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Cycling in the Rocky Mountains

The first day, after getting my rental Trek Domane 4.5 from the local Trek store just a few minutes walk away from our hotel, I headed out to the North in beautiful warm weather. (I apologise up front, but pictures in this post were all taken with my phone, thus the quality is not exactly what you are used to on these pages.) Getting used to a completely different bike geometry took a bit of time, especially that the frame was slightly larger than what I need, and the handlebars were really wide compared to what I am used to. But riding a full carbon bike for the first time in my life was a nice experience. Now I want a new bike :S Anyway, back to the ride. Getting out of the city was not much of a challenge since I had a map on my Garmin Edge 800 GPS (this is actually the first time I had a mapped GPS with me on a biking holiday), but then the climbing started. I first had to ascend a 3rd category hill with nearly half kilometre at 10-12%, which was followed by a long descent to Lyons, where the big mountain of the day started. It was not too steep, but took a while, since I had to ride more than 38 km to gain some 1600 metre in altitude (there was ~2km downhill part within), which made it a HC (Hors Catégorie) ascent. The scenery was really nice, the roads wide and smooth with very little traffic, so I enjoyed it a lot.

To make it more interesting, I got a flat somewhere along the ascent, so I finally got to use my CO₂ cartridges with my new handpump (cool!). But since changing tires is nothing of a challenge after riding 23000 kilometres, I also got a nice thunderstorm for the last part of the climb. Huge but sparse drops of rain started to fall when I reached an elevation of 2300 metres, and with the precipitation, the temperature also started to drop. I was riding in 30°C before the clouds came, and in a bit less than one hour, the temperature dropped to a mere 5°C… Yeah, the sparse drops soon turned into heavy rain, which turned into a mix of snow, ice, and graupel, which first of all was a bit painful (making me think about what to do if the ice grows in size and starts falling in not 0.5-1 cm pieces but 5…, which luckily did not happen), second of all it acted like ice in the fridge, hence the 25°C drop in no time, but despite the suffering I went through during these kilometres, it was a huge experience, and now it seems like one of the best things from this holiday. I know, it sounds crazy :) Of course the worst part was not going up in that cold, but that I had to start my descent at 2800 metres in 5°C with no warm clothes except for a wind/rain jacket (which already lost its ability to keep rain out). It was around 15 kilometres to go down till the air started to warm up, and going 40 km/h in 5°C means a perceived temperature (thanks to wind chill) of -17°C… I quickly started shivering quite seriously, which meant that I really had to concentrate not to let the handlebars go and fall off the bike. It was not easy. When I finally escaped from the clouds and arrived to a crossroad with sunshine, I stopped for a while to warm up a bit.

By the time I started climbing the last hill (4th category) it was back to 27°C again, and sweating :) I finished the day after 112.37 km and an elevation gain of 1794 metres. More details can be found on Garmin Connect or Strava. Thanks to Clio I had a huge burrito waiting for me in the fridge (and also lots of grapes we had bought the previous day in the Whole Foods Market), so I had quite some difficulty when I still wanted to finish a full plate of pasta for dinner…

On Tuesday, I started the same way towards the north, but just before the long 10-12% section of the previous day, I turned left… to have a similar section but now with sustained 12-14%… At least the view was first class again. Soon afterwards the climb became less brutal, but it went all the way up till 2125 metres in elevation. After this 2nd category climb, I descended to the valley and started climbing up again (along Lefthand Canyon Drive), on the same road I descended while battling the elements the day before. You might recall that it was a long descent, which of course means that now it was a long ascent. Very long. It started at 2000 metres and went up till 3168 metres, which means I had an average grade of 4.5% on a bit more than 26 kilometres (HC climb). Luckily except for a 3 km section arriving to Ward with an average of ~8%, it was not too steep, so I had energy to keep looking around end enjoy the scenery. I started to hear thunder in the distance quite early already (around 2400 metres), so I was a bit worried about the rest of the day, especially that I knew I am heading towards a lake at 3150 metres, situated in a quite open area, which is not the safest place to be in a thunderstorm… Luckily after a few drops of rain near Ward it cleared up again, and I arrived in nice weather and sunshine to the Brainard Lake.

It was really beautiful up there, but you could feel that the oxygen content of the air was much lower than usual, so I was glad to have some downhill from here. I took the Peak to Peak Highway to Nederland (mostly flat or not too steep downhill, then a 4th category climb), and for some reason, I got a flat again…

At that point it was raining again, and with lightning being not too far from me, I performed the fastest tube-change of my life so far. From Nederland I had to climb a little bit along the reservoir before starting the long descent towards Boulder in another canyon (the 3rd so far), but it was barely a 4th category hump if any. Of course, for the long descent I got heavy rain (again…), so I could not really enjoy it, especially that it was a bit more busy than the other roads I have ridden so far, but I knew that I would be climbing back up there the coming day, so I was not really bothered by it. Also, this time the temperature went down to only 11°C (from 23°C) and I even had my arm warmers with me, so I was not at all cold. Before riding back to the hotel I dropped by the Trek store to buy another spare tire and a CO2 cartridge to replace the ones I used up. I finished after 102.13 km and 1910 metres of elevation gain. Full details of the ride can be found on Garmin Connect and Strava. That evening I had no difficulty finishing my plate at Noodles & Company.

On Wednesday, I first headed out to climb Flagstaff Hill (2nd category climb, 5.5 km @ 6.2%), which is the most local, classic climb of Boulder cyclists. With its switchbacks it is indeed the climb most similar to the big European ascents, and with the view to the Flatirons, Boulder and the plains towards Denver, and towards the higher snowy peaks of the Rockies from the finish line, it is indeed a must have in every cyclists logbook.

As usual I had some friendly americans to chat with at the top before rolling back to Boulder (almost running into a deer family crossing the road) and turning west to start the long climb of the day. It is 22 km at an average 4% (HC) along the Boulder Canyon Drive till the Barker Reservoir, which is not steep at all, except for ~5 km in the middle with sustained grades up till 10% (which makes the rest even less steep). Now in good weather I could enjoy the steep walls of the canyon around me, with great rock formations everywhere.

The view from the reservoir was also very nice, especially that finally there was no risk of thunderstorms, but clear skies.

From Nederland there was still a bit of climbing (a good 4th category up to 2626 metres) along the Peak to Peak highway before the road started going downhills and I turned right on Coal Creek Canyon Road (the 4th and last canyon on the bike). The downhill went on for almost 10 km, before the road turned uphills again. This last ascent was a bit more than 4 km at an average almost 5% back up to an elevation of 2630 metres.

From the last hairpin there was a great view to the higher Rockies! The long descent from here was the nicest from the three days – but I do not know if because it was again a very nice canyon, or because this was the only dry descent I had where I was not breaking all the time ;) For the last 20 km I escaped the Rockies and rode the plains under the foothills with great views back to the mountainous landscape I just left behind. I arrived back to the trek store to drop off the bike after 100.94 km and 1761 metres of elevation gain, and as usual, all the details are on Garmin Connect and Strava.

Since I got back quite early from the ride (after leaving very early on the morning), and Clio had only a half day of conference that day, we still had a walk and some food downtown on the afternoon. For dinner, we went to a place called West Flanders Brewing Company, and I had a burger and some Belgian style beer (which was quite nice, even though they ran out of my first choice, the Angry Monk).

On Thursday morning, we took the bus to Denver…

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Boulder, CO

The first destination of our two-week holiday in the USA was Boulder, Colorado. Situated right at the base of the foothills of the Rockies at an elevation of 1650 metres, it is one of the most bike-friendly cities in the States (an not so surprisingly, the city also tops most of the US lists based on quality of life, etc.), and it is also one of the nicer university towns. We arrived here after two long flights with Delta (with free movies on the transatlantic one, and standing in line for immigration in New York for almost three hours thanks to, at least to some extent, a very chatty immigration officer), and went to sleep immediately after a very late check-in at our hotel.

We had one Sunday before the start of Clio’s conference (the original motivation behind our holidays), so we spent that day walking around in the city.

It was indeed very nice, lots of green, views to the iconic rocky walls of the Flatirons, creeks with walkways and cycle paths, the beautiful campus of the University of Colorado (with loads of squirrels – first we were like “look, squirrel!”, then an hour later we were like “meh, another squirrel…”), a nice shopping street (Pearl Street Mall), and a really cool bike store (University Bicycles) with a collection of vintage bicycles hanging from the walls and ceiling.

Oh, and we also dropped by Best Buy to pick up my new Nexus 7 tablet (so my Google collection is quite complete now with a Nexus 4 from a few months earlier). Thanks to the Nexus 7, I am back into reading books (on the tablet of course…) in bed again!

Then during the next three days, while Clio was sitting in a cold auditorium (just like I did that on Rhodes earlier this summer), I was either out on the road riding a rental Trek Domane 4.5 through (or more like up and down) the Rockies, or lying in bed trying to recover from these rides. It was a real sleep/ride/eat and repeat cycle, but it was great! More about the rides in the next post ;)

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Kiting at the coast

Before unleashing the posts about our holidays in the USA, here is a short memo about last weekend. So, the whole story started a bit more than a mont ago when, I do not remember how exactly, I stumbled upon a video on YouTube of someone flying a power kite. Not a huge kite like the ones used by kite surfers, but a smaller one, which looked like a lot of fun to play with. Since it was not too expensive (30 GBP), I ordered the 1.7 metre (it is the wingspan) version of the HQ Symphony Beach 2 kite from Amazon. It is an entry level kite, perfect to just play around with and to get into the world of power kiting, but it is indeed a lot of fun! After 5 minutes of getting used to the way how you control the kite with the two lines, it is extremely easy to fly it, and despite its small size, it delivers a surprising amount of pull, so it is also a good workout. So to try out the kite for the first time, we decided to go to the Belgian coast.

The weather was perfect, not too warm (which is a must to avoid the crowds), with stable 25-30 km/h winds, and low tide (which results in vast areas of flat sandy beaches along the coastline). We took the train to Knokke, had lunch, then took the longest tramline of the world, the coast tram to De Haan. I played almost two hours with the kite here (and Clio also tried it for a short while), but it seemed like 10 minutes… It was really cool! Now I want to try the larger kites and the kite landboarding too… At the end, we walked a bit along the dunes, then took the tram to Blankenberge to catch a train back to Leuven (Heverlee). It was a really nice day!

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Foodapest

We spent a few days in Budapest (again) recently, and since – as always – we had so much nice food, I think it is about time that I share our experiences about eating out in the capital city of Hungary. And a few nice pictures.

Budapest is one of the cheapest capitals in Europe, so if you are coming from Western Europe with your salary, the chances are high that you can have great food at a very reasonable price (especially compared to what you usually pay at home for the same quality). This of course means, that experiencing fine dining and trying out gourmet courses becomes an option even if you are not rich. Which we are (sadly or luckily) not. So, these are the restaurants we have been to recently (or a few months ago) – with there Michelin stars and Gault Millau points in parenthesis (where available):

Onyx (★ 17) We had the lunch menu here, first around Christmas, and now once again, and we had a perfect culinary experience in both cases. I especially like the interior of the restaurant (although Clio thinks it is a bit too much)! The lunch menu is very affordable, starting at 20 EUR (+15% service). We plan to try the dinner too when we go to Budapest around Christmas. That will be a bit more pricy.

Costes (★ 17) We went here in December, and had a full 5 (8) course dinner. I even went for the suggested wines. Again, we had a really great evening, full of amazing food (both the presentation and the flavours). Although we have to note, that the service was a bit too fast, meaning that there was not enough time between the consecutive small courses to rest. It would have been nicer to have a bit more time to just relax. We barely spent two hours there, and left feeling way too full. I do not think anyone could manage the larger tasting menu. (But I wish I could!)

Bock Bisztró (14) More traditional Hungarian cuisine, impressive wine selection, big (or at least heavy) courses. Should not go there if you are not hungry enough or if you are not a wine loving person. I think I stuffed myself full already with the amazing bread which came with my lecsó. After that, I really had no place left for dessert, although I really wanted one…

21 Hungarian Kitchen (13) We have been here also twice already, and on the first occasion I was extremely happy with everything (and maybe not only because I had a bit more wine than I normally would), but at Christmas last year I was not as satisfied as before. Still, I really love their take on the traditional Hungarian chicken soup (tyúkleves), and also their version of the Somlói cake, although I was a tiny little bit disappointed when I had it the second time, because I missed a flavour which made it so amazing the first time. I hope it was only a mistake (of my taste or the chef), and they did not downgrade their recipe… Anyway, it is a nice place in the Castle, and for the location, it is not too pricy or touristy at all.

Baldaszti’s Grand (11) Surprisingly “low” score for a great place, at least we had a great dinner here las summer, with nice and fresh courses. As far as I can tell, the place is now being turned into a Indochinese restaurant by the same group (but different chef), which sounds like something we should try the next time.

ZONA Ran by the same company, it provides similar quality than the one above. The courses are a bit smaller here, so take 4 and you will be OK. The food is great, try the home made szörp, or if it is summer and they still have it, their fresh, cold fruit soups. Also, very nice interior with huge lightbulbs hanging from the high ceiling.

Spíler One of the new hip and trendy places in the heart of the city, serving a wide range of simple food ranging from burgers to – the so called – traditional Hungarian pizzas (I do not know how traditional they are, but they taste good). Great atmosphere, extremely friendly staff, good food, but nothing fancy. Worth a visit (especially for the feel of the area it is situated within).

Café Alibi A nice small café/restaurant with a great terrace during the summer months. Nothing fancy, but good food, sandwiches, salads, smoothies, and coffee :) When you have a hotel nearby, it is the perfect place to dine out if you are not in the mood for something fancy that night.

Besides all the nice restaurants, this time we also went to the Zoo, which was really nice, and since I can not even remember when was the last time I have been there, everything was new for me too. Also, we took the boat of the public transport company to go to the centre from near where my parents live, which was also a first – although mainly because this is service is quite new. Then of course we took the opportunity to go a few rounds on the Ferris wheel (the largest mobile Ferris wheel in Europe) – also worth every penny (or Forint)!

On the way home our flight got cancelled due to a technical problem with the plane, so we had to fly Lufthansa via Munich, and thus get a five hour delay, but at least we got some food on board, and just recently, Brussels Airlines payed us 250 EUR for our troubles, which should be enough for our next tickets to Budapest! :) Update: it was! ;)

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Short term postdoctoral position

I got the news a month ago while standing on the deck of a small boat during the conference dinner in Sydney, that I got the PDM I applied for earlier this year. This is a short term postdoctoral position funded by the university itself, “aimed at providing young researchers who have obtained their doctorate at KU Leuven with an opportunity to share their research by: (a) generating publications based on their doctoral research, (b) passing on acquired knowledge and expertise to other members of the research group, (c) conducting research based on the knowledge and expertise acquired during the doctoral research and on the results obtained”. So that’s what I will be doing in the year 2014. Three of us applied for this from the department, and only I got it. Probably the fact that I applied by submitting a full FWO (Flemish Research Foundation) proposal was decisive. I will apply for an FWO postdoctoral research fellowship early next year (again), which could add another three years to my postdoctoral life in Leuven, and help me unravel the secrets of pulsating B-type stars on the main sequence ;)

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