Aalst Criterium

I was looking through some shots from this summer and came across a few from a post tour crit I went to in the city of Aalst which was only a few km from were I was based in Affligem. Here are my favourite pics all taken with my trusty Canon, I love that camera. And yes, post tour crits are all staged. Everyone splits the money evenly, the winner is predetermined and its just one big show to please the spectators. The main attraction was Danilo Di Luca at this event. The organizers wanted to get Boonen, but they blew all their money on the Pro Tour leader... Other big names included McEwan, Gilbert, Merckx and Nys, plus the other guys shown below. Enjoy.

Kevin fresh from supporting Boonen at the Tour.

Danilo and Serge coming through the finishing straight.

Robbie was too fast for my amateur shot finger...

Ludo and Robbie driving the pace.

My teammate Bjorn in the final sprint. Our team who had Hyundai as a title sponsor had two riders in the race as Hyundai was the main sponsor of this crit.

Axel took the win. Everyone loves Ludo. Gilbert is the man...

Norwegian Culinary Delights: Best Can So Far?

I received a few comments on the liver pate can that I posted a while back. Upon searching the photos archives from this last trip I came across an even better one. Check it out...

This is a can of "juleansjos" or "Christmas ansjos". Not sure what ansjos is in English, but it is a sort of pickled fish that is best served on hard boiled eggs and bread preferably for breakfast. I guess it would be in the same family as pickled herring, but with a much more distinct taste. Notice the "julenisse" dancing around the can.

The ansjos come whole in the can so you need to filet them in order to enjoy them. I became the fileter of the household and had a good technique going after a few days. A sharp knife is very important. One tip is to start just at the gills and cut down toward the tail end while holding the head steady with a fork.

You don't actually put the entire fish on your bread, but his picture made it more dramatic...

Weekend wrap

Much has happened in the world of P. this weekend. First off I want to extend my congratulations to the Albertans who did the red and white proud at cross worlds. Ryan hopping of ERTC had a solid race in Espoir and Mike Bidniak of Juventus flew the coop and punched in at 31st spot halfway through the field in the junior event. Congrats to Erwin on the big win in Elite, I am pretty sure I raced him at either Melle or Oetingen this summer, but I don't think he remembers me....
Another congrats goes out to Mark MacDonald who is retiring from cycling in pursuit of long track speed skating. Mark is one of the fruits of the "Own the Podium" project to develop athletes for 2010. He made the cut and is one of a handful of athletes with the golden ticket to live the dream. He is quickly becoming a 1500m specialist, only tenths off Groves at a race a couple of weeks back and that is after being on the long blades for all of maybe 5 months!
Rediscovered group riding this weekend also. I haven't ridden with more than one other person on the road since September, the charm of long solo rides with nothing but my tunes has somewhat worn off. Met up with Alexander and Ellis on Saturday and ripped it up for some big hours, then out again today with a good group including the likes of Collins and Bayly to name a few. We met up at Cadance at 11 and it is now decided that if you want to ride on Sunday's Cadance is where it is all going down. Cadance at 11 if the weather is reasonable. If you are second guessing yourself call me and I will convince you otherwise. Spread the word. As a side note this ride is non denominational and club colours mean nothing, sport them if you like, but this is an interclub, no strings, lets just ride bikes. The pace of these rides will be steady and determined by the majority.

Bicycle Tariff Update: Possibly another negative impact of the monkey's choice

From www.canadiancyclist.com, January 25 2006.

New Government and Global Safeguard?

The election of a new Conservative government may have an impact on the implementation of Global Safeguard Recommendations for imported bikes. Readers will remember that last September the CITT (Canadian International Trade Tribunal) recommended that the Canadian government put in place a 30% duty on all bicycles with an FOB value on or below $225 Canadian. According to the CITT this would translate into a retail value of no more than $400 Canadian.
The goal was to offer protection to domestic manufacturers (ie, Procycle and Raleigh Canada) who had lost significant market share in this opening price point sector of the market - specifically, the mass market (Canadian Tire, Walmart, Zellers, etc.). The Canadian IBD (Independent Bicycle Dealer) channel (suppliers, retailers and BTAC) argued that an FOB price of $225 translated into significantly higher retail prices (up to $1,000), and would have a devastating impact on their businesses.
At the time the election was called, the Recommendations were still sitting on the Finance Minister's desk (who can reject, modify or implement the recommendations). Now, there is a new party in power - who still have to decide how to deal with the issue.
Analysis of the situation suggests some troubling possibilities for the IBD channel. First, both domestic manufacturers are in Quebec, and the Conservatives have been courting Quebec heavily. Second, the Liberal MP for Beauce (where Procycle is based) was defeated, and replaced by Maxime Bernier, a Conservative. Bernier is a founding member of the Montreal Economic Institute, a right wing think tank with connections to the Fraser Institute, and is considered to be a frontrunner for a Cabinet spot.
While one would expect the Conservatives to be in favour of open and free trade (ie, not implementing duties), it may be politically expedient to show that they are willing to protect local jobs (and reward voters for unseating the Liberals). An additional factor is that the Bloc Quebecois for Shefford (where Raleigh has their factory), Robert Vincent, was re-elected. If the Conservatives are looking for BQ support then the Safeguard Recommendations could become a negotiating point.
The bottom line is that this decision has not been made, and that interested parties should be approaching their MPs to register their concerns on the situation.
On a related note: three companies have launched legal actions to have the Recommendations sent back to the CITT for revision - Specialized Bicycles, Canadian Tire and the Retail Council of Canada (representing Walmart and other mass merchants). None of the actions gone before a judge yet.

Is this my Canada standing up for itself?!

Canada wants the Conservatives!?....Weak platform, stance on Iraq, cheap tax cut strategy and a little man named Harper at the helm...Brilliant

Dopers Suck: Genevieve Jeanson bites it

"Canadian cyclist Genevieve Jeanson has received a lifetime ban from the US Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for EPO at the prologue of the Tour de Toona in July 2005, according to reports from Montreal's La Presse newspaper."
Rob Jones

"It's over," she said. "I don't want anything to do with cycling. I'm tired of fighting and repeating that I have never taken EPO or any banned substance."
Genevieve Jeanson

Ouch....
The starlet of Canadian female cycling is done for good. Genevieve Jeanson bites the dust and takes a big bite of reality's fruitcake. It's a sad state our sport is in and I would go so far as to say she was just one of many on the juice unlucky enough to get caught. But there is another side to this and all the EPO stories we hear these days, is she innocent? Has natural selection and the sport in Canada actually achieved the ultimate goal and managed to get yet another of the world's most genetically advantaged to rise to the top!? There have been several examples in the last little while of flawed tests so what is one to make of all this? I am somewhat undecided, it's a tough call. I have a feeling this might just go down like Hamilton and Heras, the way of big time publicity and displays of protest only to slowly fade from the media spotlight and bring the guilty back to the real world's harsh doorstep. Beaten, battered and done for after giving it an honest go at the world's toughest sport and then falling to the level of cheating. I want to make it clear that I understand and accept that in many situations doping is an almost necessary and natural consequence of the progression cycling has undergone in the last decades. The thing that sets me off is when athletes proclaim their innocence to the high heavens and then when their money and fanbase runs out and turns their backs they just fade away, never admitting their wrongdoing. If you cheat, get caught, admit it and face the music and then make a comeback to show the kids you can still go far on talent and hard work that's great. I applaud the Sheps, Millars and Hondos of the world. They bring us back to what this sport really is...
Cyclingnews.com provides the facts:

Canadian cyclist Genevieve Jeanson has received a lifetime ban from the US Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for EPO at the prologue of the Tour de Toona in July 2005, according to reports from Montreal's La Presse newspaper.
The positive result from Toona would officially be her second, after Jeanson failed to report for a doping test at the Fleche Wallonne World Cup in 2004. While she did not test positive there, failure to appear counts as a positive.
Jeanson denied doping, but told La Presse that she was retiring from cycling, even though she plans to fight to clear her name. "It's over," she said. "I don't want anything to do with cycling. I'm tired of fighting and repeating that I have never taken EPO or any banned substance."
Jeanson and her lawyer suggested that she had produced a rare 'false positive', like recently vindicated Belgian triathlete Rutger Beke (see Serious concerns over urinary EPO test). Jeanson's defence also drew attention to the negative result of a test 60 hours after the Toona prologue. The first test (both A and B samples) showed extremely high levels of EPO and the second none, which Jeanson's lawyer argued was impossible.
The US Anti-Doping Agency has jurisdiction over Jeanson's case because she holds a US license following a battle with the Quebec federation (FQSC) after the 2003 Worlds in Hamilton, when she was not allowed to start the road race due to an elevated haematocrit level (she passed subsequent doping tests).

What's your verdict? Post a comment or visit www.doperssuck.com to learn more about some dopers that really do suck.

Norwegian Culinary Delights: Lunch Time

Norway is a country of interesting cultural habits and quirks. Many a visitor to the land of the midnight sun has witnessed these habits that make Norway such an interesting country to visit, and the Norwegian people such an intriguing group.
One the food culture phenomena is the Norwegian "mat pakke" or "food pack" if translated directly. Before departing to return to Canada I rose extra early to allow enough time to be able to prepare one of these portable meals. A true Norwegian would never think of leaving the house for a journey, day at work or school without one of these. Perhaps it is a direct adaptation of the extremely high price that prepackaged and prepared foods come at.
Items in my food pack clockwise from upper left; Farepolse (lamb sausage), Brunost (caramelized goats cheese), Leverposei med agurk og mayonnes (liver pate with cucumbers and mayo), Gulost med paprika (white cheese with red pepper). All of these are served on traditional "Kneip" bread. The slices are stacked on top of each other face up with thin sheets of wax paper seperating them to keep the toppings from getting on the other slices. Notice this means that they are served and consumed open face, no bread on top. The main reason for this open face concept is to maximize the eaters enjoyment and taste experience of the palegg (topping). In North America we see it fit to "Sandwich" our bread, but this also means that in order to actually taste your toppings you need at least twice as much of the toppings. This is completely unnecessary if you go open face. Less topping with all the taste means less of the stuff you dont need so much of such as milk and meat fats and more of the good stuff that gives you the lasting energy which is the bread. Another advantage with open face is that you can have much greater variety in your mat pakke, making lunch far more interesting from day to day. I encourage all of the readers of this post to give the open face experience a chance the next time you pack a lunch for school, work or where ever you may travel.
Finally, the stack of bread is carefully wrapped in a sheet of wax paper and is placed in the very typical Norwegian backpack or in your purse for example.
Ready to replenish your body with top grade fuel.

Norwegian marketing in action...kids love the canned liver pate.

Norway in Colour: Part 2

Very typical of the Norwegian coastline...cottage country.

David in his element. Ocean view

Under the Lepsoy bridge.

Fishing and Ferries

News Years Eve in Norway

I had the great pleasure of celebrating a family New Years Eve while in Norway this past Christmas. Here are some shots of the festivities which make rural Norwegian New Years celebrations truly unique.

This is the other traditional meal that is consumed my many Norwegians at some point during the holidays. This meal is more commonly found on the west coast, and seeing as how I was in Bergen it was very appropriate. The meal consists of smoked, cured or cooked lamb ribs, boiled potatoes, steamed carrots, sour cabbage, "kaalrotstappe" (mashed cabbage root) and tytte baer jam.
The big thing about New Years in Norway is that everyone purchases and proudly displays their own fireworks. Fireworks sales are only legal during three days before New Year's Eve and any import of illegal fireworks is strictly prohibited. This is the busiest night of the year for Norwegian emergency services with countless personal injuries and cases of property damage related to improper use and use while physically impaired. We had a great view from the deck out over the islands of Lepsoy where many wealthy Bergen residents own summer houses which they also use during the holidays.

Some of the displays are quite incredible. For the half hour around midnight the area sounds like a battle field with constant explosions of colour and light. These shots were taken at the climax of the display at the stroke of 12. Notice how the entire area is lit up, it is a very exciting experience.

As this was a New Years spent with my brother's large family of three children and two other families with their own children we opted for sparklers instead of fireworks to engage the young ones....

My nephew David is enjoying the thrill of waving his 3 foot long rod of fire while my niece runs behind him.

Norwegian Culinary Delights: Christmas Dinner

In continuing my ongoing series on Norwegian cuisine I am going to introduce to you a variety of holiday dishes. Although coming a bit late I hope you will find it interesting...
This is the traditional main dish of most of the eastern regions of Norway. It is called "ribbe" and is essentially pork ribs. The special thing about the cut of meat in this dish is the layers of fat between the relatively thin layers of meat and the "svol" on the top of the meat that is the fat on the top. The svol is my favourite part and when the meat is prepared properly this fatty top layer gets very crispy on top and chewy on the bottom making for a delightful treat. Ribbe is served with almond potatoes, steamed carrots, brussel sprouts, red cabbage, medister kaker (sort of meat ball; ground pork meat with various spices etc.) prunes and a light gravy.
This meal is traditional enjoyed on Christmas Eve which is the big day of celebration for Norwegians. One of the traditional desserts after the Christmas Eve meal is rice pudding. The rice pudding is served cold with a fruit sauce. A common practice is to hide a peeled almond in the large bowl of pudding that everyone takes from. The person who finds the almond in his/her dish is the winner of a pig shaped chunk for marsipan which is often dipped in chocolate.

Root for Ryan!

I dont know how many of you are aware but Alberta's own Ryan Hopping of Fort McMurray is competing for Canada at the upcoming Cyclocross Espoir World Championships in the Nederlands. He will be competing in next weekend's WC event as a warmup for the big day aswell. He earned his world's spot after a great nationals and took the plunge and payed his own way to go to the heartland to have the ride of his life.
This year I took a similar plunge when I jetted off to Belgium to ride for DVL and I know how tough it can sometimes be all alone so far from home. If you have any comments for Ryan in his quest to represent the red and white leave it as a comment to this post and I will be sure to forward it to the man himself.

Economics of Starbucks

This article has been ciculating in the news for the past week. I first read it in the National Post coming back from Amsterdam on Tuesday and thought it to be quite interesting. To all of the euro readers of this blog this is likely a foreign concept with the short vs long style of drinking coffee that divides our continents. In North America bigger is better, thus the numerous individuals who find it necessary to cart around a 500ml travel mug of java, or stop my Starbucks for thier fix of the same volume. I have had the great pleasure of consuming numerous euro style short coffee beverages and enjoyed the experience much more than paying too much for too much coffee that I dont want or need.
I am at the oval "working" the front desk and just now a small child with an extra large DQ dipped cone walked by complaining to his father that he couldnt finish his oversized treat, and a Lulu Lemon type yoga momma strutted past with a flat of 4 of the largest coffees Starbucks had to offer, and just now a group of speedskating competitors here for the weekend meet cruised by each guzzling their own person liter of A&W soda. This more is better philosphy is not only feeding the fires of the food industry, its fueling our guts beyond their capacity.
Anyways here is the article....

Here's a little secret that Starbucks doesn't want you to know: They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barista will comply without batting an eye. The puzzle is to work out why.

The drink in question is the elusive "short cappuccino"—at 8 ounces, a third smaller than the smallest size on the official menu, the "tall," and dwarfed by what Starbucks calls the "customer-preferred" size, the "Venti," which weighs in at 20 ounces and more than 200 calories before you add the sugar.

The short cappuccino has the same amount of espresso as the 12-ounce tall, meaning a bolder coffee taste, and also a better one. The World Barista Championship rules, for example, define a traditional cappuccino as a "five- to six-ounce beverage." This is also the size of cappuccino served by many continental cafés. Within reason, the shorter the cappuccino, the better.

The problem with large cappuccinos is that it's impossible to make the fine-bubbled milk froth ("microfoam," in the lingo) in large quantities, no matter how skilled the barista. A 20-ounce cappuccino is an oxymoron. Having sampled the short cappuccino in a number of Starbucks across the world, I can confirm that it is a better drink than the buckets of warm milk—topped with a veneer of froth—that the coffee chain advertises on its menus.

This secret cappuccino is cheaper, too—at my local Starbucks, $2.35 instead of $2.65. But why does this cheaper, better drink—along with its sisters, the short latte and the short coffee—languish unadvertised? The official line from Starbucks is that there is no room on the menu board, although this doesn't explain why the short cappuccino is also unmentioned on the comprehensive Starbucks Web site, nor why the baristas will serve you in a whisper rather than the usual practice of singing your order to the heavens.

Economics has the answer: This is the Starbucks way of sidestepping a painful dilemma over how high to set prices. Price too low and the margins disappear; too high and the customers do. Any business that is able to charge one price to price-sensitive customers and a higher price to the rest will avoid some of that awkward trade-off.

It's not hard to identify the price-blind customers in Starbucks. They're the ones buying enough latte to bathe Cleopatra. The major costs of staff time, space in the queue, and packaging are similar for any size of drink. So, larger drinks carry a substantially higher markup, according to Brian McManus, an assistant professor at the Olin School of Business who has studied the coffee market.

The difficulty is that if some of your products are cheap, you may lose money from customers who would willingly have paid more. So, businesses try to discourage their more lavish customers from trading down by making their cheap products look or sound unattractive, or, in the case of Starbucks, making the cheap product invisible. The British supermarket Tesco has a "value" line of products with infamously ugly packaging, not because good designers are unavailable but because the supermarket wants to scare away customers who would willingly spend more. "The bottom end of any market tends to get distorted," says McManus. "The more market power firms have, the less attractive they make the cheaper products."

That observation is important. A firm in a perfectly competitive market would suffer if it sabotaged its cheapest products because rivals would jump at the opportunity to steal alienated customers. Starbucks, with its coffee supremacy, can afford this kind of price discrimination, thanks to loyal, or just plain lazy, customers.

The practice is hundreds of years old. The French economist Emile Dupuit wrote about the early days of the railways, when third-class carriages were built without roofs, even though roofs were cheap: "What the company is trying to do is prevent the passengers who can pay the second-class fare from traveling third class; it hits the poor, not because it wants to hurt them, but to frighten the rich."

The modern equivalent is the airport departure lounge. Airports could create nicer spaces, but that would frustrate the ability of airlines to charge substantial premiums for club-class departure lounges.

Starbucks' gambit is much simpler and more audacious: Offer the cheaper product but make sure that it is available only to those customers who face the uncertainty and embarrassment of having to request it specifically. Fortunately, the tactic is easily circumvented: If you'd like a better coffee for less, just ask.


Article taken from www.slate.com

Norway in colour

Some pictures by me and my trusty Canon from last week in Bergen, Norway. Frosty conditions in the shadow of Lyshorn.

View out over the frosty valley while ascending Lyshorn.

Veiw from the peak of Lyshorn looking west at the region's "skjaergaard"

I love the ocean...

View at mid day
View at sunset with the traditional bath house on the right just meters down the hill from my brother's house.

Sunset with a view of the island of Sotra.

Happy New Year

I am back in Canada after an absolutely phenomenal Christmas holiday in Norway. I was just outside the city of Bergen on the west coast of Norway staying with my brother and his family for 2 and a half weeks. My sister, who is attending school in Bergen was also there so it was a family reunion of sorts. I had not seen my brother in 2 years since the last time I visited him at the same spot. He has 3 children who grow up so quickly it was great to see them again and maintain our close relationship. I secondary motive for going to visit this time of year is the relatively favorable weather than Norway's west coast offers. It is a very similar climate to Victoria, although a few degrees colder on average. I was very lucky and only had one day of rain the entire stay. The first week was very cold at -5. Clear skies were to culprit for the cold temperatures, but this also meant some sunshine and no rain so that was great. The roads were always wet due to the heavy salting, but thanks to a great pair of fenders mounted to my cross rig I think I managed to reduce the damage to my machine after over 1000 km of riding...I may retract that statement after I overhaul my ride in the next few days.
I had some incredible rides including a 130 ride of which 80% was along the Bjornfjorden or bear fjord. The road is windy, narrow and never flat. Long sections wind along the rugged rocky terrain hundreds of meters above the fjord. One morning I witnessed the low morning sun break through the clouds just as I was making my way along a particularly idyllic section of pavement. The sun cast its warm orange glow on a tiny fishing village along the fjord as I descended and ascended in and out of the miniature inlet it was situated in. It reminded me of grade 9 Norwegian class when I lived in Tjolling, scenes such as these are what fostered and sustained the Norwegian national romantic period when this rugged nations population was completely engrossed by their country's natural beauty. Its hard not to fall completely in love with this country. Unfortunately I didn't think to pack my camera on most of my rides, and these of course turned out to be the best for photography. The pictures below should give you a little taste of the area though.
I learned a few things while riding in the Hordaland province; a 30 km/hr average is nearly impossible for rides over 2 hours, 5 hours of riding at 80% gets you 130 km even every time, -5 degrees is like riding in -8 in Calgary, always wear a neck warmer, bring fenders, riding through roundabouts is very dangerous due to the seemingly always icy conditions even when the rest of the road is dry or just wet, guard rails are only good for preventing you from falling off cliffs or falling in the ocean not for preventing you from being crushed by semi out of control Scania double trailer semis, you can meet a semi or bus anywhere on any road no matter how narrow, and finally that cross is really handy especially dismounting when you meet a bus hurtling down a mountain road and the transition to the ditch requires you to be off your bike. The later statement can be clarified through my experience of climbing out from a tiny cluster of houses at the end of a remote country road and meeting a bus that took up absolutely the entire road and had no intention of slowing down forcing me to swiftly dismount, jump into a shallow rocky ditch and squeeze myself and my bike up against a rock wall to avoid scraping paint off the bright yellow Volvo bus.
Other than riding spending time with family was great. We went on several long hikes in the surrounding terrain and enjoyed countless rounds of the board game "Settlers". I don't know if this game has come to Canada yet, but if it has it is a must to own. I know boardgames are not as widely popular here as they are in Europe, but if complexity, strategy and infinite tactical situations are something you look for in a game Settlers has it all. It is important to note that if you want to experience all that the game has to offer you need to also acquire the "City and Knight" expansion. You all might think this is crazy but I played this game 7 evenings straight and it was just as engaging every time.
I took a few good shots which you can see in the next post.