On A Plane in 3 Hours...

Here are some photos of our flat…and the new bike for France! Here’s a “neutral” take on Dubai, somewhat refreshing and it has its moments.

We leave tomorrow night for Ironman France. Am I ready you ask, well, as usual, “I am as ready as I will get.” Maybe I should find a new answer to that question? How about this, “My legs are tired, training in the heat takes it out of you…but I am good mentally.” Better, yes! Honest, check! My mantra for this race, never really had one before, “In order to push yourself, you will have to hurt!”

I think the new Cervelo R3 is all set-up and ready. Those mini ITU aerobars are NOT comfortable, not sure if I will use them, as they are heavy than I would like, but I will put one last effort on them tonight and make a decision. Tubulars are all glued up, bringing along two extra this time, no repeat of South Africa bike check-in. I’m weighing in at 79kilos (174lbs) and I think that is a good race weight, I wanted a kilo less, but I haven’t been disciplined enough in the last couple of weeks. This week is not the week to lose weight. Sleep lots and eat well, and don’t over eat.

The only thing not ready is the 11-28 SRAM Red cassette that I was going to put on Jen’s bike that has not come yet…it was supposed to come with the bike, but didn’t make it in the box and due to an error on the shipping label has been delayed from my Aramex box in NYC. We did swap in a 38 small ring for her, so I am hoping a 38x26 is good enough to spin up the 21km main climb.

We’ll be hitting the following cities on our Tour of Southern France and Northern Italy…

Nice, FR: June 24^th – 28th

Menton, FR: June 29-30th

Monterosso al Mare, IT: July 1^st – 2^nd

Nice, FR: July 3^rd and 4^th

Althen Des Paluds, FR: July 5th

Le Grau du Roi, FR: July 6^th – 7^th

The chaincondoms came today! Hopefully, now we can keep the rear of Jen’s Prado cleaner, less bike chain grease everywhere. Chain stains on beige interior isn’t all that pretty.

Welcome to Southern California?

As I drove to work today, I realized that driving 75 miles in little over an hour each morning and night isn’t too bad at all by SoCal standards.   The traffic I hit is only the last 10kms in Abu Dhabi because of the construction that might be done in the next 6 months, at least parts of it should open.  

The speed at which you drive is somehow directly proportionate to volume of cars sold in this country.  Drivers of car hire Mitsu Lancers, Toyota Yaris, Camrys, Landcruisers and Nissan Tiida and Patrols are the worst offenders of reckless speeding.   All cars that should not be speeding as they are A) Maxed out at 160kph+ or 2) 4x4s with no stability at speed.   Those cars built for the autobahn – BMW, Mercedes Benz, VW, Porsche, Maserati, Ferrari, Lambos – are sometimes the slowest on the roads.   While not always true, this general statement holds plenty of water, just like camel.

I really need to bust out the Rosetta Stone and get on my Arabic learning.  They have “to-go” CDs that I can listen to in the car while commuting.  I also might look into some books on CDs, something to expand the mind while my ass falls asleep driving. 

The move is done.  The place is great.  Just need some visitors. 

Three weeks to France.  Training is going well.  My bike legs have been missing, have you seen them?  Running and swimming have been a focus for a few weeks, so the bike legs took a vacation.   I have a TT planned for the weekend, although I was looking forward to a last long hilly ride to Kalba and back.  The new numbers will provide a new benchmark for post-France training.  Since some very fast Ironheads are doing Hulaman as well, I’ll need to get some post-wine and cheese training in.  However, looking at the the rides planned for the days we are catching TdF stages, there is plenty of kms and ascents to get the bike legs back pretty quick.   We should cover some 300kms and 5600 meters of climbing.  Do the math you Americans.  

From what I can tell France’s bike course will cover 2440 meters of climbing in the 180kms; which is like nearly adding another Ritcher Pass and Yellow Lake climb to Ironman Canada’s course.  Damn!    Good thing the run is a pancake. 

It’s warming up over here as summer rolls into town.  Topping out over 40C (105F) everyday now with increasing humidity.  Time to really go buy some wool/silk blend suits and hang up the 100% wool ones for a few months, they’re getting a little warm to walk from the car to the office in… 

My Ceverlo R3 arrived yesterday!  Super stoked, like a kid on xmas eve…I only opened and went through the box twice after it arrived before leaving work.  I’m having it built up in the next day or two, check back for first impressions.  I’m hoping it will weigh in at about 16lbs with race wheels.  Me, losing a kilo would be just a good, but no one asks me how much I weigh, just the bike! J

I’m really glad we moved to Dubai Marina and not somewhere outside of Abu Dhabi.  There is so much more in the Marina than Abu Dhabi.  The place is so much nicer and cheaper too!  The condo is also much bigger than what we could afford in AD.  2 bedrooms are pretty small in AD with very little living space.  The new place has a huge living/dining room overlooking the Marina, it’s pretty cool.  I feel like I am a resort and on vacation when I look outside.  Still paying RIDCIULOUS amounts in rent, but at least we are able to save some of Jen’s housing allowance. 

BTW, our Air France flights do not use the A330 to and from Nice.