The Kits Have Arrived!

The Tulane kits for the 2011 road season have finally arrived! We received them at Wednesday's team meeting and started riding in them immediately. A few of us went out for a Saturday "fun" ride around the city and made sure to throw our kits on. We stopped by a great Italian ice cream and pastry shop called Angelo Brocato's on the way back to Tulane, and it has got to have the best gelato and Italian pastries in New Orleans. I mean, this place is a gold mine (there must have been 30 or 40 customers going through in the short span that we were there). It's a win in my book.

Funny story: On the way over to the gelato place, we had to ride over some streetcar tracks. Unfortunately, a teammate got his front wheel caught in the tracks while turning and ate it. Hard. At least it wasn't anything a little bit of gelato (and a visit to a local bike shop) won't fix.

(A couple of teammates assess the damage from the beautifully [un]orchestrated wipe out. The one on the left was a very angry panda until he got his gelato.)

(Once inside, we actually had to choose something from the menu, which was a more difficult decision than we thought. Everything looked so good!)

(Reaction to seeing this: MUST. HAVE. NOW!)

(Baba Rhum pastry and Zuppa Inglese flavored gelato)

(Money shot of the Italian goodness)

(Mini-cannoli)

(Story time. Luckily, Angry Panda quickly became Happy Panda upon purchase of gelato.)

(Those arm warmers are definitely just for show. Translation: They provide zero warmth. There will be long sleeve Under Armour next time.)

In other news, Alberto Contador received a one year ban from cycling, which is good or bad depending on whether you're one of his fans. Also, Tulane Cycling is four weeks out from the first conference race at UT Austin. We'll be practicing time trial drills, as well as paceline drills, as the date gets closer. But for now we'll keep going strong with team training rides and morning rides with the local teams. Keep on pedaling!

Last Hurrah!

With 5 weeks left until our first conference race of the season, I decided that this weekend would be the last chance to go out hard. Friday night was the start of pledging, so I showed up to the fraternity house to meet and welcome the new members. Upon arriving, I found a Deadmau5 mask lying on a table, so I decided to put it on and take a picture:

(Look at that craftsmanship!)

Apparently, a friend spent a few hours making the mask for an actual Deadmau5 concert, which is a pretty cool idea considering how popular the music is becoming. Needless to say, the rest of the night involved quite a few Deadmau5 remixes and house tracks on the speaker system.

The next day consisted of a road trip to the Western portion of the United States (just across the Mississippi River) for some Asian (and other international) food. My new candy stash is composed of Japanese and German chocolates, and there is a smooth supply of regular and diet Australian ginger beer and Japanese Ramune in the fridge. For some reason the Australians call it ginger beer, when the rest of the world (America) calls it ginger ale. What gives? It's a good soda nonetheless, and you can actually see bits of ginger in the bottle of the Aussie stuff if you hold it up to the light. Oh, and opening the ginger beer is the best part because it's like pulling the pin to a hand grenade (there is seriously a pin that you pull to get the bottle open).

That night, I promised myself I'd have a slow night with a relaxing movie and some new Cinnamon Burst Cheerios. Neither of those things happened, and I ended up at a good friend's house shooting the breeze with some track stars. All night (whoops). At least I wasn't shooting other things, right?

I found this somewhere on the Internet, and it beautifully sums up the weekend:

Do what you want to do, be who you want to be.

Looking back, I'm glad that I got so much done and had so much fun with friends. I'm paying dearly for the lack of studying that occurred, but it was absolutely worth it. I even did a couple of training sessions (I think). And as the picture above states, it was exactly what I wanted and I didn't leave any room for regrets. I guess now is the time to stop thinking about training and to actually get some serious training rides logged. It's a lot harder to pedal 50 miles with 20 extra pounds of weight hanging around in your torso. Remember: nobody likes a fatty, especially one who still has to play catch-up with the rest of the team.

Cinnamon Roll Protein Powder?!

My order from Bodybuilding.com came in this afternoon, and boy was I in for a treat! I ordered some Scivation Whey (which is still unopened) and 2 lbs. of Ultra Peptide Cinnamon Roll casein protein. Some free stuff also came with the order (more on that later). I went to dinner with a few friends before trying it, but XF Cinnamon Roll is by far the best supplement on the market. No doubt. It really makes for a good addition to any dessert. There will most definitely be Cinnamon Roll muffins, oatmeal, and shakes being made in my kitchen all semester long. But just to be safe, I'm going to check the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List to make sure that nothing in the supplement is actually illegal. It's probably clear for any athlete to take, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Speaking of anti-doping, guess who retired from cycling? Hmm? Any guesses? Yeah, Floyd Landis! Finally! The guy is such a Debbie Downer with his remarks concerning Lance Armstrong and his possible drug use. Newsflash: They didn't find anything in Lance's samples. Quit being a sore loser, buddy. (Note: Landis was caught with synthetic testosterone in his system and then stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title. I guess he's still a bit bitter.) Yeah, doping does give cycling a bad name, but at least wait until the results of Lance's investigation are in before you start bagging on him for something that hasn't been proven. C'mon, people!

(Photo courtesy of http://www.dailymail.co.uk)

So tonight I'll enjoy my Cinnamon Roll protein powder (seriously the best supplement I've ever had), the Floyd Landis retirement announcement, and the freebies that Bodybuilding.com sent. Yeah, freebies, quite possibly the best invention since sliced mangoes. Free shaker bottle, amino acid sample, Bodybuilding.com bracelet, and razor. By the way, the razor came just in the knick of time! It'll really come in handy this weekend since I forgot to buy cartridges for the semester (whoops).

All-American Wipeout

First of all, listen to the following song while you read this post:

Today we decided to get on the levee since the weather was so nice. I suited up in my trusty Under Armour, put on my kit, and then threw a (filled) water bottle in my cage before heading out. Oh, and sunglasses. You end up seeing the sun really up close and personal if you get on the levee without a decent pair of them. Not a fun experience.

While waiting for a teammate before the ride, I thought it would be a smart idea to see how slowly I could ride. Big mistake. Consequently, I toppled over and couldn't clip out in time to put my foot down for support. So my wrist, elbow, and knee all met the pavement for some fun times. At least it's nothing a little bit of Neosporin can't fix. And thank goodness nobody saw the fall (it was pretty hilarious).

This is what it looked like from a first person perspective.

On a lighter note, last night a good friend and I went to Creole Creamery and got some legendary ice cream. She ordered a scoop of salted caramel for herself and then treated me to a scoop of cream cheese ice cream with hot fudge. After we were done, a mutual friend of ours came over to shoot the breeze and I couldn't resist ordering another scoop of red velvet cake ice cream. Mind = blown. It rocked my world six ways from Sunday. Seriously folks, the workers at Creole Creamery really don't mess around when it comes to making good flavors. Go there as soon as you get a chance.

Red velvet cake ice cream!

Spring weather in January?

My room was hotter than usual when I woke up this morning, so my first thought was that a roommate cranked the thermostat due to recent cold weather conditions outside. I thought wrong. The temperature according to Google was 55°F, and then it slowly crept up to 59°F. Win! So I crawled out of bed to put on my kit for a bike ride. I wore a thermal Under Armour shirt under my jersey and then pulled some Under Armour leggings over my shorts and rode over to Audubon Park. (Trust me, the thermal gear is necessary even if it's not that cold out.)

This was the first real ride I've been on since the fall (I was dealing with an injury during early winter), and it was my first outdoor training ride on the new Trek. As I was riding through the quad, I saw an absurdly large crowd hanging out, and then I noticed that the people were there for the filming of a new Miley Cyrus movie called So Undercover. Yuck. Even more annoying was when some punk teenager called me Lance in a mocking way as I weaved through the crowd. But after riding away I realized that the poor kid was probably trying to sound smart in front of his friends. By the way pal, telling anybody over the age of 15 that Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France is like telling any New Orleanian that the Saints won the Superbowl. Thank you Captain Obvious!

(In case you didn't know.)

The rest of the ride went pretty well. I'm slowly getting the hang of clipless pedals, but sometimes clipping back into them after waiting at a stop light can become a bit tricky. Hopefully it'll get easier with practice.

In other news, I raced a heron today. Yeah, a real flying heron. As I came around a bend on the way towards St. Charles Ave., I saw the bird flying at a pretty quick pace, and both of us happened to be going in the same direction. It was game on from there, so I started a chase and caught up with him (or her). A few seconds later the heron landed in the pond and I emerged victorious from the drag race.

The ride towards home wasn't too bad, but I got this very overplayed song stuck in my head after weaving back through the crowd on the set of Miley's movie (yeah, we're on a first name basis):

This song is way too catchy, and it gives me flashbacks of a time when it was played ad nauseum on the radio and in public places. I think I speak for most of the world's population when I say that next time your country is having a party, don't tell Miley about it.

Back in the Saddle

So I was finally able to get back on the bike after a 2.5-month hiatus. Details are irrelevant here (trust me, I had a good excuse), but it feels great to be riding again. Except for the weather. Google says the temperature outside is 31°F (that's -1°C for you Celsius folks), which is far to cold for riding (unless you're Randy, our team adviser, who can ride in anything short of nuclear fallout). So I got around to borrowing a trainer from a friend yesterday, just to see what it would be like riding indoors for long periods of time.

Let's just say that the experience was quite productive. The tunes were crankin' on the iPod, the ceiling fan was on (yes, it gets extremely hot if you're cycling indoors), and my phone was on a nearby table in case someone felt the desire to call for a nice evening chat. It just so happens that our team vice president emailed me with something interesting, and I emailed him back from the good ol' Blackberry (using both hands). But the one thing that got stuck in my head while I was typing that email was this:

This Flobots track ain't half bad. They have some sweet lines and the song mentions bikes, so what's not to like? But riding on the trainer did get a bit tedious after a while, so hopefully next week will provide us with some better weather so the team can get out on the levee and get some real riding in. Regardless, I'm glad to be Back in the Saddle.

"Like Lance's bike, in aluminum."

Hey y'all,

Guess who just got a brand-spanking-new 2010 Trek 1.5! I'm beyond excitement right now. It was such a good deal, too! I bought the bike from a professional rider for Orbea (apparently he won't be needing a Trek), and got a pretty good price for it. He built it right up over the weekend and brought it to New Orleans from Baton Rouge.

The past semester has been a whole slew of struggles with the Schwinn, but this new feat of Trek engineering symbolizes the beginning of a new journey. A racing journey, that is. Competing in the South Central Collegiate Cycling Conference won't be easy, but this bike and I are going places.

The new ride!

I can't wait to take her out to the levee for a good 30 mile training ride. But first, I'll have to swing by the local bike shop to pick up some pedals and cleats. The 2011 Road Season has been announced by the SCCCC, and the team has about a month and a half to get into gear. Let's get pedaling!

A Quick Look Back at 2010

Here's a quick recap of last year. 2010 was loaded with its ups and downs, just like any other year. But this past one was different, mainly because I chose to take up cycling. I had watched the Tour de France on TV during the summer of 2009, but Summer 2010 was when I really began to follow the Tour its athletes. I'd get home late from lab and the Tour de France would be the only decent thing on television. So I began to work out on the gym bike in the evenings while watching the Tour. Watching coverage of Lance Armstrong's last Tour de France was bittersweet, but Mark Cavendish's sprints provided some motivation on the stationary bike. By the time the riders reached Paris, a lot of the weight I had gained during Spring 2010 had already come off (and trust me, it was quite a bit of flab). People would make fun of me for watching the Tour de France too closely, but it became a true passion, like the Red Sox or the Celtics to a true Bostonian. And I continued working out, even after Alberto Contador took the win in Paris.

In a few months I went from 210 to 160 pounds, a much healthier weight, and made the decision to join the Tulane Cycling team. (Note that the weight was lost in a safe and coordinated manner, and I knew what I was doing each and every step of the way. Don't attempt such a drastic weight loss if you haven't collected the proper information beforehand.) In regards to cycling, I knew nothing other than what I had seen during the Tour de France. Zero. In fact, I hadn't even ridden a road bike until September 2010. But I had determination, which was half the battle. A roommate lent me his Schwinn Prelude for the semester so I could get acclimated to riding a road bike, but it gave me nothing but headaches. I must have flatted once every three days for a two week period. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there was a problem with the rim that nobody seemed to catch until I flatted 10 minutes after leaving the bike shop that had already looked at the problem twice before. Despite the bike problems, I met some great people who are now my teammates and friends.

The Tulane cycling team on a Saturday ride at the Lakefront

(Courtesy of Randy Legeai)

This past semester I also developed an interest in ice cream. All things ice cream. It all started with a frozen yogurt date with a girl from class, and it snowballed (no pun intended) into a serious passion for the stuff. By the end of the semester I had tried every flavor of Blue Bell Ice Cream that is currently sold in pints and I had even made a stack of the empty (washed, of course) Blue Bell pints on my entertainment center. I also attempted to get through all of the Ben & Jerry's flavors but couldn't finish before the end of the year. But that's what 2011 is for.

This year I'll be focusing on two things: cycling and school. There will be a lot of collegiate races this semester, and I want to do the best I can in every one of them. Training begins on Day 1 of the spring semester when I get my new bike (hopefully a Trek, let's keep our fingers crossed). The team was fortunate enough to secure a Gatorade® sponsorship for 2011, so that should come in handy for our long rides.