That's the theme of the day, as I watch the rain fall outside my window. Schubert is most appropriate. Der Leiermann always cracks me.
I hope it's not like this on Saturday, but I'm committed now. Got my entry, number, map of the course. 260 km + 10 km to Jo's place. Gunna be interesting. I've invested in some new equipment this week, i.e. a chain, cassette, chainrings, etc. But I've got a Time bike coming sometime soon, so that's going to be fun to ride.
On the property front, I've almost found somewhere to move to, and it'll probably be round the corner in the Rooseveltlaan or somewhere like that. Can get a 2 br place for about €600/month, including costs. But it's a three year lease.
Still no West Vleteren, but that will come. Last night at about 10pm, I dragged out Reinhard (who was still at work in his shop!) for a couple of beers and increased our cafe count to 15. We almost literally bumped into a couple of his friends as we were hunting for a watering hole, and they suggested the Limonada Bar, which is down a back alley near Sint Baafs, so we joined them. Different again, and very relaxed, lounge, studenty sort of place. Beer was cheap too, and that's always good.
Apparently there's now 290 cafes in Gent though. The guy who does the bar guide is one of R's customers, and he visits up to 15 a night, typcially drinking in all of them! It must be hard updating that guide every month. Very hard.
Went out langs de Schelde this morning with no brekky and suffered a bit coming back (been going fairly hard for the last two days). It was wet and there wasn't much of a tailwind coming back. Tomas Vaitkus decided to do some training and it hurt.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Friday, March 24, 2006
Klaar voor de Ronde?
I've been talked into doing the whole Ronde van Vlaanderen next Saturday. Actually, I talked myself into doing it and it was surprisingly easy. No, I haven't done a 256 km ride with 17 hills and 20 km of cobbles...ever, and I haven't (and won't have) done anything over 130km this year, but what the hell. Jo VDH has done it, and we'll start in Brugge together at the somewhat early time of 7am. Jeez I hope it ain't raining.
Today it was stinking hot. It got up to 16 in the afternoon and it felt strange. The morning was better: 7 degrees and raining, and I really enjoyed my 100km ride. For some reason - I think it had something to do with next Saturday - I decided to do some hills. Not fun in the wet. Definitely no cobbled climbs either.
The cafe count is now up to 14. This week: Marimain, In Den Turk (supposedly the oldest cafe in Gent - 1288) and another next to St Baaf's that's done up in a black and white motif. Marimain's Reinhard's local one, so we went there after the gym. In Den Turk was quite cool and has a jazz theme. And the black and white one was, at least, different.
I have still to try West Vleteren. Only then will my absolution be complete.
Today it was stinking hot. It got up to 16 in the afternoon and it felt strange. The morning was better: 7 degrees and raining, and I really enjoyed my 100km ride. For some reason - I think it had something to do with next Saturday - I decided to do some hills. Not fun in the wet. Definitely no cobbled climbs either.
The cafe count is now up to 14. This week: Marimain, In Den Turk (supposedly the oldest cafe in Gent - 1288) and another next to St Baaf's that's done up in a black and white motif. Marimain's Reinhard's local one, so we went there after the gym. In Den Turk was quite cool and has a jazz theme. And the black and white one was, at least, different.
I have still to try West Vleteren. Only then will my absolution be complete.
Friday, March 17, 2006
The cafe plan
As mentioned, Reinhard and I plan to visit all 288 cafes in Gent, although most likely we won't get that far. The count is now at 10 after we went to Charlatan (small, smoky student bar near Sint Jacobs) and then to the Dulle Griet in the Vridagmarkt - a somewhat over the top 'traditional?' cafe. I tried Achel - one of the six trappists - in the latter, and it was very strong, but not bad. Lots of sediment in it too, but Guido tells me that this is normal. I just need to try West Vleteren now, and apparently there is a cafe in Drongen where they serve it...
We also went back to the Vooruit on Wednesday for a free 'concert', but it was essentially just a jam session, which became somewhat tiresome after 15 minutes. Beer and nachos were better.
Commonwealth Games. Hmm. Well, it's lost some of its lustre since when I was a kiddie. Australia does well enough at the Olympics, so when you take out all the competition and split up Great Britain into X countries, it becomes a bit of a walkover. Still, it was good to see Benny get up in the kilo and Ryan is great to watch when he is in form. He was unstoppable in the keirin.
It has still been chilly here, so the battle is to keep warm while outside. One trick is to ride faster, because producing more power also produces more heat (a lot more, as your body is about 25 percent efficient). Better to ride at 200W than 150W, because then you'll have another 600W keeping you warm instead of 450W. But you'll run out of gas quicker, I suppose.
I put the theory to the test today as I hammered around the Saturday parcours. Trap Op in 5'18 was a minute quicker than I did on my own last week, and 20 seconds quicker than we did with the bunch on the weekend. I had a nice tailwind, but I wasn't going flat out either. Roll on spring.
Saw The Green Mile on TV. Plenty of religious overtones, as it's about a big black guy who is wrongly put on death row, and turns out to have healing powers, a la Jesus. Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan and others. Surprisingly good.
We also went back to the Vooruit on Wednesday for a free 'concert', but it was essentially just a jam session, which became somewhat tiresome after 15 minutes. Beer and nachos were better.
Commonwealth Games. Hmm. Well, it's lost some of its lustre since when I was a kiddie. Australia does well enough at the Olympics, so when you take out all the competition and split up Great Britain into X countries, it becomes a bit of a walkover. Still, it was good to see Benny get up in the kilo and Ryan is great to watch when he is in form. He was unstoppable in the keirin.
It has still been chilly here, so the battle is to keep warm while outside. One trick is to ride faster, because producing more power also produces more heat (a lot more, as your body is about 25 percent efficient). Better to ride at 200W than 150W, because then you'll have another 600W keeping you warm instead of 450W. But you'll run out of gas quicker, I suppose.
I put the theory to the test today as I hammered around the Saturday parcours. Trap Op in 5'18 was a minute quicker than I did on my own last week, and 20 seconds quicker than we did with the bunch on the weekend. I had a nice tailwind, but I wasn't going flat out either. Roll on spring.
Saw The Green Mile on TV. Plenty of religious overtones, as it's about a big black guy who is wrongly put on death row, and turns out to have healing powers, a la Jesus. Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan and others. Surprisingly good.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Fitter, happier, more productive
...comfortable, not drinking too much, regular exercise at the gym (3 days a week)... Well, only one day a week, but the lyrics don't go like that. I haven't reached the stage of being a pig in a cage on antibiotics yet, but I'm sure that will come.
Last week was noteworthy in its greyness and wetness, and I was forced to spend more time indoors. My heart rate monitor ran out of batteries and I could not for the life of me find a replacement. Some guy at a photo shop is going to order one in for me. Easier than sending it back to Polar, I suppoge. Did another spinning class and took it easier on myself, although it's hard when you've got Rammstein's Links...2, 3, 4 to sprint to.
I ventured out on the road again on the weekend, and was mildly shocked that there was a bunch of 15 on Saturday. Roads were wet and it snowed for the last 15 km as we fought our way back into the northerly wind. I think there were only three of us left then. Col de la Trap Op: 5'43 on Saturday, 5'37 on Sunday, which is OK for this time of year. Once it warms up and people get fit, it gets down to 4'50 for that mighty ascent.
Saw Philippe and Jo on Sunday, and was also mildly shocked that they had done 130 and 170 km on that fairly ordinary Saturday. Oh well, the wielertoerist Ronde van Vlaanderen is in three weeks, so Jo will be flying for that. I think I'll choose the 150km option again.
Also saw Filip Vereecke and his other half Debbie on the Sunday ride, and they filled me in on the winter mountainbiking shenanigans. I didn't realise there was so much gameswomanship in a beach race! Debbie won her last race and finished second in the series, but for most of the races, her rival Joyce had a bit of help from a few guys, because men and women start together in those races. I don't know what the rules are in such a situation, but Debbie got her own back in the last race :-)
Drinking was kept to a bare minimum this week, although Reinhard and I did manage to get to two more cafes on Saturday. The plan is to visit all the cafes in Gent, hospital being optional. I could only stomach one beer, and that was all I had all week.
Speaking of beer, I have just read that there's a big kerfuffle going on between the suppliers of Jupiler glasses (InBev) and cafe owners. As some kind of a marketing stunt, InBev is distributing new Jupiler glasses that are 10 percent bigger than the normal ones. While this may be good for patrons, the cafe owners are annoyed, because it means they'll end up buying and serving more beer for (in theory) the same selling price, so it'll cost them an extra 9000 euros a year, roughly.
InBev reckons that they just have to put more foam on top and keep the volume of beer the same, but that's going to be difficult to teach the beer pourers. Also, they claim that more foam will protect against bacteria! That's the biggest load of bollocks I've heard. The cafe owners are not amused at all.
I must find some new lodgings.
Last week was noteworthy in its greyness and wetness, and I was forced to spend more time indoors. My heart rate monitor ran out of batteries and I could not for the life of me find a replacement. Some guy at a photo shop is going to order one in for me. Easier than sending it back to Polar, I suppoge. Did another spinning class and took it easier on myself, although it's hard when you've got Rammstein's Links...2, 3, 4 to sprint to.
I ventured out on the road again on the weekend, and was mildly shocked that there was a bunch of 15 on Saturday. Roads were wet and it snowed for the last 15 km as we fought our way back into the northerly wind. I think there were only three of us left then. Col de la Trap Op: 5'43 on Saturday, 5'37 on Sunday, which is OK for this time of year. Once it warms up and people get fit, it gets down to 4'50 for that mighty ascent.
Saw Philippe and Jo on Sunday, and was also mildly shocked that they had done 130 and 170 km on that fairly ordinary Saturday. Oh well, the wielertoerist Ronde van Vlaanderen is in three weeks, so Jo will be flying for that. I think I'll choose the 150km option again.
Also saw Filip Vereecke and his other half Debbie on the Sunday ride, and they filled me in on the winter mountainbiking shenanigans. I didn't realise there was so much gameswomanship in a beach race! Debbie won her last race and finished second in the series, but for most of the races, her rival Joyce had a bit of help from a few guys, because men and women start together in those races. I don't know what the rules are in such a situation, but Debbie got her own back in the last race :-)
Drinking was kept to a bare minimum this week, although Reinhard and I did manage to get to two more cafes on Saturday. The plan is to visit all the cafes in Gent, hospital being optional. I could only stomach one beer, and that was all I had all week.
Speaking of beer, I have just read that there's a big kerfuffle going on between the suppliers of Jupiler glasses (InBev) and cafe owners. As some kind of a marketing stunt, InBev is distributing new Jupiler glasses that are 10 percent bigger than the normal ones. While this may be good for patrons, the cafe owners are annoyed, because it means they'll end up buying and serving more beer for (in theory) the same selling price, so it'll cost them an extra 9000 euros a year, roughly.
InBev reckons that they just have to put more foam on top and keep the volume of beer the same, but that's going to be difficult to teach the beer pourers. Also, they claim that more foam will protect against bacteria! That's the biggest load of bollocks I've heard. The cafe owners are not amused at all.
I must find some new lodgings.
Monday, March 06, 2006
It's the lime
It's now been two weeks and five cafés, which is a ratio of approximately 1 to 2.5, or, as I prefer, 2.5 to 1. There is a strong correlation - in fact it's probably even a causal relationship - between the number of cafés visited and kilometres trained. Especially if you visit three in one night. More of that later.
A different bit of Gent
© Jeff Jones
As alluded to in the previous missive, I partook of a spinning class last week. It's essentially the same as aerobics, but on a stationary bike. You can adjust the resistance to suit. The class at the local gym was pretty full, and we couldn't even get into the 7:30pm session, so we opted for the 8:30 one. That became 8:48 by the time we actually started.
I was the only one who brought a tape measure with me to measure the saddle height :-) But my plan to wear cleatless cycling shoes failed, as they were too slippery in the toe straps. And of course, I was the only English in the class, but the instructor was kind enough to explain things in English as we went along, not that it was really necessary. You just have to follow what he does.
We did an hour, and I was surprised at how hard it was, even though I wasn't too gung ho. I averaged 164 and hit 180 several times - about as hard as a not-too-hard criterium. We alternated between in and out of the saddle spinning, in and out of the saddle "strength" (more resistance), and some sort of out of the saddle poise exercise. There was very little rest in between all the sets. Definitely fun though, and a good way to ward off the cold. The room could have done with a few fans, or better, the removal of the roof.
The boss arrived at 12:40am on Friday night, after battling through the snow in Switzerland and Luxembourg. He didn't realise how difficult it was to drive in Europe in winter. We stayed up a few hours and I was a bit shagged after that. The next day, after doing some work in the morning, I dragged him out for a 30km ride along the Schelde at about 26 km/h. There's no way we could have done even part of the Saturday ride, and we were a bit too late for a drink (sorry guys). It took about an hour to pack up his bike for the flight home, which he had to catch from Paris at 11pm on Saturday. It was very much a flying visit.
Reinhard and I went out later for a couple of quiet ones. We checked out Sioux, which has the most bizarre entrance. You think you're walking into the sleaziest dive in Christendom, but inside it's a relatively normal café. There was a fancy dress thing happening so we opted to go to the very Latin Polé Polé café instead. I was determined to stick to beer, and started with a Vedett, which is being given a big marketing push by Duvel. It's an "extra blond" and unlike many Belgian beers, it's not so sweet and even has a slight pilsener ring to it. R had a rather stiff daiquiri - it helps to know the barman.
We moved onto De Ploeg, which is in Walpoortstraat but tricky to find, as it's on top of another café (Montuno's). There's a handpainted sign on the first floor, but you'd never know it was there otherwise. There are some metal stairs taking you up, and the whole place is all done up in sort of Canadian lumberjack wood panelling. Tres rustic. They didn't have Vedett there; in fact they didn't have much of anything. But I now know that Primus is pronounced the same as it would be in Australia. But it's not a beer in Australia, it's a camping stove.
The floor was shaking a bit, so we thought we'd have one for the road in Montuno's downstairs. That's when it went pear-shaped. Montuno's was completely and utterly different to De Ploeg, except the prices were about the same. It was small, very modern, and actually quite well done - not too pretentious. Some armchairs in the front, that were unfortunately occupied, a shelf full of actual records at the back, a fairly decent DJ, a moderate sized crowd and a surprisingly big bar staff.
I suggested a tequila, and R agreed with some trepidation. It came with a salt shaker and a slice of lime: you're meant to lick some salt off your hand, scull the tequila, then bite on the lime. It's a very fast way to get annihilated. We took the slow way, because R decided he liked the café and the tequila, and ordered another one, and another, and another, and another. Repeat until 3:30.
We didn't feel bad until we got outside. Driving the 1km home was of course out of the question, so we walked back through the fresh snow, taking approx. 1.5 km to get home, such was our path. Things became hazy after that. It took me until 3pm the next day before I could get out of bed for an extended period. R (who was most generous in giving me his last shot of tequila) didn't manage to feel even semi-human with bad hangover until 6pm Sunday. We think it was the lime, and we have both sworn off tequila.
I did 120 km today as guilt miles.
Weather: bit of snow at night, but relatively dry during the day and as much as 6 degrees. It's positively balmy.
A different bit of Gent© Jeff Jones
As alluded to in the previous missive, I partook of a spinning class last week. It's essentially the same as aerobics, but on a stationary bike. You can adjust the resistance to suit. The class at the local gym was pretty full, and we couldn't even get into the 7:30pm session, so we opted for the 8:30 one. That became 8:48 by the time we actually started.
I was the only one who brought a tape measure with me to measure the saddle height :-) But my plan to wear cleatless cycling shoes failed, as they were too slippery in the toe straps. And of course, I was the only English in the class, but the instructor was kind enough to explain things in English as we went along, not that it was really necessary. You just have to follow what he does.
We did an hour, and I was surprised at how hard it was, even though I wasn't too gung ho. I averaged 164 and hit 180 several times - about as hard as a not-too-hard criterium. We alternated between in and out of the saddle spinning, in and out of the saddle "strength" (more resistance), and some sort of out of the saddle poise exercise. There was very little rest in between all the sets. Definitely fun though, and a good way to ward off the cold. The room could have done with a few fans, or better, the removal of the roof.
The boss arrived at 12:40am on Friday night, after battling through the snow in Switzerland and Luxembourg. He didn't realise how difficult it was to drive in Europe in winter. We stayed up a few hours and I was a bit shagged after that. The next day, after doing some work in the morning, I dragged him out for a 30km ride along the Schelde at about 26 km/h. There's no way we could have done even part of the Saturday ride, and we were a bit too late for a drink (sorry guys). It took about an hour to pack up his bike for the flight home, which he had to catch from Paris at 11pm on Saturday. It was very much a flying visit.
Reinhard and I went out later for a couple of quiet ones. We checked out Sioux, which has the most bizarre entrance. You think you're walking into the sleaziest dive in Christendom, but inside it's a relatively normal café. There was a fancy dress thing happening so we opted to go to the very Latin Polé Polé café instead. I was determined to stick to beer, and started with a Vedett, which is being given a big marketing push by Duvel. It's an "extra blond" and unlike many Belgian beers, it's not so sweet and even has a slight pilsener ring to it. R had a rather stiff daiquiri - it helps to know the barman.
We moved onto De Ploeg, which is in Walpoortstraat but tricky to find, as it's on top of another café (Montuno's). There's a handpainted sign on the first floor, but you'd never know it was there otherwise. There are some metal stairs taking you up, and the whole place is all done up in sort of Canadian lumberjack wood panelling. Tres rustic. They didn't have Vedett there; in fact they didn't have much of anything. But I now know that Primus is pronounced the same as it would be in Australia. But it's not a beer in Australia, it's a camping stove.
The floor was shaking a bit, so we thought we'd have one for the road in Montuno's downstairs. That's when it went pear-shaped. Montuno's was completely and utterly different to De Ploeg, except the prices were about the same. It was small, very modern, and actually quite well done - not too pretentious. Some armchairs in the front, that were unfortunately occupied, a shelf full of actual records at the back, a fairly decent DJ, a moderate sized crowd and a surprisingly big bar staff.
I suggested a tequila, and R agreed with some trepidation. It came with a salt shaker and a slice of lime: you're meant to lick some salt off your hand, scull the tequila, then bite on the lime. It's a very fast way to get annihilated. We took the slow way, because R decided he liked the café and the tequila, and ordered another one, and another, and another, and another. Repeat until 3:30.
We didn't feel bad until we got outside. Driving the 1km home was of course out of the question, so we walked back through the fresh snow, taking approx. 1.5 km to get home, such was our path. Things became hazy after that. It took me until 3pm the next day before I could get out of bed for an extended period. R (who was most generous in giving me his last shot of tequila) didn't manage to feel even semi-human with bad hangover until 6pm Sunday. We think it was the lime, and we have both sworn off tequila.
I did 120 km today as guilt miles.
Weather: bit of snow at night, but relatively dry during the day and as much as 6 degrees. It's positively balmy.
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