One Month

Photos by Heinz Sanwald

It has been one month since I departed from Boulder on my quest to live out the dream. Quite a bit of adjusting...2 countries...2 languages...new food...missed persons...new friends. It's coming together nicely though for me. Backnang and Germany are growing on me.

I will open up a little bit on this post. I struggled today on the bike. I thought I had recovered from Majorca but I don't think I have. The black lung I think imparted a little bit more hurt on the already exhausted body than I had realized. I went out today with the workout plan of doing 2.5min VO2 intervals. I know my numbers and now that I am not at "altitude," I know that I should atleast put out the same or at the very least recover quicker. Well today, I managed to miss both of those "atleasts." It was frustrating. My knee is also battling a little tendinitis I think. I recognized that my saddle was about 2-3mm to the right. And the combination of that and walking really long yesterday trying to get from the Activity training center to the Fellbach Bahnhof then from the Backnang Bahnhof to the Sanwald compound I think did a little number on it. So bad legs and a nagging left knee. All created a bad situation today on the bike. It's mentally draining. Doubt crept into my head about fitness. But I know that I am strong, I have proven that all winter and on the training rides in Majorca, I proved that. It has just been a difficult last few days for training.

Fortunate for me and my head, I have a great support system. One needs it. Cycling is just too damn hard to not have it. I just need to make better use of the system because I know they are all there to support me and want to see me succeed and most importantly, they believe in me. Right now I need that.

After stopping the interval work at #2 as my power was so off, I continued to roll b/c I had to get home. So it was a 2hr ride. Rides here are never "easy" b/c of the amount of climbing you have to do. It seems like you could climb here more than in Boulder. Ate some lunch then rolled down to the bahnhof(train station) and caught the train to Stuttgart. It was a super beautiful day. Kristi arrives on Sontag, and I am very much looking forward to showing her Backnang, and exploring the great area of Stuttgart. Lots of cool places. I found a cool bookstore that Sandra recommended. Spent quite a bit of time in there looking at random cooking books. Then I found a cool language book that I picked up. Its a Deutsch/English picture book. Basically everyday stuff including people, places, food, etc with the english and deutsch word for each. I think it will be good for me b/c I need pictures sometimes to reinforce the memory. I think it will also be helpful and fun to practice with Älena and Tim.

Heinz gave me a special "German" anecdote for my black lung...a german ale. Supposedly, when drunk at room temperature it's suppose to cure infections. Hopefully it will work. Needless to say it was quite delicious. I much prefer the ales or "dark" german beers to the pilsners.

Here are some pics from cooking with Gradel and with Tim and I at the firehouse.

Chow,
Matthew