My head is a little light.. I really need to slow down on the caffine!! Aa not just yet.. the season is over and i suppose i deserve a period of indulging in the good things again. It was a good year this one..
Am right now lazing in a lounge cafe with funky music. I came to Brussels for a doctor appointment with a specialist in functional medicine, trying to find out why my immune system broke down this year causing my asthma. His concept is very similar to what I have already worked on for many years, which revolves around improving the digestive system and avoiding toxic foods such as wheat, dairy and other foods that I test sensitive too. Hopefully he'll find something!
'Good Luck Beijing' Olympic Test event...
Standard deal for my end of season.. i've got so much I want to do, so no time for relaxing. From the World Cup Finals in Slovenia it was straight to Beijing for the 'Good Luck, Pre-Olympics.' Stepping off the airplane volunteers were waiting in there bright orange shirts. They were super friendly, but by the time I got to the hotel I had been helped by probably 20 different people and it was already getting tiresome. Even when I left the hotel to find my way to the metro station, two guys escorted me the whole way to the city.. help!
I just wanted some alone time, but with thousands of people in all directions, old co2 pumping cars jamed up, frantic rickshaw-men weaving around padestrians, who walk on the streets because of broken down cars on the sidewalks... it was not the place for calm and easy. A young guy introduced himself to me.. talking me into looking around an art gallery. He was quite informative, so i bought some small pieces from him.. afterwards I asked advise for a good teahouse and he said he knew just the place. A few blocks away we entered a very typical looking teashop, where we were shown into a private room! With our own hostess and my private enterpruter we set off on a tea festival, with ten different teas to taste. Ginsing to various versions of green teas, lavanders and so forth, they were mighty fine. The pretty lady was mixing and swirling away, she had a natural flow as she refilled our mini tea cups and my new friend explained about the teas and there properties. Around the half way mark I took a peak at the little price list sitting at the other side of the table... 50 yuan per cup/person.. can't be too much.. hang on.. isn't that 5 euro.. wowa.. that's going to be.. considering i'd be rude not to offer my friend, that's quite expensive tea! I stopped short at 7.. My friend bought me a couple of tins of my favorites and I paid 70 euros. Ah well, that was probably worth it anyways!
The rest of China wasn't too interesting.. Super posh 'western' shopping malls, dirty back streets, oily greasy foods, a nighttime rickshaw ride around a touristic area with non-stop 'western' restaurants and funky lounge bars, 45min taxi rides costing around 5 euros and old fellows sitting around singing and playing funny instruments. Quite frankly, I had enough after one day.
Oh yea, we had to do some riding too... most important was anyalising the course with all the high tech gadgetry we could find. GPS, DVcams, Powermeters, Altermeters and Resperatory metors were all at play as all the national federations played to get the most useless info possible. In the end, the only 'real' info in my mind was the feeling from the race.. and that was bl&*dy hard! Bascially the course is set on a very small steep hill, which we go up and down about 10x per lap.. Its nonstop, so without recovery it feels like almost a non-stop effort instead of a few short bursts.. that's better for me. The other big talk was the pollution, which rolled in thick for race day. It was hard to see 200m clearly and almost half the riders pulled out because of a sick, spewing, chocking feeling.. not so nice! I also felt it, but perhaps due to my asthma trouble, I'm used to riding while suffocating and I kept going, finishing 4th.
Freeride Time...
With that race out of the way, its time to kick back, eat bad, enjoy life.. but do enough ridiculas long freeride days so not to gain weight... Our first effort got as far as 1 night before we copt out due to rain and cold.. it was a good decision, as even the low 2000m pass we made to get back to the cars involved snow. We reattempted the plan this week and this time we had perfect conditions... The ride was fantastic, starting from Martiny over the Fentre de Durand into Italy.. down to Aosta then back to Swiss over the Zermatt Glacier... I'll let the photos do the talking though... I posted them on the photo page already..
Am right now lazing in a lounge cafe with funky music. I came to Brussels for a doctor appointment with a specialist in functional medicine, trying to find out why my immune system broke down this year causing my asthma. His concept is very similar to what I have already worked on for many years, which revolves around improving the digestive system and avoiding toxic foods such as wheat, dairy and other foods that I test sensitive too. Hopefully he'll find something!
'Good Luck Beijing' Olympic Test event...
Standard deal for my end of season.. i've got so much I want to do, so no time for relaxing. From the World Cup Finals in Slovenia it was straight to Beijing for the 'Good Luck, Pre-Olympics.' Stepping off the airplane volunteers were waiting in there bright orange shirts. They were super friendly, but by the time I got to the hotel I had been helped by probably 20 different people and it was already getting tiresome. Even when I left the hotel to find my way to the metro station, two guys escorted me the whole way to the city.. help!
I just wanted some alone time, but with thousands of people in all directions, old co2 pumping cars jamed up, frantic rickshaw-men weaving around padestrians, who walk on the streets because of broken down cars on the sidewalks... it was not the place for calm and easy. A young guy introduced himself to me.. talking me into looking around an art gallery. He was quite informative, so i bought some small pieces from him.. afterwards I asked advise for a good teahouse and he said he knew just the place. A few blocks away we entered a very typical looking teashop, where we were shown into a private room! With our own hostess and my private enterpruter we set off on a tea festival, with ten different teas to taste. Ginsing to various versions of green teas, lavanders and so forth, they were mighty fine. The pretty lady was mixing and swirling away, she had a natural flow as she refilled our mini tea cups and my new friend explained about the teas and there properties. Around the half way mark I took a peak at the little price list sitting at the other side of the table... 50 yuan per cup/person.. can't be too much.. hang on.. isn't that 5 euro.. wowa.. that's going to be.. considering i'd be rude not to offer my friend, that's quite expensive tea! I stopped short at 7.. My friend bought me a couple of tins of my favorites and I paid 70 euros. Ah well, that was probably worth it anyways!
The rest of China wasn't too interesting.. Super posh 'western' shopping malls, dirty back streets, oily greasy foods, a nighttime rickshaw ride around a touristic area with non-stop 'western' restaurants and funky lounge bars, 45min taxi rides costing around 5 euros and old fellows sitting around singing and playing funny instruments. Quite frankly, I had enough after one day.
Oh yea, we had to do some riding too... most important was anyalising the course with all the high tech gadgetry we could find. GPS, DVcams, Powermeters, Altermeters and Resperatory metors were all at play as all the national federations played to get the most useless info possible. In the end, the only 'real' info in my mind was the feeling from the race.. and that was bl&*dy hard! Bascially the course is set on a very small steep hill, which we go up and down about 10x per lap.. Its nonstop, so without recovery it feels like almost a non-stop effort instead of a few short bursts.. that's better for me. The other big talk was the pollution, which rolled in thick for race day. It was hard to see 200m clearly and almost half the riders pulled out because of a sick, spewing, chocking feeling.. not so nice! I also felt it, but perhaps due to my asthma trouble, I'm used to riding while suffocating and I kept going, finishing 4th.
Freeride Time...
With that race out of the way, its time to kick back, eat bad, enjoy life.. but do enough ridiculas long freeride days so not to gain weight... Our first effort got as far as 1 night before we copt out due to rain and cold.. it was a good decision, as even the low 2000m pass we made to get back to the cars involved snow. We reattempted the plan this week and this time we had perfect conditions... The ride was fantastic, starting from Martiny over the Fentre de Durand into Italy.. down to Aosta then back to Swiss over the Zermatt Glacier... I'll let the photos do the talking though... I posted them on the photo page already..
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home