We are starting to piece together our flèche team for the year. The plan is to travel light, long and fast. Chris and I are joining up with Joshua Bryant in Portland to hook out to the Oregon coast up into Olympia.

Chris made this amazing drawing and I added some fonts and what not. We are thinking it would look pretty kick ass on some jean jackets. I’m not sure how that is going to work exactly…

If you really like it, I’m sure Chris would be willing to tattoo it on you permanently for a small fee.

The Friday of the ride, we are taking the train down with our bikes for a 2pm start with Joshua in Portland. We should have a couple of hours to impress the locals with our charm. I’ve heard they don’t see many bikes down there, so those will be a hit, I’m sure.

Last year I rode with a bunch of flatulent, chatty randonneurs that were sure that breakfast was in “the next town”. It wasn’t. It never was!

I have no idea how this year will shake out, but I guarantee it will be an experience. Expect all of the gruesome details (hopefully no vomit involved) sometime in April. I have a bad history with night starts, so I’m looking to correct that. Still, it wouldn’t be a rando ride if I wasn’t questioning my sanity at least one time along the way.

Special thanks to Jane and Norman for once again helping drive us back home. I’m sure they will have a crazy weekend harassing the local hippies. I expect nothing less.

I know one thing is fact, I will be eating nachos at least once when I hit the finish. Olympia Hot Dog Company, here I come!

I spent Saturday night with some pretty vivid dreams. I was helping family move back into my old neighborhood that I grew up in. There are only two ways to get to it, and both are hills. One is long and steady, the other is shorter but much steeper. For whatever reason, I volunteered to push a mattress support up to the house. This was maybe a mile or so of the heaviest and toughest haul imaginable (in my dream, anyways). I was getting there, but it was slow and steady. There was no other way to do it.

Cliche as it seems, this dream was directly related to where my head has been at in regards to randonneuring. There has been a lot of second guessing and fear at my lack of fitness these days. Last years slacking is definitely showing this year. I haven’t finished a 200K since November and every time I get to around 50 miles, my body punishes me. The dream was appropriate though. I just need to keep at it, slow or not. The goal will be achieved.

SIR’s Spring Populaire (100K) was on Sunday. We decided to ride out to the start since it was only 10 miles away. I surprised myself by actually waking up early enough to eat a decent breakfast and have coffee. Chris and I left a little earlier than necessary but it gave us time for even more coffee near the start.

There were probably around a hundred people, possibly more at the starting line. They organized a bagpipe sendoff for the group that was pretty surreal. If I saw it on paper, I might have thought it cheesy, but in person it was pretty amazing.

There were tons of people to talk to right off the bat. It is always great to catch up with friends(at least at the start and finish) on these rides. It was a stunningly gorgeous day, especially for a Seattle February. It threatened to get close to 60 degrees and everyone was in great spirits.

I felt strong out of the gates and figured I should hang on to that while I could. I’m pretty aware that I have a limit these days, so I might as well knock out the miles while I can. I dropped Chris for a little while and hung with some faster riders than I usually do.

There was a soul crushing climb near Cougar Mountain that really seemed to suck my energy quickly. I kept eating some homemade energy bars and tried to stay hydrated. It was near the usual Zoo hill climb, but not the same one. It was less scenic and the grade was more steady and headache inducing. It would make a fine training hill.

I kept attaching on with Joe Platzner, then losing him again. His fancy blue Pegoretti kept him one step ahead of me. I’m pretty sure that’s how it worked, anyways.

Somewhere along the way, my legs started to give me grief. Surely they were complaining at the lack of distance training and overall general neglect. The muscles were pinching behind my knees and acted up every time I hit a hill (and this was quite often towards the end of the ride). I had to stop and stretch three or four times. I lost the great group of guys I was riding with, but I knew that I just had to do it at my own pace. Much like my Sisyphus dream the night before, I had to get there one pedal stroke at a time.

My general mood was greatly enhanced by the wonderful weather and amazing ride support. No matter how many times I had to stop, I knew that I was getting there.

I caught a bit of a second wind on the bike trail leading to the finish. A child on a BMX bike started a sudden 180 and almost nailed my front wheel. I briefly considered just pushing him over. Is that mean?

Finally I got in, alone, to the finish at the Dog and Pony in Renton. Beer was in need to sooth my aching muscles.

It was great to see new and old friends. A big thanks to everyone that had a hand in putting together a wonderful permanent. The cue sheet was perfect, the weather was amazing, and the turnout was great.

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe (aka Baby or Rapini) , Goat Cheese and Hot Italian Sausage
Serves 4 to 5 – adapted from Saveur

Pasta is one of my favorite meals, ever. I really should cut back. I blame pasta and beer directly for my pear shape and lack of a real climbing ability. That said, maybe you have a better moderation ability than I do.

This recipe would be wonderful with any pasta. The original shows orecchiette, which is wonderful, but I find can be a little pricier than others. I had my father up from San Diego, so I went a little fancier and made some homemade pasta noodles. It takes a bit more time, but I’m getting faster at it.

The original recipe also doesn’t have the meat in it, but I know that sausage and broccoli rabe are a classic Italian pairing. Feel free to omit the meat if you want to make it vegetarian.

• 1 bunch broccoli rabe (about 1 lb.)
• 4 Hot Italian sausages, casing removed
• 1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6-8 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of your knife
  
• 3⁄4 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
• Around 1 lb. pasta of your choice
• 2 tbsp. lemon zest
• 4 oz. goat cheese

Prep the broccoli:

Get a large pot of water boiling with some kosher salt and boil the broccoli rabe for about 4 minutes, until tender. Transfer rabe to  a bowl of ice water. You are stopping the cooking process and making sure that it keeps a nice green color. Drain and pat dry on some towels. Chop the broccoli roughly into bite sized pieces.

Start sauce:

Heat 2 tbsp. oil over medium heat in a large skillet and add the Italian sausage. Break it with the back of a wooden spoon as it browns. Add the rest of the olive oil and the garlic. Cook for roughly 3 minutes to let the garlic brown and the olive oil pick up the flavors. Toss in the chile flakes and cook until fragrant, roughly 30 seconds. Add the broccoli rabe and toss until all the flavors incorporate. Remove from heat.

Cook pasta and combine:

Boil a large pot of salted water and cook your pasta as long as required for your preferred style. If you make fresh pasta, boil 3 to 4 minutes. If you have dry pasta, it usually takes 8 to 10 minutes. Once done, drain the water but save a cup of the pasta water to add to your sauce. Dump the drained pasta straight into the sauce along with some of the saved water (start with 1/4 cup) and lemon zest. Toss everything together and add more pasta water as needed.

When serving, add a few small dollops of goat cheese to each plate. A little goes a long way.

I’ve managed to make it to a couple of the SIR Winter Training Series rides so far. I’m not quite as on the ball as I want to be right now, but I feel like I’m making a comeback of sorts.

On Saturday, Chris, Dan Boxer and I rode out to Bothell (25 – 30 miles or so) for a “35 mile” ride around the hills in the area. The cue snakes everyone through an evil series of loops, up and down, but mostly up. Somehow there ends up being something like 4000 feet of climbing. It wasn’t until I flipped my cue sheet over that I realized that the course was actually 45 miles, with plenty of hills still coming.

I figured that I had enough food on me, but I was dead wrong. I forgot my bananas out the door, and some of my Shot Blocks in my bag were hard as rocks. I need to make sure to squeeze them before assuming they’ll work for me. I had a baggie full of awesome homemade energy bars, but they mostly just got me through the first half of the day.

By the time I was on the last hill, my legs were burning and I was seriously undernourished. I was completely bonking by the time we got back to park. I laid out on the ground and soaked in a little bit of sun. I tried to eat a little bit of a (different) protein bar that I had in my bag. It was way too sweet and sent my stomach reeling. Sometimes you have to learn the nutritional stuff the hard way.

Dan and Chris basically had to nurse me back home. I spent at least 15 minutes on the side of the Burke Gilman Trail laying in the grass letting my stomach settle. Thankfully, it was an amazingly beautiful day for it.

I was anxious to get home though. I had planned to make dinner for my “little” cousin Thomas. He is shipping off to Kyrgyzstan (not to sound like a jerky American, but I had to google that again) with the military. Someone gave him a license to operate a 2 million dollar cargo loader…

We got him pizza’d up with some friends and drank some beers. It was a generally pleasant night, despite my aching body and throbbing muscles.

On the cooking forefront, I’ve had a pretty good streak of Sunday baking going. Three weeks ago I made a homemade pita bread from a couple of random online recipe sites. They came out great so I made a double batch of hummus that I’m still working on. I’ve been meaning to cook up some eggs and stuff them into breakfast pockets. Soon!

Two weeks ago, I had another successful run with making bagels. This time I was able to use a proper stand mixer since Norman was able to find his dough hook attachment. It was so much easier this time around. I still made sure to get in and hand knead a bit though. I’m starting to actually enjoy that process. I played around with some poppy seeds and onions for toppings. I burnt the onions a bit, but the poppy seeds worked great.

Last night I made some English muffins (with Jane’s help) out of Norman’s “The Bread Bible” (Beth Hensperger’s) book. I am constantly surprised at how easy these staples are to make. They take a little bit of time, but it is totally worth it. I’m getting to the point where I can handle multiple projects at the same time, so it cuts down on overall cooking time. I was able to cook us dinner while multitasking the bagel cooking.

English Muffins

Makes 16 or so

• 4-4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (can sub out a cup or two with whole wheat if you want)
• 1 tbsp of salt
• A pinch of sugar
• 1 tbsp of active dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup of room temperature milk
• 2 tbsp of melted butter

1. Combine the water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl with a whisk and sit until foamy (10 minutes).
2. Combine 2 cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in egg, milk, butter, and yeast mixture. Mix with a paddle attachment (or wooden spoon) until creamy (2 minutes).
3. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until you have a soft dough that just clears the sides of the bowl.
4. Switch to a dough hook attachment and turn on medium for 3 to 4 minutes. Alternatively, turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes. If you use a dough hook, you can still hand knead for a few minutes to ensure that the dough is smooth.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl and the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size (1 1/2 hours). If it takes longer, be patient.
6. Sprinkle a work surface with cornmeal. Pour the dough out of the bowl and onto the surface and roll out to a roughly 1/2″ thick rectangle. Use a 3″ cookie cutter (or large glass) to cut out muffin shaped pieces of the dough. Combine the scraps and roll them out to make more muffins.
7. Heat a large griddle over medium heat. Cook muffins for up to 10 minutes per side. Keep an eye on them though, they can burn fairly easily. Mine all needed about 7-8 minutes per side. It takes a while for the middle of the muffin to cook properly.
8. Cool on a wire rack. Be patient!
9. Spread muffins open with a fork.

I’m all signed up and excited for SIR’s biannual Cascade 1200K. I managed to get my name and money in yesterday morning when the registration opened up. There are already a number of riders from all over the country signed up. Finishing a 1000K or longer qualifies you for an early Paris Brest Paris registration next year, so I’m guessing that there will be even more riders gunning for rides like this.

I’ve read numerous stories on people’s Cascade experiences. It has been on my radar since I’ve known about randonneuring. It is widely considered one of the harder 1200K rides in the world, and right in my back yard!

I’ve ridden the first section of the route on other brevets, but everything past Naches is relatively new ground for me. I know that Day’s 2 and 3 go through some seasonally hot areas of the state, so I’ll need to figure out a way to acclimate myself for that. We are lucky enough to have a fairly moderate climate around Seattle, so it is always a bit of a shock once I end up on the east side of the Cascades. I’ve done well in the past though; it shouldn’t be a huge issue.

Check out some ride reports and photos from previous editions.

Geoff Swartz – “Living the Dream!”

Ole Mikkelsen – Ride Report

Lothar Hennighausen – Ride Report (How about these names!?)

Val Phelps – Ride Report

Jake Kassen – Ride Report … his photos here

Flickr pool from 2008 (so many pictures)

Dan Boxers photos

We’ve been in the process of getting a wonderful new roommate (who also enjoys cooking) and things have been kind of a whirlwind around the house lately. The sheer amount of stuff in our kitchen alone has pretty much doubled. Almost none of it is unnecessary, so we are taking on the task of sorting and dividing as needed. Eventually we are going to install some extra shelves on the wall to help pick up some of the slack. For now, there are boxes stacked and tucked away underneath chairs and the dining room table.

I went through a kind of personal funk over the last few weeks on top of that. Stress of work and life sometimes adds up like that. I think I’m back on track though. Sorry to anyone that had to deal with it.

I’ve been working on a pretty major overhaul of a website, and taking on no fewer than 5 major projects at my full time job. Nothing has a strict deadline, but I don’t enjoy having everything weigh in on me at once. I’m getting close to the end of a few of those goals though, so I feel the slack ease a little.

Every day I seem to get distracted by some “what’s next” possibility. This is almost always related to bicycling (huge surprise). Paris-Brest-Paris’s official announcement was released last week and it has been on everyone’s mind and lips lately. They also put up an official time countdown on their website, in case you were wondering how many ‘jours’ were left until the ride.

On that note, Jane and I have taken up learning French finally. We’ve been talking about it for a while now. It probably isn’t totally necessary, but it will be nice to know some basics for when I’m lost and delirious in some small French village in the middle of the night. I’m guessing a new language will be about as easy as trying to do math in my head at 1am on these rides. I get pretty excited whenever I learn a new food reference. Regardless of how far I get on the course, you had better believe I’m going to know how to ask for food and beer.

I took on the training ride last week and snapped a picture or two, but it was pretty much pissing rain the entire day up until the last 5 minutes before I got home. Somehow I forgot to bring my shoe covers, so I was spinning in tiny puddles all day. Still, it was good to get out for a legitimate ride with other people again. I felt pretty solid all day. There may be hope for me yet.

A foggy morning

Bombing down to Puget Sound

Tony Corke in Orting

Mount Rainier peeks through

I missed out on the second SIR training ride. I was planning on carpooling with Peter Beeson up until he had to change plans for work. I woke up on time, packed my things and loaded the car. Driving about 5 miles, I realized that I forgot my wallet (and had yet to eat breakfast). I called this a sign and turned back around. I felt a little silly driving over an hour to the start for a 50 mile training ride by myself. That said, I’m sad I didn’t get a chance to see everyone. I managed to sneak a ride in anyways, tracing the first half (and bits of the last half) of the Summer 100K. The sun snuck out right around the time that I hit the waterfront on Maplewild St, so I sat at the public bench for a bit and enjoyed it.

Sunday, I had plans to meet up and ride with my clients at Tacoma Bike. Their cyclefit guy Tony wanted to show me around Tacoma a bit. I’ve ridden through once or twice, but it was nice to have some new roads to explore. We stuck mostly to flat trails and rode out past Orting and back. It was a pleasant weekend of riding overall.

Bridges in Tacoma

Jersey I designed for Vinnie and the rest of the (crazy) Cascade 1200 Permanent riders

I’ve been getting really antsy this holiday season. Antsy for the new randonneuring season to start. Antsy for my form to come back (I don’t have to do that myself, do I?). I have had a hard time motivating myself to roll out the door these days. I love it once I’m out, but the mental prep of bracing for the elements in the morning has proved difficult. It would help if i didn’t need to wake up before 6am to do it, but it really comes down to a whole bunch of lame excuses. I just need to do it. Enough with the BS.

SIR is rolling out with the usual Winter Training Series this weekend. It is always fun to catch up with the rest of the crazies in the group. They’ll give me a hard time for eating so much and I’ll make fun of them for being so old. It will be fun.

I’m missing the first ride though. My mom (Hi, Mom) is getting married in Vegas this weekend and dragging Jane and I along for the ride. We plan on hitting up a couple of restaurants and probably have a drink or two or three. That should help out with my form a bit.

I rode the Southcenter ride (#3) fixed last year, but I think I was in better shape because I’m having a hard time imagining taking those hills again on my current setup.

The regular series is going to be pretty intense this year. Everyone is doing a bit of sweating over PBP enrollment in 2011. It is only done once every 4 years and was slightly overbooked last time around. For this, coupled with the high DNF (no finish) rates in 2007, officials decided that they might need to clamp down on a number in order to keep the ride at a maintainable size. Lots of people (myself included) are concerned that they might not have a chance at getting into this ride that they’ve been working towards. Getting the time off and the money together for a large trip like that isn’t easy, and it is tough to not have any certainties.

In order to get a better shot at going, RUSA members will be given a higher spot in the lottery if they finish longer rides in 2010. It is a bit more complicated than I care to elaborate on, but basically you have the best shot of going if you finish a series (200, 300, 400, 600Ks) and a 1000k in 2010. Needless to say, I have a feeling that there will be very high turnout numbers this year.

I plan on completing at least that much. It is easy to talk out of my butt this early into the season, but I’m shooting for 2 complete series. Chris and I are putting on the Fall 600 (and 200) so I know that I’ll at least be responsible for that. The Cascade 1200 has been on my radar since I started this stupid hobby, so I know that I’m good for that too.

I guess this was a long winding way of saying that I’m going to be riding a lot this year. You should too.

Also eating… I’ll be doing lots of that as well. Happy New Year.

Cooking the sauce

Croque-Madame (one of the best things, ever)
Serves 2 – adapted from Epicurious

There are lots of weak versions of this recipe out there. This one beats any I’ve tasted in any restaurant. You’re opinions may vary.

This has enough calories to get you through a 600K.

For sauce
• 2 tbps unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tbps flour
• 1 cups whole milk
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Black Forest Ham and Gruyere Cheese

For sandwiches
• 2 tbps unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 ounces coarsely grated Gruyère cheese (3/4 cup)
• 4 slices white sandwich bread
• Dijon mustard (to taste)
• 1/4 lb thinly sliced cooked ham
• 2 large eggs

Grilled in butter

Topped with sauce and broiled

Finished with a fried egg

Making the sauce:

Melt 2 tbsp of the butter over medium-low heat and whisk in the flour a bit at a time. Let the mixture (a roux) cook for about 3 minutes. It is important to keep whisking it so nothing burns. Consider it exercise for the calorie fest to come.

Slowly at the milk and whisk to incorporate. Bring it to a boil and then drop the heat to a light simmer. Let it cook for about 5 minutes but keep an eye on it. It will threaten to boil over if you aren’t careful. Whisk it occasionally.

Mix in the salt, pepper, nutmeg and 1/4 cup of the cheese until melted. Remove the sauce from the heat. Cover the mixture with a cloth or wax paper (not a lid) while you prepare the sandwiches.

Making the sandwiches:

Lay out the 4 slices of bread. Top two of the slices with a few tablespoons of the sauce each. Split the remainder of the cheese over the slices with the sauce. Spread mustard on the empty slices and top with ham.

Preheat broiler with rack 5 inches or so from heat source.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in large skillet and cook sandwiches over medium-low heat until golden brown, 2 minutes per side Alternatively, you could butter the bread directly, but I find that you need a bit more butter to cover that way.

Transfer sandwiches to a shallow baking pan and wipe out skillet.

Top sandwiches with the remainder of the sauce and broil until the top is golden and bubbly. Note that I cooked mine a touch too long. Keep a close eye on it. There is a very fine line between perfect and burned.

While that is cooking, start 1 tbsp of butter in the skillet you wiped out earlier. Fry up the 2 large eggs over medium heat with a touch of salt and pepper.

Top the sandwiches with the eggs. Eat it right away. Perfect.

Lobster Joe

Chris stopped by at 7am to ride the Leschi – Auburn – Leschi 200k on Saturday. Both of us were fresh off colds that kept us off of our bikes for a couple of weeks. Making matters worse (for myself at least), I’ve been eating pasta here and there… and there. There might have been beer and bourbon involved too. It is the holidays after all.

The forecast was “chance of rain” throughout the day. Seattlites know that means “definite rain” at least part of the day. As it turns out, the weather was all rain, all day. It was never dumping rain, but it was a steady drizzle throughout. Enough to soak through every layer I had on and then some. I was decked out in my full wool getup, so I was warm, but it wasn’t very comfortable either.

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