SRAM in the Pro Ranks
Well, it sure didn't take long for SRAM to establish itself in the pro ranks, did it?
Superhero Fashion Issues
If you're old like me, you may remember such cartoons as Thundercats, He-man, and Superfriends.
If so, please allow me to get lowbrow for a moment and send you here:
Voigt!
Jens Voigt won stage 18 of the Giro today. He joined a breakaway 10km into the race, and took off on his own with about 35k to go. People tried, but nobody was going to catch him, and he rode to victory alone with plenty of time to sit up and enjoy the moment.
I don't look up to many people, but this guy seems to be top notch. Whenever he wins, he does it the hard way, and always with class. Definitely my favorite guy in the pro ranks.
The road (not) less traveled
So as I said earlier, I rode to the beach on Saturday. Weather was fantastic - nice and sunny, plenty warm out. My route - take back roads out to Roy road, then jump on Hwy 26 to go up and over the mountains, and take Hwy 53 to Manzanita.
The ride from home out west along West Union was wonderful. Perfect weather, nice scenery, beautiful. I spun on my merry way towards Dairy Creek and beyond.
When I got on Highway 26, things looked great. There's a huge shoulder to ride on, and it was no problem up to Vernonia. At that point, the gravel left over from the winter started to get pretty heavy. It's a good thing I decided to ride a 'cross bike with Specialized Armadillo tires on it.
Up and over the mountains, it was not safe to ride outside the shoulder, and it was completely filled with a nice bounty of loose gravel. Going up some of those big hills, motor homes buzzing by, gravel crunching under my tires, was not very fun. The descents were kind of nuts, but I feel comfortable riding fast in gravel, so the occasional drift didn't bother me. I don't know how fast I was going, but there were spots where I was spinning a 53x11 pretty fast, and cars were passing me very slowly. I once hit a big hole, hidden because it was filled with gravel. My front wheel dug down and hit the lip of the hole and sent quite the smack through my whole body. At high speed, that could have spelled disaster, but since I was in the drops, I simply lost my grip for a second or so and never even swerved. Shwew!
There's a drinking water fountain on the side of Hwy 26, fed by a clean creek or something. People always stop there to fill up water jugs, and I always stop there to fill up my water bottles. A nice woman said hello as I pulled up, saying they were wondering how I could stay upright in all that gravel. "It looked pretty gnarly to us," she said. I agreed, said I was looking forward to getting off the highway, and went on my way.
Later on down the road, I was out of water and getting thirsty. I saw Saddle Mountain state park, so I decided that might be a good place to fill up the bottles. I just kept ridding up and up and up this one lane road, and nothing was up there...nothing. I finally turned around to look elsewhere. But take note - the road to Saddle Mountain looks like a spectacular climb, just not something I'd recommend after climbing through the Cascades unless you are in really good shape.
Highway 53 was just down the road, and with it, a convenience store. I refilled my bottles and headed down 53 for a beautiful, gravel free ride to the coast. Highway 53 is a really nice ride. Very pretty, low traffic, winding roads, but there was quite a stiff headwind. I'll admit I was pretty tired, so I just did what I could to get to the beach.
I think I finally rolled in almost five hours later, smelling quite ripe and ready for a shower. I decided not to ride my bike home today due to the sketch road conditions, and I'm not going to do that ride again until the shoulders have been cleared of all that gravel. It was kind of a sketchy ride, but it was a good character building experience.
I hope you got a nice weekend ride in, too.
I'm off to the beach
I'm off to the beach, and I am going to try a new route. Hope there are no surprises. If I don't make it, Gewilli can have my Giant TCX 'cross frameset. This should be good.
Julia Nailed It
The kids school had a talent show last Friday. Our neighbor, little Julia Novoa, along with her dad Dennis on guitar sang Bubbly and totally nailed it. The crowd was shocked and went nuts when she finished. Amazing. I was so happy for the two of them. Congrats, Novoas! I'll try to steal a video, because it was pretty good.
PIR, May 20, 2008
I made it out to race at PIR again tonight. I haven't been out there very much so far, so I had no idea how it'd go.
Turns out it went okay. I broke away for a lap to get a couple hotspot points and bridged up to what I thought was the winning break (it wasn't). I got really warmed up with about three laps to go and tested my sprint a little bit. I was really feeling like I could do something very good in the final sprint, so I stayed in the front. Sat in about 8th wheel on the last lap, and then the pack just went nuts on the final straight.
One kid in front of me was (in my view) sprinting kinda dangerously, had a nasty run-in with the wall, and went down. I thought I might run over him, but he grinded against the wall long enough that I was able to stop. I reluctantly stopped to offer my assistance in peeling him off the road, but he was able to get up on his own. I hope he's doing okay, as it looked like it really hurt. Regardless, the two meager hot spot points gave me 12th place for the night. I guess that's okay.
I then spun across the finish line without sprinting, and I don't enjoy that. When I'm all wound up ready to go all out in a sprint, and then it doesn't happen...well it leaves me feeling a little frazzled and grumpy. Still, I'll focus on the positives, primarily that I was able to be competitive tonight in the 1-2-3 field. That's nice to know, right? Right.
Mr. Exaggerated Lateral Movement Sprinter
Tonight, I'll drink a cold one in your honor, Mr. Exaggerated Lateral Movement Sprinter! Here's to you!
While most people sprint efficiently, you go that extra mile and tilt your bike 45 degrees with each pedal stroke, even if you're only going 25 miles per hour. Straight line? Not for you! You prefer to do little "S" curves as you power towards the finish line.
While the extreme bike tilt technique shows itself in the pro peloton, those guys are pushing a 54x11. Uphill. You, well, you are not. But you look the part, and that's what's important!
Well done, sir. Well done!
La Finquita del Buho
For the past four years, we've been members of a community farm. From May to September, every week, we go and pick up fresh, organic produce. Our farm is named La Finquita del Buho.
Finquita is a CSA (community supported agriculture). We, along with about 29 other families, pay a lump sum up front before the season starts. What we get in return is our produce, and we share in the farms successes and hardships.
We enjoy the seasonal produce, from the early purple sprouting broccoli and kale to the later basil and huge heads of lettuce, and finally heirloom tomatoes. It's all good.
You know, you can get produce grown just about anywhere. But should you? Should you be eating fresh strawberries in January? I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's just something I've been thinking about for a few years.
Anyway, I *want* there to be small family farms in my community. I like getting my produce from the same area I go to ride my bike, where the scenery is much nicer on the eyes than a new cookie cutter subdivision. I like visiting a farm and seeing something that actually resembles what our image of a farm actually is. I want to support them, and this is a really good way to do it.
Finquita is a CSA (community supported agriculture). We, along with about 29 other families, pay a lump sum up front before the season starts. What we get in return is our produce, and we share in the farms successes and hardships.
We enjoy the seasonal produce, from the early purple sprouting broccoli and kale to the later basil and huge heads of lettuce, and finally heirloom tomatoes. It's all good.
You know, you can get produce grown just about anywhere. But should you? Should you be eating fresh strawberries in January? I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's just something I've been thinking about for a few years.
Anyway, I *want* there to be small family farms in my community. I like getting my produce from the same area I go to ride my bike, where the scenery is much nicer on the eyes than a new cookie cutter subdivision. I like visiting a farm and seeing something that actually resembles what our image of a farm actually is. I want to support them, and this is a really good way to do it.
Making Pizza
I make a LOT of pizza. Here's how I do it.
Making The Dough
I make my own dough, usually using 5 parts white high gluten flower, 1 part whole wheat flower. Using wheat flower makes the dough taste more robust, and it's a little healthier for you. On the down side, it makes the dough harder to work with. I make big batches, six cups of flour per batch. That will make two HUGE pizzas, or four mid sized (I make four per batch).
I mix the dough in a mixer using a yeast hook for a good 10 minutes. I cut the dough in half, spray it with oil or Pam, and put it in a bread bag to keep it from drying out in the air. I let it rise for a little over an hour, until it's about double in size. At that point, I gently deflate the dough (letting the yeasty air out of the bag) and then move it into the refrigerator, where it sits undisturbed for at least 4-6 hours, preferably 12-18 hours. The cold environment slows the rising process, making pizza dough actually taste like pizza dough instead of bread. If, after about 24 hours or so, I haven't used the dough, it goes into the freezer.
Rolling the Dough
When the time comes to make the pizza, I spread corn meal on the (clean) counter top, and roll it out. I try to stretch it by hand as much as possible, and use a rolling pin to finish the job, as necessary. I'd prefer not to use a rolling pin, but that wheat flower sometimes makes it difficult. I roll the dough out in a circle, about the same size as the pan. I don't make a big crust anymore because nobody seems to eat it. Now, my crusts are quite small and they do get eaten.
Size
If you're cooking for just your family, maybe making one big monster pie is all you need. But I think smaller is better. Why? Because with the big monster pie, they eat one piece and they're full. With smaller, thinner pizza, they can eat a lot more, and enjoy the variety you throw at them. This rings especially true when cooking for a large group of people. 10-12 inches works best.
The Pan
You can use a pan, a stone, or whatever. I use a pizza screen, because it enables me to cook the pizza really hot. You can use a pizza pan and cook for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, or you can use a screen and cook for 10 minutes or less at 500 degrees. Bread tastes better when cooked hotter, and from what I've seen, that also applies to pizza crusts. So give a screen a try. I use 12 inch pizza screens. I think I bought them on Amazon.com for about four bucks each.
The Sauce
I sometimes just do an olive oil base, but usually do a two phase sauce instead. The first layer is just olive oil and some sort of sugar (agave nectar works well). The second layer is a fairly run-of-the-mill tomato sauce. The sugar in the olive oil base takes some of the distracting bite out of the tomato sauce.
The Cheese
Next comes the cheese. Lots of shredded mozzarella cheese. Don't go crazy, just a generous layer that coats the pizza. You can sneak a layer of fresh basil leaves under there so they don't get burned to a crisp in the oven, too.
The Toppings
Next comes the toppings. Anything that needs to cook more should be on top. Anything delicate (e.g. spinach or basil leaves) should go on first, so other toppings can protect them from getting burned. Top everything off with a small sprinkling of a more pungent cheese (e.g. parmesan) and it's ready for the oven.
Cooking
I'm lucky to have a convection oven. I fire it up to 475 or so and bake two or three pizzas at a time. Cook it as hot as you can. It's done when the crust is done, so I'll adjust the temperature to make the toppings done when the crust is done.
On the outdoor grill, I heat it up to at least 400 degrees and put two pizzas (on screens) on the top shelf. They come out great.
Serving
Some people think you should let the pizza sit for a few minutes, to allow everything to set. I guess that's probably a good idea. For me, the hotter, the better, so I don't usually wait. I cut it up, transfer from the screen to a serving platter, and serve it to the family/guests/whomever. By the time it gets to them, it's been sitting long enough to eat. Meanwhile, I reserve a piece for me and eat it while it's still scalding hot.
Enjoy
That's how I do it. Hope you learned something.
