Good Sensations and a Little Touring

So I started back to "training" yesterday after my recovery from black lung. The sensations were good. Did 2hrs with several 5-10min threshold or above efforts on the climbs. It's exciting riding here because everything is new so each training session presents a variety of options for exploration. It also puts you in that unfamiliar zone with thoughts of, "I hope I can remember how to get home." But it wouldn't be as fun and exciting if you didn't have such a challenge. Fortunately, with a bike you can do so much. One just needs to have proper amount of food and water and ability to change an occasional flat. It's amazing how much you can see on a bike. I love it!

After training, Kristi and I headed to Stuttgart to do a little urban exploration. Stuttgart was quite lively for a Monday but also quite chilly as the wind was blowing pretty good. One of the numerous parks called our name and we had my traditional baguette with käse(cheese), not a bag-get. We found a nice cafe called, "Coffee Bar." It was the most american cafe I have seen here in Europe. They had 3 sizes, S,M,L for drinks with both take-away(paper cups) and in-house versions. My cappuccino was quite delicious. Good convo as well =)

So the wetter today was a little dicey. It seemed warmer than yesterday but after I started the morning with a proper bowl of muesli and a little brot mit nutella und banana I was forced to ride the trainer downstairs because of the schnee(snow). The schnee continued throughout the day but it was off and on. Kristi and I braved the elements and made our way around a nice forested trail near by. Then wir laufen(we walked) to Backnang Zentrum(center) and had a kaffee mit kuchen. We split the kuchen(cake a la rhubarb style) along with sehr gut convo.

The trail presented both mental and physical challenges along the way. We took part in a few. It was a good effort as we opted for the Black Course which presented us with the greatest elevation gains and the longest distance, 4,8km.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate without any schnee tomorrow so I can get out and ride. The plan is to visit the Mercedes Benz Museum in Bad Cannstadt which is suppose to be spectacular. The architectual design from the outside is quite impressive. And I would expect a museum with the Mercedes logo headlining it would serve up quite an experience. Pictures will be posted and the event will be blogged.

First race is this Saturday. Its a training race so not a lot of pressure but I treat every race seriously, and I am planning for a good result. The battle with Black Lung and Mallorcan Fatigue is shifting to my gain.

Chow,
Matthew