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