Three days ago it was about 7C / 45F and it was raining down buckets. I plead hearty New Englander and just don the appropriate neoprene and Goretex combination to handle the task. The task, of course, is to not lose a limb or smaller appendage of your body to hypothermia. A lesser man (namely my teammates, and virtually everyone in Italy apparently since I didn’t see a soul on the typically cycling strewn Saturday morning streets) would not brave the elements, especially when the calendar has hardly cracked December. But I plan on winning everything in sight in 2013, so excuses aren’t part of my training routine. Two words, my friends: game. on.

Two days ago was simply absurd, but goes without mention. Whereas yesterday was quite simply frigid. But complete with crystal clear blue skies, so I was pumped to stay dry even though the thermometer read well below freezing. (Oh, mind you that I packed for this three week trip to Italy having seen forecasted temperatures never dropping below 10C / 50F. Apparently Mother Nature doesn’t exchange notes with the friendly folks at the Weather Channel where I did my reconnaissance. But nearly five hours later and without ever breaking into a shiver, I call it a success.)

Today, however, was the most epic combination of both cold and rain that I’ve ever experienced. And that’s not hyperbole. Rolling out the door, the temperature was hovering around 3C / 37F. Meanwhile, the rain was truly indescribable. I’m staying at my friend and new Danish teammate Brian Vandborg’s house along with our Canadian amigo, new teammate, and lover of hockey, Xbox, and riding his bike fast, Guillaume Boivin. The two of them were absolutely floored that I was stepping outside – let alone attempting a ride. The combination of wind and pounding rain make the house a consistent 80ish decibels… minimum. All said and done, I still eeked out almost 2.5 hours despite dodging fallen trees, being diverted amongst roads due to flooding all throughout Lucca, contending with virtually black-out skies meet white-out rain, and nearly being blown off my bike perhaps a dozen times. Freakin’ nutty.

(And when you delve deeper and look at the temp on this ride, mind you the GPS was tucked safely under my jersey, under my raincoat. Nice and warm, nice and err… less-sopping wet.)

Let’s also celebrate my mere surviving today by giving you the coupon code: tedking2012 which will entitle you 10% off a Strava premium membership. There are some incredible things coming down the line from the Strava braintrust, especially in the premium arena. You want premium, trust me.

So hopefully this should paint the picture of Europe in the winter for you. Sure, Italy juts prominently into the balmy and majestic Mediterranean Sea, but go stare at a world map for a while. We’re flipping far north.

Anywho, 2013 team CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING(!) meetings kicked off last week up in Milan and we were greeted by pissing rain and being holed up in a hotel for four days. Which I suppose is efficient for conducting meetings, but I like to at least see sun, or at least know it’s there. Or perhaps see less flooding. And now tomorrow we are off to the start of a ten day camp in scenic southern Tuscany. I’m just going to guess that in 10 days we ride the same loop, hrmm… oh, 9 out of the 10 days. (Psst, shoot me a reminder in a week and a half and I’ll give you the update on how close my guess is to reality. We might even go 10 for 10!)

And now down to the real business: Food Porn.

Brian VB turns 31 today so we are celebrating by cleaning the house, surviving the impending elements, doing a massive round of laundry all before trekking off to camp tomorrow. So in our last moments of freedom we are hosting a dozen of his Danish cycling buddies and their family who live in town for a birthday dinner. I made a smashing pulled pork, roasted sweet potatoes with red onion, and deep ruddy red beets two days ago for our romantic dinner of three. Turns out it was such a hit that Brian asked I do it again. Birthday boy gets his wish! Given this gnarly weather of late, a heartwarming and hearty home cooked meal warms the soul.

And now, to backtrack: the best third Thursday of November in all the land has come and gone. Thanksgiving arrived complete with all the token fixin’s: a morning boost to the heart rate, hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, friends, family, schmoozing, wine, more hors d’oeuvres because they’re still out, more wine, throwing the football in our Sunda… err, Thursday’s finest attire, stuffing-potatoes-creamed onions-turkey-mashed potatoes-more stuffing-gravy-and-more-turkey-plus-celery to make it healthy creating a mountain on my plate, wine, a riveting game of smashing old pumpkins against a tree in the backyard, an aptertivo, watching the Patriots thump the Jets, wine, and watching the Campaign. This photo of dinner is blurry cause I’m in the early stages of a fine food coma. Ahh, just like the Pilgrims…

Of the ten desserts on the sweets table, my entirely homemade maple-pumpkin, gingerbread trifle was the hit to end all hits. T’was truly glorious. Again, just like the Pilgrims.

And simply for the sake of sharing more food photo-ops, I partook in an orphan Thanksgiving the week before while training in Palo Alto and created another rendition of my 2011 Thanksgiving dessert masterpiece, the Martha Stewart Mile High Pumpkin Pie. For something loco, like 30 people at this party, I decided to double up and make two pies. Despite all the self-discipline in the room, they were gone in no time flat.

Looking above, there are pies beneath that velvety smooth meringue topping, I promise. Just look at this for proof. And no, of course I don’t make my own crusts. That’s hard.

One last big meal tonight, then time for salad and team camp. Over and out.

This fall has cruised by in rapid fashion with stops all throughout New England – some of which were for my bi-annual dabbling in cyclocros, a speedy trip through Italy, more jaunts through New England followed by a proper vacation in Hawaii which lacked a bike to the same proportions that it provided an abundance of beach time and poke, and now finally this entry greets you from Italy. Ciao! Of course you could have simply scrolled down at previous entries and relived these moments in time this fall, but I thought I would rehash it for your now regardless.

I have just one word to describe the off-season as of today: OVER. This aforementioned “teleportation shuttle” is often called an airplane and after jetting me around the northern and primarily western hemisphere, I freshly stepped off the airplane in Milan mere hours ago where I am now a bit shellshocked that the past two months went by so quickly. Amidst my time-zone hopping, some things simply don’t add up given this gratuitous amount of travel – case in point: I’m sitting here in the hotel lobby listening to Bing Crosby melodiously sing some of my Christmas favorites, followed immediately by Afroman’s Because I Got High, then book-ended by the Babes in Toyland fight scene song. Meanwhile an Italian marching band is belting out a cacaphony in the hotel restaurant to a group of Italian policemen and their families adjacent to where I sit. I couldn’t make it up if I tried. Oh, did I mentioned I slept four hours last night? Yeaap, I’m shellshocked.

Let’s now switch gears entirely and discuss Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for most likely the same reason it is yours. Namely, there is no stress lingering in the air in regards to gift giving and all the pretension that coincides with another festive holiday. Instead wafting through the air you have the magical amalgamated aroma of baked fowl, green beans, pumpkin pie, and a small slice of heaven, which is considerably more pleasant.

Waking up at the tender hour of 3am on Thanksgiving Eve, I took in America’s busiest travel day from high above the headache and gridlock at 35,000′ as I flew from my November training grounds in California to home in New England. From there to the busiest bar night of the year, I slept a few hours before Thursday morning’s turkey trot. I’m a regular to this sort of five kilometer activity, but it was still a nice surprise to have this version be entirely off-road where I finished a respectable 22nd out of 500 runners and now I am still awkwardly sore. I would offer you to go to the site to peruse results, but the timing company is still boasting their most recently posted results… which happened in 2009.

More importantly yet, let’s discuss pie. I was in charge of the pumpkin pie as is my standard chore come Thanksgiving day. I’m always looking for ways to spice it up and after dabbling off the beaten path of late with a pumpkin trifle and pumpkin cheesecake in recent editions, I sought help from Martha Stewart. The Deep Dish title is misleading because that’s not the showcase feature. Instead it should be dubbed Mile High Meringue with Pumpkin Pie Underneath. I even opted for an extra egg white to give it even more vertical.

I couldn’t help myself. 99% candid, 1% posed.

And lastly the pie in its native habitat. I didn’t mean to outshine the other eight desserts feeding this army of 18, but needless to say, my 7″ tall pie was nothing short of exemplary. And the icing on the cake was the meringue on the pie. It was divine.

Okay and now I must bid you farewell. Camp starts tomorrow and there will likely not be any pie in attendance. It’s back to the grind.

Oh and in related news, it is fall and that means it’s soon winter and that means it’s cold. But you’re obviously still riding your bike so you need a neckgaiter. This is a Euro-neckgaiter inspired garment and fits the bill for any chore above your shoulders. Hat, neckgaiter, ear warmer, and do-all-style-piece. It’s the bomb.

So here she is bubbling away, pre-being zapped and whirred into a fine, consistent slurry. Pumpkin, onion, carrot, apple, garlic, S’n'P, basil, red pepper flakes, curry, and some EVOO.

Wait wait wait, I hear you say. What therapy, Ted? you earnestly ask. Well pull up a chair and I’ll tell.

I don’t want to rehash what you might already know, so let’s just say I raced the Giro di Sardinia a week ago, we did pretty darn well, but somewhere in the process I hurt my knee. Defending young Sagan’s leader’s jersey is a team effort and my job typically takes places in the opening four hours of each day, give or take an hour. Specifically, I monitor early attempt breakaway attempts, yank them back as necessary, and eventually let the “correct” group go up the road. That’s followed by controlling of the bunch for the ensuing hundred-fifty-K or so. Ready, set, go!

(Me. Plus 100 or so of my best friends.)

On the final day of Sardinia, I completed my job and then rather than painfully pedaling the final 25km up to the summit finish, with more anxiety and angst than I typically contend with, I pulled the plug and got into the team car to the finish. And please don’t think that I was looking for an easy out; it’s been over two years since the last time I ducked into the team car rather than finishing a race. Suck McSuck Pants in full effect. Size XXL.

So let’s now jump to Monday, five days ago – rather than passively suffering the mental anguish of wondering what the heck is wrong with my knee, I went with a soigneur who lives nearby down to Pisa to a sports clinic to see what’s shakin’ in my knee. A quick exam with an awesome sports physiologist/therapist named Emanuele followed by a trip to the nearby hospital for an ultrasound revealed that a) I’m not pregnant and b) I have a decent amount of swelling around a critical tendon behind my left knee. Again, Suck McSuck Pants: on.

However, this thorough, exceedingly friendly, and outgoingly knowledgeable crew around me has been very optimistic about the entire situation. There is nothing torn, nothing ripped, and all the damage to my ginocchio (Italian for knee) appears to be reparable in a timely fashion… although patience is absolutely critical here. I was subbed out of Paris-Nice, which sucks of course because I would be going to help Peter Sagan tear that race apart. After seeing his form at Sardinia, I know he’s bound for great things in France this week. Heck, the whole team for that matter. Crap. But as it stands now, my next race isn’t until De Panne two full weeks after P’Nice is due to end. Therefore I have the time to let well… time, patience, therapy, prayers, and some good discipline do its thing. Heal Teddy! HEAAAAL!

Today was my fifth day of therapy down in Pisa. The world of R.I.C.E. is apparently a thing of yesteryear because I receive four different electric-type therapies from various machines that all appear to cost a lot more than, say, a toaster. Two electro-shock-type therapy, one ultrasound therapy I think, and a laser therapy. These all function to reduce the swelling and now five days later, we went back to get another ultrasound (I’m still not preggers!) and the knee has received the medical clearance nod to go for an eaaaaasy ride today. They limited me to just 90 minutes and told me to basically pedal as easy as I possibly could without toppling over. I’m not a number’s guy, but comparatively here are some digits I accumulated before pulling the plug on the final day of Sardinia:

145km of bike racin’
3:35 race time
286 watts average
3,660 kJs
1,350m of climbing

Today, I think I did 90 minutes at 160 watts average. No, I did not tip over at that pace. I then followed that up with proper R.I.C.E.

Back to things bigger than just riding a bicycle, I want to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who has sent me messages, prayers, warm and fuzzy vibes, thoughts, as well as endearing thanks to everyone who has helped me in one way or the other the past week. I imagine Michelli, my Italian massagatore who has been loyally driving me daily to Pisa, isn’t reading along, but Michelli you’re amazing. Thank you. Another thanks to the guys on SpiderTech who tossed me some kinesio-tape and for speaking some English on the boat ride home when I needed a little Americana decompression.

As a professional cyclist, to not be riding a bike with a lingering and somewhat cryptic injury like this is as mentally draining and anxiety provoking as seemingly anything. I’ve had some folks near me here in Italy tell me they’re impressed with how smoothly I’m taking this all, which is flattering in some regards… but that just means that I have a really good superficial wall, because I’m flipping out on the inside. Suddenly I’m allotted an abundance of extra time to think about it all. I try hard to maintain perspective – okay, it’s merely March; in the grand scheme of things the injury is not that bad; otherwise I have my health, etc – but man oh man, this is a toughie. But I needn’t shed that anxiety on you now.

So again, to everyone out there: thank you. It means more than you could possibly imagine.

And now it’s time to try the soup.

@iamtedking what do you eat for breakfast before a race/hard training session??? need some info please bud… Good luck this year

I deduce that you’re not an iamtedking regular, pal. Three consecutive question marks, rules of capitalization tossed out the window, and no final period are signs of being lazy. Alternatively, you’re aware that these errors drive me nuts and you’re therefore spiting me since iamtedking regulars know I prefer these sorts of things well maintained all prim and proper-like. I almost have to lean towards spite since you have the gall to call me, dare I even say it, bud? Presented with this effrontery I might normally ignore the question entirely except for its behemoth magnitude of importance and its need to be addressed. Plus you finish the tweet offering me well wishes, so thank you kindly and I’ll now address the question. Ace.

Fueling the fire, especially early in the day, is what will get you through the lengthier races and arduous training sessions. Standard training might be anywhere in the range of a 90 minute recovery ride to three hours, where a normal breakfast should be sufficient. Normal, of course, is all relative so I recommend a little bit of common sense and discipline here. Eat a bowl of cereal and an orange perhaps on your lesser days rather than opting for the number 4 value meal at McDonalds. Also, don’t be lured to the cannoli bar for breakfast.

Training rides entering the 4-5-6 hour range call for a heartier breakfast and I believe therein lies your question.

All mornings should begin with a steaming cup of coffee. I typically take mine black, so if you’re taking my advice here verbatim, don’t go creaming and sugaring your morning brew. If you’re drinking tea, well that’s fine too, but you’re barking up the wrong tree in the iamtedking book of breaking the fast since I dabble exclusively in coffee. (For those of you about to leave a comment explaining the benefits of tea and the corresponding problems with coffee, save your time and sing your tea praises at Tea Lovers Anonymous, ’cause I ain’t changing.)

After some AM plyometrics and core and amid a piping hot cup of coffee, it’s time to start thinking about the first meal of the day.

Oatmeal:
More often than not, I go for oatmeal. As for the type, some folks obsess over their steel cut oats; meanwhile I don’t have thirty minutes to spare stirring a pot of oat-slurry, so us normal folks are content with the standard 5 minute oat variety. Heck, I’ll even let the 1 minute quick-oats fly when push comes to shove. During proper training blocks, I’ll probably be in the oatmeal boat 5-6 days per week. Oatmeal is a blank slate so it’s up to you to mix it up and produce something downright delicious. Basically you have fruit, nuts, and spices with which to be creative. Not all three are necessary so again use common sense. If you have a long ride, go with the nuts and fruit or a pair of fruit (…fruits?). Maybe even toss in a spoonful of jelly if you’re feeling extra fruity. Quick example, this morning with four hours and a handful of climbing efforts on the horizon I polished off oatmeal (1 cup water + 1/2 cup oats + dash of salt), five chopped dried dates, and nutmeg. It was wicked.

Spice:
Cinnamon is always a handy go-to since it pairs with virtually all fruit in my book. Obviously the aforementioned nutmeg works, as does ginger, clove, and allspice. Pumpkin Pie Spice is an amalgamation of all of those, so keeping that in stock isn’t a bad idea.

Fruit:
Fresh or dried fruit both work, but I generally opt for fresh since you can probably guess that it’s unadulterated by preservatives and unnecessary sugar. Fresh diced apples, bananas, peaches, and pears are pretty standard and excellent when tossed with the oats. Mangoes, kiwi, and figs also work well, and then in the dried fruit department raisins, cranberries, again figs, and dates are rad.

Nuts:
In the nut category, a handful of any nut seems to work well. Or for a thicker and more homogenous slurry, use a spoonful of peanut/almond/cashew butter. Go nuts. (Yes, I just said that.)

Up til now, I don’t think any of this is very interesting or inspiring, though. Oatmeal, after all is just oatmeal. So try this on for size: for an added protein blast (with less cholesterol than past decades), crack open an egg and toss that into the pot while everything is bubbling away, give it a quick stir, and your oatmeal will take on an amazing custardy texture and flavor. Additionally with this eggy addition, you might favor for a sweeter flavor so honey, brown sugar, or everyone’s favorite, maple syrup all work magnificently.

Another addition is flax, or specifically ground flax seed. Who knows what the heck it is or does – I think tea people are generally partial to flax, coincidentally – but adding some ground flax will raise the bar for your oatmeal.

When oats aren’t doing it for you, I recommend pancakes. Again, I’m looking for something that’ll stick-to-your-ribs and get you over the hump four or five hours into your training day, cause Lord knows a bowl of Rice Krispies just isn’t going to cut it. Here’s a recipe that I offered sometime last year accompanied by a photo that, while may look like it was taken with an instant Polaroid camera, is actually a multi-hundred dollar piece of technology called a BlackBerry.

To play with the pancake recipe, my favorite is to add pureed pumpkin to the mix. That’s because pumpkin, like fireworks and lottery tickets, make everything much much better.

Other links for your reading pleasure, here’s information about what we were eating during breakfast at the Giro. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Giro; it’s a big bicycle race in Italy. Or a blast from last fall’s Green Mountain Stage Race where my friend Tim Johnson, who coincidentally joined the 21st-century by creating a Facebook account within the past few days, and I stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast and dined on waffles and bananas served on silver platters. Rumor has it Tim is in the midst of copyrighting the waffle-bacon-sandwich, which we all applaud.

With tired fingers, I hope that answers your question, Dude. Eat it up.

Alas, I did see a handful of votes for the triple-P and/or non-triple-P, where some folks voted themselves as pumpkin PIE people and/or non-pumpkin PIE people. The question isn’t so much whether you like it’s pie incarnation as the entire gourd-like squash of pumpkin in general. I took the liberty of extrapolating your answer by simply removing the “pie” part of your vote.

I have a busy week ahead of me consisting of training and general attempts at greatness, so I decided that a hearty breakfast of Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl is exactly what the doctor ordered. I opted for the raisins, tons of ground clove, vanilla yogurt, and a small portion of flaxseed meal for extra heartiness.

Wheaties is the breakfast of champions, I’m told. Pumpkin oatmeal is the breakfast of Ted King.

A quick weekend recap: I spent Saturday night at a really nice event for the Marin County Bicycle Coalition. Any sort of advocacy that helps put bikes SAFELY on the road is a worthy cause in my mind! Especially here in CA where there are seemingly more cars on the road than there are grains of sand on the beach. Sheesh, beep beep, eh? So a big thanks to them for an enjoyable Saturday night promoting bikes.

Then Sunday I slayed nearly four awesome hours in, on, and around Mt. Tam. Like I said yesterday, if you have Tam in your backyard – or within a few miles anyway – you’re spoiled. That place is a cyclist’s playground! Then an afternoon in San Fran and home by midnight. Good stuff. Great stuff.

Please chime in here among the comments section and tell me if you’re a p.p. or a n-p.p, cause I’m curious how the percentages break down. I’m hedging my bets on 98:2.

Anyway today’s entry consists of a quick recipe that I’ve been enjoying regularly out here in sunny-CA, which I’ve dubbed Pumpkin Pie for Breakfast. Because I’m a cyclist and there are certainly more than enough nutrition-nuts out there ready to rain on everyone’s eating parade, I should also throw into the fray that this is a HEALTHY Pumpkin Pie for Breakfast. Therefore to all you wacky health aficionados: rest assured that you’re not letting yourself go at all here with this delicious morning treat! This is not an actual pumpkin pie with a generous dollop of whipped cream, which we’ll all* enjoy on the final Thursday of November.

Ingredients:

1 stove
1pot
1 bowl
1 spoon
1 cup H2O
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 big ol’ handful of raisins
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1 pinch of ground clove
1 heafty spoonful of pumpkin puree
1 heafty spoonful of yogurt – plain, vanilla, maple, and even coffee flavors all work magnificently.

To show how easy it is to make this, I will put the instructions into a single sentence format:

Boil the water on the stove with the salt in the pot and a cover on the pot since it will boil much faster and therefore more efficiently, meanwhile collect your oats and spices and raisins into a bowl and when the water boils toss the mixture from inside of the bowl to inside of the pot and let that simmer away with a slightly lower stove setting, let’s go with a bit above LOW, as well as the lid slightly askew to allow steam to escape from the pot, while at the same time you should set the timer for five minutes and stir every now and again to make sure the spices/oats/raisins are cooking in an even and un-stick-to-the-bottom fashion, and when the timer goes off I recommend taking the pot off the stove and tossing both the pumpkin puree and the yogurt into the pot (and if you’re feeling like you need some more calories and/or want to further satisfy your sweet tooth, perhaps add a teaspoon of brown sugar or molasses or maple syrup or one sugar cane – although that might be cumbersome to eat), mix that up for 10 seconds of vigorous stirring, then dump the entire mixture into your eagerly awaiting bowl and eat with your spoon.

See?! EASY!

No lie, to the health nerds, let’s break this down: it is oatmeal and raisins which are healthy. They say ginger and cinnamon are healthy. Pumpkin puree is 100% pumpkin puree which is a freakin’ squash and chalk full of vitamins and amazing taste and therefore healthy. Furthermore this recipe really jaw droppingly delicious. The yogurt gives it a creamy and velvety smooth texture which accentuates the hearty pumpkin and oat combo. The raisins and (if you use non-plain yogurt) yogurt are sweet. Frick… it’s heaven in a bowl.

Eat. Be merry. PIECE!

… o’ pie.

*except for your n-p.p. out there.