Before there aren’t any.

That goes for running stores too!

Yeah, right.

h/t to Gale Bernhardt.

The tough part right now is that I honestly don’t know how next year is going to pan out.  So it’s tough to schedule races. 

For all of you that have already entered and paid for their Ironman’s, Half’s, Marathons, Ultra’s, etc., in 2010, I’m truly jealous.  For various reasons, I just can’t plan that far out right now.

But I stumbled across a portion of the 2010 schedule for Germany. 

So for those of you nearby (or willing to travel), who’s game for a 50K (31 miler) on January 30th?

It’s through countryside like this:

Wow!  This is the longest that we’ve taken to finding our groove after a move.  We’ve been in Germany for four months now and we’ve been on the go.  Constantly. 

We’re OK with that, but now that winter is fast approaching, we’re learning to slow it down a bit.  We’re still without TV, but we’re going to keep it that way.  We’ve found that we’re just fine without it.  And every time I go on a trip somewhere and I have TV in the room, I’m quickly reminded of how much of a waste of time programming really is.  Even when we do have it, I usually just keep it on a news station.  Well, I can do that over the internet when I want.

The last post was a month ago?  Wow, the time has flown.  That was right after our trip to Amsterdam, where Goddess and I spent my birthday enjoying Belgian beers and watching the wildlife.

Soon after, I was off to Bavaria for a week of work.  Long days those were.

And the week after we were off to Italy for a quick work visit, then back in time to head back out to Bavaria for another work visit. 

Lots of miles in vehicles lately.

Here are some of the pics from these trips:

That last view was from a lunch stop in Tyrol, right before we crossed the border into Austria.  Quite an interesting day of contrasts as we left home with temps in the 60’s, got snowed on at lunchtime, then ate dinner in Italy in 70-degree weather.

With winter rapidly approaching, the days are quickly shrinking.  I’ve never lived this far north (50º N) before, which is in line with Vancouver.  I didn’t really think much about it until the other day when we were driving into town and I saw the car’s shadow in the late-afternoon sun, pointing directly in front of us as we were driving northeast.  Then I looked at our sunrise/sunset tables to see what times they would be in the coming week, since we turn back our clocks tomorrow (a week before the US).  Even this early in fall, sunrise will be at 7am and sunset will be just after 5pm.  So that means my commute both ways will be in the dusk/dark hours.

Speaking of commutes, for those who I haven’t told, I’m strictly by bike these days.  When we got here, we looked at cars that I’d be willing to pay for and realized that for the price, I’d rather pick up a good cyclocross bike and ride the 9.1 miles to/from work.  It’s worked out well, since the commute by car is typically 30 minutes and the commute by bike is typically 35 minutes.  I’d definitely rather ride the bike.  Regardless of the weather.

So I’m riding Jake (no, I don’t name my bikes).  That’s the bike’s name.  Jake.

As in “Jake the Snake”.

Jake’s treating me quite well.  My weekly commute comes in just under 100 miles if I hit both morning/evening for all five days.  Some weeks it doesn’t work out that way due to other plans, when Goddess comes to pick me and Jake up at work. 

And the commute serves me well.  I’m wide awake when I get in to work in the morning.  In the evening, by the time I get home, I’ve left whatever work issues I have at work, so I’m ready to spend the evening with Goddess.  The best part?  None of that stress of dealing with idiot drivers on the road.  Instead, I get miles of forest and farmland.

Goddess did have to laugh (at least a “I tolerate this” laugh) when I started stocking up on winter riding gear.  By the time all was said and done, between Jake, clothing and lighting, we could have bought a nice car for me to commute with.  But I certainly don’t want it that way.

Speaking of lighting, get rid of those rollers and trainers and get outside!  Yeah, I know it’s easier to hit target heart rates or maintain wattage while riding indoors, but you’re still riding indoors.  So get a good set of lights.  I was using OK lights, but especially after a few close calls in the forest with deer that I never saw darting in front of me, I knew it was time to upgrade.

After years of using halogens and then the new AA-powered LED lights, shell out a bit of money and buy a good set.  I looked at quite a few options out there, considered what I need now (deer avoidance) and what would keep me safe in the dead of winter, I settled on the Stella 300 Dual’s.  They will sear the retina of any deer that dare stand in front of me.  Seriously.  With these babies, have absolutely no issues seeing anything and everything in front of me.

With the twin headlights, the trails open back up.  Even at 20-25mph, I can’t outrun these lights.  Dense fog is a different story.  But I have no problem seeing.  The left light is a wide flood beam, so there’s plenty of peripheral view.  The right light is focused, so I can aim it right down the trail as far as I can see.  With three different settings (Hi/Med/Lo), plus strobe, I see whatever I need, plus set up a mid-forest disco if I need.  And as far as safety? I’ve had large trucks coming the other way pull over to the side of the road and stop until I passed. 

How’s them apples?

I typically use them in “race” mode, which means that instead of having to cycle through each of the settings, I can switch directly from Hi to Lo with a quick push of the button.  That’s handy when I meet an oncoming cyclist in the forest.  Hopefully I’m not blinding them.  But now I reach down and cover the flood light so they don’t get too much light; I can still see plenty beyond them with the spot.

Once I’m in town, I switch to low beam and have absolute zero worries about being seen by an oncoming car or the ones sitting at the intersections.

Outside the bike, lights and clothes, I’m ready for winter.  We’ve only dipped below freezing once so far, down to –02C (that’s 29F for you that can’t do metric).  I didn’t even have to break out the heavy gear and I was still sweating when I got to work.

But I’m waiting for the ice to set in.  I’ve already got my studded tires sitting in the garage, waiting to be put on the wheels.  Without a solid freeze cycle forecast, I don’t see the sense in putting them on yet.  But once we see it, they’ll stay on for the winter.

Well, that’s about it for now.  It’s mid-afternoon, the day is nice and Jake needs a serious scrub down to get all that mud, “horse mud” and road grime off.  Plus, braking sounds horrible right now with all the grit in the pads.

Wow, it’s been almost two months since the last post.  But if you read the last post, you’ll know why.  At first our self-imposed disconnect from the world was just that, self-imposed.  Then it became a matter of dealing with a monopoly – Deutsch Telecom, the “friendly” face that brings T-Mobile to the world.  When dealing with a monopoly, just remember that the customer’s needs only come first, well, never.

But we may see some movement this week.  I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, we’ve been busy and have seen a few things.

- Garmisch, Germany.  Goddess took a side trip across Austria to do some wine shopping and sightseeing in Italy.

- Neuschwanstein, Germany.

- Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  You must go if only to visit the Ann Frank House.  Goddess and I will tie the whole story together soon with a trip to Auschwitz.

Pics will be uploaded once we have a connection at home and I have time to process them.

We hope all is well with you!

Nope, we didn’t build the house with our own hands.  Our closest neighbor is mere inches away.

But Goddess and I have made our retreat.

We’ve been in our home for a month now.  We finally received the last of our household goods a couple of weeks ago.  Most of the boxes are gone, although there’s still unpacking to do.  One musn’t rush these things, you know.  One of our most interesting dilemmas is that we’re going from a family of three (plus dog) to a family of two (plus dog), so we really don’t need anywhere near as much stuff as we do.  So we’re whittling stuff down a bit. 

Perhaps the most enjoyable part has been we’ve done a fine job of disconnecting from the world.  Don’t get me wrong.  We’re socializing quite a bit and getting out and doing all sorts of things in this beautiful country.  But we’re disconnected.

We don’t have TV, phone or internet in the house. 

It’s quite nice.

Really.

I did finally connect the DVD player to the TV the other night and we watched part of a movie, but that’s been it. 

I catch a bit of news on the computer here at work, do a quick check of e-mails and some very light browsing at moments like this when I need a break from work, but other than that, we are, for all intents and purposes, disconnected.

Now it won’t last forever.  We know that.  Daylight is rapidly shrinking towards those winter days where we have only eight hours of daylight, which just happens to coincide with the hours that I’m at work.  And it will be cold enough that we can’t sit out on the back porch for hours after sunset.  So we’ll slowly reconnect.

But one musn’t rush these things, you know.

I had to wear arm warmers for this morning’s commute.

It was a wet, muddy commute too.

Perfect conditions for the very hilly 6.5-mile trail run that followed.

Life is good!

I finally got off my butt and scouted out the trails through the woods behind our town.

It is 9.1 miles door-to-door, according to my trusty Garmin.  The first five miles are lush forest, followed by 2.5 miles of farm land.  Only the last 1.5 miles is through town, which is no big deal since the speed limit is 30kph (18.3 mph).  And unlike the states, drivers here actually look out for bicyclists.

But it was pouring rain the whole way.  With some mud on the trails.  Luckily the dirt portions are hard-pack, otherwise my tri-bike would have a bit of an issue.

Methinks there may be a single-speed cyclocross bike in my future instead of a car.

I’ve just got to convince Goddess.

We’re settling in here in Germany.  We’ve got a house, some of our belongings and our car.  Now we’re just waiting for the rest of our stuff to get here.

In the meantime, we’ve yet to arrange for cable or internet.  It’s actually quite nice.  I’ve managed to read a few books that I’ve been carrying around for years, relax and spend lots of quality time with Goddess.  The downside is that since we don’t have internet or TV at the house, we do feel a bit isolated and out of touch.  Although that’s not that bad, now is it?

Luckily I have access at work so I can catch up on news.

As far as a house goes, we’ve got native.  We picked a town that isn’t too far from work, nor is it too close.  It’s about 20km, which is a nice cycling commute.  Within a five minute walk we’ve got three beer gardens, a butcher, a baker (nope, no candlestick maker) and several other stores.  If we expand our walk out to ten minutes, the number of beer gardens skyrockets.  As far as neighbors, there aren’t any other Americans that we’re aware of.

Just 15 minutes away on foot is the Hockenheim Ring.  A neat place with events going on constantly.  The neighbors tell us that when the Formula 1 is in town, a few hundred thousand folks show up and it gets quite loud.  We’re looking forward to it.

Speaking of loud, Goddess and I spent the 4th of July with a lot of noise and some fireworks.  At the ring was a festival called Sonisphere, where some 40,000 showed up to see this lineup:

20:45 – 22:45 METALLICA

18:35 – 20:05 DIE TOTEN HOSEN

16:55 – 18:05 THE PRODIGY

15:40 – 16:35 IN EXTREMO

14:30 – 15:15 DOWN

13:30 – 14:10 LAMB OF GOD

12:30 – 13:10 MASTODON

11:45 – 12:15 ANTHRAX

11:00 – 11:30 FIVE AND THE RED ONE

As you can see, that was 12 hours of standing on asphalt in the hot sun.  But overall the show was quite good.  It was my first time seeing Anthrax, who I’ve listened to for 20+ years.  This was the second time for Lamb of God, who does alright.  The second time for both Goddess and I to see The Prodigy – the last time was in Tokyo.  And this makes Metallica show number five for me.  They always do well and never disappoint.

The biggest surprises for us were In Extremo and Die Toten Hosen.  What Great Bands!!!!  I cannot recommend either highly enough.  It was great to see all 40,000 fans (well,  minus us two Americans) singing along to each and every song that Die Toten Hosen played.  Go buy some now.

But now a word for Phil Anselmo, singer for the band Down.  Even though you’ve were the frontman for a great band (Pantera), the fans owe you and the other members of your group nothing. 

Not a damn thing. 

By the time you guys took the stage after 3pm, many of us had been standing out in the hot sun for hours.  Most hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for hours either for fear of losing their spot in front of the stage.  All that any of the folks in audience wanted was a good show. 

You didn’t bring it.

At best, you and your band were lackluster, offering nothing more or better than any other generic American band that throws a few heavy riffs together behind a growling singer.  Meh.  The reason the crowd wasn’t responding to you was because you guys didn’t entertain.

Instead, you stood on stage and whined, even telling the paying crowd at one point that we sucked.  Classy move, telling paying customers and potential fans that they suck.  But it wasn’t the fans.  It was you.

So next time, stay home and pout, leaving that 45 minutes available to a band that really matters.

Like Anthrax.

Who played a woefully short 30-minute set.

Anyway, Goddess and I continue our adventure, sampling as much food, beer and wine as Germany can offer.

Got in a nice run at work today.  I’ve found a new favorite run.  Short but sweet.

Here’s the profile:

If you read the scales right, you see that it’s 320’ of elevation gain in .17 mile (35.6% grade).  The way to get that was by going up about 540 steps.  It’s quite a quad-buster that turns the legs to Jell-O.

Afterwards it’s a nice descent down soft dirt trails, including some pretty brutal switchbacks.  If you notice that sharp drop at about 1.37 miles, that’s a nasty, nasty stretch of the trail that’s paved, then drops down about ten steps right onto a street.  Not too comfortable on the legs.

All told, just under two miles.  But I already see multiple laps up the stairs and down the switchback, now that I know the route and can plan for it.