay up for another 9 hours at least–meaning I will have been awake for a total of around 30 or so hours… Not too cool.  

Yet this staying up would normally be a pretty easy task–get here, unpack some clothing, fold it up nicely, make sure the bike fits well, go for a nice little ride, maybe come back and go to the grocery store…  This is not the case, however, as my suitcase was lost along the way (apparently not lost, just diverted to Germany), and it is Sunday.  The first part is probably the lesser of the two evils because it only limits me from unpacking, but the fact that today is Sunday closed many possible time wasting doors.  First of all, no one works on Sunday in Belgium.  That means that there is no one here to build my bike, or get it out of the closet if it is already built.  This eliminates any possibility of a ride, which would be a nice way to pass the time.  I decided I would resort to go shopping at the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the house–but being a Sunday in Belgium, that is closed as well.  Sunday also means no coffee shop, nor anything else outside of the house.  I can’t even do anything like clean or organize my stuff because I have no stuff to organize.  And I am sure that if I sat down to read a book I would almost definitely fall asleep.  So I am stuck in a sort of limbo here.  There really is nothing for me to do…  Anything active is ruled out due to the day of the week, and anything inactive will make me fall asleep.  So I decided to write up a post, since that would surely keep me from falling asleep (I think)…  It has worked so far.

This is all I want to do...

How time flies…

Looking over the pacific...

It has been quite a while since my last entry and rightfully so.  The past few months have been a whirlwind, with classes, cycling, studying, and all of the other activities I participate in here in Ann Arbor.  In January I attended team camp for 10 days in Arizona and California, which was pretty sweet.  We got our new bikes, got in some great riding, and were tested by numerous professionals–a sports psychologist, exercise physiologist, and even a sports medicine doctor.  I came out with a good indicator of my fitness–which was a little behind my teammates residing in the warm Arizona or other climates.  So when I returned home I had my work cut out for me, with my power values demoralizingly low compared to the previous season.  Camp re-motivated me to train and when I got back I put it into high gear.  I went back out to Arizona for the Valley of The Sun Stage Race in February, which went pretty well, although I was still a little off form, and then to the Redlands Bicycle Classic in California in March.  

At Redlands, I finally started to come to form and raced pretty well, considering it was my first time in such a large race.  The race was pretty brutal, especially the first road stage, where there were 30 mile an hour winds and some of the best US pro teams driving it on the front.  It hurt to say the least, but I finished, which was our team’s objective for the race.  I would have liked to make the front group on the final road stage, but what can you do when you haven’t been riding anywhere near as much as the others in the race and are living in a cold climate.

After Redlands it was pretty much school crackdown time for me and I have been in the libraries ever since.  All I have been doing for the past two months or so has been riding my bike, studying, and sleeping.  I eat a little in there too.  But overall, it has been going pretty well.  I have been coming into form with my cycling, I won a local training race, and have been putting in some long rides on the weekends.  I am done with three of my classes, I just finished my third of four finals today, and have my last one on Tuesday.  So once that is done I head home for three days before going to Belgium on May 2nd.

It has been a hectic year, but a good one.  I am looking forward to racing over in Europe and hope to have some good form, and coming back faster than ever before.  I think this year could be my most successful (with cycling and school) and can’t wait for the summer to start.  

For anybody who happens to read this, if for some reason you still check my blog… I hope all is well.  I plan to update this more often this year, so check back soon.  

 

–Larry

Oh, the trainer…

I finally brought my trainer down to Ann Arbor and have begun the indoor intensity part of my winter training…  For those of you who don’t know, a trainer is something you hook your bike up to that makes it stationary.  I feel bad for my roommate, with two bikes, a trainer, floor pump, and so much other bike gear in our room, it is pretty hard to move around.  Luckily he’s a trooper though and never complains about it.  I try to keep it out of the way and I am doing a halfway decent job…

The other day was my first time riding in the dorm room and let’s just say it was an interesting experience.  I had to angle my bike a certain way so it could actually fit and I so had a decent view of the tv.  I have to watch something while riding the trainer because otherwise I would die of boredom… My DVD of choice is the 2006 Tour de France–it is the only cycling video I have.  I cannot watch anything with a plot because I tend to lose focus in a hard workout or interval and never know what is going on.  

For some reason our room is absurdly hot when the window is closed, so about halfway through the workout I decided to open the window and the door, so a nice draft would blow through… Unfortunately it was not only a nice draft, it felt like a winter storm had blown in from the North Pole. When the door in our room is opened all the way and the window is as well, the wind flies in.  And that is just what it did.  Snow was literally blowing past me (yes, I was inside) and the cloud of steam surrounding me got larger with every breath I took.  It was quite the sight… Unfortunately I did not have a camera to take a picture with… Maybe next time

Looking Back

 

Doing a little journal writing

I find it pretty funny looking back on the journal I wrote while in Europe, even though it was only such a short time ago.  I have actually edited some of the entries in my post because they were a bit too overconfident/cocky.  When writing in it, I kinda laughed and thought to myself about how in 25 years when I am looking back on it I will probably think I was weird, especially with some of the things I was writing… I found, however, it didn’t take 25 years, only a few months.

 

The fact that I can read these entries I wrote is pretty cool though, I like looking back and reflecting on the things I was talking about and thinking of.  It isn’t often you get to do that, especially myself, because I never actually kept a journal before the one I am posting entries from.  I always thought it was kind of a girly thing to do, so I wasn’t a big fan… One of my coaches on a cycling trip got me into it though and I think it is a great idea.  I am fortunate to have some of the experiences I have, so why not write them down now, so I can reminisce and share them with my kids in the future?  It is kind of the same thing with all of this blog writing.  I know I will enjoy coming back and reading in the future… Hopefully I won’t be too critical of it though.

Issues..

I am trying to figure out my class schedule for next semester at the moment and am having quite a bit of difficulty.  The tough thing is, I have to choose the classes I want at times that will work around my cycling.  It is tough to train unless I have a four hour block to dedicate, and I often need a much larger block of time.  Finding a four hour block at a time when it is light outside every single day of the week without classes is pretty difficult, especially with my late freshman registration date.  It is pretty frustrating, I don’t know what I am going to do….

Phasing it out

 

No more of this...

As an avid cyclist a major part of staying healthy and fit is keeping a good diet.  For the past three or so years I have tried to eat very healthily and for the most part, have been successful.  In the summer of last year, I really tried to take the whole healthy eating thing to heart and focused on my diet very intently.  Through the summer I think I ate a total of two cookies and three pieces of candy–I would not even come close to touching something that was remotely unhealthy.  It got tough after a while and I was going to maintain this habit throughout the winter, that was, until I spoke with one of the top up-and-coming American cyclists at a team reception.  

 

The young man explained to me that you must focus on your diet during the season, but once it ends, indulge.  Burnout is something that happens to many young cyclists and one thing they don’t realize that it doesn’t just come from overtraining.  It can come from a number of outside sources unrelated to cycling, namely, your diet.  Trying to focus on eating healthily and avoiding all those foods you desire is very difficult and when done year round it can really take its toll.  Going into the early season with an extra five pounds to haul around can’t hurt either as a sort of weight training…

Training camp is fast approaching, so I am coming to the dilemma of whether to start watching my diet–I haven’t even had that much time off!  It would probably be good for me to get closer to my racing weight…Thanksgiving was a treat, but I will now slowly phase out these unhealthy foods and habits unfortunately. It will be worth it in the long run.

Risk Taking

In my last journal entry I briefly talked about my lack of risk taking and how it was hurting my cycling.  It has been a recurring topic between coaches, fellow racers, and even people outside of my cycling life.  While talking with my sister the other day, we realized that it was a problem we shared.  After some discussion we could not find a reason as to why we were this way.  Was it the way our parents raised us?  We really could not decide.  It has been an issue that has bothered me for quite some time, yet I have not found an answer.

Cycling is all about risk taking.  The best cyclists are the ones who take the biggest risks, going with some crazy moves, or attacking at certain spots throughout the race.  I have a friend that has some of the most  amazing results, yet there are many races he does not finish.  One thing I have realized is that I was raised to believe failure is unacceptable.  It was ingrained in my mind since day one, and there is no changing it.  So this is where my biggest problem stems from.  I am too scared to take a risk, for fear that I will fail.  The only problem is… I don’t know how I can change.

My Euro Journal: May 11th, 2008–5:36 p.m.

 

The Czech countryside on our drive home

We are currently driving back from the Czech Republic.  It was a pretty awesome trip.  My results were decent, consistently decent, but nothing particularly special.  Two top 20s, a top 15, plus today I think I was pretty close to the top 10.  Who knows though, we will see how that turns out.  The stage today was a pretty hilly one with two sizable climbs on each circuit.  The pace got faster with each lap–there were four of them.  The group stayed mostly together, that was, until the final climb.  A kid from Slovakia, 2nd overall in the race, put in a monster attack which only a kid from Poland, who was 1st overall in the race could follow.  A few of us tried to follow but it was like regular kids facing superhuman giants.  All we could do was watch these two ride away.  I was fortunate/strong enough to reach the back of the group right behind them, in which there were about 10 of us.  We drilled it up the climb and I was suffering–my legs were screaming with pain as the lactic acid rushed in as fast as these cars are passing us as we drive on the autobahn.  So I made it to the top with this group and we screamed down the descent into town.  We had a pretty large gap on the pack behind us with only a few kilometers to go.  Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn into Litomerice and ended up popping out BEHIND the peloton (main pack).  We were so pissed!  But I still wove my way through the group after riding up to them and sprinted it out–I believe I took somewhere around 5th in the field sprint.  Ugh.  I was so mad.  

 

The rest of the race was fine, but I had no extremely sweet or special result.  I really need to take risks because I think I could really have a great result if I got in the right move.  Luckily I still have another stage race to try that out on.  Unfortunately there aren’t as many hills in it–but you’ve got to make to with what you’ve got.  I’m reasonably happy with how I raced, I was the top American every day, but that doesn’t say a ton.  If I wouldn’t have messed up my time trial I might have had a sweet result on general classification, but with the small amount of training time I’ve had I think I have done pretty well.

The trip seemed like a long one and the motivation on the team made it seem to last an eternity.  Jake hit a car, Rob crashed more times than we could count, Charlie had only ridden for two weeks before we got there, etc.  I seemed to be the only one with a bright outlook on life which makes it difficult to ride well.  I really believe that a person’s mood is kinda contagious, but to my dismay, it seems a negative one is more potent that a positive one.  Too bad.

Change

For those who do not already know I am going to be switching teams for next year.  I will be racing with the Waste Management Elite Cycling Team out of Arizona.  It will be a change from everything I have done in the past.  It is the first time I have raced for a team based outside of Michigan, the first time I have been on a team without anyone I know well, the first time I will be doing so many things.  I am very excited.

My last team was great, they provided me with so much, and really helped me take it to the next level.  I am so thankful for everything they have done for me over the past three years.  Three years is a long time to stay in one spot though, and while stability is good, new experiences are great.  I established some great relationships and have made quite a few close friends I will stay in contact with for–I am pretty sure–the majority of my life.  This will be only the third team I have ever ridden for, I tend to stay grounded for a quite awhile.  And every place I go I seem to improve by leaps and bounds.  So I hope the results will be the same.

Change is good.  It has renewed my motivation.  I am ready to go for this next year, heading off to training camp in California and Arizona over the winter break.  I received a phone call with the details of the trip and it sounds pretty deluxe.  Should be a blast.  I will keep you all updated.

 

–Larry