Une Année à Se Sappeler

A year to remember which is the English translation. Not sure if the French say that or if its even its Francaise grammar proper(accent on the e), but this is my online message to the world so...

Well, I am closing out 2007 with a blog. A lot has happened this year, smiles, tears, fears, and many laughs. The eve of the New Year is always bombarded with new year prognastications and new year vows. Why do we put so much emphasis on this day to change our lives? Why don't we start making changes in our lives today, rather than talking about doing them tomorrow or the next day or the next week or the next month. Maybe it was Mark Twain that said "don't do tomorrow, what you can do today." Or perhaps it was some other literary figure or philosopher, but I like to think its a little bit of my own. Now a little digression..

On July 26, 2007 at approximately 4:30pm, I truck struck me and my friend from behind. We were both knocked unconsciously off of our velos and into a grassy and poisin ivy infested ditch, some 5m from the road. By all statistics and all evidence of my injuries, I should not be writing this blog or even considering a return to riding. But by a divine miracle, I received a contract extension and from the moment that I awoke stuggling to breathe in that poison ivy to this moment of blogging at la casa de parents in Tennessee I have had a renewed passion for life and for doing what makes you happy and brings good to the world. Will 2008 be any different? Yes, and its starting out rather quickly and full of adventure.

After several years of contemplation and all the desire to take my training and cycling to the next level, I have decided to take my chances and pursue my dream of going pro(or atleast racing at my highest potential). At the end of January, I am moving from the foggy Golden Gate to feet of the Rockies, Boulder. I have not been very good about relaying my news to everyone. It will be sad to leave so many great people I have met in CA but I'm confident they will be happy for me and hopefully understand eventually. Since my decision to move, I have had a resurgence in life. SF has been great to me, but life needs new challenges and experiences. You will have to keep posted on Bomb This Hill to get the play by play of my new life in the 90sq mi surrounded by reality(ie boulder).

Now that I have let the cat out of the bag, I'm going to go a little generic but with a twist.

Top 5 List of 2007 b/c a top10 list is too cliche and gets cumbersome =) I am going to use * so as to not rank any one in particular.
*Learning and Experiencing the Meaning of Family
*Getting Hit by a Truck and Surviving
*Going to Europe and Racing my Bike Without Knowing Any Flemish or French =)
*My Blog...Its awakened by inner writer and allowed me to share my thoughts with the world
*Creating Culinary Nirvana for My Family During this Holiday Season and During My Sister's Wedding Day!

Things to Avoid in 2008
*Westchester Medical Center
*Poison Ivy
*Negative and Nonpassionate People
*Auto Traffic Jams(see new 2008 adventure news)
*Blogging lapses

Well, I will close out 2007 to the World with a short note...

In the words of Mark Twain, "In Twenty Years, you will look back and be more dissappointed in the things you didn't do than the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

I know this isn't a Mark Twain fan site but I think its pretty good. My office mate Nettie hung it up on our door so its an everyday reminder for me. What can you do in 2008? I don't know but don't let the things that could happen drive your decisions but let the things that COULD HAPPEN drive them.

One last side note, my sister questioned my homemade turkey chili cooking tonight b/c I had no recipes. Well, I went for things I thought would go well and didn't think about total disaster but about total culinary envy from Megan. And I was right because it was the bomb chili of 2007!

Best Wishes, Good Food, Great Riding, and Great Memories to you all in 2008

Ciao, Adios, Bonne Journne!
Matthew

Cooking and Riding

Last week, I had my cooking lesson with Chef Kerry. It was pretty awesome. We cooked up 3 different dishes: chicken tikka masala, red thai curry, and arriabbiata sauce. He helped me out with my knife skills which were pretty good already but a few tips never hurt. I came away feeling super confident in my new abilities. I must say that the thai curry is the absolute bomb. I could go battle to battle with any thai eatery here in the city. I added my own twist too it and produced a wonderful, butternut squash curry for the Recreation and Leisure Studies Department holiday party on Friday night. Last year I produced a pumpkin curry which was well received and highly requested again. I was hesitant about recreating the same dish. I like to be new, adventurous and keep my audience expecting something new and flavorful. Its also more challenging. This latest project was good for me to make because I could put my new skills to the test with a new ingredient. Based upon the reception of my dish(which was the only one that got completely finished), it was amazing. It was likened to this: "last year, your pumpkin curry was good but pales in comparison to this." I like to think that last year was 6th grade and this year is a complex, graduate level job. I'm pretty stoked about my new work. Everyone wanted to know how I did it and wondered why I was till on the market, ie not in a relationship....I just laughed.

This Friday, I am going to a dinner party at the house of my good friend and awesome office mate, Nettie. Her mom and aunt are coming into town and have requested the pumpkin curry. They loved it last year and we corresponded via email for recipes etc. Well they are in for something off this hook this week.

My family will also be experiencing my new found culinary skills next week when I go back for the holidays. Still working on the Christmas Eve menu but it should be off the hook.

Yesterday did a good 5hr 15min training ride. Rode out to Pt. Reyes Station then to the coast and down Hwy 1. Cool 132km. Wasn't feeling super good but I kept telling myself that I need to get the kms in. Felt good on the last major climb from the beach to mt. tam. Once the road got steady uphill, I got into my rhythm and just keep turning the cranks. Last weekend's training in north Sonoma County was up and down and hard to get a rhythm. I did my first big training test on Saturday, a 30min max effort. My avg wattage was 297w. I did the test on the climb from Mill Valley to Mt Tam. Lots of power dropoff on the flats which was a big reason for the lower number. Just couldn't keep up the watts on the flats, something I will have to work on. It should improve as I get more training. After beating myself up about the low numbers, I averaged 370 last May, I went and looked at the numbers from last year at this point. Now last year I was 77kg, I'm 72kg now. Last year at this week, I was 317w which makes me at or better in pw-to-kg now vs last year. I wasn't feeling the greatest on Saturday. Legs still tired from the strength workout on Thursday. When I completed my test on Saturday, I realized that I traveled the same distance on the course as last year but avg fewer watts. I think this is a good indication of things to come. Now, I have a long way to go to contest TDF climbs but I'm on the up and up. I also need to keep in perspective that I got nearly killed by a truck this summer and lost a lot of high end fitness when I was off the bike for nearly 8 weeks and I really haven't done any super intensive blocks of training yet.

While I was out riding this weekend, I noticed that I'm trying to be a little more professional on the bike. While I use to chase down everything that tried to pass me, I'm reminding myself that to be professional, one needs to act professional in training and focus on the current needs of your training. So, with that, this is my proclamation about my future plans...drum roll please...

I want to be a professional rider. Do I have what it takes? Yes. Is it going to be wicked hard? Yes! Emotionally and physically demanding? YES! What happens if it doesn't happen? No worries, atleast I tried because its only failure if you don't try. With that I have made some really important steps into reaching this goal which have been emotionally taxing. I will outlay these plans over the next week. It might be a shocker to many of you, but just understand that what I am doing has been on my mind for several years now and with the events of the last year, I can't afford to not try.

chow,
Matthew

Shout out to 525 Lake Point Drive

Lots of things going on in my world these days which is the reason I have been so lax on the blogging despite the pleas from my brother michael and sister megan. These two have been commenting all week on my hack blogging. Well, I have good reason, I had blogging block, similar to writers block but for those who write to the www masses.

Okay, so lots of things going on. I can't elaborate on everything right now but there are some big changes going on in my life. To tease my readers, I will just say that its better to do what you need today rather than putting it off till tomorrow.

On an easier note, I am taking my first cooking lesson with Chef Kerry tomorrow. You can check out his website, www.chefkerry.com. He is going to give me some knife skill lessons and my first lessons on sauce-making. We are suppose to do a Italian puttanesca and a Thai red curry. Both should be delicious but will also provide some solid framework for other sauce making. I have a big meal planned for my family on Christmas Eve, one that will require us to pass the food around. You might think this to be trivial but we have not had a big, pass the food around meal at our house before. I think it will be beautiful and we can finally satisfy Megan's Hollywood dinner dream lol lol More importantly, it will be a great time for everyone to gather together. Lauren and my new brother-in-law, Alex will be coming up. So it will be the beginning of a new book for the Barrowclough's. To those that will be attending the festive event, we will be holding nothing back, full courses, antipasta, soup, salad, pasta, entree, and desert along with lots of wine =)

My cold is on the way out which is good for the training. I was up in Sonoma County this past weekend doing some riding with the team. I made my butternut squash risotto which was pretty tasty and enjoyed by all. Riding was good, lots of quiet roads and incredibly steep pitches. My accelerations on the hills is like nothing i have experienced before. Result of hard training and some weight loss, at 72kg now versus 75kg last year. I have been a little a laxer on the diet the last two weeks b/c I have been sick. Still just watching my calories. the fall back is that I get crazy cold now but it will be worth it come race time when I am flying up the hills. Last night the CMA sailing team members commented on how thin I was as did the cycling team this weekend. I like hearing it just like the models do hahaha.

Well, I will end with that. I hope to reveal more to everyone in the coming days.

Chow,
Matthew

No I'm not dead...

I know its been quite some time since my last blog, or "its been 10 days since my last blog." As the recovering blogger my say. Well, lots of updates...

1) Last Monday marked the 4month anniversary since I was run over by a truck
2) Cranksgiving was a wild success with over 1100km of training and 25000kjs over 36hrs
3) Like all flights back from my parents house, I got a cold
4) Jury Duty

Okay so on to the first topic at hand. Yep, 127 days later and I am reporting good results with my recovery. I still experience the occasional pelvic pain and strain in my left shoulder, but all-considering, I'm in pretty good shape. It will be a awhile before I muster the courage to do a pull-up. Holding off on skiing this year, a) because I want to train on the bike b)don't want to re-injure myself right now. Yesterday when i was out riding with teammate Harry, saw a helicopter landing in Sausalito. Harry says he took a chopper tour in HI, and I said, yeah I took one of those too in NY. Of course my tour wasn't very scenic unless you get off on the scenery of an inside of a chopper. I don't. Did a nice ride up to Alpine Dam then across the panoramic ridge towards Tamalpais and down to Bike-Rx before heading into SF. 4 hours. Felt good but didn't really press it because I don't want to tax the immune system too much but it was a really nice ride, super windy though. Reminded me of a similar ride last December with Harry and Co when it was raining sideways. Fortunately, no rain just lots of wind. Scott from Bike-Rx hooked me up with a replacement pair of CapoForma bibshorts. The Bike-Rx kit I bought had bad stitching in the gripper. He immediately gave me a replacement pair. These guys are just incredible. Be sure to support them and other great independent shops this season!

On to #2, Cranksgiving was super relaxing and allowed some good fitness building. Some head off to the glams of Mallorca or South Africa, yours truly, heads to East TN! 1100k and I only saw 8 other riders on the road. Kind of ridiculous but I was left with some beautiful roads and quite times by myself turning over the pedals. I think long training rides appeal to me on multiple levels. But one major reason is the time alone without distraction. I really enjoy the quite times, maybe I am introverted but its less stressful to just go out and ride by one's self sometimes. I said the same about running but runs only lasted35-90min and they included a lot of pounding which is NO BUENO! On the 25th, I did 166km, just under 6hrs, nothing to brag about but its endurance/base season right? Well, thats a pretty significant time by oneself especially on a bike. It was good though. First ride of that distance since La Vaujany. Still had some in the tank at the end so good sign for 2008.

#3, I have been experiencing very very light chest congestion for over a month now. Nothing stopping me just felt like something was down in the engine room trying to wreak havoc. Well, on the flight home from TN on Tuesday, I had a 0400 wakeup then a drive to CLT. 5.5hrs of flight time, and a kid kicking you the entire way, Priceless but always perfect remedy for a cold when people are hacking up ugly stuff. Well, I succumbed to the torture. Now I'm feeling better but blowing my nose a lot. Could be worse.

#4, Jury duty this week. I was suppose to serve my city's judicial courts in August but it was when I was in the hospital so again, NO BUENO! I was able to reschedule. I picked this week arbitrarily. Well, I woke up this morning not wanting to get out of my bed, then all the sudden I am reminded and frantically get out of bed, grab my summons and go to the web to see if I have been selected for today. Fortunately, only group 611. I have to check back again today after 4:30pm to see if group 607 is chosen. Could be a one day or a bunch of days depending on my ability to serve my judicial duty. This will be a first for me so I will keep you posted on SF Jury Duty!

Well, lots of updates. I found that I can add labels to my posts which I allow all my great readers to instantly go to a topic, ie: training, life, food, etc.

Also, my awesome coach, Shawn Heidgen, is having hip surgery today. Keep her in your thoughts.

Chow,
Matthew

Me and the Little Sister

Megan and Me, post T-Day Festivities. Foto courtesy of the iMac PhotoBooth, a shamelesss plug by yours truly =)

I Heart Cranksgiving!

Me and My New Italian Carbon Love =)

A Cranksgiving Miracle

Well not really a miracle but Cranksgiving is in full effect. I finished up my first block of training today with another great ride here in East Tenn. I must say, the roads here are by far the best I have ever ridden in terms of quality. I know my mom and dad would love it for me to make Cranksgiving an annual affair.

Today I did 125km. I made out a map on google maps then just followed the road numbers and didn't really know what to expect in terms of terrain. Legs were pretty heavy in the beginning, side-effect of Cranksgiving but I continued on and boy was it worth it. Since that fateful day in July, I cherish each ride I get to take whether its 3.2km to work or 125km today, riding is just awesome. But today's ride was definitely one for the training journal memory. I will ride this one again before leaving because it was just so amazing. So the route took me from my house in Piney Flats, TN to Elizabethton on a nice, super quiet and twisty road with amazing fall colors. From Elizabethton, I heading North towards Shady Valley, this is where it becomes epic. On the way, it was pretty flat and I was enjoying the quietness before a car pulled out in front of me but more dangerously, it pulled out in front of two Harley men. There was some massive fishtailing on the bikes and they actually clipped each other. I don't know how they kept the bikes up but they must have been quite handy with the fishtail recovery. I asked if they were okay, I think they appreciated it but didn't think much of my skinny cycling legs =) but thats another story. The girl who almost hit them stayed back about 80m and for good reason. I was more concerned with the two guys attacking this car which was why I stayed. So I pressed on after my diplomatic duties were exhausted. The road began to rise slightly but nothing serious. As i contined peddaling on the false flat, the valley i was in began to narrow then all of the sudden I am entering the Cherokee National Forest and there is a sick climb ahead, 7-8km, 5-9% with a top elevation of 1052m. It was about a 20min climb I think. Nothing short of epic. It was the first climb I had done since June that had rewarded me with so much pride since my march of the fabled Col du la Croix du Fer and Col du Galibier. This climb did so much more for my confidence than all of the riding I have done during Crankgiving-07. I was worried all week that I had lost my ability to climb but nothing has been really long, only 1-2km at most. Mainly big roller which wreck havoc on my Lionel Ritchie leg spinning rhythem. The latic was burning but for some reason, I still had a smile on my face. The followup climb was shorter but I was treated to a 10km descent which was icing on the cake. Didn't Bomb the Hill at my top ability. I was a little hesitent with the new ride and the occasional wet pavement. But the Cento is a climbers golden arrow and she doesn't shy away from the speed on the backside either.
After the last climb it was back on 41 heading towards Bluff City. Not super picturesque. Daylight continues to battle me and make my mom worry. But Cranksgiving has a grip on me and sometimes I get a little over eager and push the daylight to exhaustion.

If you are out visiting this area, let me know and I will throw out a map for you. On the descent out of the Cherokee National Forest, I was thinking of what a sick area this would be to have a stage race. Plenty of terrain variety and many quiet roads. I even had a woman encouraging me up the final climb saying I only had "1 mile to the top and its all downhill afterwards!" Got to love the support.

Well, I need to start making my Cran-Walnut Stuffing for tomorrow's festivities. Ohh, and if you are wondering about the culinary experiences with my grade school friends, well, it was epic. recipes will follow....
Chow,
Matthew

Tis the season for Cranksgiving!

Sorry to all my faithful readers for not writing sooner. Cranksgiving has taken a great deal of my time. What is Cranksgiving? Just the greatest holiday of the year! Basically its 10days of riding my legs into the ground with some quality base training. So far, the riding has been quite spectacular with my new lover, the Wilier Cento. Big thanks to Colin at Bike-RX for helping get her all pretty. When I arrived on Friday, I was only able to get in 1.5hours because of a decrease in available sunlight. Got in 4.5, 4 and 3.5 hours Sat-Today. Today was pretty wet and I got pretty hungry. But got in about 2500kjs.

Everytime I come back to Johnson City, I am continually impressed with the quailty of roads. Now that being said, I had my first flat today but these Michelin Pro Race 2 tyres are pretty soft and cut easily. But nevertheless, the roads here are the best that I have ridden in the country. So smooth and many quite roads to get lost on. The biggest difference that I have noticed is that everything is rolling, very few flats which makes it difficult to get into a rhythm. Altitude is 1600ft so not really super beneficial but maybe little more than CA. The Wilier is a pretty sweet ride. Still working on the fit but I will get it dialed in soon enough. Plan is to go bigger tomorrow and really big on Wed before I take off on Thursday. Will try to get in an hour to spin the legs on thursday but the weather report looks dicey. Friday-Monday will be big too.

I will post a new pic of the ride tomorrow. Tomorrow evening I am cooking with my friend Morgan and our dinner party. It should be epic, a culinary nirvana.

Want to also give a shout-out to the girls from South Carrick. I have been getting some good feedback from these ladies and a few late night calls asking for new material and talking about the greatest nights of their lives =)

Chow,
Matthew

The Macho Man

Today is the Macho Man Randy Savage's birthday. He's a cool 55 today. The Macho Man holds a close spot in my heart as I grew up watching this beast in the ring on WWF and WCW. I was also witness to his marriage to the Miss Elizabeth, rest her soul.

Well, you know you have hit the big time when you start getting 15% discounts at the West Portal Produce Market. That is correct! I have created quite the repoir with the produce guy at WP since I stop in and buy 3 fuji apples every morning. Call me a slave to the fuji or a slave to habit, but the fuji is the greatest tasting apple, firm, yet sweet.

I roll out to TN tonight on the JetBlue red-eye out of O-Town. Should be an exciting trip with lots of family time, cooking, and of course Cranksgiving. What's Cranksgiving? Just basically the most intense cycling holiday in TN =) My coach Shawn has prescribed a KJ burn over Thanksgiving holiday. I'm shooting for lots of Zone Two kms. Should be an epic adventure on the new ride. So if you are in TN or western NC, give me a shout and we can join up.

Chow,
Matthew

Happy Birthday Little Brother

Today is the birthday of my little brother, David. He turns a ripe 22 today and is well onto his way of creating mass fortune through this entrepreneurial expeditions. Hopefully he will save a little bit for sponsorship of my cycling program haha.

We are going to go for a ride together over the Thanksgiving holiday. Hoping that it will spark his interest back to getting more kms on his Giant. My case to get more of my family on bikes took a tough turn this summer when the truck nearly killed me but I will get them out on bikes and riding.

So to celebrate David's birthday here is a nice little photo for him...

Energy Bars

I am back making my energy bars after a long haitus. The increase in training has sparked my interest in it again. And I don't want to eat the run-of-the-meal energy bars. Namely because they are typically too sweet and #2 they are overpriced. Perhaps at some point I will market my creations to finance my global bicycle racing campaign =)

So what I need are suggestions for what you would like to see. Please use the comment section. I will make mass bunches of the ones that succeed through my testing and tasting and will let you name the bar if your bar is chosen as well as I will send you a large quantity of your bar to you. Sounds like a smashing deal ehh?

Here are the rules that each flavor suggestion must adhear to:
1) Ingredient is readily available or can be produced w/o intense labor, remember something that has to be mass produced in my kitchen.
2) The bar is based on rolled oats so keep that in mind
3) Seasonal suggestions are encouraged but not required. Its always good to have bars for all seasons.
4) Fruit suggestions will use dried fruit in most cases due to shelf life.
5) No meats, this is an energy bar not a Belgian breakfast

Deadline for submissions? Lets just try to get the ideas sooner rather than later, multiple submissions are allowed and encouraged. Think outside the box but tried and true suggestions are always good for those on the conservative side of energy bars =)

Chow,
Matthew

Another sweet mullet to wet your whistle

This is courtesy of my sweet little sis, Megan...Bow to your Sinsai!
If anyone at UTK is watching, call megan up, she loves to party =)
Chow,
Your Brother

Another Sweet Mullet

Courtesy of my brother Eric... Thanks Dog!

That's a sweet mullet!

This morning while on campus as SFSU, I got the glimpse of what makes this country great, the mullet! While getting some mullah out of the little house of money(ie ATM), I caught my first glimpse of one. The mexican dude sported the nice black wavy version of it. Seeing this guy made me think of the mullet master that roams the sidewalks of SF State. I hadn't seem him in awhile but just as I was walking back to my office with coffee in tow, I spotted him! The mullet master was rocking the lower back mullet. Meaning this dude has been growing out the mullet for several years now. It rolls down his back with the sides and front nicely trimmed. I didn't have my digital camera with me and thought it might be a little too weird even for me to take a photo with my mobile. Then I am not sure how I would get the pic off the mobile and onto this blog. So that leaves me with one option. I am going to have to scout this guy out and snap a digital foto of him. There are many types of heroes in this world, some save lives, some win race, and some just make you smile like the mullet master. So today, I want to pay honor to all those who rock the mullet! I encourage everyone to send in their favorite mullet shots. Remember with the mullet its clean up front with a party in the back...

For those of you who are uneducated in mulletness, here is a mullet shot =) Enjoy your Wednesday!

Honey and Erratic drivers

This morning I rolled out on the 'ol Trek1000 on my usual ride to work. Decided to ride up 7th to Laguna Honda to get a little more riding in before the day begins. On my way around West Portal School, this VW driver does a uturn into my lane and just stops to let his kids off. Fortunately, my jedi mind skills anticipated such a weak move on his part. Angered and frustrated for nearly being taken out before I had even a cup of coffee in the morning I rolled up to the guys window. I looked him in the eyes and said, "watch out!" He was a little blown away but he needed to be reminded that his kids won't be late and he should take his driving a little more carefully especially when he is performing illegal uturns. Disgusted at such action, I persevered and was soon back to my happy cycling self but I knew that he plastered onto the web as a bad driver, so if you are around West Portal School in the morning hours watch out for an Asian mid-40s male driver in a VW Golf.

My good friend Nettie Kelly and her sister arrived on the red-eye this morning from Honolulu, so I did the airport pickup. The Forester was in full capacity when I left SFO. They were quite impressed with her abilities to haul such quantities of goods. This was a pretty early pickup at 6:23 am. The plan was to pick them up and then drive home and get the bike and get a little breakfast at Squat and Gobble in West Portal. Arrive at Squat and Gobble at about 7:40am and they have a sign that says food only served between 8am-10pm. WTF dude?! What breakfast places only start serving breakfast at 8am? They are dead to me now so I rolled over to Noah's Bagels across the street and ordered a toasted pumpkin bagel. I like the seasonal flavors =) Most go with cc on their bagel, not me I prefer it plain but asked for a little honey to drizzle on the top. When I asked for the honey the attendant, rather than handing it too me, placed it on the counter box just inches from my hand. I was a little bothered on why she just didn't hand it to me. Its like travel companies offering you a sick deal then saying all you need to do is buy this ridiculously priced plane ticket to get here. If people were just a little more courteous with these small exchanges then I think bigger and better changes would occur in the world.

I picked up my 3 Fuji apples from the West Portal Produce again this morning. I am quite the regular. I think they have some of the freshest fruit in the city. The Chinese man who oversees the stocking in the morning always rings me up, $0.85 is the typical charge which I usually give exact change for but this morning it was $0.90, I guess I am a victim of inflation =) He always smiles and is very cordial. When I left he said, "see you tomorrow morning!" Nice guy and good reason to continue to support to local merchants.

The highly anticipated butternut squash ravioli had positives and negatives. The flavor was top notch. I roasted the butternut squash with a little olive oil drizzle over and sprinkled with sea salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg to give a nice fall flavor. After pureeing it in the food processor I sauted up some fresh sage until crispy then chopped it and added it to the squash puree then scooped in a little ricotta and mixed thoroughly. The next part is what I need to work on. I used Asian wonton wrappers. At first I tried doing the triangular fold with a little scoop of squash/ricotta in the middle. I used water on the edges to seal the wrapper. Then I tried the wrapper on top of wrapper square method. I think this was a better result. i used the end of a fork to make the nice ravioli presses on the end. Boiled in water with sea salt. I think I boiled them too long. Ravioli was very translucent and falling apart. I believe the wrapper are just too delicate for boiling. I looked on the web for suggestions. I found that they are probably good at 3minutes. Also need to take each one out and pat dry with a paper towel and not lay them on top of each other b/c the starches make them stick together. I think next time, I will try steaming them or going Gyoza on them, ie panfrying them which will give them a crispy outside. Soooo many methods to try! Perhaps I will have to start making my own pasta. My awesome office-mate Molly suggested I check out this Italian supermarket in the Mission where its possible I could buy some homemade ravioli pasta. Its worth a checkout....

Yesterday I started reading, Think Like a Chef, by Tom Collochio. Head chef on my only reality-tv drug, Top Chef. I thought he was some arrogant tv chef but his background is quite impressive and he earned himself his attitude through a lot of hard work. what I like most about his idea is his resilience to following recipes. I can never follow recipes. He proposes following what your tastes lean too and what is in season etc. His book does contain recipes but its more about how to think about making good food. Something that is always consuming me. I often go to high-end markets just to check out the deli and see how they pair things and getting ideas. Weird? Extremely, but I guess thats my cross to bear...lol...

Just got off the phone with one of my good friends, Morgan Colana, from St. Mary's Catholic School in Johnson City, TN. She just came up with this great idea to have a dinner party over the Thanksgiving break. I told her absolutely then I said its going to be off the hook so be prepared. Pretty much is going to be a fall culinary nirvana!

So if you are going to be TN and want to sync up shoot me an email...I will keep you posted as the menu develops but its going to be full-blown =)

Chow,
Matthew

Beautiful Fall Days...

Well, Standard Time is back. I guess that is better for my training atleast temporarily as I will have more light in the morning and won't cheat getting hit by a car not being to see me despite my use of lighting. It also gets a little warmer earlier on. Lots of good training this past weekend. I was able to get in 16 hours of riding last week with 11 hrs Fri-Sun. Pretty jazzed about that because I didn't ride on Tue/Thur except to go to work and home. Legs felt really good. I still lack the top-end dragsterness I had when I came home from Europe but I'm pleased with the comings of my training. What I am most impressed and happy with is my recovery. After the rides, my legs are pretty toasted and I'm starving but by the next morning, legs feel good and no soreness. Hopefully signs of good things to come.

One thing that really crept up this weekend was my appetite. Still working on keeping the kilos down but whenever I finish a workout, I'm pretty blown. Yesterday was an exception. I ate two Nature Valley bar packs(140cal a piece) and a banana on my 4 hour jaunt around Paradise Drive and out to Fairfax. Usually I would go for just a banana and be in blood-sugar meltdown on the last 20min of the ride. I managed to heed to my instinct and ate a little more during the ride. Definitely made the climb up to my house much easier. Perhaps I am on to something new in my training...proper food intake while training...For those of you that remember my race reports from La Vaujany and La Mure, I basically rode both of those races to complete caloric deficiency and probably did more damage to myself than normal. I've always struggled with eating and drinking on the bike. This winter's training I will focus more on it b/c I know my strength will be there to fight out and get in the p/1/2 ranks but my food supply process is seriously limiting to the long term performance in a race. I think a lot is psychological...I don't want to eat because I want to burn as many calories as possible without taking any in. But the logic is quite flawed. B/c I end up putting in the calories when I get back and recover slower due to my body being dragged to the bottom. Its also kind of a masochistic thing. When I did La Mure, 150km with a 70km solo effort, I had 4 pieces of bread before the race, 1 banana prior to start, one during the race(i stole both from the food providers at the race) and 3 energy gels. Race was 4hr53min. Not many calories to be used up which equates to muscles being burned and that is Muy No Bueno! Another case is where it really hurt me bad was at the San Dimas SR in Mar07. I was feeling great on the road race and ready to make the moves and get into that attack mode on the last lap but when I went up the climb on the last lap, my calfs went into deep spasm and I had to back off just so I didn't blow and miss holding my position. Why did this happen? Well it was in the mid70s and I drank maybe a bottle of water and no food. For a ~3hr race that is no bueno even if you are just sitting in. So it cost me a podium on that stage b/c I knew the legs were good but I had to settle for a ~top15? Doesn't really matter much because i missed the race on my own food problems.

So for 2008, I'm going to eat better on the bike and off and drink more on the bike =) Right now, I'm considering the Southern Nevada Stage Race January 26-28, 2008 as my breakout race. Its out of Las Vegas. I figure it would be a good 3 days of racing to get the season off nicely with no ambitions other than to get some racing kms in.

So on my ride this morning I saw this guy carrying two giant black bags of alum cans? Both bags were suspended with a wooden stick he placed over his shoulder. It was quite the balancing act but these things were huge. Wish I had the camera...So tomorrow is election day in San Francisco. For those of you who need a laugh, here goes....There are 14 candidates for Mayor. The incumbant, Gavin Newsom, has a pretty good lock. but it would be quite funny if any of these other characters gave him a run or even won. SF politics are quite ridiculous.

List of Mayoral Candidates courtesy of Wikipedia, the True internet information source lol

• Harold Brown
• George Davis
• Lonnie Holmes
• Harold Hoogasian
• Grasshopper Kaplan
• Quintin Mecke[2]
• Wilma Pang
• Michael Powers
• "Chicken" John Rinaldi[3]
• Ahimsa Porter Sumchai[4]
• Billy Bob Whitmer
• Josh Wolf[5]

Lots of good recipes created this past weekend. Tonight I will try my butternut squash ravioli...I will post pictures of the final piece
Boo Yah,
Matthew

Fall Treats

Fall is definitely in the air here in San Francisco. I always tell people that the weather is pretty temperate with a vary narrow swing in temperatures between dawn and dusk. The coldest parts are just north of the GGB in Marin County. My coach didn't have anything planned for my training today but I wanted to get in some more base stuff. Rolled out early to Fairfax again and it was quite nippy, upper 40s, low50s. Thats wicked cold for the Bay Area. Legs felt pretty good which was a welcome surprise. Yesterday I did my first core strength workout using weights. Core work is vital to staying injury-free throughout the season and it gives you that edge when the race starts to blow apart. For anyone that is interested in getting some core strength exercises which are excellent for ANYONE!, I suggest that you pick up a copy of Core Performance by Mark Verstegen. He has produced several followup books as well for more advanced workouts. Verstegen is the guru on core strengthening and can add benefits to anyone. The reason I like doing core stuff is that it doesn't require the use of a lot of free weights or machines. Everything is pretty natural. By not using a lot of weights, you are less prone to injury and you don't get bulky...bulky=no bueno for cycling up hills really fast.

This morning on the ride I saw some pretty funny stuff. #1 a guy was riding his bike and smoking a cigarette. I guess he is going for the zero-sum approach, ie cycling to improve health, smoking to destroy health = no change in health. Not sure if they are equitable though.

Now that fall is in full swing, I recommend diving into some culinary fall treats ie butternut squash and apples. Two evenings ago I made a sick roasted butternut squash risotto. Unbelievably creamy and delicious. I just finished off the last of it this afternoon for lunch. Tonight I am going to dig deep into my culinary arsenal and attempt a roasted butternut squash ravioli. I was originally intending to make a soup with the remainder but the sailing team gave me the idea to try a ravioli. Yesterday at practice I had a food smackdown with Joey, sailing team member. He thinks his kitchen skills are far superior. The dude doesn't even have a blog to share his treats and his main source of critics are college students. Now, we all know college students will say things are really good no matter what as long as they don't have to buy it or cook it.

For any of my readers that will be in Johnson City, TN over Thanksgiving, I will be visiting. Will be bringing my bike and hoping to get lots of kms. On another note, I saw today in the SF Examiner newspaper as picture of a guy(Aubrayo Franklin) I went to high school with in TN. Surprisingly it wasn't for lawless acts, the guy is playing pro football for the SF 49ers. Pretty crazy stuff. They listed his stats as 6-1, 334lbs. The guy is a monster. I weighed in yesterday at a fit 162lbs and 6-4. Of course, I am going for 30min threshhold power-to-weight. Whereas, Aubrayo is going for 5sec "I'm going to smother that quarterback" weight. I think I can bring down the weight to 72.5kg in the next month or so as my training increases. One of the side-effects of my new weight weeniness is that I get chilly crazy easy. Ohh well, its all for the cause of going faster up the hills. I believe I was at 166lbs in high school when i ran XC, no where near as fit as I am now. Age has been good to me I guess =)

Chow,
Matthew

Halloween Happenings

Sorry to all my faithful readers for my delay in updating Bomb This Hill. Last night I was speaking with my little sister, Megan, and she criticized me for not updating the blog. So here is a shout out to Megan, my youngest sister and her suitemates at University of Tennessee-Knoxville. And one more things Megan, Bow to your Sinsai!

Now on to the pressing issues of the week, today is Halloween. Yes, I wore my festive Halloween boxer shorts that my dear mother bought for me several years ago. If you are ever so lucky to become part of the family, then you will be treated to "holiday wear" on all the major holidays, according to Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic, kind of like what Hallmark has done to Valentine's Day.

Last night, we had a 5.6 magnitude earthquake here in the Bay Area. The shaking lasted for a good 10seconds at my house. For all of you out there who have never experienced a tremblor, its basically everything shaking and not stopping. This was by far the longest one that I had ever experienced. I was in the kitchen with my housemate Marco and we just kind of looked at each other and were a little stunned. Maybe I am naive, but it didn't really bother me. Marco asked what I would bring with me if we had to leave the house. I thought about it quickly: my bike, a jacket, and whatever food I could put in my Patagonia bag. I figure with my bike I could get around the city much quicker than walking and I would need the jacket to stay warm along with food to feed the machine. The Bay Area officials have put a lot of work into getting the word out about being prepared for 72 hours. This is where my naiveness comes into play...I don't really think about a catastrophic quake, but maybe I should. I promised my dad I would exit the house next time it happens. According to reports, this was the biggest quake since the Loma Prieta quake in 1989 which caused millions in damage and destroyed the Bay Bridge, remember the World Series of '89?

Now back to the pressing matters of training. This morning I rolled out at 6:05am and did 3 hours of zone 2-3 riding. It was insanely dark because of the fog and low clouds. I rolled out to Fairfax and back. I felt pretty good the whole ride. When I was riding through Larkspur, I started thinking that this was the first time that I had gone over Camino Alto since July 24 which is just so crazy. I know the entire route pothole by pothole but the affluent communities of Marin finally decided to do so much needed repaving of streets. So now there aren't the insane potholes near College of Marin. Now this is just stupid stuff to think about but the point is I haven't ridden in this area in 3 months! The only part I could complain about was the cramping in my trapezius area. I have long had this problem. I don't think its a bike fit issue but I could be wrong. I am going to seek out some medical attention on it because it totally sucks when your neck gets all cramped up and is painful. It takes the motivation out of extending the kms...

Well, I hope everyone has a happy and safe halloween. As always, Keep it real!

Matthew

Early Morning Training

Yesterday morning I caught this shot while I was out doing a training ride. Its right before sunrise taken from the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bay Area is quite beautiful unfortunately its ridiculously expensive and traffic crazed=(

Also check out my new cookbook link on the right margin. It includes all my recipes and will be updated accordingly. Missing are my curry chickpea and green curry recipes.

A Long Morning in the Saddle

Friday I went for my first long ride, 2hr 15min on my mtn bike out to Mill Valley. The weather was pretty nasty with rain and wind with brief breaks. I decided to do my part and not destroy trails in the rain so I stuck to the road. It was a nice ride regardless. Legs felt pretty good at the end, like I had finally done something.

This weekend was a typical beautiful San Francisco October days...warm temps, and clear skies. I spent the whole time on the boat running other sailing coaches around on a 500hp Mako runabout. Definitely wanted to go out riding but the calls of college youth took over and I spread my sailing wisdom onto them. Unfortunately, I didn't get through enough and they finished 2nd to Univ of Hawaii.

Caught up with my good friend Ceal from SoCal this weekend. Good times talking bikes, racing, and life. After returning from racing yesterday, I made a nice eggplant marinara.

Eggplant Marinara
1 can of organic diced tomatoes
1 cup of chopped basil
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 small onion
1 tsp of salt and pepper
1/4 cup of good red wine
5 slices of eggplant, 1/3" thickness
1/2 cup of shredded carrot
1 tsp of red chili flakes
1/3 cup of diced zuchinni
4 tbsp of EVOO
Fresh parmesan

Saute onion, zuchinni, and carrots in 1 tbsp of EVOO. After 5 min, add garlic, saute until fragrant. Add tomatoes in food processor and blend, but not too thin. Add to onion mixture. Turn heat to low. Add salt,
pepper and chili flakes and 2 tbsp of EVOO. Continue to simmer on low heat 10min. Add wine and simmer for another 12-15min so sauce thickens. While sauce is simmering, place eggplant slices with 1 tbsp of EVOO in pan and saute till softened. Add basil to sauce and cook additional 5min. Add sauce to top of eggplant and cook for another 5min, stirring.

Top with fresh parmesan and enjoy!

Sponsorship Opportunity...

Here is my official notice to all meat and food producers. I am now soliciting all meat and food producers to become one of the official sponsors of my cycling program in 2008. Please contact me to discuss this great opportunity.

Lampre/Fondital
Sponsor Salumificio Alprandi Signs for 2008
The positive relationship between Team Lampre and Salumificio Aliprandi will go on in next season. Official supplier of salted meat in 2007 of the professional cycling team, Aliprandi decided to stay with team of general manager Saronni.

Andrea Aliprandi (owner of the factory), Mr. Coppi (Aliprandi’s associate)and Giuseppe Saronni .

Good results in this year, with Team Lampre that give importance to Salumificio Aliprandi thanks to many victories and Aliprandi that supply the team with high quality products.

Other Notables of October 17

Even though my anniversary has passed, i thought I would share a little more about Oct 17 for my info superhighway audience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_17

Notable birthdays other than mine:
Eminem
Wyclef
Pope John Paul I
Ziggy Marley

Oct 17 also is marked as the United Nations Annual Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Interesting that that both the SF Examiner and SF Gate both posted articles on the costs of living in a SF for a family of 4 to be $72,000. This city is ridiculous and it keeps getting worse for costs and lame bs.

Adios,
M

Happy Birthday to Me =)

Today marks the 27th anniversary of the world being a more interesting place, yes, its my birthday =) So I'm a year older today with that I will strike a little life commentary for my viewing audience.

I guess each year, you are expected to mature and be wiser. Every year, it seems that I learn more about what is important to me and how I approach everyday life. As I have aged into my late 20s as some might say, I still prefer to say mid-20s, my outlook on life remains the same...enjoy ever bit of the ride. I guess its generic, but I think I live it whereas others might just say it. I don't know what I want to do with my life. My mind always needs to be challenged otherwise I felt complacent and bored. Not sure what psychologists would describe my personality as but here is what I think it is.
Enjoys the challenges of new adventures and setting high goals. Once challenges are met and goals achieved, one prefers to set off on new challenges.

Basically, I don't like being bored and never want to settle for the norm. I know my family is realizing this as my life has changed quite a bit over the years. First in chicago doing the investment banking, then to Reno for a short but fun stint, and now in California coaching a college sailing team. What does the future hold for me? Never sure, but I know when a great opportunity presents itself, I won't turn on it. I have always belived in seizing the moment and it never became a closer belief to me than this past year. A lot has happened to me all good I think but sometimes painful. My first euro racing program, surviving near death, and healthy relationships formed.

So as I embark on this new phase of my life, which really won't be too new b/c I always seem to be the weird cycling crazy sailing coach, I hope to continue to live the dream, inspire others, create culinary nirvana and Bomb those Hills!

So if there are any Bay Area readers, feel free to join the dinner party tonight at Ethiopian Cafe on Valencia in the Mission. We will be having a living a in the motherland dinner fiesta with delicious foods all eaten with our fingers.

Ciao,
Matthew

Two Bean Curry Vegetable Chili

I created this cold, fall weather treat last Friday afternoon. Nothing is too exact but I think thats what makes this dish fun because freebasing is fun right??? =)

Matthew's Two Bean Curry Vegetable Chili
Trader Joes Roasted Corn (1.5cups)
Trader Joe's Organic black beans (1 can)
TJ's Organic Garbanzo beans (3/4 can)
Bell Pepper (roasted in the oven till skin peels) (1/2 pepper)
Yellow Onion (1.5 cups of sauted onion)
Garlic (4 cloves), sauted with onions
Zuchinni (1 cup) diced up and sauteed
Basil (fresh, 1 cup)
Oregano (1 tbsp)
Chili Powder (2 tbsp)
Cumin (2 tbsp)
Curry Powder (1.5 tbsp)
Vegi Stock (1/2 cup)
Whole Can tomatoes(16oz can, blended up in food processor or blender)
balsamic vinegar(1 tbsp)
Pepper & Salt (to taste)
Crushed Red Pepper for heat (to taste)
EVOO (1 tbsp)

Sauteed onions & garlic until golden. Add curry powder and cook until fragrant. You can add a little balsamic to deglaze the pan. Chop tomatoes in food processor then add to pot with onions. Turn heat low to simmer. Add a pinch of salt and stir. Add cumin and chili powder and stir. Add black and garbanzo beans after draining them. Stir ingredients together. Heat remains on simmer. Add stock and stir after 10min of cooking. Now add the sauted zuchinni and roasted corn. Stir and simmer for another 20min. Add water if needed. continue to stir. Add chopped roasted red peppers and chopped basil. Add EVOO also. After 10min, add crushed red pepper and oregano. Stir for another 5min and add any water if necessary. Now serve =)

Can be served alone or with some rice...

My New Lover

Pactimo Performance Athlete of the Month...Boo Yah!

If you haven't gotten the news yet, I was voted in as the Pactimo Performance Athlete of the Month for October. Such a fitting month for my birthday and the start of my recovery.

Check out the article

http://pactimo.com/performance/athlete.htm

My coach, Shawn Heidgen, has been a source of great knowledge for me in training and learning how to race my bike better. As a coach myself, I always encourage people to seek out a coach because they can provide the tools you need as an athlete or person to reach the next level. When I sailed in college, I worked tirelessly to improve my sailing. Most of what i learned was through trial over and over until I got it right (i don't like think i was learning from an error). I also tried to sail against or with people that were superior to me. Sure it provides a lot of defeat, but I think I learned more than just trying to put myself up against myself or someone of less skill. For me, its always been about the challenge of doing something. When I started sailing, no one was around to really help me, but I looked at that as my challenge. I was going to do it differently and hopefully better than the rest of them. Looking back now, I see that it helped me build some great skills in sailing. Would I have excelled further in college sailing had I had a coach? I think so, but I wouldn't trade the learning experience of not having one. When I took up cycling after graduating college, I did in the beginning b/c my great friend Joey bought a road bike and was riding. I had always liked the endurance sports, so it seemed fitting b/c I couldn't let him outdo me. After a year of tooling around on weekend rides and the occasional ride during the week, I started looking at cycling in a new way. Thats when I bought my lemond and started riding more and more. Eventually a year later, I was moving from Chicago to Reno, NV so I could train more. Then I ended up here in California.

Since I moved to California, I have relied on several coaches. I think its more important for a coach to have the ability to understand your needs and motivate you then have a stellar palmares, but a nice palmares is helpful too, like the giro di donne. So if you are interested in getting a coach. I say, talk to a couple of different ones.

Adios,
Matthew

Pumpkin Curry Recipe

This being the season of the harvest and pumpkins, I want to share a recipe I created last fall. It received great reviews from my Westchester County surrogate family, yes the same county of my hospital stay and my close friends here in SF. Remember, the freshest ingredients always make for the best taste...Enjoy!

Peanut Pumpkin Curry Sauce(serving size of 4):
2 tbsp of peanut oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 finger-length of ginger
1/3 yellow onion
1.5 tbsp of good peanut butter (I prefer the crunchy Trader Joes brand)
2 tbsp Sweet Soy Sauce (specifically sweet soy sauce)
1 16oz can of pure pumpkin puree
3 tbsp of Coconut Curry Sauce (found at asian market)
1 tbsp of red curry paste (more or less depending on how spicy you like)
1 8oz(small size) of Chao Koh coconut milk
2 tbsp of shaved palm sugar (or 1.5 tbsp of brown sugar) (palm sugar is found in the asian market. Usually its in a small disc shape but is very hard).
1/3 cup of chicken stock
1 med size red bell pepper
1 med size green bell pepper
1 carrot
1 handful of cilantro
2 cups Jasmine rice
1 container of tofu or 1 large chicken breast or other preferred meat. If you use fish, recommend cooking the fish separately.

Directions:

Prep(most important):

If you have a rice cooker, mix 4 cups of water into the 2 cups of rice and start. Always use, a 2:1 water/rice mixture. Smash and cut garlic. Finely chop ginger. Cut onion into small pieces. Cut bell peppers into small pieces along with carrot. Cut tofu or meat into small pieces. Finely chop cilantro. Set veggies and meat aside so as you are ready to add when needed.

Cooking: If you have a wok, use it. If not a deep dish non-stick frying pan works well too or a paella pan. Use a medium heat. Add peanut oil. Let warm. Then add, onion, garlic, and ginger. Be sure to stir so as to prevent burning. Once the onions begin to cook and the garlic becomes fragrant, add the peanut butter. Pour the soy sauce onto the peanut butter. This will cause the peanut butter to begin to separate. Quickly stir it all together then immediately add the pumpkin puree. Stir all together so that everything is infused. Should turn from bright orange to a darker orange. Let sit for 1 min. Now add the curry sauce and curry paste. Stir together. Sauce should be very thick now. Add the coconut milk and stir in. Turn heat to medium and add tofu/chicken and carrots. As sauce thickens slowly add chicken stock in small increments to keep the sauce from getting to thick. Cook for 4-5min. Now add the peppers. Stir in additional chicken stock and add the palm sugar. Stir all together. Let sit for another 1-2min over low heat. Taste and determine whether you want more heat. If you like it. Turn off heat. Sprinkle cilantro on top of sauce when serving. Serve with fresh rice or you can mix the sauce with rice noodles or pasta noodles to have a curry-noodle dish.

Votes are in...

So it was decided by you, the readers of ~Bomb This Hill~ to keep the current format. Look for new exciting recipes to follow.

My new ride should be arriving soon. Its a sweet Italian dream, the Wilier Cento. Same bike used by The Kid, Damiano Cunego. 940g frame and fork. Once I get her all set up I am suspecting a sub 7kg ride. It will be incredible sweet. But for right now I am relegated to riding around town on my old Trek 1000 and doing pool workouts and hiking as Shawn has prescribed.

The weather has been turning a little cooler here in the mornings for SF standards. My core strengthening work has been working out well for my injuries. I have seen a noticeable improvement while on the bike. Track stands are much easier and I feel much more attached to the bike. This year, I am taking an even more focused look at my nutrition. Everyone says that I don't need to lose any weight but I am good around 72-73kg. Part of it is just cutting back on calories. This fall being a good time for me to lose weight b/c I'm not training on the bike a lot. I have worked on keeping my one carbo rich meal towards lunch and then having a salad for dinner with other vegetables. Do I stay hungry at night? Yeah, but its all part of the program of being a top competition cyclist. Lighter weight means faster up the climbs which is needed at Gila. I am trying to think of the whole eating thing like training. Anaerobic intervals really hurt which is training, having a little hunger throughout the day hurts but its training. The body will learn to adapt and become stronger.

Maybe I am taking it overboard being only a cat 3 rider right now, but my ambitions for top competition are very high and I want to make the most of this second chance.

Chow,
Matthew

My Fall Training Program

I started my fall training program this week. Shawn has me working on strengthening my core and improving my balance After 8 weeks off the bike, I can tell there is a little more soft tissue than before but I'm getting it back. Last year I worked really hard on this and saw some great improvements in my riding. Too many riders and other athletes leave core strength conditioning at the bird. They are unfortunately wrong because the core, ie abs, chest, back, all provide the necessary foundation for balance and strength. I have spoken at length to the Cal Maritime Sailing Team which I coach about this. Unfortunately, they don't find it too impressive until they are exhausted after 2 days of sailing at St. Francis or at Univ of Hawaii. For those of you are interested, I suggest a great book, "Core Performance" by Mark Verstegen. If you want a little advice on it, I will be happy to offer my advice. Just email me. Core training takes a lot of persistence and commitment. Commitment being the operative word. The gains you make in the fall can set you up for a great spring and continued success in the summer.

Made a nice chickpea curry the other evening. Still a little tomatoey but I think I have found a solution. I will attempt it again this evening and hopefully be able to post a respectable recipe for you in the coming days. Indian food is quite delicious and gives you many non-meat options.

Sat through another meeting last night. If you know me, meetings are just not my thing. What can be conveyed in email or a letter do much better than holding a meeting that typically involves no-value add information. Since working for Lasalle Investment Management and under Jacques Gordon, the notorious clock watcher at meetings, I took on one of his few sayings to me, "no value add." For those of you who don't know, I use to work for the man in investment banking, specifically real estate investment research. I think its kind of a shocker for many because that lifestyle just doesn't jive to well with my active lifestyle which is why I left it 2.5 years ago. I was in charge of covering the US Economy. Having an economics degree I knew a little bit but I was not PhD like Dr. Gordon. New economic data would be released and I would scour the news for opinions then write a briefing on it. Surprisingly many had converging views not to be surprised because the data can only be interpreted "publicly" in so many ways. So i formed my opinion and offered some feedback and some supporting opinions. Well JG would say, "thanks matt for the report, but its no value-add. I could read this tomorrow in the Journal." How do I respond to such criticism. I don't have the experience or time to offer some crazy insightful interpretation. If he wasn't impressed with my "work" or the "no value-add" work of the economic news services, why were they dropping such coin on them? Ohh well, JG, was one of those persons that is extremely hard to please. But I do want to thank him for the super, great notion of "no value-add."

Now back to some cycling...tried to go swimming yesterday morning but my new OnGuard bicycle lock wouldn't unlock. I used it Monday night without a problem. they only thing I can think was that someone secretly snuck into my room and switched my lock. You might think thats a little bit of paranoia but how else would you explain the lock problem. I'm no lock idiot so that disproves your first thought! Any insight would be appreciated. So I instead decided to make a long urban training ride 2hrs and stopped for coffee at my old spot, Angelina's Cafe on CA/22nd Ave. Coffee was delicious and they now have recycling bins set up.

Well, i head out shortly to beautiful Lake Merced to educate some students in one life's finer activities, yachting.

Chow,
Matthew

Performance enhancing...

I got word from this on my daily sailing feed. Apparently all of my current athletic interests are clouded with such rubbish. I hope the cyclosportiv scene doesn't fall into this mess..

http://www.cowes.co.uk/zonexml/story?story_id=3402;cp=0

chow,
Mathieux

Cross-training

As part of my recovery effort, I am building back up the fitness in a much different approach than previous years. B/c I was hit by a truck and unable to ride on the road for 8 weeks with several fractures, Shawn, my coach, is working up a different plan for me. We need to get my body all healed up before we shoot for high intensity training. Over the next month I will be doing a lot more off-the-bike type training. This morning I went for a nice hike in Montara State Park.
http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/mcneeranch.html
I decided to go hiking last night because I told the boss that i wouldn't ride mtn bikes today. The hike was definitely well worth it. I started out pretty early to hopefully capture some nice photos and get on the trail before anyone else. The hike was 8mi total, 4 up, 4 down with over 1800 ft of vert! There were some sick pitches. I had not gone "hiking" in so long. It felt really good, and I am looking forward to some more exploring of Beautiful CA. The state park was just 20mi south of my house and was right up against the ocean. A few surfers out but I think they were checking the sets which didn't look too favorable b/c they hadn't bothered to take off their hoodies and still had cafe in hand. Unfortunately I didn't see any crazy wildlife. Unlike last year on my first mtn bike ride in the Marin Headlands where I cam across a mountain lion. As I learned later on, these things can kill you and will attack if provoked. I told a riding friend about it and he said that it was only the 2nd case he had hear of in his life of actually seeing one in the Headlands. So I considered myself lucky to view such a vicious beast =)

Overall the hike was awesome. About 3 hours total which included several photo stops and nature calls. Some the steeps on the trail were so steep that I was sliding, over 30% gradient! When i came back to the city, I rolled on my bike over to Crepes on Cole for some lunch. I went with a spinach-feta-roasted red pepper omlette. I always seem to go with that and although good, I was dissappointed I didn't go with the crepe. Next time! When i was rollling through Golden Gate Park on my bike I saw some nice rollarskating skilz. I guess every weekend the former stars of roller derby come to GGP to show off their artistic skating side. They were drawing quite a crowd. I knew it was serious business when i saw a dude carrying his skates over his shoulder in a black leather shoulder bag. It actually looked like purse, but this guy skated so he must be cool so it had to have been a shoulder bag. His neck bling definitely set the tone for the show he was about to put on. Unfortunately i didn't have my camera to take his picture so I had to find an online copy of his wicked cool neck bling! Here is copy. Now you just have to picture it on some big black dude carrying a leather shoulder bag with his skates in tow. I feel like such a wimp in my Patagonia Critical Mass bag...

Also some nice shots of Montara State Park...

Urban Training and a little rant...

Here is some early morning fog from my crib overlooking the city and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance...notice how the fog is so defined at such a low atltitude, typical SF...


Since my Lemond is no bueno, my training has been relegated to city riding. Its probably the best thing right now b/c it limits me from going to big too early. Today was probably my biggest day. I got almost 2.5 hours in the saddle in urban, hilly cycling. I met my friend Christina at a french cafe in North Beach, Cafe Boulangerie. We drank coffee out of bowls which i have heard is proper french protocol for morning coffee. Sitting at the cafe brought back many memories of the cafes in Bourg d'Oisans and Grenoble. A typical french breakfast consists of a basket of bread(variety) all cut into slices. The bread is accompanied with several toppings: Nutella, honey, apricot jam, blackberry jam, dijon. The cafe had baguettes you could dump condiments on but not a full basket. The coffee was quite delicious however.

Training today took me over quite a few of the hills of SF. Each day I go riding, I can feel that I am gaining strength. I know its a long way to where I was but thats to be expected when you get hit by a truck did I ever mention that? My legs are finally beginning to show some muscle definition that I haven't seen since late july. When you are a fit athlete, you get the image of what your body should look like. Since I got hit, I have put on almost 2kg. Not much to most people but when you see yourself perform at high level you always want to maintain it or surpass it, never wanting to below. But bike racing like most things has its ebb and flow. My coach Shawn continues to remind me that the break will do my body good. I think she is right. I trained really hard over the last 1.5 years with no real break. Your body needs a break to recoup and rebuild. Its estimated by most physiologists that the body can ban trained to peak for at most 40-45days a year and that is for the finest trained athletes. That means, you should be able to hold your highest level for 40-45days out of year of training and racing. Can I hold a peak that long? nope, but my body is continuing to adjust to the training and I think I will fully begin to see my potential in the next few years. one thing that has improved the most during this time off the bike has been my head, or xfactor. The head is the biggest asset for some but also the biggest struggle for a lot. With proper training, I think my physical game will be at a much higher level this spring like my head game will be. When you face such extreme injuries, you know that nothing can last forever, so you need to make the most of what you have today. 2008 is going to be great year of riding for me...

Rant of the day: While at Cole Valley Cafe on Cole St i witnessed an act of deception. Hopefully I have some SF readers who will take note of this. The cafe guy was empting the trash can into a larger trash bag then he emptied the recycling bin into the same bag. WTF?! Since moving to SF, I have become much more consciencous of recycling, probably a little frustrating to my family. But when i am out and I make the effort to recycle I hope that the stuff is going to recycling. I know this guy is probably just being lazy but how far does it go? I am sure there are other people who do this as well and what makes us feel noble, is secretly being taken away. So if you are in the Cole Valley neighborhood, be aware of the fake recycling going on at Cole Valley Cafe. Head up the street to Crepes on Cole for a delicious crepe or omlette meal with good coffee from a great owner.

your eco-friendly cyclist...

Urban Velo Tour Part Deux

Road my extended route to SF State again this morning. Weather started out warm and sunny but quickly turned cool and foggy when I rolled over to State. SF is weird like that...one moment its sunny the next its 20deg cooler and fogged over. I took a nice picture of the fog rolling in this morning from my house. Brought my digital camera with me on my ride today but didn't see anything interesting. My legs felt much better today. I spoke with Shawn, my coach, yesterday. She is excited about my recovery and we are going to work on a solid rebuilding program. My preliminary goals are to peak in May for Gila and Berkeley Hills along with some other Norcal races. I have had good success at Berkeley and really want to win it this year. My new team should provide good support.

Daily auto rant: this morning I came to a crosswalk at Laguna Honda and Portola. There is a Catholic school here and kids were coming to school. Naturally, they had a crossing guard because of all the agro drivers that feel they are too important to be held up by kids walking to school. Perhaps they should follow suit and walk to work. Well, the kid from the school who is helping with the crossing guard duties walks out with his "stop" sign and a guy in an SUV continues to approach him. I didn't think he was going to stop then he finally does, fortunately. After the crossing guard leaves, the SUV guns it only to be outgunned by a crazy woman in a small car. I thought they were going to collide. First off, CA law states that you can't drive past a crosswalk until the pedestrian has completely left the street. Both cars broke this rule and nearly caused and accident b/c they are so important and can't bare the fact that they are being delayed by kids walking to school. Hopefully, more SF cops will watch these intersections and hand out the $250 ticket that goes along with the violation.

Chow,
Matthew

My Urban Velo Tour

Feeling pretty excited about getting on the bike again, I set off on an urban tour this morning. Basically just a longer, hillier route to work. Riding early in the morning is really pleasant because its still a little cool out and everyone is agro yet from working. You can still get some smiles on the road =)

I ended up riding for about 45min around the city heading out of my 'hood and down to Haight then to Market St and through the Castro then up towards Twin Peaks and finally through West Portal. If anyone has been to SF, you know this is a pretty hilly route and it didn't let me down. I'm trying not to push myself too fast too early. But its a great feeling to get your heart rate up and feel some lactic acid in the legs. I can already tell some improvement since Monday's inaugural road ride. I am still working on getting a new sted to venture off into some longer rides in Marin. I probably won't be riding the mtn bike as I originally thought just yet. The rough spots on the road are enough for me right now, but I will be back.

I just read this morning that their will be a Tour of America next year. Its suppose to cover 22 states and over 4000mi with 27 stages. Pretty sick stuff, and there is $11mil in prize money. Now I just need to get all suited up and sign that pro contract so I can get a ride in it =) if that doesn't happen it would be pretty sick to do some cyclosportiv on one of the stages...perhaps i have an idea to shoot to the promotors....

chow,
matthew

Garlic Hummus

This is a great item for a group setting or to make for yourself. It easily stores in the refrigerator for up to a week but I doubt it will last that long because its so tasty...

Makes 1 pt
2-16oz cans of Organic Chickpeas(garbanzo beans) or non-organic Goya
8oz of Tahini
1- med lemon
3-cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of sea salt
touch of fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp of EVOO
1/2cup of water
1 tbsp of paprika

This works best with a food processor. I prefer to slightly cook my garlic so its aromatic.
Procedure: Drain chickpeas and wash them in a colander. Dump them into the food processor and add a little bit of the water to the mix and blend until puree. Mix in tahini and continue to blend. Add garlic,paprika, lemon, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil. Continue to blend together. You can add more water to make a smoother consistency.

Serve in a nice large bowl. To garnish add some kalamta olives on the top and a little bit of EVOO with a sprinkle of paprika. Best serves with fresh pita or pita chips.



Serve in a nice platter with

C-Day + 37...back in the saddle

I'm back baby! After 8 weeks of zen like patience, I was able to get my neck collar off last Thursday. The doctor said that the bones look good and I can resume normal activity such as cliff jumping, downhill racing, and crocheting. My neck has definitely suffered some atrophy but thats to be expected I guess when you have a supporting mechanism on your neck for 8 weeks! I feel incredibly free now but realize too that I am extremely lucky.

Yesterday after I arrived home from TN, I took my old Trek for the first ride outside. The mission...to ride to Trader Joe's and pick up some food. As I rolled the bike out of the garage it was just very surreal that it was all happening. Sometimes you wonder if you will ever get to go riding again. When I threw my leg over the top tube it felt good, but strangely foreign. I guess when you don't ride a bike outside for 8 weeks, you lose a little bit of that ohh-so-sweet feeling. It definitely took the whole 15min ride to TJ's to feel normal on the bike again. I felt good descending and turning into turns. My shoulder is still weak and was apparent when I stood up to accelerate after a stop. I never realized how important your shoulders and arms are to everyday riding. I didn't push it too hard on the accelerations and it will be some time before I throw my bike in a some practice sprints but I'm back baby! Lost some definite fitness and strength but I pushed through it and will continue to pus through. Fitness and strength will return and will be above July 26 levels but it will take a lot of hard work....i'm ready though...

This morning I rode to work for the first time since July 25. It is such a better way to get around town and too work. I even no-handed it for awhile which was a good sign to me that I didn't lose a lot of balance. Felt good riding with the traffic also. Now I have to get a new bicicleta...

Chow,
Matthew

Food recipes...

So here are some recipes from my sister's wedding post-reception reception. It went off beautifully and everyone(60+people) raved about the food. So here are the recipes to wet your appetite =)

Mixed Green Salad with Caramelized Onions, Dried Cranberries, Candied Pecans, Gorgonzola and Balsamic
Salad: buy some mixed greens at your local market, fresher the better, bag mix is okay (serves 6)

Caramelized Onions: roughly cut 1 med yellow onion. Heat 1 tsp of EVOO and slowly saute. After the onions begin to wilt and turn a little brown. Add 1 tbsp of brown sugar and stir onion and sugar together. Continue to saute, about 3-4min. Next add 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Vinegar will cook quickly so stir mixture together and continue to saute until onion pieces are darkened and soft, 4-5min. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Candied Pecans: acuire 3/4 cup of dried pecans. Heat 1 tsp of EVOO in non-stick pan and drop pecans in pan and heat. Add 2 tbsp of brown sugar and mix together. Add 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar. Mix together and continue to heat the pecans. After about 5-6min of heating and full candiness, remove from heat. Once cooled, roughly chop pecans into small pieces and set aside.

Acquire dried cranberries from your local market or co-op, 1/2 cup. Mix all ingredients together in large bowl and top with 1/2 cup of gorgonzola. Add 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegrette. Mix together so its all infused. If you like more balsamic, add more or add less. Then enjoy this autumn goodness.

Other recipes will follow

Butternut Squash Soup

Here is my very own personal recipe for butternut squash that I created last night in the kitchen.

(serves 2)
Ingredients
Half a good size butternut squash, peeled and sliced thinly
EV Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Brown Sugar
Organic Vegetable Stock (3.5 cups)
Water (1 cup)
1/2 & 1/2
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
cayenne pepper 1 tsp

Place the squash in a small pan and drizzle with EVOO. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Pinch of salt and ground pepper. Set the pan in the oven and set to broil for about 7-8min until you start to see it carmelizing. Take out and let cool. Dump the squash into a food processor and blend. Saute the onion and garlic in EVOO until cooked well throughout but not burning the garlic. Dump the cooked onion/garlic in the processor. Blend vigorously until you are left with a nice baby-food texture. Heat a pot with the stock. Drop the squash mixture into the stock and stir vigorously until mixed throughout. Continue to simmer. Add the water intermittently. Add 2 tbsp of EVOO and salt and pepper to taste. Add cayenne if you like the heat and about a little dash of 1/2 & 1/2 or heavy cream for a little added sweetness. Continue to simmer another 15 minutes. Be sure to stir the soup intermittently.

Serve and enjoy.

C-Day + 29

This Thursday marks 8 weeks since that little incident we don't speak of...I am still in my sweet neck brace and so incredibly eager to be released from its captivity hopefully this Thursday when I go in for my followup visit with the neurosurgeon. Not sure what to expect in terms of procedure, but I will likely have to get some additional images produced. Nothing like adding another cd of images to my library of 3 already. If I can download the images from the cd to the harddrive, I will try to upload them to the blog.

I am walking better these days, but still notice that its not back to normal, but each week is an improvement. I rode the trainer yesterday and again this morning. Feels good but riding the trainer is no fun. I basically get up before 6am and roll down to the garage and turn on the iPod then crank out 30min of riding. Thats about all I can handle without any visual stimulation. I was planning on reading a book, but I forgot the book about 3 min into the ride and didn't want to leave my stead. For anyone that has ridden a trainer for very long, I applaud you b/c its basically the most boring thing ever. Bicycle riding for me is about getting outside, feeling the wind against my face and being free. The trainer is just the opposite. Its about captivity, no change in scenery and getting really hot without anyway to cool b/c I am too cheap to buy a fan. Ohh well...

Currently looking for a new road bike, so if anyone knows of a sweet deal or if any manufacturers are reading this and want to sponsor me, please contact me. I can provide a great story for your company and I will be riding it every day. I hope to put more time on my Titus Racer-X mtn bike this fall. I haven't ridden it since last October and miss it terribly. I love road riding, but its always great to mix it up. Riding mtn bikes is super fun b/c you can just jump stuff and get dirty. I wish there were more accessible trails in the area. If I get the go ahead from the neurosurgeon on thursday, i will attempt at some early morning secret rides in Golden Gate Park. The park is just minutes from my door. I don't think it will bother anyone early in the morning b/c the park isn't too keen on off-road riding....

This morning I went over to the lake to show America True the situation, which is basically a bad situation. I am wanting to run an after-school program sailing program. The jags in the rowing club don't want to have any sailboats on their lake. And of course we ran into the crazy boathouse guy, Timothy. There are some serious issues with this guy. After getting all over the america true guy, and acting completely weird by following us and stalking us. He shocked me by coming over and saying he hopes I am feeling better. Nice gesture but its still weird b/c he is so confrontational, but I appreciated the gesture.

Ironic sight of the day....On Saturday while out walking around, I saw a guy smoking a cig and riding his bike.

Yesterday, I took Marco and Sara sailing. We had a great time but unfortunately forgot to bring a camera. They did a great job and got around the lake no problemo. I like to think I played a major role in it...

Chow,
Matthew

C-Day + 25

First off, I apologize to all my audience for not writing sooner. To recap the last few weeks, I was back in NJ visiting Diana, starting the new season at CMA, and riding the bike on the home trainer.

This past saturday, i set the Trek up on the home trainer and started some proper trainer riding. I have been doing 30 min a day since Saturday. Today, I took off b/c yesterday I developed some pain behind the left knee. I think its the result of poor bike positioning and trying to pull through the bottom of the pedal stroke. Can't lose that beautiful spinning form I worked so hard for. of course, walking 2-4 hrs a day probably isn't helping anything. So I thought I should back off a little bit. It was definitely good to spin the legs. I can tell I have lost quite a bit of muscle but as Shawn, my coach, suggests, it could be very well what I need to take the body to the next level. I really did a lot of damage to my system this summer. It was good getting all the riding and fitness, but looking back now, I was totally wiped out when I returned to the states. Then it was only accelerated by getting sick at Cascade. So this forced recovery could be the boost to my system to recharge and build higher for next year and beyond.

Next week, I have an appointment with the neurosurgeon to see if I can get the neck collar off. I am confident that he will say yes. It will also be a big weekend as my sister, Lauren, is getting married. I am serving as post-wedding reception chef and chief booze handler. It should be great. The menu will be fun, with my sister Megan, serving as Sous Chef, and Diana joining us as a special consultant. The menu includes several starters, a salad, and 3 entrees. It will be a culinary tour around the globe as I have picked dishes that come from all over. It won't be crazy, at the request of my mom, but it will be extensive and a little off the beaten path. Hopefully, the guests will reach culinary nirvana...

Starters: black bean dip, hummus, quesidillas
Salads: Cran-Pecan salad
Pasta: Farfalle with pesto and sundried tomatoes
Main: Asian Peanut Noodles, Curried Couscous, Turkey Chili

I will post my recipes when completed to avoid and leaking of trade secrets....

Adieu,
Mathuiex