Maros Bike Marathon 2011

Last Sunday I was racing in Gilau again. I love this race because the view is spectacular, I love to climb high in the mountains. The weather was perfect, the Merida tires had a thick wall so I didn't cut them and my brakes lasted until the finish line although I was breaking a lot (I had to buy new pads) but at least I didn't fall like a lot of other riders. I saw a few guys in the ambulance and I even saw somebody falling in front of me. The first downhill was very hard, there were a lot of rocks on the road, but the other descents weren't easy either.

I was climbing a lot better than a year before, but I still had to push the bike on some hard climbs. I am starting to like my new race tactic, I start slow and I can pass people almost till the end. I started a little too slow but I warmed up on the first climb after some muscle pains (from the lack of the warm up). I passed a lot of people and I was feeling good. I lost some places when I stopped for water and bananas but I recovered a few positions on the next climb. I was loosing positions on the descent but I was very careful, I think this was the first race this year without a fall.

I wasn't in good shape, I had some cramps but I was eating a lot of bananas and I was enjoying the ride. I was even singing on the last descent. A bug bit when I came out of the forest on the last descent about 300 meters from the finish line. Maybe it was a bee but I'm not sure. My leg is still itching and I had a huge red spot where my skin got a bit hard.  I didn't cut my tires this year, so I finished in 3:33:00 85th overall (from 330 finishers) and 36th in my age group from 117 finishers.

The only thing I didn't like is that I've got some large gloves in the signup package, and the rubber wristband was big also. Beside that the course was beautiful, it was the best organized race in the country and the pasta and the watermelon was very good after the finish. I hope I can race again next year :)

Stats:
    - time (riding): 3:30:27
    - official time: 3:30:00
    - distance: 46,53 km
    - average speed: 13,2 km/h
    - max speed: 51,4km/h


Some pics:

on the first climb

going down

I was happy to finish and my leg was hurting from the sting

it was a nice ride

receiving the finisher wristband

happy

yummy

Critical Mass

Last Saturday I participated in the local Critical Mass. It was probably the biggest so far. There were a lot of people so I couldn't get a green t-shirt this time. I was standing in line like the organizers asked, and they told us that they have enough for everybody but they didn't :(

After the ride there was enough water and bread with grease for everybody. There was a dirt show also. Here are some pictures:

Song of the week #39

Pictures from Triathlon Mamaia

A few pictures and a movie from Triathlon Challenge Mamaia, were I won for the first time :)

We rode together again

Tuesday we went for a ride to Budiu Mic. The group was smaller than last week but it was fun to ride together. It is getting colder in the evening and the sun is disappearing faster so this was the last group ride for this year. If it will be warm are there are people who want to ride there will be another group ride next Tuesday. Until then we can meet at the Critical Mass on Saturday.

A few pics from Tuesday:

Song of the week #38

Tusnad Marathon 2011

The last race was the Tusnad MTB Marathon. I participated in this race because it has a great course (as I wrote before), the views are very beautiful.

This year the race was a bit poor, there were less things to eat and the raffle was not organized. But the hotel was free, so that was a plus.

The start was pretty crowded so I was in the back of the pack, I lost almost 2 minutes (1:48 in the video)

A bad start is not a bad thing because I tend to start fast and run out of fuel. I had an easy start but I was still passing people. On the first climb I followed a guy wit a ninty-six because he had a good pace, not too fast but not too slow.

On the first descent I went full speed. When I tried to pass some people on the side of the road on some rocks I had a snake bite so I had to stop my mad race and I changed the tube.

After that my recovery race started. It was a lot of fun catching up and passing others. When I started to have fun I had a flat tire again. I got so mad that I threw away the bike.

I calmed down changed the tube again and restarted my race. After I warmed up it was a lot of fun again because I was passing people on some steep climbs were a lot of people were pushing the bikes. Everything was fine until the last climb were I had some muscle cramps. On the final descent I felt down a few times (there is no race without hitting the ground :() but I managed to finish the race in 3:38:21, in 107th place overall and 31th in my age category. It was a good race because I was climbing on the bike were I was pushing a year before and I had cramps only on the last climb. Next year I hope I can go full speed (after the flat tires I was very careful on the rocks and I was going slower) and don't worry about the tires.

I want to thank the guys who helped me with some spare tubes and pumps to finish this race.

Song of the week #37

Critical Mass

Nest Saturday, on the 24th of September, a Critical Mass will be organized in Targu Mures at 3PM. This is organized every year in the European Mobility Week. The route is almost unchanged, the start is at the Sala Polivalenta and we pass trough all the major parts of the city. The finish is on the side of the Mures river at the Beer Pharmacy. The organizers are expecting one thousand participants. The event has a Facebook page, more information in romanian here.

A few pictures from the last editions:

We rode together

Yesterday I have organized with outinmures a bike ride. About ten riders gathered at the start and even a boy came with his father to meet us. On the road a few other riders joined us, one of them told me that he heard about our group on the radio.

Our small group rode together with about 20 kph so we reached the destination very fast. A lot of riders climbed the hill until others were resting. We got back in the city before it got dark.

A few pictures from the road:

Next week if it doesn't rain we will meet again on Tuesday at 6 at the bike park on Pandurilor street an we will ride to Budiu Mic. The map for next weeks ride is here. At the finish we can climb a hill :)

This post in romanian here.

Let's ride together

If you are living in Targu Mures and you have a bike and you would like to go out for a ride or meet some new people I'm organizing a short ride with the help of outinmures. The start will be at the park on the Cutezantei street Tuesday (13th September) at 6. You can see the proposed route on the map here. If somebody wants we will climb into the forest until the others are resting.

There will be a competition too where you can win a bottle:

PS: It's recommended to have with you a helmet, lights, water, money, a spare tube, a pomp and reflective clothes.

You can read this post in romania here.

Song of the week #36

Cyclepassion - September

This month Heather Irmiger is back on my wall, she was there in June.

A short making of video:
Thanks again To Cyclepassion and light-bikes for this great calendar.

Tusnad MTB Marathon

This weekend I'm going to Tusnad to race in the Tusnad MTB Marathon.

This race has a very beautiful course and a lot of great trails for fast riding. Last year this was the race when I discovered how to deal with my cramps. No mater how many sweets I had I still couldn't get rid of the pain. After this race I read about this and I found out that I need magnesium so I got some magnesium for the next race and I had a lot of bananas and no cramps :)

Besides the scenery and the great trails I liked this race because I paid for one person at the hotel and they gave me a whole rooms. This pay one get two promotion is valid this year also so I'm going to stay at Hotel Fortuna with my girlfriend.

I'm looking forward to this race, this year I'm prepared and I hope I won't have any cramps and I will fly down the hill even faster than last year, leaving a bigger cloud of dust behind me:

I was at the sea

This post is the continuation of I'm going to the sea :)

Friday morning at about 8 I started my journey to Mamaia. First I dropped off my bike and then I headed to the bus station. My bike traveled with the car and I traveled with a lot of vehicles. I was twice in a taxi, I traveled with a bus, with a smaller bus, with the subway and with a train. I arrived to Mamaia at about 12. I liked very much the ride from Mamaia to Neptun (where we slept) with a Skoda Fabia rs. I didn't sleep so good, the bed was bad, the storm was loud and in the morning it got cold. After I woke up I recovered my bike and had a good breakfast. I had to go to the start on the bike because nobody had room for it in the cars.

At the start there was a huge crowd. I left the bike in the transition area and I went to search for a swimmer with Bogdan because the swimmer of Splash, Flash and Dash Team, Ionut Bizau couldn't get to Mamaia. Andra was chosen to swim for our team, she was in the winnig ladies team from Fara Asfalt triathlon. This motivated me and my team mate Mihai Teodorescu (who had to run after I finished my race) even more.

The race was very intense. Until the first competitor came out of the water I was calm but after that my adrenaline level started to rise. I got more anxious when the first blogger came out of the lake and I started to search for our swimmer. In the race there were 5 blogger teams so there was a separate race between these teams. Although it seemed like a lifetime after a few minutes Andra came out of the water. As she stepped on the ground I was already at her feet getting the chip and then I run to my bike.

I started my run very fast and I was pushing hard. I felt the lack of the warm up very fast, first my legs started to hurt then my lungs. Until I warmed up I figured out how the wind was blowing on the race course and I finalized my tactic. When I had head wind I was trying to maintain my speed at around 35 kph and with the tail wind I was going at above 40. I passed a lot of people, and I passed a few competitors twice.

I've finished in less then 31 minutes with an average speed above 35 kph. After the last turn I was pushing so hard that I had to slow down so I could spare some energy to run to my team mate and give him the timing chip. After I've finished my run I needed some time to recover, I didn't think that I would get so so tired in about 18 kilometers (the organizers said 20).

My team mate had an excellent run so we finished in 1:13:24 on the 12th place in general and first in the blogger race. Every contender from the first three blogger teams won a weekend at Predeal at the Casa Bunicii pension.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay at the awards ceremony, after a short wash in the sea I headed home. I couldn't get on the stage with the other blogger but at least I got home until midnight.

This was my first triathlon, my first race on the road, my first race with a road bike, my first race in a team... and my first race were I have won. Besides winning a short vacation I won a few friends to: Rares Cojocaru, Liliana Mercan, Dana Dulea, Florin Rusanu, Andra, Gabriel Ciobanu, Vlad Dulea, Elena Ciric, Roxana Bursuc, Claudia Sofron, Mihai Teodorescu, Florea Cristian,Valentin Bosioc and Cezar Vasile. I'm very happy that I had the chance to race with you guys :)

I want to thank a few people, first I want to thank Mihai for pushing me to complete the signup form, I want to thank Chinezu for choosing me, I want to thank Bogdan Antohe for working a lot for us (and for the sandwich), I want to thank Master Ski & Bike Club for helping me with the transportation and a lot of thanks for my team mates!

The picture that I liked most from this competition and probable the best picture from this year:

A lot of thanks to the photographers, more pictures here.

You can read this post in romanian here.

Spinach cream soup

I found this post in the draft... I scheduled it to be posted automatically when I went on vacation but something went wrong so I'm publishing it now :)

I've made another cream soup. This time I've made spinach cream soup:

The procedure was the same as before, make veggie soup from powder, add the frozen spinach and the garlic and cook a few minutes. After it cools everything goes into the blender. Serve it with sour cream and toast.