TransGermany Homemade Videos

Here is a German capella

Here are the moments just prior to the start. Listen to the AC/DC in the background. Each stage began with a thorough eardrum blasting play of Highway to Hell. The german announcer was too funny to listen too when he announced the song.

The Red Dragon Dojo

Karl is here in the upper reaches of the RV. He and Shawn took on the Blue Dragon. But it was no dojo. After each tiring day of RV driving, training, cooking, and team directing I retired to enclave of the Red Dragon to seek its reenergizing capacities. The Red Dragon is a force no single, untrained person should try to channel. Fortunately my many year's of strict training and meditation bequethed my ability to channel it's energy and powers.

You can tell by contenanace that the energizing forces were already starting to flow within minutes of the unveiling. The two-finger grip I am demonstrating was not my doing. In fact, the Red Dragon was showing off its power at this point. I relinquished my own ambitions of the power to allow the Red Dragon to take over my fingers and demonstrate its articulate ability to wreak fear amongst the people in the world.

Below is a picture of the Red Dragon in its full entirety. It's a sight of purest of beauty.
Karl tried his best to better the Red Dragon with his Blue version. But a warm energy will always force out the cold energy. Nice try Karl but the Red Dragon had already extinguished the Blue Dragon's power by this point in the day.

Bow to your Sinsei!
Claw

Trans Germany Recap and Little Somethin' Somethin'

So TransGermany was all the hype and more...Unfortunately more of the "more" persuasion. Weather was challenging every day with rain and cold temps..I thought this was summer. Shawn and Karl did what they could but injuries and wicked deep pain cave fatigue got the better. After 3 stages they pulled out. It was heartbreaking to watch. I on the other hand got to see many beautiful vistas along my rv touring of Germany. Being the driver does lend some benefits. Our typical day consisted of waking up at 6:15 and crawling out of my dojo(more on that later) and whipping up some nectar of life ie french-press coffee, coffee in its purest. One must prioritize during these times and coffee always came before food. As the Sherpa would say, "You people and your addiction! I wouldn't expect anything less." Well the Sherpa was right. Following a proper amount of go-go juice I got cracking on breakfast. How do you eat for a 4-6hr mtn bike race after you did the same the day before? Muesli, bread, nutella, cheese, salami, honey, fruit, eggs, and ham. In the beginning of a stage race, eating is quite pleasurable. Because I like to eat, this bodes well for my day-to-day mood. But it's not much longer that you find eating to be more of a chore. The food you couldn't stop touching yesterday has become bland today and will become even blander tomorrow. But you have to eat to keep the body fueled for tomorrow and the next day. I have reached this point of non-desire. Fortunately, it didn't last =)

The race itself was typical European...big, bad, and crazy. They had a Brazilian dancer with full feather regalia on the start of Day 1. The race caravan and support system was something to behold. I had never been on the non-rider side of such a spectacle and I must admit it was rad. In road races you have lots of autos and motorcycles. In a mtn bike race which takes the riders over some of the gnarliest of German terrain you have ATVs and Dirtbikes. Even the camermen road on the back of the dirtbikes. There were many professional teams in attendance, some of the best if not the best marathon mtn bike teams in the world. In the mechanic area, bikes were getting rebuilt each night because of the heanous terrain and gunk that the riders poured through each day. Food was pretty good. I scored a food pass which entitled me to many tasty pleasures of German regional cuisine each night. As I was not racing, I also enjoyed some nicely crafted beers. All was good for me. The immediate post-race food was quite the spread. It was perfect for me because I would go out and train then roll back to the finish area and have myself a sandwich, fruit, water, maybe a little cake =) and only lifted the lower lip to say, "eine käse brotchen bitte" or "ein schinken brotchen bitte." No more slogging away in the kitchen figuring out what to eat while your stomach is eating itself out. And you can even go back for 2nds! It was in my opinion a magical wonderful.

After my 10-day pause(break), I'm finally feeling fit again after a month or so of deep fatigue and black lung. Hoping the form will continue to build and hold me out till the end of August.

Last night we did a night criterium in Ludwigshafen which is in the Rheinland Pfalz. My front row start ju-ju must of run out because I was stuck in the back. Then after lap 5 of 55, a rider in front crashed causing a huge gap to form. Over the next 30 laps of the 700m course I tried in vain to catch back on but the schmucks with me were keen to ride easy which is quite frustrating. At lap 35, the field caught us and I pulled out. Lame but whatever. I had a good time. And countered the dissappointment with a beer and brotwurst mit brotchen. It was lecker(tasty)! At the race I also spotted an American school group. I have a keen eye for my fellow compatriots. These youth were 13-14yrs old. They hailed from my birthplace, Winston-Salem, NC. Pretty crazy stuff! I rolled up to their group as they sat and ate pasta at an Italian place. And I said, in my "I'm going to speak English slowly so you understand voice" which is what happens to one when they are abroad for any extended period. You don't even think about it until you start speaking and you realize that you sound like an idiot b/c you are speaking your mothertongue to a person/s that speak the same mothertongue. I said to the young girl on the end of the table, "you are American?." As you can imagine she was pretty blown away probably more from the sight of such a charming and good looking cyclist than the fact that I was speaking english to her. But I digress...=) I ended up chatting with their group for a while. They were totally into hearing about my race. It was definitely a cool surprise for them on their last night in Europe. So maybe I will make it in their post-trip writing report as the American from Colorado that we saw racing in Germany. They were blog worthy so I hope that I am report worthy...

chow,
Claw

Back in Backnang

My two weeks of urlaub at my parent's house went by very quickly. It was bittersweet. I am happy to be back in Germany but it was a very nice time with my family and freundin. Caught up on all things American like some FoodTV, peanut butter, and mexican food.

The wedding post party came together nicely. My fabulous food team of David and Jessie pushed out a sick amount of tatanka and frijoles negros empanadas while Kristi and I got our Spätzle, guac, mango salsa, quinoa salad, and kartofflen salat makin' on. I think there were probably 100 people or so. All the food was completely gone which was perfect. The Spätzle was a huge hit. The mango salsa proved again to be the top puller. Unfortunately the recipe remains guarded. When I release my book of delicious recipes and stories, you will have access to it.

Bearclaw granola captured a few more hearts in Tennessee. When I return to Boulder, I will boost production. I'm thinking the Boulder Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings will be a good place to push the product.

Updates will be a little lacking over the next week as I will be driving and mechanicing for Shawn and Karl, the bosses of the Camp Eden Training Center. They just flew in this morning for the TransGermany MTB stage race. Should be an epic time. Hopefully I can make some blog updates over the course of the race and post some photos.

Chow,
Matthew

Three Days to Go

It's Wednesday and it's 3 days till Michael stops calling the shots and Jenny takes full control =) Today also marks my first real day of food production for the event on Saturday night. So far things have gone well. The new spätzle machine came in yesterday and is quite the handy tool. I think I need two people to fully maximize its potential along with numerous pots of boiling water. Trial run last night. I opted for whole wheat flour to give it a little twist. Going back to All-Purpose. Unfortunately we don't have an exact replica of Type 405 mehl which is what is used in Deutschland. But one must learn to improvise and rise above. This morning I pushed out two large batches of Bearclaw Granola. With my lady soon to arrive, I have to make this delicious source of nutrition and energy for her, myself and everyone else.

On unrelated news, I am still falling victim to black lung. I read yesterday another rider got caught for doping. I saw this guy in Mallorca on the Cura a Randa climb(6km, 5,8%) as we were both doing intervals. He was with his then teammate the Russian cyborg, Vladimir Efmikin which I wrote about during my time there. My plan called for 5 sessions up the climb. These two were doing the same. Albeit a little faster and with a little less pain in the face. I guess I know why now...

One needs garlic and why not get it already minced when you are making for 100!

Kitchen Aid mixer courtesy of Deborah Soike, makes empanada dough production quick
Dough
Bearclaw Granola 2nd round production
My newest culinary investment, A Spätzle Maker, its crazy efficient
Mango Slicer, yep this guy is totally worth th $10,99 at Kroger

Chow,
Bearclaw

Bike Racing Photos and a Mediterranean Twist on Spätzle

Photos courtesy of Terri Davis



Homemade Spätzle with Feta and Black Olives. Picture is not good but it tasted pretty good. I followed the traditional technique of scraping the spätzle into the boiling water.
The following sweet photos are courtesy of Megan Barrowclough and her sweet digital photography skills. Of course she had a perfect subject =)

Black Lung Part Drei

Just when I get better, I'm back with another infection. Felt it on the plane ride on Monday. Unfortunately my 7 levels of denial didn't do anything to ward off the fighting that is going on inside me. I guess two days of racing and atleast 4 days of not very good sleep will do something to you. Hopefully it's better for this weekend. Suppose to race Sat/Sun.

Chow,
Bearclaw

My Return to the Land of Startbucks, Large Belts, and Sunday Shopping

Sitting here in the Stuttgart Flughauf(airport) awaiting my flight back to the US of A for a 2 week Urlaub with family and friends. It’s a strange feeling. I am definitely looking forward to visiting home and seeing everyone but a part of me will miss the great friends who are like family here. I’ve always said that you need a support system in order to reach your potential. My “family” here has definitely provided that for me during my quest for adventure and worldly experience. Departure in Sept will be sehr schwerig.

Over the past few days I have been to the far reaches of Baden-Württenburg from Heidelberg on Samstag(Saturday) to Freiburg on Montag(Monday). All in all, B-W is a shön region of Germany. In Heidelberg, Karin, Sandra, Heinz and myself set off on taken in the beautiful old city. We started out first with a scenic auto ride along the Neckar. Which I must say is probably one of the most beautiful places I have seen in Germany thus far. In Heidelberg we took the tram to the top of the Berg which overlooks the city and north for many kms. The tram had an insanely steep grade too it, 22-42%. Pretty cool stuff. The system that brings the tram up and down was fairly interesting. It was basically a giant pulley system with some intense tensil strength in the steel cable. Half way down is the old castle of Heidelberg. I said to everyone that this is my home in TN…That lie lasted for maybe 10s. The outside is pretty weathered and possibly war-torn. We took to some essen(eating) at a biergarten adjacent to the castle. It was sehr gut. We managed to time our arrival into Heidelberg just perfect to counter the onslaught of Japanese and American tourists that came in the busloads later. The König Strasse is a massive shopping street with just about everything. The coffee roastery people looked like they could use a happy song. Unfortunately our pleasantries proved worthless despite the opportunity to smell fresh roasted coffee all day. Visited my first German hospital also on Saturday. As a visitor not a client =) Very interesting architecture and quiet. Much unlike the chaos that is an American hospital.

Sontag morgen(morning) we rolled down to Villingen-Schwinnigen for an LBS Cup KT/A/B/C rennen(race). 260starters? Course was pretty tough with rolling terrain and sick wind. I had good legs which translates into I am part of the race rather than pack fodder. By km 50 of 130 I had some mechanical problems. On the tailwind runin section to the final uphill I was stuck in my 53x14. Holding wheels proved difficult and the cord finally snapped. Going 54k/h at 120+rpm is nichts gut for me. Pretty frustrating b/c I’m suppose to be a mechanic. I guess it just wasn’t my day. The race comm gave me the white flag at km 90 so my race ended a little prematurely. Cê la Vie! My teammate Leif Lampater won the race so that was cool. The über awesome teammate Erik Tischler offered up his house for us to crash that night and cooked up some excellent post-rennen nourishment. Of course we celebrated a little bit with the 5L mini-keg of Rathaus Bier that Leif earned as part of his win. I had 1 full glass and it was good.

Montag was freiertag here in Deutschland. Teammate Timur and I had an early departure of 5:30am to get to our race just north of Freiburg in Merdingen. Let’s just say that if you ever wanted to experience the Dukes of Hazardesq driving conditions all you need is a rush to get to the race, a Mercedes Wagon, Landstrasse(think tiny farm roads), and Timur at the wheel. I won’t disclose details but let’s just say that it was another German experience =) The course at Merdingen reminded me of the race in Mallorca except this time it was in German not Spanish. We started out with 110 starters? I think we were left with 60 after the first lap. Within the first 5km, we climbed through a Weinberg and took on some insane descending. Sure it would be okay alone but with a hundred riders scrambling for position and taking that little bit of extra risk it was pretty crazy. Fortunately the race organizers recognized this and strategically placed bed mattresses in the water drainage ditches along the side. But they only covered the holes before they went underground. So if you missed the hole or the dropoff on the side then well you were lucky and got right into bed. Otherwise, it would have been no bueno. I kept making the front group each time. So I was looking good on the final run-in to the finish. Then I experienced my first European bike race crash. Kind of like a badge of honor. Fortunately only a small scratch on my elbow. The rider who took me out cushioned most of my fall as I landed on him. But I was chivalrous and gave him a hand to get up. Then I jumped back on the bike and began my chase. Unfortunately I was 3km from the finish and I was making ground but in the last 500m the jets were turned on and it was over for me. Ohh well, despite positioning myself well in the front, shit happens and that is bike racing. I’ll be back to fight another day. Later the rider apologized to me which was quite the reimbursement of chivalrous ethics =)

Back in Backnang, Heinz, Karin, and Kai cooked up a delicious bbq. Kai demonstrated is worthy skills as the grillmaster. It was sehr gut and with the good company it was great post race time. I can tell my german is improving b/c my joking and sly commentary is keeping par. Last night is 4-3 me over Heinz. I am sure it will be reversed =) I’m going to give myself 30minutes of German practice every day. I know I will lose a little bit but I don’t want to come back and be clueless again. So my family will be getting daily instruction. It will also boost my ego as I will feel like a superstar =)

Last Friday was pretty stressful which is why it’s taken so long to keep my followers updated. I got a haircut. It was much needed but it was a little terrifying inside. I had to pick the perfect time to go so I wouldn’t have any problem getting my locks manicured. It all started out well and I gave the barber my desired look. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a photo to give a better description. So it would become another “lost in translation” moment. You might say that everyday I have one. As we were nearing the end, the sweat began pouring down the back. The look I was going for was reinterpreted as an 80s Val Kilmer. Hair was pulled back and blow-dried which gave lots of “volume” that is stylist talk. I thought it was going to finish with me being a Val Kilmer lookalike. Fortunately, the man demonstrated his styling knowledge and rectified the situation. All was good. Kein Problem.

Tschuß,
Claw

Homeward Bound

Heading back to TN for a little family action tomorrow. Very much looking forward to the 2 week visit. Busy weekend of racing which I will have to write more about tomorrow with my 3.5hr delay at the Charlotte Airport.

Chow,
Claw