Messages from the Pale Blue Dot

Riding Under the Tuscan Sun

After four weeks off the bike, following the fall in Cape Town, I assembled the Griffen on my arrival in Florence for a quick bike ride. Jet lag, too much airplane food and some real body cobwebs made for a tough ride. But it was great to be out in Tuscany, rolling through the meadows and through the hills in early Spring but also to be cycling again. This awful feeling would pass.

Nostalgic Recuperation

My fall in Cape Town two weeks ago apparently wasn't as minor as I had thought at the time. Although the radiologist studied the x-rays and determined that there were no broken ribs, my absolutely non-medical hunch is that either something is cracked or I did a pretty damn good job of bruising the bones. Whatever it is, it is not healing quickly and I was not doing anything to help. This week I tried working out again, going to the gym on Sunday, running in Central Park on Monday and then back to the gym on Tuesday. But, all that activity seemed to make my breathing even more painful and any twisting or lifting motion really hurt.

So, I've just finished taking four days off, hanging out in my recliner chair computer setup, working online but taking it easy and giving whatever has broken in my chest the chance to get better. And, while here, I filled some of the time by going through a box of old photos, scanning some of the better ones and posting them to my Facebook page Photos from Decades Ago

From those photos, there are a few that merit some comment, particularly as this blog has become more and more athletics oriented recently.

In 1977, after a six-year break after high school during which I was doing stand-up comedy and nightclub performing, I started running again. I'd run in high school, but poor coaching and lousy shoes in 1969 had left me with bad shin splints and an association between running and unenlightened authoritarianism. But the years of late nights, bar food and alcohol had taken their tool. One night a young woman asked me how old I was. "Twenty-five," I said.

"Oh, too young for a pot belly."

That did it. Within weeks I had a membership at the Aerobics Center in North Dallas, run by the reluctant guru of aerobic sports, Ken Cooper. I started going out to Dallas White Rock lake each morning, to run the 9.2 mile loop with a group of guys called the 7:11 Group. Many of these guys were airplane pilots, but there was also a character named Irving Adelstein, a local jewelry store owner, who grew to be one of my personal idols and was an excellent mentor and father-figure. Between 1977 and 1984, I'd either run around the lake in the morning or meet up with a group of hard-core marathoners called the "Kamikazes" who met at 5:00 am each morning at the Cooper Center to run intervals and hill sprints.

My first marathon, in San Francisco in June 1979, was a respectable 3:14. My second, a few months later in Denton, Texas was below three hours. However, in order to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 1980, I needed to run at least a 2:50 time. So, at the Dallas White Rock Marathon, the first week of December 1979, I finished the 42 km in 2:48, just a tad under four minutes per kilometer. The photo above was taken that day, at 67 kilos and twenty-six years old. Now ten kilos and twenty-eight years later, I wonder if I will ever be in that great a shape again. It is certainly something to work towards!

There is the old saying that you can tell a tell an athlete by asking him or her, "How is your injury?" If they reply, "Which one?" then you know they are in training. These last nine months, between the torn cartilage, gout in late August/early September, the recovery from knee surgery and now two weeks healing my busted ribs, if it isn't one thing, it has been something else keeping me from getting out there and training on a consistent basis. Hopefully, I've had my quota of mishaps and can get on with the business of preparing for the upcoming season.

The good news yesterday was:

     Entry number: 248404
     NYRR member number: 05247

     Dear Langston J Goree,
     We have received your guaranteed entry to the 2008 ING New York City Marathon.

After being rejected in the marathon lottery in 2005, 2006 and 2007, I'm guaranteed an entry this year. (However, it still irks me that while a member of the New York Road Runners Club and a taxpayer in the city that hosts the event, I can't more easily get into the marathon in my own home town, run by my own club.) So, my big goal for the year will be to qualify for the Boston marathon in 2009 by running better than 3:45 in November and, if possible, run New York better than 3:30 so that I don't have to enter the lottery in 2009! So, twenty-six years later, is it possible to run just forty-two minutes slower than my best? We'll see.

This week there was a very interesting RadioLab show on WNYC about "Deception." One of the segments, called "Lying to Ourselves" points to research that shows that athletes who are self-deceptive tend to be more successful. Maybe, to really do well in sports or life, we have to tell ourselves that things are possible that really just aren't, in order to achieve them. It probably worked for me in 1979 and may work again. So, here goes, "I can qualify for Boston again in November!" There are lies, damned lies, and personal challenges.

Cape Argus Cycle Tour - South Africa

The Cape Argus Pick n' Pay Cycle Tour is the largest timed bicycle race in the world. Drawing more than 39,500 riders from around the world in a race that has waves of timed start groups beginning at 6:00 am.

I stumbled off of an all-night flight from London Heathrow at about 10:00 am on Saturday, the day before the race, located my bicycle and duffle bag and grabbed a taxi to the Westin Grande Hotel, only blocks from the exposition and starting area. After putting my bike together, I went over to the registration area to pick up my number, race chip and some packets of drink powder for pre-race hydration and for my bottles during the ride.

Richard Sherman, who runs our African Regional Project and lives in Cape Town and I went for dinner and beers at Relish, a great neighborhood bar/restaurant near his home in the trendy area of town called Bo Kaap. Honestly, now that I look back on the weekend, I probably should have arrived a day earlier so that I could have rested before the ride. Three all-night intercontinental plane flights over ten days, too many time changes, strange food and drink and then heading out to hammer on a bicycle at physical red-line for three and a half hours up and down the hills around Cape Town, I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking. No wonder I fell apart on Sunday night after the race.

The race day was magnificent! Blue skies, no wind, and temperatures that ranged a bit on the high end, particularly on the back-side of the course away from the ocean (24-29 degrees.) The course went south-east, climbing out of Cape Town, before going fast and flat along the coast. The second half of the ride is almost all hills, never anything more than 183 meters high, but there is enough up and down so that the entire ride is about 1938 meters of climbing.

   

For much of the ride, there were a group of us who started together in the "Z" group of international riders, riding in a fast pace line. The "Z" train would hammer along at 35-40 kmph on the flat, forming up, reforming, and passing thousands of riders. Our group, an un-seeded group, started after the slowest of the seeded riders and there were some fast international guys. I rode with a German, a Dane and a South African living in Virginia. I lost touch with them on the last climbs, since I felt strong toward the end, climbing like a wild man, passing riders like they were standing still. The early season work in Thailand and Monaco had paid off!

So, final numbers for the day.. 108.2 km in 3:33, average speed 30.6 kph, average heart rate 153, with 45 minutes of the race at 92% of maximum heart-rate or better. I was redlined for the entire race. No backing off, no taking it easy. A great effort.

However, my post-race strategy was not so smart! Rather than get a good meal and some sleep, I headed for the bar in the hotel and rehydrated with beer and ate a nice, but not particularly filling meal with more beers. I was totally wiped out and crashed at about 4:30 pm and slept until 10:00 am the next morning. The only thing I remember was waking up to chat with Pam on the Internet and then slipping in the bathroom around midnight, falling on the edge of the bathtub. I think I was just so run down, left it all on the road on Sunday and then did all the wrong things after the race. The result, I spent Monday in bed nursing a bad bone bruise on my ribs. Arrggh.

Now, on Tuesday, the hotel doctor paid a house-call this morning and set up a series of x-rays for me at the Christian Barnard Hospital in town since he suspected that I had fractured my rib. The xrays came back negative, but the doctor said that a bone bruise can be as painful and take as long to heal as a broken rib. But at least I now know that I didn't break anything and I'm hoping that the recovery time will be short and I can get back to training soon. But, I'm going to look at my travel and training schedule over the next few months and cut back a bit on one or the other. Obviously the intercontinental training and racing schedule is a young man's game and is one more begrudgingly acknowledgement that I'm not twenty-seven anymore, but twice that age.

Winter Cycling in Northern Europe

Somehow the plan worked perfectly! After riding in Monaco two weeks ago, I got in a good ride in Frankfurt before flying back to New York, where it was too cold to ride ... So, I left my bike at the Frankfurt Sheraton and returned there mid-week for a nice ride on Wednesday, as the snow was falling. There was not too much to stick or make it dangerous, but it was a wintry ride.

Then, two days later, I rose at dawn and rode easy in Copenhagen, up north along the ocean towards Helsinor.

Denmark is one of the all time best place to cycle, since everyone is out on bikes, there are bike paths and bike highways and all the drivers very considerate of cyclists. This is one of the places where being blond, blue-eyed and riding a bicycle makes you just one of the masses, not some object of international curiosity.

Pre-Flight Workout at FRA

After two days in Vienna, participating in the UN Energy meeting, I arrived back in Frankfurt last night and set up my bike before heading to the Starwood Club Lounge on the 9th Floor for drinks and a snack dinner. The Sheraton at FRA is one of the best hotels in the world for hubbing out of an airport, since it is just across the road from the main terminal and has a splendid lounge for Starwood Platinum Preferred guests. I was there on Sunday night, left most of my stuff (including my bike), and flew to Vienna for one night and then back to Frankfurt the next day. Now, I have left my bike and most of my stuff behind, while I fly to New York and go to Washington next Monday and return to Frankfurt Wednesday morning.

There is no better way to prepare for a nine-hour plane flight than by getting a good workout in first. Not only does it make sitting in a set for a long time very tolerable, but since I used a United "System Wide Upgrade" certificate to snag a seat in Business Class, refueling on all the tasty morsels over the Atlantic becomes a guilt-free exercise.

Nice ride this morning in the flatlands surrounding the Frankfurt Airport. After hills in Thailand and mountains in Monaco, it was a treat to fly around the airport.

Almost 66 km in just over two and a half hours, but with frequent stops to figure out GPS directions and to wait for train crossings. Made it back to the hotel just in time to shower, pack, race across the road and board the flight to Washington.

Cols I have loved: Col de Torini

Looks like a totally boring ride.. up and down:

However, this is one of the classic climbs of all time!! The Col de Torini has been a Tour de France climb and is one of the famous rally events, with sports cars tearing up and down the switch-backs. I started this morning from Sospel, riding to the northwest for 24.5 km up, up and up without a break.

I drove to Sospel, left town at 8:00 am and climbed through the clouds into the blue skies, up into the snow. At about 1300 meters, I hit black ice on the road and the back wheel would spin for a moment as I stomped on the pedals. The ice was actually much more scary on the descent, which I did like an old lady on the wet and icy switchbacks. No sense in ruining a wonderfull week of riding in the Maritime Alpes by sliding off the road, falling hundreds of meters to a painful and possibly terminal landing.

My week of riding in the Southern Alps is done. This has been a great jump-start on the season and my reconstructed knee is working well, albeit a little stiff from time to time after long rides, but nothing unexpected given the stress of thousands of meters of vertical climbing in a short period of time. Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger. Hopefully, all of this will pay off during the Cape Argus Classic in Cape Town, three weeks from now!

Saint-Agnés Loop

This morning's ride was a classic!! Georgina, my friend on the UK Delegation, finished up her morning meeting and got a pass for a few hours to get out and climb big mountains on her bike with me. We met up just before 8:00, leaving from sealevel and climbing, non-stop for an hour and forty minutes, for a total of 1413 meters, before a thrilling descent down through Saint-Agnés to Menton and then back up over another smaller pass backhome. In all, the total climbing was 2090 meters over 45.65 km in 2:35. Just fast enough for both of us to make it back to the Global Ministerial Environment Forum in time before we were missed.

Col de Nice and Col de Braus

Today, Thursday, was a quick workout, consisting of two "cols" or passes, starting late in the afternoon following work at the Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Monaco. I drove out to Les Montes, parked the car and rode up and back, arriving back before dark and in time to get back to work at the conference for the evneing.

So, the numbers for this ride were 2:14 moving time, with 1818 vertical meters of climbing, about 40 km and top speed of 68.5 kmph.

Into the Alpes Maritime

Spectacular riding day! If you like big hills, long climbs, thrilling descents, quaint little towns, perfect temperatures, clean air and a full day of cycling, this was the perfect day.

Yes, unbelievably 3593 meters of vertical climbing in three long ascents.

Yes, those are switchbacks that stretch from the valley floor up to a top at about 1400 meters. Straight (sort of) up the mountain. No cars, about 13 degrees and all alone on one of those climbs you see during the Tour de France.

It was a long day, but not exhausting. I took my time, stopped for a long and lovely lunch at Chez Régine at 307 Route de l'Escarène in La Pointe de Contes, where I had a salad with apples, raisins, goat cheese and fresh mixed greens, two cups of very strong coffee and fresh French bread.

Today was a "no-chain" day, one of those rare rides where it feels like you don't have a chain and the climbs are effortless. The only low moment was when a pro-rider from Crédit Agricole came flying past me on one of the steeper climbs. I was doing a respectable 18 kmph uphill and this guy came by at something around 26 kmph. He also looked 23 and weighed 50 kilos. It was a reality check.

Cycling through Monte Carlo

After a quick week in New York, struggling with the twelve time zone change from Thailand and getting ready for yesterday's six time zone change to Europe, I think that my body actually successfully shifted the six hours westward, while my body went three-quarters of the way around the world the other direction. Somehow I arrived here in the Principality of Monaco absolutely on this time zone (and my apologies to Pam and the boys who put up with me last week falling asleep in the late afternoon and getting up at 2:00 am while I was at home.)

One of the benefits of sticking to a single hotel chain are the upgrades. I've been staying at the Starwood properties (Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien) for the last few years and now, when checking into a hotel like the Le Meridien Beach Plaza here in Monaco, they upgrade me to the best available room. In this case, a lovely suite overlooking the beach (and you can see the conference site in the background.) The United Nations Environment Programme Global Ministerial Environment Forum is the annual opportunity for the world's environment ministers to meet for a three-day event, held ever other year outside of Nairobi. This year it is in Monaco, which seemed to me a good opportunity to get in some riding in the Maritime-Alps located just above this idyllic seaside resort. Our reports and photos from this meeting can be found at http://www.iisd.ca/unepgc/unepss10/

Yes, no beard. After almost twenty years, I shaved it off last week after consulting with Pam and the boys (they, of course, have to look at my face much more than I do.) When I was cycling with Markus two weeks ago in Thailand, everyone asked Markus about his "Papa," referring to me. They thought I was his father! Following a day of hammering up and down mountains on a bike, back at the hotel I was suddently grandpa. "It very good your father still ride bicycle." It was the beard, which has turned (prematurely of course) white, that was making me look aged. Much better now.

After a short night on a flight from New York to Frankfurt and a connection to Nice, followed by a wild ride through the tunnels and along the cliffs coming up the coast to Monaco, I checked into the hotel and went out for a quick ride before the sun set.

560 meters of climbing in about 16 km of riding over 50 minutes. Not much more than a short tuneup, but just lovely riding along this coastline in late afternoon.

One final note. After being rather schizophrenic when it comes to distances, heights and temperature, I have decided to go all metric. From now on there will be no more references to miles, feet and feeling chilled at 40 degrees. All metric, all the time.