After som un-eventfull flat ridding, we stoped near the bottom of the Col du Glandon for a supermarket lunch!

Right after we assaulted, what has becomed the most challenging climb I have even ridden.

Ticking allong!

RYTHUM RYTHUM RYTHUM!

A look back at the terrain conquered!

So close to the top and sucking in thin air! As I stared at the road in front of me, I could, painted on the road things like JAN JAN JAN or CONTADOR and other famillar names who climbed this hill some years ago!

DONESKIES!

Whats that saying a picture is worth a thousand words?

Now the hard part, going down the chilly downhills.
Very safelly!
I snapped a picture of a beautifull lake!

After some more ridding and climbing, we got very close to our destination!

Heres a view from the top, of the in-famous Alpe d’Huez and its 21 switchbacks!

Batman and Robin releaved that the climbing is done, for today

Once we got to the top, we went for a run and checked into our accom, went shopping, supper, ect. The atmoshpere up here is great, theres people on bikes everywhere and theres a pretty big expo with all sorts of gadgets!

Anyway, im racing on Thursday, so now its all about staying loose, staying off my feet and eating well!

We confronted our first big climb about 1 hour into the ride, going up La Forclaz on our way to lunch in Chamonix France!

After a long and cold descent we passed through the border Switzerland/France and I kid you not, as soon as we rode into france, the road quality degrated…

After another short climb and another short descent, we got into Chamonix France, home of the famous Mont Blanc and host of the first ever winter olympics in 1924!

And then had a typical bagette with accesories inside to fuel up for the rest of the ride!

Scotty loves Chamonix!

Scotty LOVES coffee!

After some more ridding, we got to our destination in Albertville, home of the 1992 winter Olympics!

We made our way got to our beds for the night, at the local F1!

`

These F1 are very very basic, me and big dave and our bikes share the same small room.

But the price is RIGHT!!! ahahahaha!

Well today is in the books, 159km ridden, 2 countries seen and lots of calories consumed!!

Tomorow is a bit shorter, but hiller, finishing at the top of Alpe d’Huez!

We go up this hill almost every day, after all track sessions, all time trials and some long rides. Heck, we even run up it a few times a month!

Its about 17km long and goes up to about 1300m from the bottom to the bat cave. Theres about a dozen switch back and has some gradual and stepish sections…

In fact, Alberto Contador won a stage here during the 2006 Tour of Romandie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AFnrv4AaYg&feature=related

Heres is a visual of our climb!

Heres a view of Leysin from the track!

Going up!

This board is very important in the winter time!

This gives you an idea of the challenge up ahead!

A great view at the start!

One of the many switchbacks!

Thankfully the roads are sweaped regularly, as there is often some sizable rocks on the road, which is dangerous on the downhill part!

More protection from the falling rocks!

This is the tunel! Its a bit stressfull because the cars engines echo's inside and its a bit narrow, but the tarmac is very smooth!

This is one of the very few flat sections! Actually this is where I got hit 3 yars ago by the abricot loving old man!

Almost there! Very close to our oasis in Le Sepez!

Le Sepez fountain is about 7 from the batcave!

Now the hill kicks up and gets quieter!

Almost there!!

This is a tricky section, the road quick ups, twists and you can see where your heading!

Approaching the final few turns...ALMOST THERE!

A view from the back, the conquered terrain!

Entering town and so close!

HOME!

My legs hurt just writting this, but its clear that “THE hill” is our bread and butter which makes us stronger, during our “cool down” TBB style!

Anyway, myself, batman and robin are ridding our bikes to Alpe d’Huez tomorow to race, and then we ride back!

Stay tuned for more tales about me and the dynamic duo!

Same blog.
Same people.
Different adventures!

On Saturday night, after our training was done, me and Scotty went on a 100km road trip to Morzine France to meet up with AJ and his mate who rode there during the day from Leysin! We then watched the consolation final of the soccer world cup and then planned our day to watch what would turn out to be a very dramatic day in this years tour =)

Morzine has hosted the tour several times and is presently bidding to host the 2018 winter Olympic Games with Annecy! Its at about 1000m altitude and was buzzing with cycling fanatics from all over the globe, especially americans!

On Sunday morning after my logn run, I was directed by the lady at the front desk to an ouber nice outdoor 50m pool near the city center, like a good triathlete I had a
swim gear handdy and went for a short swim! Well, long for some, but short according to TBB standarts

After that I meet up with the guys and we had a quick lunch near the main strip and waited for the sponsor caravans!

These caravans throw out to the crowds some random gear like little packs of chips, jujubes, hats, giant hands, key chains, ect.

The trick was, to stand near a group of small kids because the people in the caravans where prone to throw the “shawg” to them, versus some beared dude on the side of the road and then all we had to do was hussle to the free stuff =)

After that, we quickly went to the pub and watch the tour LIVE and then once they summited the second to last col, we headed out about 2km into the final climb and then waited anxiously! I agree, AJ needs a tan

This is a shoot of the break away group!

Heres Lance wayyyy back after 3 crashes during the stage…

And then shortly afterwards the “maillo jaune” Sylvain Chavanel!

I had planned to run beside Canuck cyclist Ryder Hesjedal (3rd in the GC on that day) like a geek and slap him on the ass but all the groups where surrounded by motor bikes and team cars…And even if it was up hill, there where flying up there. In fact, some of these guys, had their mouth closed and looked like they where just cruzing…ummm a little suspicious…

After that, we rushed back to the pub, watch a very exiting finish and then saw a HUGE cervelo truck!

After that, we quickly left and drive out into the sunset back to Leysin to watch the world cup soccer final!

This is what they call, A REAL BEEEER!

Anyway, to SUM it up, this was a very special experience, the atmosphere, the smilles, the cheering and to be this close to the tour de france, an event I watch so many times on TV over the year! Also a big thanx to AJ who was the master mind behind this trip!

This is an experience I recomend to all, cyclists, non-cyclist, cycling synics, ect.

VIVE LE TOUR!

Since I have been living with the dynamic duo, daily nutrition is a HUGE part of our training/recovery! My diet has changed a little big since I have been here, less rice and fruit replaced by more dairy and bread =)

Heres a typical day of eating:

It start with the coffee

And then some bread with knock off nutela with banana toping!

Breaky number two, here is a batman special:

A bowl of muselix with strawbery yogurt, banana and kiwi chunks!

Here’s Robin powered by baggets on his long ride!

And of course another coffee dose is a crutial part of breaky # 2

For hydration, robin use to wash down the cheppo ice tea from the COOP —>

But now, Alex got us a NUUN hydration sponsorship and we got ourself a box of NUUN in the batcave! THANX NUUN!

For lunch I like to make a fresh and colorfull salad!

-Half roman lettuce
-1 tomato
-1 hand full of peanuts
-1 hand full of chesse bits
-2 grated carrots
-2 hard boiled eggs

With the dressing of your choice!

For supper, my favorite has been chicken pasta with pesto:

-1 cup of noodles
-2 chick breast
-3 tea spons of olive oil
-1 cut up tomato
-1 hand full of parmesan chesse!
-1 huge slabber of GARLIC BASIL PESTO!

=

And then for desert I like to have a bar of chocolate! These ar supper cheppo, they cost 0.45 cents for 100g bar =)

At the local COOP, they have great prices of certain items that are PINK label, those are the no name “prix garanty” which means in english garanted price!

It seems to me, like the local Swiss, are a little to proud to buy the PINK label cheppo brands, but for us at the batcave, we have NO SHAME in showing up at the counter with a WHOLE basket of PINK label items!

So basically, as you can see, we eat very good and very balanced here at the batcave! Eating healthy is important not only for our bodies but for our minds! I believe that all engines need a bit of oil and grease to run smoothly our bodies are no different!

If I actually had money, I might eat a bit differently, but I would still by some PINK label item, because thats how I BE!

Heres a cool pic of me and Perdo Quatro from our Cervelo photoshot last week!

And finally, heres a picture of a nice rainbow outside our window!

They have been seeing the triathletes training here in the summer for many years and have had several get-togethers but this one was a bit special, because the mayor of the mountain was present!

The goal was to basicaly solicitate some funds for the kids, to help their running endevors!

We signed many autograph’s, t-shirts, hats, ect. and all the kids where supper exited to show off the medals they had won this year! They ranged from cross country running to track events to field events and also some road races!

We also did a short lap of the “forest loop” with the kids! But after a hard swim and a long hilly ride, we where are a little tired, and when the kids took off, well they REALLY took off! I can still remember being that young and energetic!

But as expected, they slowed down on the up hill

After a fast loop, they where a little tired…

But after a quick re-group we showed them some top secret TBB streches and drills! YEAH RIGHT! I know Brendon was hurting during those!

Afterwards the kids went running back and fort over a 200m track, that was specially made for a very famous bod-sleeder who lives or lived here?

And we also got fed =)

Anyway, like always, the goal of these meetings, if not to force or convince the youth to become proffessional athletes, but more to teach them to utilize sport, as a vessel to teach them the principals of hard work, consistency and self belief and the while learning about fair competition, how to accept defeat and to be humble during victory.

Especially with these kids, who live in such a safe and wonderfull country, where sport can allow them to travel to foreing destinations, see and taste the world, hear and meet different people, who might come from un-priviledge back grounds, who they would have never meet, or been to, without the journey of sport.

With the ultimate goal of them growing into gratefull, honest and competitive humans.

Bon soir.

Et bonne nuit

A typical Swiss morning start with a cup of coffee with Scotty and a baggette!

This is a pic from outside our appartement, can you guess which one we are? Im not sure which flag I should put up there? Canadian flag? Quebec flag? Or Philippines flag?

The great thing about this little mountain top village, is that the swim pool is about in the middle so its a close walk from everywhere! Its about 4-5 min walk from our place so me, Scotty and James walk together!

James doesn’t only run fast, he walks fast as well!

Another great thing about Switzerland is all the water fountains everywhere flowing with cold fresh mountain water =)

After our swim, and more coffee and bagettes, we meet at the Subaru garage before starting our descent!

WARNING about this ole man around the hill, hes a DANGER to all cyclist!

This is a cool shot I got out of our balcony, its a helicopter hauling a little Swiss chalet!

Scotty is getting ready to fly to Nice for Ironman France next sunday! Hes been in great spirits and fitter than ever!

This is a very ugly site, I know some tri geeks are going to cringe from this traumatic and graphic photo, but atleast James walk away only with a few bumps and scratches…Thank godness for the vignette =)

Whats that saying, shaken but not stirred!

Anyway, from all the exitement in this new week, I got a little sick and been feeling pretty cold very often because well, I have been living in Asia for a while! The swimming as been challenging because of the altitude and I have to get used to those things called warm ups and warm downs.

I dont practice those on my own…We must be doing these because of the cooler weather and to sneak in extra miles!

The ridding has been spectacular, I love ridding in Europe, well not when its cold and wet, but the rest of the time, the terrain is souper challenging and theres always other cyclist on the road THe roads a pretty smooth and I dont have to have to buy water EVER!!

The run, we have been doing quite a bit of intensity, which will do me good, down the road, thats for sure! Im the slowest runner of my group, which means I dont have anything to lose and all to gain! I have some very experienced and sucessfull training mates who keep me in my place

Heres a pretty Swiss sunset!

Oh and of course, I miss my little Joyette soooooo MUCH and I even mist her birth day…

I dont like the city, and being from Canada, I love open spaces. Heres not the case…

THe majority of my swimming was done at the pool at the bottom of the appartement building. The rest of the time, me and Joyette would go for a “thrilla on EDSA” to some of the local 50m pools. Some of which, are closed, or just opened. Systematicaly, all the puplic pools in the city are closed on monday for cleaning…Those that mean they dont clean on a daily basis?

So this is the pool I did most of my swimming in, its got a funny shape, but if I swim it the right angle, I can get about 27m or so Im guessing anyway.

I had to be very carefull about when I go to the pool, because even one other person in the pool can make my session well, irritating…Add in a few more and its a nightmare..But luckly Philippinos are very predictable, so I had the pool to myself when I did go! Thank you sun!!!

The pool even has a little water fall!

I had to nail my flip turns on a very ackward surface, it was very slippery and kinda oval shapped! Close to the bridge where I often had spectators!

Most of my cycling is done at the Mall of Asia where a suprising amount of locals ride up and down a 1.8km strech of road on a daily basis very early in the morning! So me and Joyette where pretty lucky, we could ride to the “loop” and then ride away from there, back and fort over and over!

On a good day, pushing a big gear, I can go from start to finish on about 2 minutes and change! Theres often, well every day large groups ridding, but you know, white rice power dont allow them to ride very fast or for very long, so I would blow by them pretty swiftly!

As you can imagine, I stand out quite a bit when I ride there, especilly while ridding Pedro Quatro. So that gave me an invisible X on my butt.

At first, the free wheelers would annoy me, but after a while I got immude to it, unless they made a sad attempt to overtake me or come beside me to try to chat me up. At that point, I was very un-friendly and vulgar if they would start to be foolish.

The other bit of my cycling was done on the indoor trainer. YAWWWN!

Running was done mostly on the track at the Rizal memorial center and at fitness first at MOA. My run did benefit from that, I know.

I also spent a bit to get Pedro Quatro ready for the Alpes, because I am not a great bike handler and will hopefully be jumping into some draft legal races, sooner than later…

I also got myself some nice new brakes that are specially made for wet weather, because well, if you ever ridden a P4, you would understand! Better be safer than less in the mountains…

So in 24 hours, I will be heading to the airport with my life packed in 20 kilos and make a return to the first world. Its been a while…I remember when I was a kid in school, my one teacher use to tell us, that Canada was the second best country in the world, and that Switzerland was the first!

She also told us, that USSR aka Russia had just split into a dozen countries and that Haitie was the poorest country in the world…

Im very exited to join Doc and my teamates, well they are a but more than just teamates, there my cooworkers and peers. They people who share the same passion and simular objectives as me, regardless of what country we hale from.

Every time I go to camp, I learn new things, about people, life, myself, ect. Things that I would have never ever learned in a class room. Thats a guaranty.

I will miss the Philippines, I will my little girl friend Joyette, I will miss the tropical fruits, I will miss being called SIR and all the smilles and I will even miss all the attention I get from the badings. AHAHAHA HELL NO!

Attention la Suisse, Mathieu arrive bientot!!

Hey I recently took some down time from my training to travel down south to Mindano and visit the Batang Sports Institute in Cagayan De Oro. My role as a mentor is to have a look at them in action, do some sessions with them and over see their training plan!

Its also good time to catch up with my TBB team mate Neil and chat with coach Joshua about the kids upcomming events and the start of the shcool year!

Sir Al, who is the master mind behind the whole opperation had plans for training trip to the beautifull Camiguin Island, which started with an 85km bike ride down the coast! With a stop mid way for a swim!

The kids showing young enthusiam, jumped in first!

After that, we got back on our bikes and rode off, and well, then kids once again, showed their true class with yet another swift transition!!

After that, we split up, with a smaller group to head to the ferry towards Camiguin, and to put a long story short, the bike ride was more enjoyable than the boat ride…

The next day we went for some swimming and scuba diving!

After check in we jumped on a boat!

And then go to our destination!

A crash course on how to use my equipement

I was under water seeing a world I had never seen before! So quiet and serene, un-touched and pure! Its like nothing else matters, weightless and oblivious to everything, exept to what I see in that moment, I was down there for maybe 1 hour, which felt like 1 min, just like going through a time warp…

After my first dive, we went for some food and exploring this small island!

LETS EAT!

Desert, Philipinno style!!

And then some hanging out time with the great view of Camiguin island!

So after one last dive, we got back on our boat and headed for the bigger island!

Uh I guess this is the local way to keep your cell phone on your body?

Anyway, this was a great experience, that I am sharing to all the readers!

The locals say, the CAMIGUIN really means COMEAGAIN!

I have no problem believing that…

Sunscrean is big buisness here in the Philippines because the sun is so hot and locals would rather be paler than darker! It actually comes back to old-school stereotype of the dark people are poor native labourers who work long hours under the sun.

Anyway, doing this race was a very last minute decision and since I new that my kuya Rio “afroman” De La Cruz was the organiser, I was on the starting line at sunrise with Joyette and some friends and some of her familly members and of course the hardcore Fitness First and Polo Tri team weekend champions!

So the race, since I had been doing quite a bit of intensity this week, the goal was to run at my best aerobic pace. With a long warm up and a long warm down, this day put the long in long run.

The gun went off and as usual a lot of jokers went off the front!
I soon noticed that a kenyan was running right behind me! I then chated him up a little bit in Swahily

Me ” Abari Asabui?” translation “how are you this morning?”
Him “musuri sana” translation “im fine thanx”
Me “I love running in your country, especially in Iten”
Him “Iten is my home!”
Me “I like to run the pound loop, its also 15km”
Him “yes me too, its close to my hut”

So after than we both moved to the front of the field with an other Pinoy!
At exactly 5km mark, the Kenyan just took off, I mean he just flew away and ran out of site pretty quickly. The Pinoy “tried” to go with him but could not…

Go figures…

So now I was in 3rd place and I just paced myself, took some liquids and heard my name screamed a few times after the turn around when we crossed the middle and back of the field

With about 3km to go, I was running nicely in control and decided to surge uphill and close the gap on 2nd place. At the top of the hill, the 2nd place Pinoy turn around and saw me, he immediatly put in a surge, at that time, I was about 25m or so behind…

With 2km to go, I was chasing hard, but like all other run races I have done here in the Philippines, they start the long events first and then the shorter events last.

Meaning, that theres a tone of pedestrian traffic in the final km’s before the finish line.

So the 2nd place Pinoy dispeared into the crowd of joggers who where doing the 3km or 5km or 10km race.

I keep pumping my arms, turning my legs over and keeping my chin down all the while ZIG ZAGING around runners and taking the corners wide and skipping the final aid stations…

With 100m to go, I saw the 2nd place runner cross the line, I opened up my range of motion and grinned as I crossed the finish line in a time of 54:33, I was quickly congradulated by Rio and his girl friend Kaye.

All in all, is was a good training run, I won a bit of prize money, got some free food, me new people, see familliar faces and got 3 new t-shirts!

Did a swim in the evening and another Sunday in the legs.