Kirsten
May 09, 2008 Jul 03, 2009 3 225
How I got into cycling:
In February 2006, I dreamed that Jens! Voigt fell off a mountain in a race. Surprising that he showed up in a dream, since the only time I'd heard of Jens! was when he wore the maillot jaune in the 2005 TdF, the only bike race I'd ever watched at that point, and I had been glad that he lost the jersey to Lance (sacrilege, I know). Since it was a very compelling dream, I asked my husband Greg (the real cycling fan in the family) to check various cycling news venues to see if he really had fallen off a mountain. We discovered that he, fortunately, hadn't, but that Jens! would be riding up our own mountains the very next week in the 1st Tour of California! We followed live updates of the race on the web, Greg and our daughter Emily rode up Pinehurst to watch the peloton blow past, and we started to get hooked on the sport.
I adore team tactics and would love to be a directeur sportif, an impulse I currently satisfy by putting together VDS teams for everyone in my family. If only my sprinters understood that pedaling for 3rd place *is* important, that targeting races that earn no VDS points is NOT a priority, and that when Gadret, Garate, and Beltran end up in a break together, they should know they are all on the same (VDS) team and should work together!
a fan of
Jens! Voigt, Greg and Emily
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Les Vins du Tour
by Kirsten on Jun 30, 2009 2:20 AM EDT
72 comments
Ok, so this is limited to the French wines of Le Tour, because I own French Wine for Dummies by Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, but nothing on Spanish or Swiss wines. I hope some PdCers can help fill in, otherwise there will be some seriously thirsty gaps . . .
Forgive my lack of accents. I'm not keystroke literate.
72 comments | 3 recs
Wines of the Giro
by Kirsten on May 9, 2009 12:11 AM EDT
37 comments
A couple of years ago, after trying to learn something about Italian wine but finding it extremely boring to read about wine regions I've never heard of (I'm geographically challenged), I discovered the perfect solution. I studied the Giro parcours, read up on what wine regions the route traveled through, and bought something from those regions to drink while watching each stage.
Here's what to drink for each stage!
Stage 1 - Lido di Venezia - Sat, May 9
Venezia is all about Pinot Grigio. Nearby wine zones are Piave and Lison-Pramaggiore, both of which come in Pinot Grigio plus lots of other varietals. I didn't find either of those at my local grocery store, but did find Pinot Grigio della Venezie. I chose the Candoni, because their bottle is decorated with one of my favorite Etruscan frescoes. It even comes with directions for turning the bottle into an "Italian Lamp." Don't think so.
On the flip: 20 stages to go!
37 comments | 3 recs
Advice to New Racer?
by Kirsten on Feb 21, 2009 8:25 PM EST
9 comments
My daughter, a frosh, is in her first year on her high school mountain biking team and feeling kind of daunted.
9 comments | 0 recs
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