Planica Ski Jump

If you're daft enough to ski jump, this is your view!

More posts to come about Ljubljana, but Friday we headed up to the northwest area of Slovenia to Planica. This is in the valley region of heavy WWI fighting in the Slovenian - Italian - Austrian region where Hemingway served and inspired his "Farewell to Arms" which I now need to read. The Julian Alps (after Caesar) and the Karawanken range is all along here, along with Triglav - the highest peak in Slovenia.

Planica is the site of the Olympic Training Centre, with a hotel for athletes that Igor helped convert with hypoxic rooms on the 2nd floor for altitude training. There are many ski jumps at Planica, from baby ones that almost tempts you into thinking you too can do this, to the full 90 m jumps.

There is even an underground nordic ski facility for training throughout the year, along with a skydiving simulator! Many hiking and climbing trails abound too, along with Nordic trails.

Really, it's pretty hard to capture the scale of just how big and high ski jumps are.

Planica is a regular stop on the World Cup circuit, and apparently has been the site of several world record jumps, including the 1999 record of 239 m!

There hasn't been any notable snow, so just these jumps have artificial snow on them. Here, I was trying to capture the scale of the jump with the athlete in the foreground for perspective. Luckily they have ski lifts to haul them back up top.

From the "Better to apologize than ask permission" playbook, found the stairs and started walking up to get closer pictures of the jumping. This was my next to last stop for trying to catch action shots. I then walked up higher to an even better spot, just in time to find out this guy was the final jumper of the day. Cosmic payback I guess.

Yes, the runs are so steep that the cats need safety harnesses.

You start young in ski jumping, likely so that you catch them before sanity takes over...

Mont Ventoux!

In between Ph.D. defences and my upcoming cycling conference in the UK, I've been hanging out with my friends Eric and Astrid in Bilthoven, especially for Eric's 50th birthday cycling trip that he planned for Provence and the famous Mont Ventoux. 5 other Dutch friends along with Eric and I headed 1200 km south to the base town of Bedoin. Monday June 23 was D-Day, and here are some pics from the climb.

Basic stats: start 309 m, summit 1912 m, 22 km.

Nickname: "Le Geant de Provence"

After a gentle 3-5% first 4 km, you hit the forest and it's a relentless 10%+ for about 9 km to Chalet Reynard. From there, it's a moonscape rocky bald top 6 km due to clear-cutting. Strong winds and crazy weather can play havoc up top.

The memorial to British rider Tom Simpson is about 3 km from the summit, and is placed where he collapsed and died during the 1967 Tour from a combo of heat stroke and tons of drugs and alcohol in his system. It's a pilgrimage shrine for cyclists today.

Summit pic that Eric took of me around the final steep switchback. I rather like the composition and my leaning into the switchback. 

The tower is enormous, and makes the bald giant even more imposing from every direction. Those of you from Brock, just think how Schmon Tower sticks out from everywhere around St. Catharines and magnify the 100 m Niagara Escarpment by 19 times!

Total climbing time was 1:40 at a pretty comfortable 225W average. But with the howling winds up top combined with the long wait for the rest of the group, not to mention minimal body fat and Asian heritage, I was completely freezing as we started the descent. To the point that I had a pretty wicked case of top tube shimmy the whole way down the first 6 km to Chalet Reynard due to the combination of my shaking and the strong crosswind. Luckily I'm a decent bike handler and managed it by clamping the top tube with my knees along the straightaways.

Cool Bike Shop: Lola Bike & Coffee

Was on a road trip to the Canadian Embassy in den Haag today. Much to my disappointment, they don't have free dispensers of maple syrup! Anyway, wandering through the city afterwards, came across the super-cool "Lola Bikes & Coffee" right in the main pedestrian area. That wooden bike on the left is just one of the many funky bikes to be found here. Great surprise find! And of course the name "Lola" is close to my heart.

It's both a functioning bike shop, mini-bike museum, and a great cafe hangout. None of the three components feel tacked on, and it's just a great place to ogle bike stuff and hang out even if you don't like bikes. That's a very cool Cinelli track bike upper right.

The place isn't just one kind of bike shop featuring one type of bike. At the entrance, there's a massive "fat bike" hanging up with painting specific to it. Then throughout the shop, there'd be super high-end carbon road bikes next to funky commuter bikes or vintage bikes. All very tastefully displayed and arranged as in these two examples. It's ALL bike!

There's a big back part devoted to books about cycling, both in Dutch and English. Again, all tastefully arranged more as a nice salon than a bike store. No copies of Cutting-Edge Cycling though... And on the right is the very nice decor of the bar area.

Now THIS is a great spread to while away time on a comfy couch with. Free fresh-squeezed orange juice with my cappuccino and croissant, and a copy of Peloton magazine to peruse.

This being the Netherlands, I think I'm contractually obligated to include this gratuitous shot of a herring stand...

Hup Holland Hup!

Been in the Netherlands this past week on a research visit with my pal Hein Daanen. And just like 2012 when we were living here during Euro 2012, orange is everywhere. World Cup campaign began with a nearly inconceivable 5-1 trouncing and humiliation of reigning 2xEuro and World Champs La Roja of Spain. Took me a few goals to remember that I was watching IN the Netherlands with Dutch pals, and that I should be cheering for the Oranej!

Pride Cometh Before the Fall

Well, I wrote the "Fonthill Airborne Regiment" post a few weeks back before posting it recently, and the old saw about pride and fall came back to bite me in the butt, literally. Feb 3, the boys and I had a fabulous day of boarding, and spent the day really focusing on our carving technique during our lesson with Curtis. So the final run of the day, the final half down Mardi Gras and in sight of the chalet, I decided to do this jump by the lift tower that I pretty much always land...

I landed all right, but then caught an edge and just walloped down hard on my right butt, sliding on my back and headfirst for a good while downhill. When I got up I instantly knew something was wrong, with the feeling like my gluteus had contracted and refused to release. I managed to make my way down but could not bend down and the boys needed to unclip me. I was in so much agony afterwards that, after 2h, I had to catch a lift home. Luckily, my guardian angels Jayne and Dominic were on their way home to Brantford and drove us home. I went to Emergency and luckily nothing was broken, but I was in agony and had so much swelling and bruising that I gained 4.7 kg (not a typo) after a week!

The picture above of my right leg was taken 12 days afterwards, so you can imagine what my entire leg was like! Oh well, I've now regained most of my mobility and lost most of the inflammation weight, but the muscle/bone contusion remains and I'm using the bike to gradually rebuild my fitness.

The Fonthill Airborne Regiment

So I quit the Royal Westminster Regiment back in the 1980s before I got to jump out of an airplane. To make up for that, the boys and I are forming our own airborne glider unit out on the slopes. We've got passes to Holiday Valley in Ellicotville, NY (about 1:40h drive away) this season and we've decided that this is the season we learn to do jumps and tackle (sometimes literally) the terrain park. Rather than just riding the black diamond runs, we're now seeking out every little bit of small terrain and dip in the green and blue runs as an excuse to get airborne.

The shadows underneath the boys' boards prove their jumping abilities, and these were taken pretty much from a near-standstill! The past two times, we learned how to ride on the flat box, and the boys have now taken things further by riding a stack of boxes and also riding/jumping an "A-frame" box!

The great thing with homeschooling is that we go during the weekdays when there's minimal traffic on the roads or the slopes. And the "group" lessons we get with our passes generally end up as private ones. Here the boys are with David (L) and Dom (2nd from R), who have both taught us. Dom is especially awesome and fun to ride with, and we help him out by saving him from teaching beginners...

Snowboarding is just a fabulous day out and a way for us to bond as three boys, plus the bonus is that Debbie gets the day off from having to take care / put up with us!

Syracuse Wildfire Gymnastics Meet

Jacob had a pretty awesome pommel routine

The second gymnastics competition of the year was in Syracuse Jan 25/26 weekend. We'd never been there before so it was a nice road trip with the other boys' parents (Isaac and Ben) despite the sketchy winter weather. I don't think they really believe in plowing the roads around Buffalo. The boys generally improved their performance from 2 weeks prior in Niagara Falls, so there's an upward trend.

The parallel bars are always impressive to watch.

Artsy shot with all the medals to play for on the left, and the boys lining up for the pommel judge.

 Way up high on the high bars.

Zach on the pommels.

Jacob's bronze on the pommel and Zach's bronze all-around. 

Next stop Rochester NY Feb 15/16!

Paddleboarding

From way back in September, but check out Jacob's talent in his first ever attempt at paddleboarding!

The Coolest Mexican Restaurant in Syracuse

OK, I've been offline with the blog for a long while, so let's renew with a blog about FOOD! We spent this weekend in Syracuse at the Wildfire Invitation gymnastics meet for the boys. Debbie searched out "The Mission" restaurant for us to try, and we went with the Siemens (Isaac competes with the boys).
What a totally cool place. First and most important, the food was fabulous (seafood enchilada for Tim and me, fish taco for Debbie, tacos and others all around). The decor as you can see is really neat too, with the kitchen right there in the shrine/altar area. Yes it was an actual Wesleyan Methodist church (2nd one in the USA) from 1847, and it was also a part of the Underground Railroad during the slavery era. There were lots of archeology from the basement areas, and our waiter Doug was a wealth of info and passion about the history. The church was also a meeting place in the early suffragette movement. The stained glass is all from the 19th century too.
Super fun night out. Thanks to the Siemens for the fun company too!

Racing Overload!

Jamie's bar-cam with his boy Connor. Rare footage of me actually passing someone on a MTB!

I love the bike - end of story. While cyclocross has become my passion, I just love all types of riding. But it's racing that's the real spice that makes the whole love affair sizzle, and over the past weeks I dove back in hard-core into every type of bike racing around.
First up last Thursday was the Larkinville crit series in downtown Buffalo, probably my first criterium since 2001 Nationals! Next up was my return to road racing at the KW Classic in Kitchener Sunday, my first Ontario race since the KW in 2009. All fun and games until I dropped my chain at the base of the big hill about the same time that the torrential rain started!
Then this past Tuesday, did probably my hardest club race that I can remember. Flat course but we were just killing it all day (OK part of it was my fault for hammering and attacking). So hard that I woke up sore everywhere like I was a rugby tackle dummy. That was all just a prelude for my 3rd comeback of the week - this time mountain bike racing and the local Laura Secord series put on by Liberty! Bicycles. Awesome AWESOME fun all around!

Singletrack Mind!

Had one of my dreams fulfilled this past week. Being the nutbar cyclist that I am, as a dad you can only dream of the day you get to share your passion for the bike with your kids. Last Monday, 4 of us dads on Team905 decided to take our kids out for a trail ride. While the boys and I have been on the bike lots together, from the early days of hauling them behind me on the trailer, this was our first real offroad adventure. Well, the boys were AWESOME! We went through the trails around Brock and, much to my pleasant surprise, the boys did great and loved it.


And especially so since I just set up Zach on his new "big" mountain bike and this was his very first time on it, and Jacob's very first time on Zach's bike! They cleaned most of the trails we threw at them with a big smile on their faces, and with an even bigger smile on my face! Here we all are at Decew House, where Laura Secord completed her famous trek during the War of 1812 to warn the British about American attack plans.

This past Saturday, I took them on some different trails around Brock for 90 min, including some really twisty and tight trails that I myself had only just discovered. Zachary even started hopping some logs and they both cleaned most of the trails except for the big log series, dips, and rock humps. So much fun! On the left is our start at Morningstar Mills, and on the right we're on the levy around the lake.

Community Building - BikeStyle

This past weekend has been all about the bike. Saturday May 25, my racing team Team905 hosted our first annual Kids Build-a-Bike event at our sponsor Inception Cyclery. Our team raised funds and organized the purchase, building, and donation of three new bikes to disadvantaged kids from three different St. Catharines schools. The three kids Sydni, Trevor, and Billy came with their family to Inception, where we had some media and made a presentation.

Sydni was chosen through an essay contest at her school. She didn't know she had won the bike and her parents suckered her into coming to the shop. So she was rather overcome when Jamie informed her why she was there! On the right Jon helps fit Trevor to his new helmet that we also got donated.

Brandon, our sponsor at Inception Cyclery, is a meticulous and very thorough mechanic, and my Kane TT bike, Thin Blue Line mountain bike, and BMC cross bike have all been fabulous since he's overhauled them. Jamie and Josh went to the shop Wednesday evening to build up the bikes, and the joke is that Brandon spent most of Thursday rebuilding them! I also gave a short bike skills clinic.

Sunday May 26, our St. Catharines Cycling Club member Jeff Poulsen helped organized the annual bike rodeo in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where we took over the arena and spent the afternoon fixing up the bikes belonging to some of the many migrant farm workers in the Niagara area. We drive/bike by these folks every day and rarely give a second thought to them, their lives in a foreign land trying to make and send money back to their families far away, or how our food gets to our tables. 

I brought along my stand and toolbox along with about 6-7 other guys, and spent the afternoon having fun as a bike mechanic. Did everything from changing tires and tubes, tightening up bottom brackets, adjusting brakes and gears, to replacing cables and truing wheels. Amazing how much you can accomplish with a couple of adjustable wrenches!