Happy Holiday's From Our Family To Yours

Liam and Daddy's Adventure in Beverly Hills

So Tiiu is out with the girls tonight and I decided to take Liam on an adventure.  First we bought a little Christmas Tree with mom and then we went out.  I asked Liam if he wanted to go see Santa and he said no.  "Well where do you want to go" I asked.  "The restaurant" he said.  There is something seriously wrong that he associates food with a restaurant but that's my fault.  At least he likes eating.  We settled on Pasta.  Actually he settled on pasta since I'm sure Nanna had something else planned for me. 
Since I don't know LA that well I just put Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills on my Garmin.  There's probably an Italian restaurant there.  And bingo we get to Rodeo and I hit Places of Interest on the Garmin, restaurants and then Italian restaurants and bingo we end up at Il Fornaio.  We get a table in the back Liam orderes the penne bolognese (damm the kid knows how to order) - now its not pepe's but here what I learned tonight.  When your feeding them and with abundant choices of how many pieces of penne on a plate they actually start asking for individual pieces as in "this piece daddy".

After this were going to see if we can find a Santa who is not drunk.

Oh yeah training is going well.  16 hours in the last 4 days and all fairly hard. 

Gosh I love this mobile blogigng.  I'm doing it from the restaurant.  Damm where's Liam...

Sitting on plane heading to Camp #2

There was a huge storm in New York today and the flight was suppose to take off at 6:30 and right now its 9:45 and were still in the plane.  Tiiu is entertaining Liam whose already done 2 puzzles and sang about 5 songs.  Right now its Bob the builder.  I've finished the Times and just realized that I could test the mobile blogging feature on my blog.  Screw twitter.

Speaking of Twitter, Lance just said on his twitter page that they flew some guy from Germany to test him in Texas.  That's gotta be expensive.  I realized that I hadn't sent my whereabouts forms in to the UCI for the next two weeks of camp #2.  Then I realized (can you realize a realization?) That I'm not in the whereabouts system and despite the fact that I keep telling the UCI, USA Cycling, The Portuese Cycling Federation and the NYPD that they really should be testing me on a regular basis nobody seems to be listening.  I mean what does a guy have to do to get some surprise testings going.  Since that hasn't worked I've invoked my wife in my own anti-doping testing system (its not governed by anybody) and my wife now does surprise dope tests on me.  I have to keep a whereabouts system (calendar in the back of the wine closet) updated and she's even gotten me a GPS enabled phone to make sure she knows where I am at all times.  I've been tested 5 times in the past three weeks and on two occasions it was in the middle of the night.  Both times I got an elbow to the ribs and she said "wake up and go pee in the cup". Damm it.  I had to do early morning rides on both days.  I am happy to report that 4 out of 5 tests came back negative and one test was positive for excess cholestorol although I am sure the Pepe's Oso Bucco had something to do with that.  I was immediately handed a two week no eating at La Maseria sentence and its been rough. 

So I'm heading for Southern California for two weeks and two 25 Hour riding weeks.  That should be fun.  If anybody finds themselves in the LA area come out for a ride.  I'll finish at Pete's Coffee on Montana for a coffee and cookie.

See who needs twitter when you've got blogger.  Thanks Google guys. 

3 Incredible Photos

Look I am just not that funny.  I know it, you know it.  My blog isn't going to be read because it cracks people up.  Teddy King is funny, Richard Pryor is funny, Rodney Dangerfield now that's funny.  Joao Correia - just a funny name.  So I have to go out of my way and do some serious investigative journalism in order to grab attention and as everybody knows I suffer from low self esteem.  Basically I'm the Holland of self esteem (hey that might be funny)...  So here are three photos worth your while.  Although they are not funny.

I was late yet again and for the second time he was not amused.   We had a really nice lunch and two bottles of wine later I'm busting his nuts again when he said racing was hard.  Come on Eddy racing was hard but not for you, it was hard for the poor schleps who had to ride after you or on your wheel.  Yes he's just a man but damm is he a great man.  Greatest cyclist ever ladies and gentleman Eddy Merckx

OK so you have all heard of the Prince of Spain bike that Alejandro Valverde was touting after winning the Spanish National Championships this summer.  He was at the Tour won a stage or two or three something like that.  Well allow me to present to you the Princess of Portugal.  Everybody knows that princesses have all the fun.  Fausto Pinarello presenting me with my 09 bike.  It's not a great picture but there it is.

And last but not least and as promised.  You may all remember the famous Champs Elysees sprint.  The right veer and then collision into the barriers.  Ouch.  But the man was tough and he was fast.  Lovely guy in person as well.  And no he does not veer right when he walks.   Here is Djamalodin Abdujaparov and Ernesto Colnago.  

Like I said I'm not very funny but try beating that Teddy King...

Some Photos from Europe

I'll download some more photos from my European trip when I am home including an interesting one with the man knows as the Tashkent Terror. Certain unnamed cycling magazines have been publishing stories about how difficult it is to find him and how he won't talk to anybody. Blah blah blah. I don't know what the big deal is. He wasn't that hard to find.

So I tought I'd share the photos of my new bike for 09 and of a certain place where they make custom cycling shoes, including the wall of boxes of the various folks they make them for under all sorts of different brands.

Here is a photo after the frame was assembled and painted but pre-decals. a guy named Giancarlo painted the frame. He's been at Pinarello since 1977.

Valverde might be the Prince of Spain but there is only one Princess of Portugal.

Assembled by the master Piero and checked by the Grand Master Borgetto to make sure it was up to my dimensions on file. Piero has been at Pinarello since 1978 and Borgo since 1974.

Ah the last file. Probably hard to read the names but let's just say that everybody is there including a certain American who's actual foot mold I held. Hmm smaller than I tought.

And of course the most important box. The funny thing is that I've known Chantal Beltman since 1993. We got into some trouble together after the worlds in Australia in 1993. A certain Dutch coach still doesn't talk to me to this day and after that incident my contract with the Eddy Merckx Boys simply disappeared. Hmmm what could have been.

First "Training Camp"

So finally the first camp. Sort of; its a private camp I do every year. Training starts on November 1st or so and then around Thanksgiving I like to do a 5 day block. This year I came to Italy to see my daughter and then to see some clients the week after Thanksgiving. I based myself in Lecchi in Chianti which is about 20K outside of Siena and unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating. It rained every day and I even got sleet once. But did the riding anyways and also had a great Thanksgiving dinner which my cousin Hugo making the bird.  Unfortunately Tiiu and Liam weren't able to come so it could have been better. Here is what the training from Max and nutrition from Nanna looked like for the week for those of you interested.

I usually did a little more riding than prescribed and this year in order to help loose a little more weight I would train through lunch so as not to have lunch and would just have breakfast then dinner and perhaps a small snack if I was very hungry before dinner. But here is the program as prescribed.

Thursday November 27, 2008
Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ coffee
Water only during Training

2.5 hrs
20 min below 200W, spinning easily
15 min 200-250watts on flats
5 x 4 min 250-270 watts/rest 1 min
Flats: 4 x 10 sec sprints on 53 x 18/rest 3 min
Hills: 6 x 3 min 320-340 watts, standing 10 sec every min/rest 4 min
Easy x 20 min
2 x 8 min ~ 250 watts on flats/rest 3 min
Cool down

Thanksgiving dinner 

Eat slowly
Small portion of sweets…
Turkey, sweet potatoes w/ olive oil and salt/pepper (1 medium), broccoli or some dark green veggies, cranberry sauce (little); no gravy…Small piece pumpkin pie

Friday November 28, 2008
Breakfast Oatmeal w/ coffee
Bring Accelerade but use only if you need before hill work

3.5 hrs
20 min below 200W, spinning easily
20 min 200-250watts on flats
4 x 8 min 250-270 watts/rest 1 min
Flats: 4 x 10 sec sprints on 53 x 18/rest 3 min
Hills: 4 x 3 min 320-340 watts, standing 10 sec every min/rest 4 min
Easy x 20 min
Hill: 1 x 15 min 260-290 watts
2 x 5 min ~ 250 watts on flats/rest 3 min
Cool down

Lunch: Risotto of your choice (primo)
Meat, fish, poultry w/ Salad (large plate w/ grated parmesan); no potatoes…
Eat slowly…
Fresh fruit if you are hungry Or have some coffee…

Dinner: Minestrone w/ little bread
Fish, meat, poultry w/ veggies (no potatoes)
No dessert…
1 glass red wine;

Saturday November 29, 2008
Breakfast: Coffee only before riding (black, no sugar, no milk)

Easy x 2 hours
Breakfast after riding:
Skinny eggs (1 full egg, 2-3 egg whites) w/ veggies, mushrooms, touch of cheese, salt, pepper, herbs, whole grain toast (2 slices)
Bowl of fresh fruit

Late lunch:
Meat, poultry, fish + veggies or greens, other veggies, fresh fruit, toss of almonds

Fresh fruit if you are hungry
Dinner: Pasta (primo of your choice); meat, fish, poultry + veggies (secondo); glass of red wine,No dessert

Sunday November 30, 2008
Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ coffee
Bring Accelerade use half-way through workout

4.5 hours
20 min warm up, below 200W
Flats: 30 min between 200 and 250 watts
4 x 8 min 250-270W on flats/100 rpm, rest 3 min
Hills: 3 x 15 min 280-300 W/80 rpm, rest 5 min
40 min between 220-240 watts on flats.
Cool down

Endurox 1 scoop

Lunch: Salad + Pizza
Coffee if you like or fresh fruit

Dinner:
Pasta or risotto (primo of your choice); meat, fish, poultry + veggies (secondo); glass of red wine,
Gelato (1 scoop)

Monday December 1, 2008

Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ coffee
Bring Accelerade but use only if you need before hill work

3 hours
20 min warm up, below 200W
Flats: 30 min between 200 and 250 watts
4 x 8 min 250-270W on flats/100 rpm, rest 3 min
Hills: 3 x 10 min 280-300 W/80 rpm, rest 5 min
Flats: 20 min 220-240 watts
1 x 8 min hill at 300-310 watts
Cool down

Lunch: primo: minestrone w/ grissini + parmesan; secondo: fish + veggies (handful of potatoes)

Fresh fruit if you are hungry Or have some coffee…

Dinner: You choose…I would go for a nice Toscana Dinner