Don Miguelito

Ouch. The local anesthetic wore off at about 3 AM this morning and it was a night of 45 minute wake-up calls from the pain in my busted gut. Then I tried to get up and move around this morning and that was a real bad idea. Thus, I've determined that if I don't move there's no pain, so bed rest it is for now.

However, with the Winfield Criteriums this weekend there's work to be done so I sort of feel a bit "godfatherish". Here I am, laying in my doctor prescribed bike shorts and a de-go-tee with the laptop and a couple of phones next to me... and then the occasional visitor stops by and sits bedside while I dish out some instructions on "what's gotta be done".

Leave the race flyers, take the canoles.

No, no.... Surgery is Great

Ok, not really, but I do have to say that from check-in @ 6:30 a.m. until I left at 10:15 it was a pretty chill experience at the Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center. Once I changed into my gown, received my IV and went through my pre-surgery consultations (where the doctor reminded me again no racing for 4 to 5 weeks), I got to chill out and listen my iPod for a few minutes while I waited for them to get everything ready.

Early morning pre-surgery tunes (as chosen by the Shuffle):
- "Over the Ocean", Low
- "Tongue", REM
- "Helicopter", M.Ward
- "Karma Police", Radiohead
- "Taller Beauty", Julie Doiron
- "Blonde on Blonde", Nada Surf

... and then the anesthesiologist and another doc come in, give me an injection via the IV, roll me down the hall and I can't help but thinking, "It looks just like it does on TV"... and that's the last thing I remember until I wake up about 90 minutes later to a nurse offering more morphine.

Typically, I'm proud of the fact I can count the number of pills I take each year on two hands, just the very rare ibuprofen for me. But in this case, I'm glad they pumped me full of everything for... and I really don't even care what it was.

More Pics

Alright, we weary travelers are paying out the nose for a timed connection
here at Heathrow, so it's just quick notes and more pictures! Can't wait to
see you all!

Here's just one of the many sections of Europe's tallest waterfall:

Here is a shot from the top of the falls looking down. That first gray section
in the pines is just the halfway point, then it drops just
as far again to the reservoir and town below.

A shot from the super-steep cable car ride...

and the view of the Austrian Alps from the top, looking out
from the cave:

The "hardy" cave hikers (as the guidebooks suggested we had to be). From Left:
Danielle, Erin, Rosa, me, Natalia, Matt, Mike and Martina.

A three foot long "bike" pretzel in Salzburg... after the cave hike I would
have eaten this had the place been open!

Monster beers (and delicious!) at the Hofbrauhaus our last night in Munich:

The view from the "London Eye", the world's largest observation wheel...no,
you don't always get to see this beautiful woman every time you ride the Eye!

and last but not least, a shot in front of Big Ben during our night out in
London.

We'll do a wrap up in a day or two. Thanks for reading!

"Eating All You Can"

-the sign at the Chinese All-You-Can-Eat Buffet we stopped at after
the ice caves. We like the translation.

Auf Wiedersehen Germany & Austria!

We're currently hanging out in Munich Terminal 1 awaiting our flight
for a 27 hour layover in London - pretty sweet, in the genuine sense!

Yesterday (Tues) we actually awoke to the sound of music in
Salzburg ... the ringing of church bells at 7am, but it was NOT one
of our favorite things. There was a slight drizzle all morning, but
it didn't stop us from walking around, doing some shopping, and
eating the best spinach/tomato ciabatta bread stick in the world from
one of the street markets. And once we found out that Riedel crystal
was an Austrian/German company, we had to stop at the Salzburg Riedel
store/cafe for a couple glasses of white white and a chicken salad.

You want to know what's really good in Europe? McDonald's coffee.
Yup, that's right the McClassic Cappuccino for just 1 McEuro at the
McCafe was excellent! It's far from the cup of thin, and extremely
hot, coffee that you would get at a McDonald's in the States. On our
drive back to Munich I (Rosa) really wanted a great cup of coffee,
but alas, all the McDonald's were on the South side of the Autobahn
and there was no way to get over. Now I'll have to find out how the
McDonald's coffee is in London.

Our last night in Munich was a lot of fun with some traditional
German food and a couple of gi-normous beers. We went to the
Hofbrauhaus, the largest beer hall in Munich, where we each ordered
the only size beers available: 1 liter. Check out the picture - Mike
is drinking a pilsner, Rosa is drinking a radler (a pilsner mixed
with lemonade ... so good!). We had a plate of spatzle, a variety of
schintzels (of course, Rosa passed on the sausage) and shared our
last gigantic pretzel. After the walk back to the hotel we decided to
check out one more place and have another drink - although I'm not
sure how I did it. It was probably the walk across the city that made
room for anything in our full bellies. Our last stop in Munich was at
the Cafe Am Beethovenplatz, a hip cafe/restaurant/bar with a great
mix of clientele: students, couples of all ages, groups of
girlfriends sharing desserts, folks reading books and a woman playing
a grand piano for all of us. It's definitely a place we'd go back to.

..... 7 hours later we are finally posting this after a rainy
afternoon in London. Our internet connection is very slow, so the
pics will be posted tomorrow. We wish we were back in Munich - London
is not worth the pounds!

Tired & Quips

Rather than relax and recover the day after the wedding like we probably should have, Rosa and I decided to start tackling some of Europe and the World's "Biggest" attractions - and not biggest by the most crowded, but biggest in actual terms of size. We're Americans so we always have to go big, right? Needless to say, two straight days of hiking around the Alps left us extremely tired, so we're a day late on the updates.

The highlights of the last 48 hours?

A hike down into the town of Mittersill from the castle for a relaxing morning on the square... then the tallest Waterfall in Europe and a 90 minute, 1200 foot hike to the top of it... and wrapping up the evening with a walk from the castle up to the bride and groom's "hideaway" to share some pictures and a glass of wine. It was about a 10 mile day with 2,000 feet of elevation change.

Yesterday (Monday) we hit the world's largest ice caves... which I thought would have been buried down in the mountain... but instead was another drive/hike up another 1,600 feet to the entrance, a freaky 50 degree cable car ride up the side of a cliff, and then an hour plus tour and 1400 steps up through the cave system. No photos were allowed, but you should really check it out here and then click on Gallery in the left hand side.

After the ice caves we were all super-hungry and hit a Chinese restaurant with a lunch buffet... oh yes, Chinese in Austria.

And finally, last night we ended up in Salzburg, a beautiful small city. We were a little knackered to do any hardcore sightseeing, but fortunately it's only a short walk anywhere in the city, including northern Europe's largest Renaissance fountain (which we sat down in front of without even realizing),and we took the tram to the Festung Hohensalzburg, the largest intact castle in Central Europe. It sits on a huge cliff and overlooks the city and the surrounding countrside. We'll definitely upload some more photos soon.

A few funny things heard the past couple days:
"Holy waterfall, Batman!" - Rosa's first view of the falls.

"I'm not a quitter" - Rosa as we reached to the halfway point of the falls... and see how much further we have to go.

"Excellent... in the genuine sense." - what Matt's sisters say so that everyone knows they're NOT being sarcastic (because most of time they are).

more to come...

Note: having your wedding in two languages in a country that neither the bride
or groom is from means things are at least two or three times crazier - however,
being a destination vacation means it's all fun! The past couple days
we did some running around the valley for last minute preparations,
and every single view takes your breath away. I (Mike) have been saying that
I wasn't as interested in traveling abroad when there were so many things in
America I hadn't seen yet, but I'm definitely taking that back. The scenery
and way of life are so completely different here than anything you'd find in
the States, and I recommend that everyone try and make a trip to Bavaria and
the Austrian Alps. The people here are super-nice and as long as you learn
a few simple German phrases you can get by just fine, and did I mention the
scenery? It's picture time!

Here is a photo from inside the castle walls looking out at the chapel and
down towards the valley.

This is another shot over the top of the chapel with a little bit better view
of the mountains and some fresh snow.

The town of Mittersill, Austria.

The view to the West from our room on the top floor of the Castle.

Stealing a kiss in the Castle's English Garden.

Never, ever get caught sniffing another man's flower.

The night before the wedding... do they look nervous?

One heck of a view, and the bride and groom look pretty good too.

Rain threatened the outdoor ceremony all day (it actually hailed right before
the ceremony), but Matt shows he's got Natalia covered.

...and finally, a chance to relax!

The Ass man

We did it - we finally had a full night’s sleep (and then some: 10 hours!) and you want to know what the best part of waking up is? No, not “Folgers in your cup” - it’s seeing the sun shine down on Munich. It is a gorgeous, bustling city and although we’d seen a lot in the rain, it was entirely different under sunny skies. Thus, we decided to go on a bike tour around Munich (no hernia will keep Mike off the bike, even if it’s just a cruiser).

If you’re ever in Munich you need to check out Mike’s Bike Tours (yes, it is funny!), and he also has bike tours in Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona. They’re so much fun - a great way to see a city! Our tour guide was this crazy, young Irish guy named Steve (with red hair and lots of freckles) who just got back from spending the winter months in Belize doing whatever work he could get. Our group of 12 was a mix of Brits, Austrailians and Americans. And Mike, being the expereinced group ride leader he is, immediately volunteered to take up the rear and pick up the stragglers: thus he was known for the duration of the Tour as: “the Ass Man”.
Steve was a talker, especially with stories including the trials and tribulations of being a bike tour guide — which were hilarious! But he also know a lot about the history of Munich, and it really seemed like he loved the place. Near the end of the tour we rode through the Englisher Garten, which is a gorgeous 1,000 acre city park (33% bigger than Central Park) and stopped at the second largest beer garden in Munich for lunch — which of course included Bavarian liquid bread: beer! They also had these Bavarian pretzels that are twice the size of your head. They’re super yummy and super salty, which makes you want to drink more beer. Hmmmm . . . . those Germans are so tricky! We sat in the garden and hung out for about an hour, which was super relaxing and great people watching. The garden (which holds up to 6,000 people) was full of families, tourists, groups of teenagers, and locals. A guy who came and sat down by our group was actually a musician from Chicago (named Mike, of course) who had lived in Munich for over 20 years. He was just hanging out having a beer and reading “The Brothers Karamazov”. Swigging beer is pretty standard operating procedure in Germany: from the rowdy “football” fans to the trendy clubgoing crowd to the white collar workers, blue collar workers and the intellectuals. Eventually we pushed on (although the group would have been quite content to just hang out in the gardens and talk for a few more hours), and had a quick ride through the streets of Munich until it was time to say goodbye.

Instead of taking a train we decided to rent a car. How fun is that? Mike is driving this zippy little Audi (a free upgrade-thanks Avis!) that kicks ass on the AutoBahn. We were cruising along with traffic at 160km (about 100 mph) without even realizing it. Germans are very safe and very good drivers, so as long as you just settle into the flows it’s no problem at all. However, Rosa will probably not be doing any driving because she doesn’t know how to drive a stick shift. But, what better place to learn than on the Autobahn... with a rental. The 2-hour drive to Mittersill, Austria was beautiful - everything is so green and the mountains are enormous. The pictures we took from the car will not do it justice.

The reason we are in Europe is because Mike’s best friend Matt is getting married on Saturday and Mike’s the best man. The wedding will be at Schloss Mittersill which is a castle that serves as a Christian retreat center. The castle is on a mountainside looking down on the town of Mittersill and is absolutely beautiful. We can’t wait to explore the castle and the city over the next few days. But, there was no time for exploring or anything else, except for Rosa getting to carry the luggage up 3 flights of stairs (that damn nernia!) As soon as we got here Mike was sent away with all the other men to the bachelor party and Rosa hung out at the castle with all the women folk drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers. She’s not sure if that’s a typical European bachelorette party or if it’s more tamed because of where we are at. All in all, it was a nice evening talking to Natalia (the bride) and Matt’s family who also flew in from the States. But, Matt does have an older brother who lives here with his family in Mittersill and works at the castle. That’s how Matt met Natalia, when a couple years ago Matt came to live with his brother and work at the castle. So, that’s our adventure so far. There will be more exciting castle wedding news to come, especially since it’s 1am and Mike’s not back from the bachelor party. Oh, those boys!

Ciao

Rain, rain go away, come again another day...

...say like next Thursday when we’re back in the States.

Our first full day in Munich (actutally Hallbergmoos, which is on the outskirts of Munich) started at 4am, thanks to Rosa who was too excited about being in Europe and couldn’t go back to sleep. The very early start to our day began with a delicious German breakfast of museli with 3 1/2 % milk - we’re pretty sure we saw the cow tied up behind the restaurant. The coffee is, of course, fantastic. Maybe not as good as Italy (says Rosa), but pretty darn close. They even serve cheese and meat slices with hearty pieces of bread.

So, with our belly’s full (and Rosa carrying the bags) we took a train to the heart of Munchen. It was on our train ride that we decided it would be a good idea to learn some common German phrases like “I don’t speak German.” “Do you speak English?” “Where is the toilet?” “More beer please.” - you know the usual stuff. Ok, we probably should have learned this before we came to Germany, but it gave us the opportunity to work on our gesturing skills.

Even though it was a gloomy, rainy day in Munich we were still able to do a lot of sight-seeing and stay mostly dry. In the afternoon, we took a short train ride to Dachau to see the concentration camp memorial site. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp and was the model for all the other concentration camps - every horrific thing that happened in concentration camps began here. It was quite the experience - to be in the rooms where these people ate and slept, to stand where they stood naked waiting to die in a gas chamber. Sure, we knew what went on at concentration camps from history classes, books, and movies, but when you’re there it’s almost like you can still hear the distant cries of these people calling out for someone to save them. The memories are forever locked in the walls, in the grass, in the leaves of the trees - they’re there forever.

By the time we left Dachau our shoes and pants were soaked. It was still raining and we couldn’t wait to get back to our hotel. So, after a hot shower, a power nap and dry clothes we headed out again for some German food and beer. On our way to dinner we saw more of the city because Mike took the “scenic” route. But, it was worth the long walk - the food and beer were excellent. Don’t ask us what we ate because we’re not really sure. Mike chose a place that was far away from the touristy sections of town, so our waitress didn’t speak English and there were no English translations on the menu. We were so glad we practiced our gesturing skills, if not we would have been those dumb Americans who didn’t know the universal sign for beer. We think Rosa had some kindof risotto dish with spargel (which we found out later is white asparagus) and Mike had some type of chicken brat with bacon in the middle and these yummy potato things - they’re like a tater tot but with mashed potatoes. Whatever we ate, it was good and we were ready for sleep, all that walking (and beer drinking) wore us out. Back at the hotel Mike was actually dozing off between beer sips. And there you have it . . .

Time Zone Travel

Welcome to Rosa & Mike’s European Vacation blog. Thanks for checking it out. We’ll be updating our blog with pictures and audio clips, so please stop back.

Mike had never seen "The Sound of Music" so we watched it on the plane ride over, and now he's hoping that we'll break out into song every 10 minutes in Austria. That's what 4 a.m. movies will do to you.

Right now, we're sitting in Nero’s Caffe at London’s Heathrow airport (which smells like a lounge) enjoying some coffee and trying to recover from the past 10+ hours. We have come to the conclusion that first class sucks (because we're not in it). Heck, we'd gladly settle for business class. Really, we just loathe all those people who were able to sleep vertically... because we didn't.

-Rosa

The Lowdown: Something's Gotta Give...

....and in this case it was my lower abdominal wall. As in: I gave myself a hernia the Saturday before we left for Tour of Virginia. I tried to pass it off as some inexplicable lymph node inflammation that would pass -- but after a poor race performance, complete uncomfortability in the saddle, and no reduction in swelling, it was time to go to the doctor.

The solution, surgery. But that means up to a week of recovery, and my buddy Matt's wedding is in Austria this weekend and if I missed it I would never forgive myself. It would be the equivalent of missing a brother's wedding, and Rosa and I have planned one of our first real vacations around it.

So what does that mean for the hernia? (or "nernia" as Ben DeMong thinks I should call it)... well, it gets to go to the wedding too and will be dealt with the week of the Memorial Day holiday when I return. In the meantime, Rosa gets to carry all the luggage and my counterpart on the other side of the aisle (the maid of honor) will be responsible for all dips and tosses between us on the dancefloor. The recovery will take me into the Winfield Weekend, and then I should be back on the bike and right as rain. In total, I'll be off the bike for up to four weeks, but I've always come back from downtime pretty well so I'm really looking forward to Superweek.

One other bonus to the injury? More Blog-time, baby! Expect to see more regular updates here at "Ebert Checks In", which for the next 10 days will be "Ebert & Rosa Check In" from Munich, Salzburg and London! During my "off-the-bike" time I'm also going to be posting some dribble regarding training, the P-R-O's and some upcoming events.

Thanks for reading.

ToV Wrap: Baumann Keeps His Cool and U-23 Jersey

Finally a chance to write a Tour of Virginia wrap. The last two stages went pretty well, but were very tense affairs. The gaps separating the top riders were all pretty close and there were only two chances left for the sprinters to show their stuff.

For Saturday night’s crit it even looked like it might rain, so I just worked to keep the guys calm and prepared for whatever could happen. We decided to run race radios again too just in case there was anything I needed to say, but fortunately it was actually a pretty uneventful race. I even had enough time on my hands to make a stop at the beer garden on the course and enjoy a nice cold beverage to benefit a local charity. It actually turned out to be a great spot to watch the race as it was away from the noise of the start/finish and I had a chance to chat with some locals who wanted to know more about what was happening.

My sister Bridget also came down from Georgetown on Saturday with a couple friends and had dinner with us. If there was an upside to not being in the race anymore, it was being able to just relax and hang out with them.

And speaking of relaxed and hanging out, after Stage 4 the team and I moved off the “hotel circuit” and into the home of former ABD’er John Semmelhack and his wife, Amy. We all had a great time staying with them. John took me out for a little ride around Charlottesville the morning before the crit too, and it’s a really beautiful area.

Sunday’s final stage was another road race that departed and finished right in Charlottesville, and the guys said it was probably one of the hardest stages of the race, despite it’s lack of any categorized climbs. They had to tackle an 80 mile loop followed by 3.5 finishing circuits. Here’s a breakdown of this soap opera of a stage:
- Ryan crashed 20 miles in but was able to jump up, work his way through the caravan, and rejoin the group.
- Alex put in his bid as a Sherpa when he came back to the car and loaded up half his weight in bottles and food.
- A group of 10 riders had a 2 minute gap on the field, but was mis-diverted on the circuits so that they actually ended up behind the field.
- The caravan was diverted onto open roads which resulted in a “Mad Team Managers at Thunderdome” scene between team cars and unsuspecting residents also caught in traffic.
- The various groups on the road were given a lot of conflicting information on the circuits regarding what lap they were on.
- A frustrated field neutralized themselves the last lap as they’d already sprinted once, but one rider attacked the neutral field for who knows what reason.
- A fists of fury, bloodshed, smashed carbon bikes, fight broke out 20 yards from the finish line, right in front of the mayor, sponsors, organizers, police and spectators between said rider and others.
- 4 riders were ejected from the race, three suspended from USAC, and over $1000 in fines handed out.
- Oh yeah, Ryan kept the U-23 jersey!!!

After the race it was quick showers, a delicious meal courtesy of Amy, and the start of the long drive home. We finally made it back to the PPC parking lot at about 5:30 on Monday afternoon, and I had a Board meeting that night, Dr.’s appointment Tuesday morning, Multisport meeting Tuesday night, and a flight to LA Wednesday morning – from where I’m writing this report… exhale.

So that Dr.’s appointment? That’s tonight or tomorrow’s update.