Riyadh Pics

Riyadh Wheelers 100km Cycling Race

Well, the race is over.  My season is over.  Wow, It's March!  Time to root for Stewart and Dayton to break out of Cat.5 back in Canada.  Here in Saudi I will settle into the air conditioning and set up the bike on the trainer to keep the cardio activity up.  They count the number of days that reach 50C here as opposed the the number of days that surpass 30C in Edmonton.  So riding outside will not be feasible.  Mohd says it's often 40C by 6 or 7 am.

Putting the race on the calendar worked really well to give something to focus on and to keep from going too far south on fitness.  I was not the same rider I was last summer due to the move, the new job and joining in mid-season (Sept to early April) in Saudi.

The person who was prepared was Mohd, the "rookie".  I'm ptetty sure he was the strongest rider there.  (For my biker savvy friends, he's a 5.2 watts/kg rider.) 

We made the 4 hour drive to Riyadh on Thursday night to then wake at 5am.  Carl, a Jubail Cycling Club member from the UK joined us but his race was affected with mechnical issues.  We arrived at the course about 1 hour before start time.  My quick estimation is about 120 riders (all but about 5 were men).   About 30 were Saudi.  About 60 were Philippinos,  the balance were other expats.  Mohd's other friend, Chad from the Bahamas, was in the house.  Chad is the defending champion and he told Mohd he'd have a big target and many other riders follow and mimic his every move.  He encouraged Mohd to go for it and he would distract the other contenders.  The course was 10 laps of a 10km circuit.

First lap was a neutral one then straight away Mohd went on a break and I jumped in his slipstream.  I used all my efforts just to stay behind him and could not contribute to the attack.  The peleton stretched out to catch us and only about 25 riders were able to sustain the rush and we eventually regrouped.  I drifted to the back to rest but Mohd was ready for a other attack and there he went with a sole follower (lap 3.) 

The group of chasers set to catch him with Chad and myself in that mix trying to block the attempt.  We do this by staying in the rotation of riders but when we make it to the front of the group slow the pace slightly to let Mohd move ahead more.  It worked to some extent but 2 then 1 rider braved the effort to go reach Mohd making the lead group now 5 riders.   20 chasing.  (Lap 4.)

It stayed that way till the 75 km mark.  Just when I thought it was comfortable and would stay that way to the finish.  The pace picked up and up on the section which climbed 70 meters over 4 km.  Not a big climb but enough to implement a move.  It worked as 6 riders (mostly Saudi acclimatized to the dry heat i figure) eventually broke from the group and I popped with many others.  I was left in limbo land and solo rode for the next 2 laps.  I was then caught by Chad and 2 other just in time to challenge me to a sprint finale.  There was so much cat and mouse going on, I think we got passed by two riders.  How silly!!  Also I cramped up and could not put a decent effort for the sprint.  The dry heat must of silently sucks the fluids out of me.  Final result:12th.

As for Mohd, he continued to do a lot of work and his breakaway mates thanked him by dropping him at the 95km mark.  (Is there a word for Front in the Phillipine language?)  At the point Mohd saw them bridging to him early in the race, he slowed to let them in.  Just an opinion, but he should have pushed on at that point.  As I told Mohd:  you learn to race by racing.  We're all still proud of you Mohd.  Final result:  just off the podium in 4th.

Good times...will certainly put in on the calendar again next year.  Not much else going on in Riyadh.  Lots of funky building including the tallest: The Kingdom Center.  It's 99 stories and has a bridge walk at the top.  We did take the tour:  see pictures below.

Vacation in Malta and Sicily

Hello friends.

My first official Sadara holiday has come and went and it was wonderful.  2 weeks of Malta and Sicily.  24 hours layovers in Amsterdam on each end plus quick connections thru Istanbul, Turkey.

Kids, you'll probably recognition this question:  "So what was your favorite part of your trip?."  2 part answer below, one for Malta and one for Sicily.   The bikes and my bike ride in Amsterdam, which blew my mind due to the sheer number of bikes and cyclists, will be noted here instead.

Associated Album.

Malta

1. Feast of St.Paul.  The original plan was 6 days Malta and 6 days Sicily but my Maltese  neighbour on the plane told me of a national holiday happening on "day 7" which including celebration in the streets of Valetta.  Made that happen!  It was a marching band meets soccer huligans on packed-full streets while people throwing paper down from the windows above.  Good fun.

2  Fortresses and ruins.  Malta has much history and much of it has to do with fighting as its ownership changed hands multiple times.  Knights of St.Peter being the notable one that I retained from the tours.

3. No go to Gozo on bike but opted for town to town car rally instead.  Frightened by a few extreme wind gusts, that could have easily slammed us into either the railing or close-by traffic, we turned around and parked our two-wheeled transport.  In the car, we used Google Maps to guide us thru the same itinerary we were to do by bike. Many great view in this very small island.

4. Cliffs and other coastal wonders like the Blue Lagoon.  It also included a day of snorkeling in the cool waters.  Luckily the wetsuits were very thick (and tight) to the point you could hardly move in them.

5. Driving in Malta.  In summary:  right side steeting wheel, left-hand gear chaning all happening on the left- side of the road.  Narrow, narrow streets (same case in Sicily especially in Taormina) - never quite sure if the road fits two cars nevermind big buses.  Always being prepared to cede way to oncoming traffic.  And lastly, the countless clockwise traffic circles.

Sicily
1. Mount Etna in Sicily.  Is it really there?  After choosing a condo with a Mt.Etna view BUT not seeing the volcano for 5 days of our 5 day stay, as it was cloudy the whole time, it almost went unnoticed.  But the venture to explore it happened on that last day.  It started with a drive up to the ski lodge on a road that has been part of a Giro d'Italia stage finish on a few occasions (10 kilometer, 10% steady climb.)  The gondola then broke through the clouds and voilá: a little paradise above the clouds alone with an active exploding volcano, puffing our blast every 3-4 minutes some actually sending out lava bombs which are large rocks included in some blasts.  A snow cat then brought the group to the base of the actual active portion where we were a few 100 meters from the active crater.  A guide took us on the edge of another massive crater that blew in 2003, on it there was no snow plus it was steaming due to the retained heat from 13 years prior.

Well after this wonderful day, Mt.Etna was in full view on check out morning - complete with its puff clouds and right beside the mediteranian sea.  To  boot, check out what Etna has been up to HERE in the weeks since this visit!  Wow:  Magma and all!!
2.  Pizza in Catania!  Best pizza ever!   With equally awesome olive oil and spray-on balsamic vinegar!

3. Hike from Taormina to Castelmola.  Two small towns perched on the mountain-side.

4. Beach day including a walk to Isla Bella at low tide.  Mindless rock collecting and dreaming of finding treasures washed up on shore!

5. Private Cooking class in Catania.  Starting with a trip to the street market below where Roma, the chef, selected fresh ingredients: fennel, oranges, tomatoes, garlic,  bread, bread crumbs, pasta and squid (yes, squid).  The outcome after a few hours of washing, chopping, cookung, reducing, and sharing stories: deep fried fennel balls, orange fennel salad, brushetta, and the totally BLACK seppia de nero.  A skid and pasta dish blended in the squid's ink to give it its color and unique taste (the closest I can describe is that of black olive.)

Now...back to work and countdown to the next get-away!