Events and goings on

Last friday I got myslef up to Seoul and met the lads at Storck bicycles. We left at about 4 for the qualifier for the Tour of Korea Amateur race. It was quite a caravan with two teams, two team vans, and a bunch of support. The B squad and A squad loaded into their respective vans. Both teams are sponsored by Storck and Harley Davidson of Korea.

After arriving on the East coast we checked into the hotel, with well appointed rooms for a mere W40k or about $30. I bitch about a lot of stuff but this really was a sweet deal. We had some dinner that we had brought and hit the hay.

The next day we got up and readied ourselves and took a drive around the qualifier course. There was loads of debate about approaches but we all knew the pack would likely (A) crash a lot and (B) break into splinter groups. Both came true. I'll spare the details but it was required that we average 30kmh (18 mph) over the 63km. That sounds slow but the walls we climbed along the ocean front put that into perspective. I felt pretty good in the first 10-15km but then my git-up-and-go got-up-and-went. No amount of hope was gonna help my gasping. WTF? My legs felt pretty good and I managed my way up a hill or two in sight of the the wee ones. On a flat section of the second loop I realized my average was about 33kmh and I was pretty safe to roll in at my own pace while still qualifying. The rest of the team qualified as well.

After arriving at the finish I was immediately cold. I scurried back to my room to shower and refuel. Still cold. Later, on the ride home the sinuses started cracking and popping. My muscles also had a weird resistance to releasing (Mg+ deficient?). I crashed at a friend's place that night in Seoul. I woke up to a packed head of snot and bilateral earaches. "This should be fun for my 10k run in the Incheon Marathon this morning". Stranger yet, the legs felt great.

Suzanne and I ran the Incheon Marathon (she hates the pics so I'll respect that). She dusted me by 5 seconds and I have to applaud her effort put into training. It make me so proud of her when she does something good for herself like this. We then got blind drunk on beer and Chicken at my runner/bandmate friend's house. Good times. Ok, not so blind drunk. Tipsy maybe.

Now, I've been sick for 4+ days and the lungs are just disgusting. I'm off my training plan for the Tour of Korea until I feel it's safe to resume without progressing to pneumonia. So I did not do a good job of sparing the race details, I WILL spare you the lung cookie details.

Oh, I remember what that feels like...

Last 4 weeks have seen me scramble to assemble presentations on sports nutrition as well as take myself from the casual MTB racer to a training roadie. It's been rather inspiring for myself yet exhausting. My days revolve around fitting in cooking for the wife, some light cleaning, shopping, intervals, hill repeats, and long tempo rides out to the sea.

Yesterday was great. I rode with an expat friend for 80 km. The ride took us across a 12 km seawall to a series of three islands connected by bridges. The road shoulders were a bit dirty but wide. The roads on the last island wound up and down the hills and through through the rice patties. Smooth, clean and black lines with clean white paint. Few cars if any. We've been in Korea for 1 full year now and I forgot how great it was to actually ride to someplace and have the feeling that the scene changed. The boats in the water, the sea air, the funky little pensions all fulfilled that. A successful 12 hr week of riding and I'm all smiles.


Stan

Tokyo to Nagano

Day One

We made an easy trip by cab to the Incheon airport. Suzanne took off this Friday and we slept in a bit before we took off. It was nice not to get up at 4 AM for an international flight. We arrived at the airport, checked in the snowboard and luggage. The counter staff informed us that there was an upgrade performed on our tickets so we were no in the economy plus section which sports 5" extra legroom.

We and then rolled off to the lounge. We can't claim to sport much bling (bikes excepted) and seldom roll like big money but Suzanne's numerous trips to Asia for work provided access to the Star Alliance lounge and that is a fine thing indeed. Free beer, wine, spirits, food. We were set for a comfy flight.

We arrived at the Narita airport in Tokyo (tO-kyO), made our way to the train and reserved a seat. This train is pretty plush and guarantees you won't have to stand for the next hour or so. I watched the countryside roll by, short steep hills punch out of the landscape and are woven with 6' wide roads with perfect pavement and no cars. I dreamt of my road bike. Only the rice paddies reminded me of South Korea. Houses instead of high rises. The absence of burning plastic smoke rising up to the polluted sky at least in this part of Japan.

We exited at Shinjuku and made our way to the hotel. It struck me as we purposefully walked along that people walked in such an orderly fashion, not like machines but there was certainly a rythme. Signs embedded in the sidewalks warned smokers that this was not accepted on the streets. Small streets accommodated people and cars easily. Pavement was in perfect condition. Zero litter. Hybrid taxis abound.
We unloaded our gear and called our friend Miki for dinner. He met us on a corner not far from our hotel. He waved down a cab and off we went. We drove through one Ku (ward) then another until we arrived. We dined at a place Miki really enjoys. The was indeed fantastic. I think I second-hand smoked a pack of cigs during that meal. You can't smoke outside but there are no holds barred inside. Smoke ém if you got ém!

After dinner we hit a real karaoke joint. Suzanne had actually been there years ago when she lived in Tokyo for a summer. The sake was smooth but the operation of the machine was not so easy. The quality was not great either. The only saving grace was
that their systems precisely measure exactly how many calories you burn for each song. Crap-tacular! However, South Korea has done itself proud with the high quality karaoke experience know as Noraebang (노래방) or song room. Go Korea!

Day Two

Saturday we spent the entire day with Miki. He met us at the shrine and showed us more of this wonderful city.

As we walked the streets my eyes caught a small alley pub with a Belgian beer list. Tears welled up as I saw the place did not open until 5:30. Miki promised another place after we see more of the area. I would not be let down. There are at least three places in Tokyo featuring Belgian beers. One had over 300 different beers. This is how I know God loves me AND Tokyo.

During our day we had the pleasure to see a performance artist rocking to his brand of hypnotrance music and energetic art. Only 100 meters away in a quiet park setting was hundreds of young people, dressed in Alice in Wonderland style clothes and beyond. All were doing a some sort of group dance in small clusters. it was curious to say the least. You gotta take a picture right? Well that prompted a couple people to approach us and ask that we not post pictures. It was safe to assume that many of these kids do not want to be found here or found at all. The kids weren't hurting anything or anyone, only one or two seemed to have alcohol, and they were exercising. I say more power to you freak fest! The picture attached should not give away too much, I hope.


We also did a bit of clothes shopping. Japan is very hip to used clothing and fashion unlike some countries that insist on having brand new, poorly made crap. No furs were bought but admittedly they look OK and work well. The reality is a bit much though.

We ended our day in the company of Miki's parents. I should add that their energy and love was contagious. It was refreshing to see an older couple display such warmth and affection. Although our respective languages seldom matched, Miki led us through a fine evening of upscale sushi and saki. On an interesting note, Mr. Matsumura displayed a fine grasp of the Korean language which he took upon himself just for something to do. We live in Korea and can only say a few polite things and order beer.

Day Three
Sunday morning we awoke to the alarm. Actually I was already awake. I just can't handle knowing that the buzzer is going to happen at some point so my neurotic self lies there, awake, all night, waiting. It finally happened and we readied ourselves for our trip to Nagano to ski. I lugged some junk down to the lobby and looked for coffee. A man in running clothes entered the lobby and got a cup of the lobby brewed coffee that I was not keen on sampling. He slurped then "Ahhh"ed with each drink, making sure he stepped on my very last nerve. Suzanne arrived and immediately knew who was getting my goat. We enjoyed a great cup of coffee at the restaurant next door. later, outside, we stood in the calm until Mr. Slurpee joined us. He flung himself hither and yonder in an unabashed display of Raggedy Ann-takes-PE class. Flailing was accompanied by various grunts, phlegm clearing, and other sounds. The topper was his tossing of a used facial tissue into the immaculately clean bush edging the sidewalk. Those kind are everywhere, right?

The cavalry arrived in a Honda (Miki) and took us towards Nagano. Breakfast was truck stop food with the Yakuza. We bought our meal tickets from a machine then claimed our meals. I joked a bit about their presence (I mean really, where is written that if you are in the mafia you have to dress like that and comb your hair with buttered toast?) but Miki was adamant about withholding comment and kept his eyes low. I flashed some gang signs with my chop sticks, by accident, and they knew to stay clear of me. We took off and I dreamt of riding my road bike over the hills and along the streams that the highway cut through until the snowy mountains stole my attention.

We dropped the car and luggage off at the small, cozy lodge and headed for the resort base for an afternoon of boarding. Miki had a care package of food for us. It was a big box full of staples to get us through the trip without him. The man took serious care of us. He claims he appreciates the care Suzanne and Lisa gave him when he lived in Kansas going to school. Now we owe him back. I hope it never stops.

Miki brought Suzanne a board to use so could to try it out. Miki spent the entire time instructing her and proving encouragement while I went off on my own. As expected, boarding did not come naturally and the icy conditions did not help. Bruises gathered but Suzanne remained a trooper. A night at the local hot spring was in order after a genuine Chinese meal.

The meal was good but the hot springs were divine. Segregated, we showered then dipped into the rocky pools to ease our ills. An hour later we were ready to head back to the lodge and see our friend Miki off. He drove us 4 hours to Nagano, provided free boarding lessons, then drove back to Tokyo. We had stolen a long weekend from our friend but we are glad to have gotten so close. We are looking forward to spilling him in April here in Korea.
Day Four

We woke up late, grabbed some cereal and headed to the sloped bright and early, say eleven-ish. Suzanne rented some skis from a local shop and we hit the slope. The small snow from the night before offered some relief from the icy surfaces the day before. The snow continued a bit throughout the day but never made it perfect. The rains from the week before had crushed the snow and it will take a half meter of fresh stuff to fix the damage.

Day Five
More skiing of course but we moved over to a smaller mountain rumored to have better snow. The jury says the snow was no better and the layout of the mountain was horrible for boarding. Winter Park Colorado and numerous where snowboarders must dismount and dog-leg it or walk. This place had 3 such places requiring bullet train speed to cross but all of them were designated slow areas. One such place was ice ruts and narrow. This section caught a boarder's edge and landed him on his ear, separating his shoulder. Suzanne took off for the medic area and radioed me to confirm that they were coming. Two crusty skiers showed up in no time to provide med-assist. Both guys were from North America and seamed well seasoned.

The end of our ski adventures fell up on us. We turned in the skis and fancied a drink to cap it off. We hit a pub at the bottom of the lifts and perused the beer menu. Hmmm, Yona-Yona. One taste and we knew there would be more to come. A real ale with a handcrafted taste like we have at Schlaffly's in St. Louis. I don't particularly care for this flavor over something like a Trappist style ale but by-golly it was fine and a long time since I'd had similar.

The crowd at the pub was decidedly Western or English speaking and having a good raucous time, especially the snowboarding Aussies. I think I threw out a slur about some one's mom and we became fast drinking mates. They were drinking RedBull and Jeagermeister until they ran out of money...shortly after we ran out of money and begged a few Yen to buy more beers. They understood and felt our pain. One guy, Steve, was hip to mountain biking or anything off road. Suzanne mentioned that she is a fan of Crusty Demons and the boys all swooned. Aussies love Crusty Demons. The beers and drinks dried up, hugs were exchanged, and home we went to ready for the next day.

Our stay at the lodge was pleasant. The owner, Yoko, makes no bones about the place being simple. Each room was ready to sleep up to 6 people in the matt floor. Bedding was a well padded futon mattress with a massive comforter. The room was heated by it's own gas stove which is pretty common in Japan. If we left the heater off all night the room would easily be freezing in the morning making it tough to escape the bed. Yoko provided a small continental breakfast of toast and cereal with fruit. Works for us.

The best part of the lodge is the stories Yoko has to tell and that is definatly part of the charm. She lived in Steamboat Springs, Colorado while racing on the collegiate team. Look closely at the hat picture. I guessed whose it was before I looked inside. It gave me goosebumps.
Yoko has ski racing in her blood. Her father AND aunt were both slated for the Olympics but Japan's financial state was not yet recovered. Her father went on to design one of the other ski areas locally. He is also quite a legand with the town's people. Only a few nights earlier he had had a "few"and then crashed his car. His landing pad happened to be none other than his childhood friend's house. What are the odd of that. Well, I guess pretty damned good with that guy on the roads. You gotta give a hero a bit of rope occassionally. If you like to ski and you like good stories and pictures, hang with Yoko.
Yoko drove us to the bust stop were we caught the plush ride to Tokyo. We stopped every hour at truck stops and were duly reprimanded when were returned. "OVERTIME!". It became a joke with the other English speakers. I watched the snowy road turn to smooth black pavement, perfect for riding all the way back to Tokyo.

Back in Tokyo we caught the train to Narita. My neck hurt from watching out the window for the last time until the sun finally turned down and the landscape went gray. The roads were gone now.

Short summary

The good:

1. Our friend Miki
2. Cleanliness and orderlyness of Japan
3. The polite and well manored people
4. The Belgian brew pub + the local micro brew was delicious.
5. Skiing in Nagano where the Olympics were held
6. Getting to Japan was cheap ($260 RT)

The so-so:

1. Smoking inside restaurants....but not outside?
2. Getting around Japan once you are there is pretty expensive but it works well.
3. A few more fresh veggies with meals would be nice.

The bad:

1. Ski conditions were not great
2. The cost is pretty prohibitive in general due to the dimished dollar and already high prices for some items. $12 beers hurt.

Conclussion:
Do the math. We can't wait to return. Maybe we will go in the summer with the MTBs.

From the WTF files...

Living in a foreign country, any foreign country, presents one with the opportunity to experience new takes on language and culture. Without much of an intro, I present the image to the left, that of an ibuprofen brand called "FULLOPAIN". I don't know about you but merely opening the box made me nervous as I imagined a giant boxing glove on a thick coil spring flattening my nose and launching a few drops of blood. Maybe someone could have asked a native English speaker about this before taking it to market? Or not.

Dining in Korea

Lard have mercy! There is no one thing that seems to connect a culture, country, family, or others than food, that culinary binder that makes us miss home like nothing else. Suzanne and I have done pretty well in South Korea considering its distance from home. We have also done well despite being so far from places one might consider "culinary epicenters" such as New York, San Francisco, or Arnold, Missouri. However, there are certainly things that baffle us when we eat as the locals do. The point of this post is not to demean Korean food in any way but to point out differences. So don't get all bent out of shape.

• Even upper mid-level Italian restaurants provide sweet pickles at the beginning of your meal. They're not to be confused with antipasta, they are sugary sweet pickles. Don't be surprised if you also see them on your Subway sandwich too. Heck, the sweet pickles on a Subway sandwich were part of the motivation for Stanwiches International.
• Asia is home to Avian flu. Oh boy! So why is it OK to serve raw eggs on dishes like bibimbap and others? More people have died from avian flu than BSE (Mad cow disease). Several dishes are served in VERY hot ceramic bowl which is great for winter meals AND frying the egg against the side. They give me the "WTF?" look when you cook the egg against the bowl.
• Because I am a "Lazy American" I cannot yet comprehend all Korean writing. I can read some but have no idea what most of it means. Korean menus sometimes have pictures or bits of English, and this is a good thing. By no means is the the rule though, even in a town like ours which was built for the sole purpose of attracting foreign investors. Maybe they just want the investment and not the people?
• If you have an allergy to crustaceans (shellfish) it can be a tough place. I am allergic and often carry my epi-pen. However, there are stories of the careless server who has no interest in your well being. Call it carelessness or complacency, it's still a risk. Many non-seafood dishes have noodles that were boiled in the same water as the clams or shrimp.
• Vegetarian may not...DOES NOT mean there is no meat/poultry/fish in the dish. We've found bits of beef in lots of things and, like the noodles, you may get exposed to meats/shelf fish in the most unexpected places. To be fair, some restaurants are known to be vegetarian by their customers yet it's not claimed anywhere.
• Food prep is fairly extensive here since many small dishes are offered with each meal even when you don't want it. Food prep need not take up precious kitchen space since it can be done out in the public hallway on the floor. In other news, I spent the first 4-6 months in Korea having a new morning constitution experience every day.
• Chopsticks have their own history in Korea. A former leader of Korea had been on the receiving end of an assassination attempt. The vehicle for the poison was a set of wooden chopsticks. Silver chopsticks became very popular after that as they tarnish in the presence of some toxins. Today most chopsticks are stainless steel. Chopsticks have their place however and are not intended for use on rice where a spoon is the tool for the job.
• Speaking of rice, Korean rice is a short grained, glutenous white style of grain. It's shape is very much like a football with blunted ends. This rice works well when added to very wet dishes or with meat when wrapped in greens such as lettuce or sesame leaf. The markets offer many different brands, prices and package sizes but I must admit I see little difference in the actual product. When speaking strictly of a white rice there is very little in the way of options outside of this style. Basmati and jasmine rice are not to be found but in specialty stores for foreigners and the cost can run run about $10/pound. We eat very little rice so this treat is acceptable for our budget.
• There are things missing from the normal markets that I have to really hunt for or do not get at all. Limes and lime products are a no-go. You may think this is not an issue until you try to make Asian meals from other countries. Thai food depends heavily on limes and it may be our favorite food. Thai food also uses a great deal of cilantro (gosu in Korean) but the Koreans claim they dislike gosu and it gives them a headache. Hey, there may be a conspiracy here. I'll go sit on my grassy knoll and figure this one out.
• What is my favorite meal? It has to be samgeytang. Not just for flavor but for the experience that surrounds our meals that our cooked by a little old Korean woman with a gold grill (gold plated teeth). Suzanne and I like to hike at Munhak mountain near our house. We generally hike there for 2-3 hours then grab a flimsy plastic table at "Grandma's". Grandma's is a metal piped structure with canvas walls and dirt floors but features a full kitchen. Sounds questionable and it likely is outside the law but the samgyetang is amazing and downing a few crappy beers along with it makes life a little better. Samgyetang is simply a whole young chicken cooked in a pressure cooker then the juices and broth are put in a large shallow metal bowl, placed on a portable flame and then centered on the table. The bird is stuffed with Korean sticky rice, Jujubes, garlic, gensing, and ginger. The chicken sits in the juices and is surrounded by misc. veggies. The table is provided a set of scissors and tongs to take the little beast apart. There is enough for about 3 hungry people and, as ALWAYS, comes with kimchi and other goodies. Although I am careful about kimchi since it usually contains shrimp sauce, I do enjoy this one. There's never a spec of food left...EVER. if you come to Korea, you will be taken to Grandma's.

There is so much more to eating in Korea and what I wrote does not do it justice. I will do my best to write more, especially the more positive experiences.

Camping and cycling in Korea

Yuppers, that's me in my glory. I'm a picture of vitality I tell you!
Last weekend we went to central Korea and camped, rode some insanely cool trails, drank some adult beverages and tried to stay dry.

Dirt
We pushed our scooters up, and up, and up rarely stopping to do anything other than clean the blue air out of our ears that Suzanne was spouting. Girrrrrrrl was mad about the pushing. I was a little poopy-pants too until we finally hit some horizonal dirt singletrack.

When all of our groups convened we pointed our sleds down. Someone took off and practically disappeared over this cliff. I inched up behind to look over and see him wrastling a tree. At that point the spectators looked to me to be the next victim. I reluctantly dropped in down the rutted and twisty trail. Peer pressure. The rut caught the rear tire while I worked the front of the bike. The result was this kick-ass sideways skid with a change-up mid-skid for about 40-50 feet total, the first half of which was full of fear then a calm overcame me as I realized that the hill was so steep my upside hand was merely a foot or two from the ground. Totally terrorized I yelled back up the hill, "it's cool, come on down, the water's fine!".

We all met at the bottom and returned to camp. Some previously not grumpy people were now grumpy and visa-verse. Look at us sitting on the concrete. in the picture to the right. We are contemplating life after the descent.

Back at camp we regrouped and headed out for a second loop that saw us ride up a nice fire road to the top of our original push up. As we headed into the singetrack the rain came and it was getting serious. The loose rocks were a bit more stable with the moisture and provided a great ride down,. The final 1k was a freaking blast with swooping diving singltrack. Just lovely!
The party
Set up tents, beer, Jerry's Biafran stew, beer, Jeagermeister, chips, try to stay dry, sleep. Good times.
The next day
Not happy inside. Nobody rode and nobody was sad for that. We had pressed our luck the day before.

Shep-Boy-R-Dee, Orange Scruffy, Rice-A-Pony

Part of my being a registered dietitian is understanding the food culture of those I care for. Since I ain't gots no job I have the opportunity to venture out, be proactive, be adventurous. Today I went with two officials from a local marketing group to scope out some land for a new MTB trail building and education center. After we walked a bit of the land it was lunch time. One suggested, while using utmost tact, that I might try dog. Wow, just writing that makes me a little sad. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have NO aversion to eating dog, I just cannot fathom what makes a culture think that torturing an animal before it's death can improve health or be "good for man". Yes, koreans feel that the terror in the last moments of life improve the meat flavor and the nutrition. In the end, I see myself as having a responsibility to at least try it. I need not consume it again and I certainly never need to be an advocate for it especially since I know for a fact it provides no more protein than any other source.

The meat appeared to be stewed and looked much like pork. The fat and muscle were easily separated. The fat left that nasty hotdog feeling on the roof of my mouth but the meat was not as bad. The texture was stringy like beef but again the taste was similar to pork with a hint of lab...I mean lamb. It was all served with various kimchi. It was to be eaten wrapped in sesame leaves along with garlic shoots and various mixed spices.

In addition we also had various hot peppers and pastes, pickled garlic, daikon, and a soup. The soup was served in a hot bowl as demonstrated by the video. It was surprising bland despite fizz-fizz action. I was ready for a real shock to the gazilta-zoink. It was not bad, just bland. It did compliment the other foods well and thus justified it's place on the table.

Will I eat dog again? No. Today I contributed enough to cruel animal treatment and shotty nutrition science for a lifetime. Korea is "Spok-o-rink"* in many ways but this is not one of them in my opinion. Get ride of the cruelty and I have no issue with it, old wives tales be damned about the nutrition. My hosts were great and added to my experiences in Korea and for that I am grateful.

Now, where's my forklift, I have cows to move?

Spok-o-rink = Sparkling