This Ordinary Life

The company that invited me to give the lecture put me up in the Gellert Hotel and Spa. Now the last time I stayed here (early 2008) we had a room not renovated since the Communist 50's. This coupled with the terrible bout of Delhi-belly suffered by my girlfriend made for a stay memorable mostly for the wrong reasons. The only saving grace was the free use of their fabulous spa available to all who stay in the hotel (don't get conned into paying extra for this when booking!).

However, this time I stayed in one of the newly renovated rooms. Ah, what a difference this made! The balcony looked onto the river, the room was fresh opulence and the bathroom a delight. The iPass-enabled Wi-fi worked great and the bed comfortable making this a great place to saty for business or a romantic weekend. I even had the opportunity to soak my bones in the spa, which is lovely as ever (albeit the naked fat old men do give the place another throwback Communist edge).

I give the Gellert Hotel and Spa:

5/5 for the Room
4/5 for the Breakfast
4/5 for the Location
5/5 for the Facilities
3/5 for Value (I didn't pay, so I can't rate this!)

4/5 Overall

The only things that let the place down is the noise from the newly opened disco across the river that shakes the windows well into the night and the tired hot section of the breakfast buffet.

None of this should put you off staying here as it has a great location and really is a piece of Budapest's history. I'll definitely try to stay here the next time I come to Budapest (that is, if I can afford it!).

Posted by this ordinary life at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A bit late, but here is my summary of the 2008 L'étape du Tour Mondovélo : Pau / Hautacam...

This has been the pinnacle of my cycling career thus far. The Ronde de Flanders was tough, but this was tougher. The Ronde was longer, but this was shorter... but much more strenuous... whew, almost ruined my pinnacle argument. Overall, it was a great event and I look forward to next year already.

Having only ridden my first Alpine pass, the Col de l'Aubisque, only 2 days before the big event, I was nervous. We had already had one bike totalled due to a totally unnecessary crash (dear riders, please always be very clear if you are going across or turning off at a round-about. This error cost a friend some of the hair off his head from worry and EUR2,000. Although, he did manage to claim it back as "failure" of the frame) and i felt horrifically under prepared. The Pyrannes are beautiful and impressive, but the day before the big ride it started to rain. Pretty much everything ridden in the rain is far from beautiful and going down Alpine passes in the rain is downright suicidal.

The morning of the ride was frantic with us getting up at 4:30 and riding the 10kms to the start in the dark with no lights. It was eerie to start with just the four of us in a pack and then gradually gaining in numbers until there was a veritable deluge of riders all congregating on the start. Some 7,000 riders were separated into 5 pens. For some strange reason all the French were at the front, leaving the rear to all us foreigners. We should have know that this holiest of amateur cycling events would be ruled by the French. Of course, they do have the Tour de France...

Right from the start I was separated from my friends. For the next 3 hours i focus on putting everything I had learned into practice. Drafting became an obsessions and I focused to keep my heart rate around 150 bpm. The first incline was surprisingly easy. Perhaps that was because it was so congested that we all had to dismount and walk up the 300m to the top? After that, it was a relatively straight forward run to the holy Lourdes (66.5km into the ride).

This was the point where things started to get a bit more challenging as for the next 40kms we would be climbing up the Col du Tourmalet (2115m). I don't know why the climb was officially only 20kms long, because I know for a fact that I climbed for 40! This was an ever slower battle of wit versus exhaustion. The top 15km or so had signs that indicated how many kilometres from the top you were and the average gradient of the next kilometre. Now the average gradient can be very misleading as I found as a half kilometre of flat means double the average for the second half. Nonetheless I ground onward and upward. It was to my delight to see other riders on their £2,000+ bikes walking and being overtaken by the lowly Focus Variado.

The Variado really impressed me going up the Tourmalet. I had been training on an 11-23 Cassette and swapped this for a 12-27 for the ride. Although I was in the lowest gear, I still had enough power to keep moving myself up the mountains. The bike held up well under the strain as did my backside after purchasing a new white Fizik Arone Saddle (the best seat I have ever ridden on!).

With the climb behind me, all I had to do was decend for almost 30kms before reaching the base of the Hautacam. Now decending is supposed to be adrenaline pumping fun that makes the climbing all worth while. However, in the rain it is a torture where you feel that you might crash at any moment and grip so hard your hands begin to cramp and get a "funny bone" zapping sensation. I almost worked harder decending the Tourmalet than climbing it. Thank god I'd downed so many of those French honey flavour energy gels, which basicly counteracted my pain with a sugar rush.

At the bottom of the Hautacam (1520m), I only had 13kms to go. However, what I didn't realise is that it would take me almost 90 minutes to make this climb. It was shorter and steeper than the Tourmalet. My legs ached and the 14/15% gradient with around 4kms to go almost got the better of me. Again where others failed and had to walk, the Variado didn't let me down and faithful led me to the top. For those of you that are Tour de France fans, this is the same mountain where Lance Armstrong fought and won a famous battle against Jan Ulrich in 2003.

With 500m to go to the finish line (169kms achieved!) I was so pumped that I even managed to sprint. Sadly. the riders had all spread so far out by this point that I only managed to overtake one rider. He was much slimmer than me and on a much more expensive bicycle, so it did make me smile... a lot!

My total time was 8 hours, 40 minutes and 16 seconds. Almost exactly twice the time it would take Leonardo Piepoli to ride it some 8 days later...

All in all, it was an amazing event... one that has enable me to join the ranks of those to have climbed some of the greatest passes in Alps. Let's see how I go next year... believe me I won't epilate my legs again, because the hairs still haven't fully grown back! By the way, I did that to raise money for charity...

Ah, yes, and next year I hope to be riding on a Focus Cayo. Watch this space... and there's still plenty of life in the Variado ahead of that...

Posted by this ordinary life at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Work has led me back to Budapest for two nights at the now lovely Gellert Hotel and Spa (but it's still a blast to the Communist past!). I've come down to give a lecture to some executives and had planned to catch up with a friend for dinner. The short of it is they bailed on me, but the long of it is the local eatery that I found instead.

The Kisvigado Vendeglo (1113 Bp. Villanyi ut 34) is a local pub that will guarantee to fill your belly and make you feel like you're a local. I had the Wiener Schitzel with Mash and washed it down with a 0.5L of Gosser Beer. Total bill was 2700 Forint (ca. £9). Great food and great value.

It was simple, pleasant and filled with locals. The walk was quite pleasant too as it's about 10 minutes on foot from the Gellert.

I give the place:

4/5 for Food
4/5 for Ambiance
5/5 for Localness
5/5 for Value

4.5/5 Overall

Well, now I'm sitting in my boxers on my balcony at the Gellert enjoying the lovely view of the Danube (mius some construction and the traffic) and the use of the hotel's iPass-enabled Wi-fi. Better get back to my Beer and Muller Rice (I'm carb-loading for the F3 Orca Triathlon at Windsor on Sunday!). Sadly, I leave tomorrow morning for London... but not before I get a couple of hours in the famous Gelert Spa!

Posted by this ordinary life at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's an easy recipe to wow your guests with at a dinner party...

Ingredients

- Chicken thighs and legs (free range or organic only please!)
- Some flour for dusting
- Mixed herbs (fresh if possible) - 1 thigh/leg combination per person
- Canalleni beans (not canned) - 100g per person
- Butternut squash - 100g per person
- Carrots (1 per person)
- 2 chicken stock cubes
- 1 cup water

Soak the beans over night in cold water and then simmer for 1 hour to soften. Peel and roughly chop the squash and carrots. Place beans at the bottom of a baking dish and place the squash and carrots on top. Disolve the stock cube in water and pour over dish. Season to taste. Place in the bottom of an oven preheated to 200 C. Leave to bake for 40 min. With 10 minutes left mix in the squash and carrots (roasting on top) into the beans.

Season the chicken with the herbs and dust with flour. Pan fry sear the chicken until nice and golden. Place on a baking tray, cover with auminium foil and place near the top of the oven. Leave to bake with 20 min left. With 10 min left, drain some of the juices into the bean dish (at the same time that you are mixing in the squash and carrots). With 5 min left remove aluminium foil to crisp.

Dish up 1 thigh/1 leg with a quantity of bean/squash/carrot mixture and enjoy. It's quick, easy, healthly and guaranteed to please!

Posted by this ordinary life at 8:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently got into a debate with an old boss of mine regarding whether I am a 90:10 man or a 60:40. We both agreed that my strength does not lie in details and that I excel at being an ideas man who sets things up and then let's other people run with things. That's why I am great on teams and less so when all on my own. My arguement was for the 90:10 as I prioritise what is important and he argued for the 60:40 as he doesn't prioritise the way I do and is a details man instead.

This got me thinking about jobs in general in the contexts of each individuals strengths and weaknesses. My company (a major Global corporate) expects everyone to be responsible for everything from the bottom up. Compliance, data protection, FSA, Treating customers fairly (I
work for a financial company in case that wasn't obvious) is made the responibility of the individual in addition to their day jobs. Let's take Data Protection, why do I care what is and isn't confidential? I think enough in doing my job that I don't have time to work my way through flow charts every time I want to send an email. Just dafault my mail server to encrypt all of my emails and be done with it. Funny thing is that when I tried to encrypt something the bloddy thing didn't even work!

The point of this entry is that everyone has to recognise that we are all individuals with various strengths and weaknesses. We can't do everything or always be all-rounders. The sooner companies understand that the better as curtrently productivity is suffering badly as a result. In this time of stagflation, every little helps.

Posted by this ordinary life at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)