Zürich and Racing

My first German race is now in the books. It was a typical mainland euro spring event on Saturday...Wind, Rain, and Cold. I've always enjoyed racing in the bad weather. There is just something about it. No one can hide and it always takes so much mental strength to get through. The course was pretty basic, 4 turns and lots of laps. My team was well represented in the race which is a nice change from my experience of racing in the US. My legs took 35laps to feel in check even after a long warmup. But my teammates were doing an excellent job of placing someone in each move. But nothing was going to stick today. Pace was pretty high the whole time with a lot more attacking than the charity ride I saw in the previous week's edition. It was good to see that people were motivated despite the tough conditions. I opted to not go for glasses as I have trouble seeing through the lenses when they are wet. Well, I guess that vision and comfort would be a lot more tolerable now after picking debris out of my eye the morning after the race. When I stopped, I told Kristi, who was the über awesome girlfriend yelling each lap despite the scheiss wetter, that I can't see. She asked if I was going to do a cool down. I responded, "already cooled down." B/c I don't think my body never really warmed up. Everything was wet and the 5ºC temps made for pretty much cold death upon my body. My fingers were pretty much frozen which made undressing interesting along with shifting during the race. Sandra and Kai also came along and were awesome support. It was very helpful to have them out there encouraging despite the bad weather. After cleaning up I gave back my number and received a fresh pretzel, small cured würst and a coke. Gotta love euro racing. The race director was very helpful to me. Not sure if the race director knew I was American but he was extra helpful with me. Finished top10. I was positioning myself well in the end but didn't read the lap card right...probably b/c I had road grime skewing the vision. Ohh well, it was good.

Later that night, after much searching and recon work, Kristi and I found an authentic Schwäbisch restaurant nearby for dinner. It is a nice little place with bier garten in the forest. We had to complete her experience in Backnang with some authentic gastronomic treats. I went with the käse spätzle and she went with the moltaushun mit champingions. A a little frosty beverage of course...me the dunkel(dark, ale like), she the weiß. After we left, I was driving away and apparently I took a wrong turn b/c about 1.5km in, I said, "I think we are on a bike path?." Kristi gave the most priceless laugh. Yep, I was driving down a bike path which I thought was a road. I continued on and eventually discovered a secret exit point. The road was getting narrow and i thought it would be difficult for two cars to go through. Chalk it up to another great Euro adventure experience.

On Sunday, we rolled ICE down to Zürich for 3 days. Zürich is quite beautiful. I found a nice B&B that catered to the offbeat crowd. It's what they advertise. It was promptly located in the red light district which provided quite a bit of pondering and humor as we walked to and fro each day. I almost created a international incident when I went to make my own kaffee. The proprieter I has a special law that only she is allowed to use the espresso machine b/c people in the past have used it and apparently it caused a global meltdown in her eyes. It wasn't even complicated. It was a tiny espresso machine which took espresso pods. You remove the handle, insert new pod, re-attach handle, push button for kaffee and bam, you are done. There are 3 buttons. She ripped me one. I was just trying to not burden her b/c I wanted a 2nd cup. Then the question came between Kristi and I as to whether I was allowed to pick up the cup from the machine after it had finished. It was a risky move to go and take the cup without her knowing but I did. I just thought it was very inefficient for her to be constantly coming in and out if someone wanted kaffee. Either get a more "user friendly" machine or instruct people and provide instructions on how to use. I think its impossible to get a machine more user friendly. So that leaves only one option. But Susanne is a fiesty dutch living in Zürich. I chose to only ask for 2 extra cups.

On Monday, we "rented" bikes from the Zürich Velo Center. For a 20CHF deposit and a short discussion with mafia-esc guy in a wooden shack, and one passport, you get a sweet urban ride with advertisments on the bike but nevertheless a good running urban hybrid. We took the "city touring" to a new level. Ended up riding about 50km with a long jaunt south along Lake Zürich before catching the ferry across and riding back north to the city. I think we got some looks from people who were wondering what the hell are these two characters doing riding this far away from the city with city bikes. But it was a great adventure. The ferry ride was pretty fun. We took in the Lindt Chocolate Factory Easter Sale Center. The aroma coming from the building could make even the saddest person smile. Exploring by bike was perfect. We got to see so much and just gave us freedom to go beyond the norm. Later that night we scored an awesome käse fondue experience. It was pretty tasty.

Yesterday, was our last day in Zürich and we took to it by foot and train. Did a super long hike and urban walk up to the Uetliberg. Its at 800m with Zürich at 400m. Gave us some pretty cool views. We ended up hiking pretty far south then down to a different S-Bahn station to take back to the Zentrum. The trail was in typical Swiss-fashion...gravel and rails throughout. I can imagine the cost, time, and maintenance that goes into these "hiking trails." But it was fun.

This morning, we had an early start to get Kristi to the Flaughuf Stuttgart. Her trip over to visit went by much quicker than I expected. We definitely covered a lot. Looking forward to our next time together =) After getting back here to Backnang, I went for a good 3.5hr ride. My quads were a little sore from our hiking adventure yesterday(20% descents all the way to the bottom). But I pushed on and kept the good sensations rolling. Weather is improving here. Only cloudy today and warmer. Maybe its actually changing for good now...

Chow,
Matthew