Latest News

From Poland: Stage 3 and answering Readers Questions

August 04, 2010 - Filed under: Rider Blogs

Comments (1)

Let's start with a quick stage three analysis before getting down to the serious business.

As I mentioned yesterday, Poland's stage three didn't get underway until four PM, thereby allowing for a very relaxing morning - heck, we even enjoyed a relaxing early afternoon before it was time to race. I went for a brief spin in the bright and muggy Polish air after breakfast to loosen up the legs, followed by a carbohydrate rich lunch, and then immediately upon my departure from the dining room there was a crack of thunder loud enough so as to nearly elicit a heart attack. All five patrons of the hotel lobby at that moment impressively jumped in startled unison. Seconds later, the sky opened up and there was a deluge with rivers running through the streets. Uugh.

This was an ominous sign since the downtown city stage featured a criterium-like course with hundreds of corners throughout the 122km parcours. In the hours before the race, the rain continued to stop and start a half dozen times, until finally the race was underway and we successfully made it from start to finish without a drop of rain - even though we raced beneath some of the most dramatic and menacing skies I've ever seen.

Stellar teamwork first reeled in a breakaway and then delivered Dominique first across the line for the best climber, which was hotly contested. A random collection of items were awarded to Dom for our collective hard work: obviously podium kisses and the KOM jersey, plus a human-sized stuffed animal, and a computer. We'll be looking to keep Dom in the jersey with some aggressive riding and hopefully his attendance in today's breakaway to snatch up more points.

And now down to the nitty gritty: Polish food. Upon my proverbial desk was scrawled the following question from a reader. Hey Ted, how is the food in Poland? European mainstream or is there something typical Polish?

This is actually a tough question to answer for two reasons; one, I've only been here a matter of days so I haven't seen the full range of food offered in this country. Two, I'm quite certain that the race organizers tell the hotel and restaurant staff the general layout of food to be served - namely, don't ever run out of rice and pasta! However, now and again we see something that we just have to assume is characteristic of the country in which we're racing.

In this instance, I've noticed that rich foods are popular here, such as anything in tubular casing: hotdogs, sausages, brats, and the like. Rich and creamy cheeses such as gouda and brie often accompany the aforementioned meats and the scrambled eggs are most certainly cooked with heavy cream. Right alongside the greens and chopped tomatoes at the salad buffet, there is always a mayonnaise salad, with both egg and mushrooms being the key ingredients on days one and two, and potato taking front stage last night. Actually, mayonnaise is the key ingredient and the others are just along for the ride and perhaps a little texture. It's not that these foods are rare to life in general, it's just that they're atypical to bike races. You can hopefully guess correctly that we riders are steering clear of these heavily caloric foods and aiming more towards rice, pasta, fruits, and veggies.

Perhaps that's less culturally enriching, but better for overall race performance.

1 response for this Entry

Kaz Bem says:

August 05, 2010

Hey, guys try the Polish blueberry dumplings. They are called PIEROGI z JAGODAMI - you will love them!

Good luck and keeping my fingers crossed for ya'all