Italy again - Gran Fondo 5 Terre

Soon, oh so soon it's time to go to Italy again. Liguria, espresso, warmth, Gran Fondo. I'm going for profound happiness and even if it's easy to use my imagination to feel how good it's going to be, a good film clip always help.

Let the first minute pass and prepare you for what is to come. After just over one minute the legs start to move (and it's not due to the music). At 1.35 I let my mind wander and through the screen I reach for that place and that climb. I'm there working hard. Well my mind is there, just a little ahead of the rest of me. I will be there soon, very soon.

Are we single-minded?

Yesterday we welcomed a beautiful creation into a little group of cyclists. The sheer thought of being judged that way when you are being introduced to so many you have not met before is distressing. They discuss your weight, strength, beauty, finish and overall impression amongst other things. While they are talking about how to handle you to force you into giving your best, they will continue to pat and squeeze you. On top of that they will lift you over and over again before they’ll let their hand glide to your seat and leave it there. Definitely a root cause of stress and fatigue for anyone.

Anyway we were five cyclists and the conversation rarely left the subject of cycling, if ever. I remember that we talked about chocolate at one point, but that was as far away as we went from the cycling theme. This made me think of a couple of advice that I read recently. If you happen to be in a situation with no like-minded people around you, this article about how to talk to non-cyclists might be useful.

The lucky one

Heavy winter bike
Wet
Dark
Forgot the water bottle
Blinded by the lights of the cars
Head wind, pretty strong, right in my face
All Systems go
Happy
A dip in the system
Stupid driver
….
and happy again.

Strange. I’m not complaining, but this state of mind puzzles me. Am I controlling this subconsciously or not. How can these conditions affect me so little when I’m on my bike?

Hard rain, heavy breathing, happiness.
I’m (almost) safe and dry in my shell of this-tex and that-stopper.

Privileged – A fortunate destiny made me discover the wonder.

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

Hot as hell

Next week is the Zambian National Road Championships and I am supposed to participate in the A class. That is the “Elite”. On the agenda is a 150 kilometer race from Lusaka, past Kafue

and down the escarpments towards the Zimbabwean border. We simply turn around at the 75k mark and ride the same way back.

After yesterday, however, I am having second thoughts.

We did basically just that. A 150k ride down the race route. Up until 115 kilometers I was feeling great. But as we turned around at the bottom of the escarpments I immediately started to suffer. As we climbed up the hills the wind practically stopped and it was steaming hot. I was sweating like never before, a continuous dripping from my chin.

Rick took off and I could not follow. Tom dropped back and pretty soon I found myself in no mans land. The water in my bottles did not cool me off anymore, it was that hot. It was probably good that I was alone as if our follow vehicle had been behind me I would have climbed in and called it a day.

After about 30 kilometers of gradual climbing and with no water left I saw Rick who had decided to wait for us. We waited for another few minutes and Tom and the car also caught up. More water. Cold water. I started coming back to life.

By then we only had about 18 kilometers to go and I was starting to think that I would actually make it. After another 8 or so kilometers, however, I started feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous. Why push it? I thought and flagged down Peter in the car, climbed in and my day was over after 153k.

It was by far the hardest 150k ride I have ever done. Not because of the speed (we averaged a very reasonable 30.5), but the heat. My heart rate monitor showed that the average temp during the ride had been 39 degrees and peaking at 48.

So: How the hell will I manage next Sunday? Well, I guess next weeks course will not be exactly as tough as we will turn around earlier and hence skip some of the steepest climbing. But then again, the pace will be higher for sure. I really hope that the rains will have started by then as that will bring the temperature down significantly, and looking out the window today chances for that are good. On the other hand, plenty of rainfall will make the two gravel sections very very interesting indeed.

I am getting nervous.

Important question?

Some questions are larger than life and some questions are.... Well, you know, not that important. I have been discussing this issue with several of my cycling buddies and while some answers are so obvious, others remain a question mark.

So, the thing is that while you, to cheer the cyclists on in a race, shout “Allez” in France, “Venga” in Spain, “Forca” in italy and “Heja” here in Sweden - We still ask ourselves the question, what do you say in Germany?

I did pose the question to a friend in Belgium and got the answer that you in Dutch much like in the English “Come on”, say “Kom op”. He didn’t have a clue to what they say in Germany though.

Independence cycling

On Independence day we set off at 6am for a planned 150 kilometers of riding. We were 5, plus our support vehicel. My god, I can get used to having a support vechicle. Its a lot safer, which is quite crucial on Zambian roads. Especially when heading south as we did.

On the way to Kafue its downhill and we had a strong tailwind. Wow, we were flying down at 50km/hour. In Kafue we continued south towards Chirundu and the border to Zimbabwe. Here we enter the escarpments and the terrain becomes undulating. Steep hills up and down. Hot and insanely beautiful. We pass the odd gigantic Baobab tree which looks like a relic from pre-historic times. The road has recently been renovated so the surface is perfect. On a public holiday traffic is also very light. Our only foe this day was the heat.

As we descended into the gorge it got hotter and hotter and at the turn around point the thermometer hit 35 degrees. My god - oooh it is hooot eh. As they would say in Zambia. One by one people gave in and climbed into the car. Me, Tom and Rick decided to continue though and sent the support vechicle off with the two abandons. About five minutes after the car has dissappeared I hit a rock. BAM. Tyre flat. Hmmm, where did we put the spare tubes etc - well in the car of course. Nothing I can do but to send the guys off and sit down in the shade of a tree. 40 minutes later Peter, directeur sportif, is back and I can climb in for my rescue.

Due to the flat I only got 115 kilometers, but I was very glad to have somebody pick me up.In two weeks we might do a weekend ride. Going down to Siavonga on saturday, spend the night and go back to Lusaka the following day. Siavonga is 200 km away and it will be an even hotter ride. Unless the rains get here before then, I really hope so.

Cycling in Zambia Part II – Road

Today it was time to ride with the road racing group. We met at 6 AM (!) and the plan was to do about 3 hours of riding which basically meant going to Chongwe and back on the great east road (leading to Malawi). There were five of us three Americans (Rick, Carl and David), Didier (from the Sunday ride) and myself. All but me and David had proper road bikes. David was worst off as he only had his mountain bike. The Trek I am riding is ok but a bit heavy and regular pedals. This was also going to be tough.

I also knew that Rick is a very strong rider having spent many years in competitive cycling back in the US. It was obvious just from how he looked on the bike that this guy knows what he is doing. I also thought that in his US Postal shirt there is a slight resemblance with the man – Lance Armstrong.

The first hour of riding was at moderate pace, but when Didier and David turned back the speed quickly increased. I felt pretty good at the turn around point though and going back we had a nice tailwind. Unfortunately this meant that speed increased even more and the guys were pushing pretty hard on the ascents. I did my best to keep up, staying behind for most of the time, avoiding the hard work up front as much as possible. After a while I got too cocky and attempted a breakaway but Rick and Carl easily stayed on my tail. After that, speed increased even more and I was starting to suffer, especially going uphill – but I did not crack!

Coming in to Lusaka, the guys were about 50 meters ahead of me but I dug deep and managed a final sprint to overtake them. Perhaps a bit unfair since they had started to wind down, but what the heck. I simply could not resist.

All in all a wonderful ride with an average speed of over 30km/h. Hardly any traffic as soon as we got out of Lusaka. It is quite a nice feeling to have done 100 kilometers of riding before 9 in the morning. We’re riding again on Thursday, but this time we will meet at 5.45 AM…

Videos to come once I get to a faster Internet connection!

Cycling in Zambia Part I – MTB

On Sunday I met up with the French guys for a nice morning MTB ride. It was me, Jean-Marc, Didier, Eric and Jean-Luc. We were supposed to take off at around 8hrs to beat the heat. The plan was to ride for about 2 hours so I had equipped myself accordingly, i.e. I only had one bottle of water and nothing to eat. Big mistake. We ended up riding for 3,5 hours and by the time we got back it was HOT.

The other guys all had really really nice full-suspension super-expensive mountain bikes. I had my borrowed hybrid Trek with full size wheels and no suspension. I knew it was going to be tough, but I had been promised a fairly simple route. They lied. Some of the riding was on decent dirt roads but other parts were through the forest on narrow single tracks. And some of it was just off road, or over corn fields as you can see in the picture.

I have never been much of a mountainbiker but this was something extra. It was so incredibly beautiful to ride through the Zambian bush, and yet Didier told me that this place was nothing compared to other places where they ride. I tried my best to keep up with the fit French crew but downhill I stood no chance. I had to take it easy, both because I was scared and had no suspension but also because I was on a borrowed bike. The guys were friendly enough to wait for me at the bottom of the hills – otherwise I would have been lost.

On the way back, poor Jean-Luc cut his hand on a sharp corn plant. It did not look too bad, although he was bleeding a lot. Luckily we had a doctor in the group who patched him up with a napkin and a plastic bag (see picture).

Five kilometers from town we hit tarmac again and god I was happy for that. My shoulders and hands were really hurting at that time. And after having been at the tail of the peloton for most of the day it was now my chance to pedal hard. I came back to town with a big grin on my face. What a wonderful ride.

Now I have a problem you see. When I come back in October I was planning on bringing my road bike. This has not changed but it would be real nice to ALSO have a mountain bike. Hmm, don’t know how to sort this out. Big problem.

Cycling muppets all around the world

No matter where you go they are there. The men and women I am talking about are sometimes given away by their shaved legs on an otherwise hairy body (I know, I am a bit obsessed with this shaving thing). Sometimes it is more obvious when they cruise around town in their pro outfit on a brand new bike.

Today I met some cycling muppets here in Zambia. It was a bunch of French people and a couple of Americans. It was in connection with the American School Triathlon which I have told you about in a previous post (I won by the way, but that is not the focus of this post).

One of the shaved legged boys told me he just had surgery and has not been able to start training yet. When I commented that he still keeps his legs shaved he answered: “Of course, I always shave them, it makes me feel like I am in shape”. Need I say more?

It turns out that there is a road biking club here in Lusaka and competitions take place regularly. Wow, I lived in this country for 18 months 2004/2005 and I had no idea about this. Sure, I have seen the occasional road cyclist but I did not think there was any organized cycling taking place. There are even a few teams sponsored by the local sugar company, a coffee producer etc.

And apparently they are pretty good. One of the guys I met today, Rick, told me that a couple of weeks ago they had a race over 120 kilometers and the average speed was 42.7 km/h. Quite impressive I must say.

So there is no question about it now. Next time I come down (October/November) I will bring my own bike and test my capacity with the tough Zambian boys. I might not compete in the A class, it seems a bit too tough, but for sure I will try the B class where pace is a bit more moderate. Or what the heck, if summer training proves successful enough perhaps I should go with the A-team after all.

Now I have training buddies for the remainder of my stay. We will go cycling tomorrow, Tuesday and Thursday. And I was worried before that I would come back from Zambia out of shape! It might be the exact opposite. It is comforting to know that the muppets are there no matter where you go. Because if you can find so many cycling fanatics in Zambia it should not be any problem finding them anywhere else.

Cycling Muppets

Point of clarification. We call ourselves "cykelmuppar". A direct translation to english would be "cycling muppets". In Swedish, the word "mupp" can be used to describe people which an english native would probably refer to as a nerd or geek. So we are not stuffed teddybears with strings attached, we are just plain nerds.

If you do a google search, however, for "cycling muppets" you find the following picture. And all of a sudden I do not feel that distant from the classic muppets...

Travel and cycling frustration

In my job I travel a lot, mainly to Zambia. I love to travel (cliché – I know) but it does not always work well with my cycling aspirations.

I am going down to Zambia on Wednesday for a short, week-long, trip. As nice as this might sound I am mainly frustrated about all the training which I am going to miss out on. Now you might be thinking, why doesn’t he bring his bike? That’s a relevant question. I have a hard shell bike bag, so that’s no excuse.

Roads in Zambia, however, are not optimal for cycling. To say the least. Frequent potholes and drivers with absolutely no respect for cyclists is not a good combination for relaxed training. It is such a shame, because the climate is really perfect for cycling. So is the altitude (1,300 meters above sea-level) but this is little comfort if one does not feel safe on the road.

No, I just have to live with the fact that I, for the coming ten days, have to resort to running and working out at the gym.

But.

Then a friend sent me an e-mail. Apparently the annual American International School Triathlon is taking place this Saturday. I am almost the reigning champion (I won the event in 2005), so of course I have to participate. 400 meters swimming, 11 km on the bike and a 5 km run. Piece of cake. If I have a bike… Hopefully this will be sorted out by the time I arrive in Zambia on Thursday. And hopefully it will not be an Indian made “Atlas” version (nice looking, but horribly functioning aluminum/steel mix bike). Report will follow. Wish me luck!

PS
A good thing with frequent travels to southern Africa is the possibility to make a stopover in South Africa. I have loose plans to take a trip down to Cape Town next year in March to participate in the Worlds Biggest Cycling Race – the Cycle Tour. 40,000 people ride a scenic route on the Cape peninsula. Never tried it, but it looks spectacular. This year both Greg LeMond and Jan Ullrich participated. And I like to hang out with the stars.

Back in the saddle

I’m at rest in peace and serenity. I’m surrounded by a vibrating pulsating energy field, but inside my transparent bubble tranquillity lingers. I can reach the energy outside whenever I want to, but right now I’m at ease inside my bubble. This is what my first ride after 3 weeks without cycling has brought me to and I’m so blissful. I knew something like this was going to happen, but I was still not quite prepared for it.

I felt this sensation a while after I came home after a two hours cycling trip. It was a sunny day with a light breeze. I have had a virus infection messing with my respiratory system. Due to this I haven’t been able to exercise for three weeks, but now I’m back in the saddle again. The trick is to take it easy to start with and that won’t be any problems, right? Yeah, right!

The plan was to take a soft ride with the boys to a café in Bjärred, sip an espresso and unleash them. Then I would continue by myself in a relaxed pace, letting my body recover as supposed to. Good plan, but three of us weren’t fit for fight due to different causes and we stayed together after the coffee brake too. The result wasn’t the easy introduction trip I had in mind. Well, this just means that in order to correct my mistake I have to wait a little longer before I push my self harder again. Maybe I can allow myself just a little ride tomorrow, but alone this time. Just maybe I can do that, but first of all I have to listen to my body and that isn’t easy if it’s saying things I do not want to hear. What if the sun is shining again tomorrow and there’s almost no wind at all? Why is it so easy to advice others, but so hard to follow those wise suggestions when it comes to myself?

Anyway the interruption in my cycling didn’t make me that miserable that you could’ve assumed. Disregarding a few outbursts of frustration, I have been pretty calm about it (on the surface at least). No, I wasn’t delighted exactly, but I won’t exaggerate and it has been easier than I would’ve thought if someone had told me before I became ill. On the other hand I couldn’t imagine that it would last so long as it did. Three weeks is not an eternity, but it’s long enough when spring just has arrived.

Now there’s this time ahead of us when we can go cycling late in the evenings and it’s still light. It’s getting warmer and you meet more and more bikers on the road, looking as happy as can be. They might be exhausted or relaxed, but they are in their right element and I’m finally back there too. By the way, whom am I trying to kid? I’ll be out there later today.

To our non-Swedish speaking readers

I know that some of you appreciate the photos we have here, but I also have heard some comments that it would be nice if we wrote something in English for a change. You know who you are and special greetings to you all. I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. As long as you can’t understand a word of what we’re writing I can at least try to fool you that we are gifted writers with a lot of insight into the magic world of cycling.

Well to start with, we are a gang of four people with a sweet spot for the wonderful world of cycling and this summer we’re going to France during Tour de France to watch some and first and foremost to cycle ourselves. We’ll bring our goodies (that would be our bike stuff) and off we go for two weeks. Life is good to you sometimes! Oh so sweet! Happiness! Do you get the idea of the mental state we’re in while discussing or even thinking of our passion? You should see us in action.

Some of us (that would be me) are worried that we won’t be in shape (not good enough) while others thrive in the world of components (that would be the others). I’m often educated in what is and what’s not suppose to be, as in their components and mine. I’m also frequently told that thou shalt not overload your ride with extra equipment such as mudguards or lightening. That’s easy for those soft riders to say, since they do not bring their bikes outside in autumn or winter conditions at all.

Ouch – I do not want to write these things. I’m going to spend two weeks with them and they are all better mechanics and better athletes than me. I should be humble and stay friendly with these lovely guys. Would’ve, should’ve… It’s so fun to bring the subject of softies into focus.

Anyway you’re welcome to enter this site whenever you want to and you’re also welcome to comment on everything whether you have understood anything at all or not. Do not forget to let us know when you think it’s time to write in English again. Meanwhile please enjoy the photos.