Over on the PPP list it sounds like the roadway is in decent shape except for water in the usual place at the SE corner. I am going to try to get in some laps in the AM. I am super slow, so you will be passing me often

I just came back from PP. There are lots of branches and leaves on roadway.
We can ride, but far from comfortable. I hope it will be cleaned up by tomorrow.







We have another lake in PP!

Ah--especially with the possibility of more cars on the road this AM due to the mass transit situation and these pictures--I decided to just start work early (I work from home) and will sign off early to try riding late instead.

Will plan on riding in the AM the next few days.

In case anyone is wondering why I am suddenly back on the bike -- I can just FEEL the fear rising from the Cat 5s! LOL -- I am desperately trying to get myself in shape (and running out of time) for Braking the Cycle, a 3-day AIDS Ride from Boston to NYC Sept. 16-18. If you hear crying and cursing coming across LI Sound on those dates, that would be me struggling my way through the hills between all of those frigging rivers in Connecticut.

Matt

P.S. If anyone feels so inclined and able, I am still seeking donations. Any amount will help. More info at: http://btc9.kintera.org/mattbrown Merci Beaucoup!

P.P.S. Since beer seems to be the official apres-bike beverage of KCC, Closing Ceremonies include entertainment and FREE Brooklyn Beer. Sunday, September 18 @ 5PM. 208 W. 13th Street in Manhattan. (Beer is served AFTER we ride in)

Did a late morning training session this morning: a 1-hr cannibal TT with my distance coming in at 23.5 miles. I don't do the 1-hr TT very frequently, in fact, only one other time this season --early June @ 22.1 miles.

BTW: the wind was rather favorable this morning... cross-tail on the long backstretch.

Norm you have GOT to get yourself a power meter. That is just awesome.

Might get a powertap with my TT wheels when I get my Spooky TT Prototype bike... as with all things Spooky, however, there is a wait (which, now that I think of it, might work well for getting Garmin pedal power in the spring).

Perceived Effort Wars!!!
(for us non-metered trainees)

I got new shoes with full-on carbon soles and broke some perceived effort records (going faster with less effort) out in the park this evening.

10 sec: sloth-like
20 sec: tied with my 3 yr old nephew;
30 sec: same as above;
1 min: girly;
2 min: 25mph up the hill (doing a wheelie);
5 min: outran that angry minivan driver --yeah, that one;
10 min: rear tire went flat (again) but re-inflated itself due to extreme air-turbulence;
20 min: never got to 20mins, started seeing colors and shapes and I made an expression like this...

Get a power meter.

power meters are for mortals...

Anyone going out tomorrow?

Yep, I'll be there.

Big gear week.
CX - Tuesday - 53x15 85 rpm or less. 1 hour riding steady tempo.
Wed - endurance spinning 90+
Thursday - Tempo again - 53x19
Friday easy
Saturday - Club Championships.

Ouch that hurt. I was hurting after 20 minutes but kept in going and made the hour. Still recovering from Sunday I think.

Sorry you had to ride alone Dan. Tomorrow morning we'll be at endurance pace with you. Hope the rib heals fast.

They are supposed to hurt. They would have hurt regardless of Sunday. But its a hurt you can embrace.

I know some folks are heading to Cunningham tomorrow afternoon but I can't so I'm going to take the cross bike out to PP tomorrow morning. Anyone want to join me? GAP 6:00. Probably do a warm up lap or two until it gets light enough to hit the grass.

I went to PP today's morning after my long family trip to Belgium. During the trip, I raced in Ardenne. Though it's too far from my current level, it was good experience to me. Also I enjoyed cycling in Europe. Here are the photos.
http://bit.ly/pY0e8l

How cool is that! Is there a Kissena's around the world thread?

joji - those pictures are awesome

please provide:

1) a race report of mixing it up in belgium

2) a food report of what you ate

My pleasure!
Let me have a time to prepare the reports.

Here is my ride/race report. 1 of 3.

First of all, it was a family trip and most of my time was occupied by family duty. Since I had to accompany my wife, I woke up 5am and rode bike while she's sleeping.

Mainly we spent time for sightseeing and moved to different cities almost everyday by rental car: [Belgium] Brussels > Liege > [Germany] Aachen > Cologne > [Belgium] Stavelot > Spa > Vielsalm > Bastogne > [Luxembourg] Esch-sur-Sure > Bourscheid > Luxembourg City > [Belgium] Ghent > Bruges > Antwerp > Brussels.

Steep stairs in Liege

During the trip, I found lots of bicycle monuments.

Eddy Merckx monument at the top of Cote de Stockeu	Road Race monuments in Ans
Liege-Bastogne-Liege monument in Bastogne	Bicycles statue in Bruges

I enjoyed cycling rather than workout during these morning rides.

Esch-sur-Sure	Luxembourg
Ghent	Bruges
Antwerp

In Cologne, rode along the Rhine river and Cathedral (Germany's most visited landmark).





In Ardenne region, there are lots of hills and valleys and nice place for hill climb training. I rode from river side (bottom of the valley) to the top where ancient castle was located.

continued ride/race report. 2 of 3.

In Luxembourg, Antwerp and Brussels, also tried public bike share system, which NYC will also introduce next Summer. It was a recommended way for touring. I could ride from one bike station (e.g. near hotel) to another one (sightseeing spot), return it there and then get free from any rental duty and worry about the bike stolen. Enjoyed eating, sightseeing and then rented again and went back to hotel.

Luxembourg	Antwerp
Brussels

By the way, I went to GAP today to take a look at the NYC bike share demonstration. It seems the similar convenient system will be available here in NYC, too.

continued ride/race report. 3 of 3.

During the trip, I raced time trial and road race in Stavelot, Belgium. Though I've managed to complete the courses, "got placed or not" is out of questions... There's some steep downhills but I had no time to practice the course. So I had to race without rehearsal. In addition, it was raining. So I paid extra attention for downhills. But anyway, regardless of these excuses, originally it's too high level for me to race. Some of them were ex-pros.




As for TT, that was my first official TT and the experience was new to me. Before the start, I was warned to change the setting of the saddle and had to make it completely horizontal.




Also, a staff held my saddle so that rider put on both pedals in advance.





During the TT, I was passed by some riders though I passed one rider. Last part of the course is moderate hill but rough stone pavement in the town of Stavelot. I felt my whole body massaged.





Regarding road race, it's 67miles total and 2 different loops. 1st loop is 44miles and the other is 23miles.

After 10minutes from the start, my right contact lense dropped out. My right eye is almost blind and lack of perspective. I thought DNF, but kept riding only with left eye.





Eventually it became difficult to keep up with the peloton and finally I dropped behind them around half of the 1st loop.

After that, sometimes rode alone, sometimes formed small train. Several riders saw "Brooklyn, NY" on my jersey's back and talked with the guy who came from Texas.





When I finished 1st loop, I got leg cramps. There are some guys who gave up after the 1st loop but I just kept going.





The last climb was the Cote de Stockeau, which was in the course of Liege-Bastogne-Liege as well as the TdF 2010 Stage 2, 12.6% average and 21% max. On the steep road, I found the names of Schlecks. Thankfully, I finished the race without any crash or DNF.

Food report. 1 of 2.

As you know, Belgium is famous for Belgian Beer. Belgium people evolved with beer-glass.





Because I cannot drink Beer, however, I mainly enjoyed desserts like waffles and crepes.
There are two types of waffles: one is Brussels waffle, the other is Liege waffle. Though Brussels waffle looks gorgeous, I like Liege waffle more. It has a wonderful, chewy texture on the inside, while at the same time crunchy on the outside with a bit of caramelized surface.

Brussels Waffle

Liege Waffle

I've also tried Belgian beef stew. It taste good but not so special.





In Brussels, mussel cuisine is must-try. You cannot stop eating with a bucket of marinated mussels. Besides, there are not a few immigrants in Belgium. So I tried Chinese and Indian cuisine.

Chinatown in Antwerp

Indian cuisine

Food report. 2 of 2.

By the way, sparkling water is widely available. It's almost same price with the mineral water and so reasonable (under $1 for 1.5L).
That's why there are condensed drinks like Coke and energy drink which can be mixed with sparkling water.

Gerolsteiner

SPA

Condensed Coke

Also what impressed me was resealable beverage can. The can is opened by twisting the plastic seal and can be resealed by twisting back. Once you resealed, the drink won't come out even if the can is upside-down.
At last, I'd like to post the collection of Manneken Pis souvenir. There are different kinds and some of them are so funny. As for the drill-type manneken pis, he cannot sustain himself because of the too heavy drill of his...

Awesome report! Jealous! What in the hell is going on with that statue in Antwerp?!

!!! Joji, I am in Brussels now, and here until January. It would have been cool to link up and have a Kissena ride here in Belgium... it's kind of lonely out here and people look confused that I'm not wearing a jersey with Lotto written on it. But anyway, what would you say are the best routes around here/places to ride to? I'm gonna be knockin' out a century in a week or two from here to the Koppenberg and back. Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera along for the ride, but dammit, I need more ideas!

And good job on the food report... it really has been the best part of the trip so far.

I'll second that... Joji those pictures made me hungry!

Thanks guys for your comments. I cannot forget the taste and look for mussels cuisine and Liege waffles in NYC.

Antwerp statue is the giant, Antigoon, who is the origin of the Antwerp's name. According to folklore, the hero, Brabo, cut Antigoon's hand and throw it to Scheldt river. The name Antwerpen means "throw hand" in English. So there's another interesting statue in front of the city hall. Fountain water shows the spouting blood from giant's hand and neck...

Konrad,

Really!? I should have dropped by at that time. Here is the map for places of my interest. It includes TdF 2010 Stage 2 course, which starts from Brussels and finishes at Spa. So you can rest in hot spring in Spa after the long ride.

http://bit.ly/pJMy3b

Though I checked these places in advance, I didn't have enough time. E.g. I couldn't do long rides nor visited all of these spots: actually I was planning to go to see the Briek Schotte's statue in Kanegem. Aside from bike rides, I also forgot to buy the souvenir of cathedrals' miniature.



Also, as you may know, there's public bike paths in Belgium. LF is the name of cycling route in Flemish region and RAVeL is that in Walloon region.

LF information:
http://bit.ly/mR4Roc
http://bit.ly/qnig5m

RAVeL official website and the interactive map:
http://bit.ly/plrP1m
http://bit.ly/rrQPm9

I hope it will help your ride planning in Belgium.

Yes! That's fantastic, thank you. I really really want to do that trip to Spa once a nice, free weekend is available. You da best.

Maybe we do need a Kissenas around the world thread, as this one is about AM training in PP... sorry for the hijack, folks.

Absolutely. As you and John said, it's good to have Kissena's around the world thread so that you can post your Belgium ride.

Anyway, sorry to occupy this thread space with lots of pics.