David and I fled south for a few weeks of training in Tuscany, and on the first day, we took our bikes exploring into the mountains. The weather here is a good 10-15 C warmer than Graz, but after a scenic sunny climb, we froze descending through a deep, shaded valley, gingerly making our way down icy hairpin turns, frost crackling under our skinny tires. We had to stop twice to swing our arms around to force blood back into our burning cold fingers. Physically, those forty minutes of coasting were miserable. As David put it, “I never thought I could dislike descending so much.”

It’s a funny thing with cycling, though:  how quickly physical suffering takes a back seat to beauty. What I remember from that ride isn’t the awful pain of cold in my face, but that despite our discomfort, we pointed to the beautiful things – the old brick arches and belfries tucked against the slopes, mossy tile roofs with their chimneys like small campaniles and the astonishing aquamarine color of the stream flowing beside us. Around every corner we called out to each other, “Wow did you see that?”

Blue sky in Tuscany.

Once home, we tucked in to a hot meal, and that familiar uncomfortable thawing of the toes and deep fatigue and hunger -- it all eased into a good, satisfying feeling.

That is why, in winter, I like to prepare a big batch of hearty soup on my rest days, so I can quickly heat up leftovers after cold rides to bring me back to life. Soup also happens to be an easy way to get tons of good, nutrient-rich veggies into your diet without feeling like a ruminant, and offers the chance to liven up boring veggies like spinach and broccoli with more appealing flavors.

Below you’ll find a recipe for one of my favorite winter soups. What I like most about this recipe is how forgiving it is. The chopping doesn’t have to be pretty; it’s all going to be blended anyway. Likewise, if you leave the soup simmering on the stove while distracted by The Internet, overcooked veggies are no problem. (It’s also gluten-free, dairy-free and can be made vegan.)

I hope this post will inspire you to prepare some tasty, healthful recovery meals this winter. The holidays can be a tough time to maintain good nutrition, but remember, the holidays are also meant to be enjoyed. Sometimes the stress from trying to avoid certain foods (sweets, carbs, whatever) can be worse for you than eating the actual foods themselves. (I just baked a holiday cake and have been nibbling on my stash of dark chocolate between rides; I like to think of it as good fuel and antioxidants!)

A good rule of thumb: it’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but what you eat between New Year’s Eve and Christmas that matters most for your health. Strive to eat healthfully most of the time, and allow yourself to truly enjoy occasional indulgences.

Life is short; value your health, and allow yourself to enjoy it!

Green Soup
Makes 10-12 servings.

Step 1.
Combine in a large stock pot:

• 1 ½ liters vegetable stock,
• ¼ whole celery root, coarsely chopped or grated,
• 3-4 big carrots, coarsely chopped or grated,
• 4 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped, and
• 6-8 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped.

Bring everything to a rolling boil; then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Step 2.
Add:

• ½  liter water,
• 1 bunch Italian parsley, de-stemmed and coarsely chopped,
• 600g frozen creamed spinach (or a huge bag of fresh baby spinach, or both), and
• 2 big leaves of kale, de-veined and torn into small pieces.

Let parsley, spinach and kale cook long enough to wilt; then cook another 5-10 minutes.

Step 3.
Add:

• 300 g raw pine nuts,
• 150 g raw walnuts,
• 1 whole head of broccoli florets, coarsely chopped, and
• Water (enough to be sure the florets are mostly, but not completely, submerged).

Cook until broccoli is mushy. (I know, but trust me on this...)

Step 4.
Add:

• 2 tsp sea salt, and
• 12 – 15 drops liquid smoke.

Stir to incorporate the flavors. Remove from heat, and using a handheld immersion blender, blend everything until you get a smooth, creamy consistency. Taste, and add salt if needed. (If you don't have liquid smoke, you can add a handful of smoked, cubed pancetta at Step 5.) Remove blender and return the pot of green goop to medium heat.

Step 5.
Add:

• 500 g turkey breast, cubed.

Simmer over medium-low heat until turkey is cooked. Do a final taste test, and add salt if needed. Store for future post-ride meals. Enjoy!

Hearty green soup.

Thank you for all of your support and thoughtful comments throughout the year.

Wishing you all a good slide into 2012!
Ich wünsche euch allen einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!
A tutti voi, felice nuovo anno!

Thank you for reading,
Amber

Do you have a favorite post-ride meal? Please share your thoughts and recipes in the comments section below!

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

Photos: Amber Pierce

Sunday night found us in Český Krumlov at the Eggenberg Brewery, happy, cozy and full after a meal of Bohemian-style roasted duck and potato dumplings in the pub's majestic hall. More than 700 years ago, the very same towering arches and thick walls stored great blocks of ice, hauled from the nearby Vltava River for cooling barrels of lagered beer during the brewing process. Now, they insulate the brewery’s pub, one of the only places on earth one can taste their famous yeast beer, true to the original centuries-old recipe, a natural, living brew (This beer it is always working, working, says our guide) whose actual alcohol content is known only by the brewmaster … by taste.

Eggenberg Brewery Pub Hall

It’s adventures like these that get swept to the end of the calendar each year. More often than not, racing trumps social events and just-for-fun trips; hence, my annual attempt to cram a year’s worth of personal vices and socializing into the few months I’m not racing. Since my last race of 2011, I’ve traveled to Croatia, to Italy, twice to Czech Republic and, natürlich, to a few destinations within Austria. What my social life lacks in consistency, I (try to) make up for in vigor and excess.

Český Krumlov Castle

Of course, it’s not all wining and dining. I still need to build a decent foundation of strength and fitness for the coming season, and (my social life not withstanding) consistency is crucial to effective training, which is why it's good to create portable training habits. Thankfully one can ride a bike just about anywhere; however, a portable core and strength routine can come in handy when the gym isn’t an option, or if (like me) you don’t want to pay for a membership or make a daily pilgrimage to use the Smith machine. My previous column recounted improvising a training program while on a boat at sea, to illustrate that with a little creativity and motivation, you really can get good training anywhere you go. As promised, here are a few of the exercises I do at home and on the road this time of year.

These exercises don’t require equipment of any kind, and can therefore be done in the comfort of your own home (or hotel room). I recommend this approach for many reasons: it’s cheap, convenient, and you can play whatever music you want and sing along or pause for spontaneous dance intervals, which I also recommend. As I write this, a pile of holiday baked goods in the kitchen reminds me of another reason it’s good to be able to burn calories at home. With that, let's get to the exercises.

Rooftops of Český Krumlov

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, nor do I have any idea what your current level of fitness, strength or flexibility may be. Therefore, if you do the following exercises, you do so at your own risk. Please use common sense and good judgment when attempting the following exercises, and if necessary, consult a physician before you do. Batteries not included. Action figures sold separately. No artificial colors or flavors. Etc.

Bodyweight squats.
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent in a balanced athletic stance. (I like to turn my feet and knees out slightly, to better engage my gluts and adductors.) Then stretch your arms out straight ahead (for balance), and keeping your back straight, bend at the knees and lower yourself into a squat position (with your thigh parallel with the ground). If you can, sink a bit lower into the squat, hold for a moment, and slowly return to standing position. Keep your back straight and core engaged throughout each repetition, which means you will naturally be reaching back with your sit bones as you sink into the squat. From standing to squat position and standing again is one repetition. Do these slowly to start, focusing on smoothness and form (I recommend using a mirror). Work up to 20 reps then start adding multiple sets. Once you have the form down, you can also go for speed (e.g. see how many reps you can do in 2 minutes, then try to beat your own record).

Bodyweight Squat

One-legged chair sits.
I’m not so hardcore that I can do proper one-legged squats. However, working one leg at a time is a great way to train your balance and core stability, as well as to address right/left muscle imbalances. To do these, find a chair low enough that when you are seated, your thigh is parallel with the ground (and please, no roller chairs for this one). Engaging your core, lift your right foot off the ground, then slowly stand up and sit back down using only your left leg to support your weight. Switch legs and do the same thing using only your right leg to support your weight. Stretching your arms out in front of you can help with balance at first. As you get better at these, try placing your hands on your hips, which shifts your center of gravity back, making your gluts, quads and core work harder to maintain balance.

Side lunges.
A variation on the classic lunge. Stand with feet comfortably apart. With your right leg, step forward and to the right at approximately a 45 degree angle, bend your knee and sink into the lunge. If you have knee trouble, don’t sink lower than a 90 degree knee angle. Otherwise, try to get low enough that your thigh is parallel to the ground. Repeat with the left leg, stepping forward and out to the left at a 45 degree angle.

Pendulum.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Raise your arms out to the side so they are parallel to the ground, and engage your right glut to lift your right foot straight behind you a few centimeters off the ground with toes pointed (keep your pelvis square and right knee straight; you may need to turn your right foot out to really engage your glut). Keeping your right leg straight and in line with your torso, bend at the waist and simultaneously raise your leg behind you, keeping your core and gluts engaged. Return to standing position. Repeat for the left leg. You may want to start by holding the back of a chair as you lean forward, to help with balance. Once you can do these with good form with arms out to the sides (keeping back and leg straight and getting low enough that both are parallel with the ground), try doing them with your arms over your head for added resistance. Once you’ve mastered the form of this one, work up to 10 or 20 reps for each side, then multiple sets. I don’t recommend going for speed with this one: the head rushes can be a bit much.

Pendulum

Hopping.
Find a reasonably long obstacle-free section of floor in your home (e.g. a furniture-free diagonal in the living room or a hallway on the order of 4 meters or so). Starting at one end, hop on your right foot forward to the end of the “run.” Turn 90 degrees to your right, and hop sideways on your right foot to your right to get back to the start of the run. Facing the same way, follow the same path back by hopping on your right foot sideways to your left. Finally, still using your right foot, hop backwards to the start of the run. Repeat all four directions, hopping with only your left foot.

Good mornings.
You can do a search to find a video of proper form for Good Mornings using a barbell, but you don’t need the weight to get some benefit, especially if you are just starting a core routine. As long as you keep good form, you can do this with a broomstick, or just by lacing your fingers behind your head with your elbows out to the sides. Taking a slightly-wider-than-shoulder-width stance, lace your fingers behind your head (elbows out to the sides). Keeping your back straight and core engaged, bend forward from the waist, aiming to get your torso parallel to the floor. In order to keep your balance and your back straight, you’ll need to press back with your sit bones. Keeping your core engaged, return to standing position.

Classic plank.
Lying on your stomach, push up from a push-up position until your arms are fully extended, and engage your core to keep your back and pelvis straight and aligned. Hold as long as possible. You can also work up to this by starting out with plank from your elbows – with your forearms supporting you as you lift your knees and pelvis. Once you master that one, you can move on to the classic plank with fully extended arms. With Plank, the goal isn’t more reps, but rather more time. See how long you can hold to start, then start increasing by 10 seconds at a time. Try to work your way up to a minute or longer.

Side plank.
Exactly how it sounds. From the Classic Plank position, lift your right arm to the sky, bringing it in line with your left arm and at the same time, rotate your pelvis in the same direction and bring your right leg over your left, so your whole body faces the right side. Engage your core, especially your left obliques, to keep your torso, pelvis and legs in a straight line (don’t let your hip drop). Hold as long as possible, then switch sides. Again, the goal for this one is increased time.

Side Plank

You can put these exercises together however you’d like. I like to create a circuit with 1-2 minutes of each exercise, rotating through the circuit a few times. You can do the same thing based on reps or sets (e.g. do a circuit of 30 reps for each exercise and cycle through the circuit 5 times). To keep things interesting, you could write down sets (or time) for each exercise on small pieces of paper, put them in a hat, and draw random sets for a twist on the usual routine.

I recommend doing these exercises barefoot, which will enhance your sense of balance and proprioception, as well as strengthen the arches and small stabilizer muscles of your feet. These muscles can make a surprising difference to your alignment, pedal stroke efficiency and power transfer on the bike.

A great way to finish a workout like this would be to use a foam roller, then stretch. I use a foam roller regularly, primarily for my IT bands (see photo), though you can also use it for quads, hamstrings, calves, back and gluts as needed. I use the roller pictured here, which is small, light and - like the workout - portable.

Foam Roller

Lastly, I apologize for the poor quality of the demonstration photos: my hokey attempts to shoot indoors with a self-timer resulted in predictably bad images. Nonetheless, I hope they helped clarify the written descriptions.

What strategies do you use to maintain consistency in your training program? Please share them in the comments section below!

Thanks for reading,
Amber

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

Photos: Amber Pierce

As do many professional riders, I face some frigid training conditions during the winter in Europe. As much as I would like you to believe that I'm a machine programmed to crush outdoor training sessions regardless of weather conditions, the fact is, I am a human being, one who has whined plenty and publicly about the challenges of winter training. However, even worse than training with an ice cream headache in freezing fog, is sweating indoors on a stationary trainer.

Like (probably) many of you, I hate the trainer. I really do. I will ride in ridiculous sub-freezing temperatures just to avoid indoor workouts. When I must use the trainer, I have to trick myself into staying motivated. I play music, which limits visual stimuli to the wall or my powermeter (one of which I’m convinced holds the key to slowing the expansion of the universe). I’ve also tried watching movies, which help pass the time, but the plots don't usually motivate good leg-crushing intervals.

Last week I received Hell Hath No Fury from The Sufferfest and was asked to review it. [Full disclosure: I got a free copy for the purpose of writing a review, but am not being paid to endorse it.] I had never tried a Sufferfest workout and had no idea what to expect. Seventy-five minutes later, stunned, spent and staring at a pool of my own sweat, I realized I’d just had fun on the trainer.

What?!

I would not have believed it if I did not experience it myself; let me explain.

Composed of well-curated race footage from the women’s 2011 World Cup races, Hell Hath No Fury guides — no — relentlessly pushes the poor soul on the trainer athlete through a tough-as-nails workout. The video has it all: engaging visuals (bike racing!), killer adrenaline-pumping music for focused efforts, and a story line (peppered with liberal doses of heckling) that motivates from start to finish. In all, a brilliant approach to the evil necessity of trainer workouts.

The video begins by setting up the workout: 2 x 20 minute efforts plus a 3:30 minute effort (with built-in recovery intervals), structured as a stage race to keep you focused and motivated. After a brief warm-up, the race kicks off at full gas. Women’s World Cup footage plays out on the screen with text commanding you to attack, cover moves, surge over hills or sprint for the finish. When you find yourself head-down and cross-eyed in pain, don’t think you can escape those directives just because you can’t see straight: audible cues let you know when to attack again (not unlike the voice of a DS shouting through a radio earpiece during the real thing).

Throughout the workout, the video displays the prescribed level of intensity and counts down the time for each effort (with intermediate instructions to attack and surge - frequently), so you can keep your eyes on the screen, without diverting attention to your bike computer every twenty seconds to see if you’re done yet. Not only does the screen keep you on your toes, following wheels of the world’s greatest women cyclists, but the display also taunts you into digging deeper with most excellent heckling. I admit the thought has crossed my mind that personal hecklers could be the solution to more effective trainer workouts. Herein lies the genius of The Sufferfest – they get in the mind of a cyclist and know what a cyclist needs – a smart, structured workout; good music; attacks to follow; gaps to close; hills to climb and heckling to spur them on to new depths of suffering.

Personally, I love that this video features the women’s peloton. Having done these races myself, reliving the terrain, efforts and speeds got my adrenaline going big time. (And yeah, it was really cool to see my own bike in there and many teammates and friends). Prior to this video’s release, I read a Twitter comment from The Sufferfest about having to edit out attacks, as the women were attacking so often. Let me tell you, women’s racing is fierce. Doubt it? You won’t after Hell Hath No Fury. Totally worth the $11.99 price tag.

Check out the preview:

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

Photos: Amber Pierce

For this column, I'm flashing back to my pre-cycling graduate school days, or Amber's Life, B.B. (Before Bike). I hope you enjoy the tangent!

I had finished preparing the surgery station, so I settled into a seat on the upper deck of our 92-foot fishing vessel and took in the view: a yawning afternoon sky over the Pacific ocean. I relaxed and savored the sunshine, knowing this afternoon calm would be cut short at any second by the call: Boil at the stern! Start a chum line!

We had been at sea for nearly four days of a three week voyage. Our research team, comprised of two professors and a handful of grad students, had joined with a crew of seasoned fishermen for a pelagic tagging mission. We had departed San Diego heading south to open ocean off the coast of the Baja Peninsula, in search of bluefin and albacore tuna, which we would catch, tag (via surgical implantation), and release (alive and healthy!) back to the ocean to collect all kinds of neat data for our conservation study. I was one of two women on board, the other woman being my professor and the lead Principle Investigator (PI) on the project.

Sunset in seafood country; open water aquaculture nets visible on the left side of the photo.

As you can imagine, a situation like this presents not only logistical and physical challenges, but also social ones; for example, tension often (not always) arises between researchers (usually conservationists) and fishermen (not usually conservationists). Regardless, the dynamic of two very separate social groups in close quarters requires both scientists and crew to overcome mutual skepticism to effectively work together at sea. Being a woman presented an extra hurdle, but after demonstrating a decent ability to land fish and no qualms in using live bait, cleaning catches, eating raw sashimi (another story altogether) or returning the friendly fire of sarcastic insults, I earned a place of respect among the crew. By day four, we had all settled into a good rhythm of working together.

By good rhythm I mean the coordination of our efforts within the chaos of tag and release fishing. When the fish finder indicated a big school of tuna, all hell would break loose. The announcement Boil at the stern! would sound over the speakers, and all hands would scramble to deck regardless of time of day or night. Crew members would toss bait in the water while others grabbed their lines and prepared to cast. I would prep the surgery station for the tagging process: a quick surgical implant that had to be completed (i.e. from incision to stitches) within minutes of bringing a fish on board. As you might imagine, when the catch was good, we could have ten or more fish going through surgery and release in less than thirty minutes. It was intense and exhilarating, but between the frenzies of fishing and tagging, idle hours could languish interminably.

We used our down time to compile data, ready ourselves for the next catch, or prepare fillets from fish too injured to be released (not too many). After four days at sea, however, I was restless, because despite the excitement and exhaustion of tagging, I wasn’t getting any real exercise. Our boat was big and relatively stable as boats go, but not stable enough to allow for jogging laps of the deck without risking serious injury (wet decks did not bode well for my klutzy nature), nor were there any good bars or pipes to use for pull-ups (clearly this was before my cycling days). Swimming would amount to (wo)man overboard and was not permitted. I was desperate.

Albacore in the water

Where there’s a will there’s a way, as they say, so I headed below deck to my bunk and did a set of sit-ups, crunches and leg raises (our PI had her own bunk and being the only other female, I did too -- a rare luxury). I felt better, but not as good as I would after an aerobic effort. So I began jogging in place, alone in my bunk below deck for twenty minutes (I know). That did the trick, however, and man did I feel good!

Each day I added something new: push-ups, dips, jumping jacks, one-legged hopping or high-knee jumps (low ceilings below deck), and began increasing the intervals to thirty and forty-five minutes. After a few days of solo exercise, I finally shared my extremely dorky workout idea with the rest of our team. As it turned out, most were suffering the same malaise, so we created a group session and made it into a game.

The game was to simulate a run on the coastal trail near our lab back in Monterey. It was tight quarters below deck, so we lined up single file facing the “leader” who would lead for ten minutes and then switch with another. We would start by jogging in place, as the leader described the scene: We’re at Cannery Row; a tourist bus is about to unload, so we have to sprint to get past the pier before the tourists hit the ground! We’d then sprint in place until the leader said we were in the clear and could resume a normal pace. Then: Okay just hitting the stretch to the aquarium, but look out! Seagulls attacking! Drop! Thus, we’d drop and do push-ups until the leader called all clear. Et cetera. The game would go on until we’d done close to an hour of exercise, often laughing in hysterics at the random antics each leader would throw into the mix.

As days turned into weeks, and the newness of our circumstances began to fade into routine, this little tradition became our daily shot of energy and renewal. We emerged refreshed and ready for whatever chaos the ocean might throw our way. Our group would sometimes double in size as the appeal of an endorphin rush seemed contagious.

I took inspiration from this memory for my off-season training this year. No, I’m not on a boat, but neither do I want to shell out big bucks for a gym membership. Recalling what intense workouts we used to do with no equipment whatsoever, I started crafting a program I could do at home. With some creative new suggestions from my coach, I’ve got a full-body strength training program that kicks my a-- at home for free. Even better? I get to play my own music and sing along at will, without offending anyone.

Don’t get me wrong; a gym membership can be fantastic. You get access to good equipment and can workout with a trainer or with friends for company. Even the membership fees can provide extra motivation and accountability. But the gym isn’t for everyone.

If you’re looking for a good way to build muscle, strength and flexibility without going to the gym, I’ve got some suggestions for you. My workouts obviously focus on cycling fitness, but they can definitely apply to general fitness or other sports (for example, my husband does the same workouts to prep for the coming ski season). In my next column, I’ll cover some of these exercises for your consideration. Perhaps you can start a fitness routine at home, or incorporate them into whatever gym work you’re already doing.

Check out the gallery below for more images from the tagging mission. Your questions and comments are most welcome!

Thanks for reading,
Amber

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

Photos: Amber Pierce

I was recently asked to relate some little-known facts about myself, a question that led me to look up this piece, which I'd done for a blog a while ago. Just to mix things up a bit, I decided to post it here for fun.

1. I believe the universe is a friendly place. I believe in the good in people and in the world and do not care if that makes me naïve. I don’t really think it does.

2. I wish I could reasonably drink coffee all day long and have breakfast for every meal.

3. Between the ages of 10 and 22, I spent an average of almost 1,000 hours a year in swimming pools and feel grateful for every minute, even for early morning sessions. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything.

4. In middle school, I won a hatchet-throwing contest.

5. I love cooking for other people. I once worked as a cook on a tall ship, cooking for forty people in a rocking, listing galley. It was some of the hardest work I've ever done: 18 hour days with a 20 minute break (if that), but it was also some of the most rewarding work I've ever done. Food has a great way of lifting spirits and bringing people together, and I love facilitating that.

6. I didn't know it at the time, but one of the best days of my life was the day I met the mysterious hot guy on my college cycling team in the grimy basement of Roble Gym to pack bikes. That guy turned out to be David - my rock, and now my husband.

7. I love big storms, especially thunder and lightening storms with pouring rain.

8. When I was 14, I made tips playing classical piano in a small town bar in Bryan, Texas.

9. Someday, I want to own a huge trampoline. I love trampolines and equate trampoline jumping to instant happiness.

10. I’m a fifth generation Californian, born in Berkeley.

11. I like all kinds of music, but I am not one of those people who say so to avoid naming a genre: I mean it. Back in my swim days my ‘pump up’ mix included Led Zeppelin, White Zombie, Vivaldi, Easy E, Van Halen, Sex Pistols, Tom Petty and Marilyn Manson. I love Opera and banjo and get the chills every time I hear live music.

12. I've swum with sharks in open water.

13. My most spectacular scar resulted from attempting to answer the telephone.

14. In fourth grade, I punched a fifth-grader on the school jungle gym, because he was kicking off all the smaller kids. It’s the only fist fight in which I’ve ever participated, and I threw the only punch (totally smoked him, though).

15. I have huge feet: size 42, which probably helped my swim career.

16. When I was little, I was painfully shy. My mom recognized this early and explained that I would be well-served to work on this. She explained this surprisingly well, given I was about five. I then embarked on a period of my life in which I forced myself to strike up conversations with people I didn’t know well, or didn’t know at all. I have vivid memories of the mix of angst and determination in this endeavor, but it eventually got easier and sure did the trick.

17. I learned how to drive a manual transmission on a tractor, and I’m proficient with a lasso.

18. I've surfed with dolphins and performed surgery on tuna.

19. I appreciate humor of all kinds, but especially the dry and dark varieties. I struggle in vain to suppress a compulsion for making puns.

20. I love that I grew up in Reno. I love Nevada and the beauty of the desert and mountains. I think more clearly in the mountains.

21. When I was in the fourth grade, I started a neighborhood recycling service, wheeling a red wagon from house to house collecting recyclables. I typed up pamphlets on water conservation, printed them on our dot matrix printer, and distributed them to neighbors. My dad bought me a can crusher, which increased efficiency and made me feel official.

22. While I don’t party often, when I do, I go big. I’ve thought of several examples not appropriate for this post, but which make me laugh out loud. Life is good.

23. I believe play is essential to health and a full life. Kids and animals play all the time. We forget this too often, which is why I also love swings: they’re a good reminder.

24. I believe in true love, from experience.

25. I am constantly moved by the depth and strength of all the people in my life.

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

A new use for my beer mug.

For the record, I don’t follow a specific diet. I generally believe in eating real, unprocessed foods, as opposed to substituting artificially low-cal, low-fat, low-sugar products for the real thing. I’m not an advocate for Atkins, or Paleo, or the Zone. Normally I don’t categorically eliminate anything (e.g. fat or sugar), but instead strive for a healthful balance of protein, good fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

I say “normally” because I’m currently 26 days into a 30-day elimination diet: no wheat, gluten, dairy (including butter) or eggs. I’m testing for food allergies, after some late-season blood tests revealed major red flags (namely: off-the-charts oxidation levels, cellular inflammation, IgG values and a concerning cholesterol profile—yikes). These results and almost a year of nagging health problems prompted this experiment. Lucky for me, I get to work with a fantastic endocrinologist who believes we can get everything on track naturally by tweaking my diet. Sounds good to me!

Now, before I get into the nitty gritty, let me just emphasize a couple of points. First, I’m doing this with the guidance of a doctor, based on my own personal symptoms and physiology; what works for me won’t apply to everyone. Also—importantly—I’m not eliminating these foods to restrict calories or lose weight. I’m testing whether these foods cause adverse reactions that until now have gone unnoticed (because I have been eating all of these foods everyday for as long as I can remember).

From my experience and observing other athletes, I don’t recommend categorically eliminating foods from your diet just to restrict your caloric intake. If you have genuine intolerances to certain foods, then you need to avoid them. However, if you eliminate, for example, gluten or carbs* from your diet just to cut back on calories, you’re setting a powerful guilt-trap for yourself. When you do eat the food you’ve banned (whether on accident, for convenience, or a moment of weakness), you’ll feel bad and stress about it. The point of improving your diet is to nourish your body and reduce unnecessary physiological stress, and sometimes, the stress of not eating certain foods is worse than the actual food itself. If you’re trying to cut back on sugar, for example, then cut back most of the time, with an occasional sweet treat. If you’re getting it right 80% of the time, you’ll still form a new, good habit and reap all the associated health benefits. Don’t crack yourself trying to be a monk about it.

When it comes to testing for allergies, though, I knew I would need to be ultra strict for the 30-day trial (again I would not recommend this for the long-term, unless treating a true intolerance). When the doc first went over the plan with me, I half-joked that it was actually a food elimination diet, given that I eat wheat, gluten, dairy and eggs nearly everyday. My normal breakfast of yogurt and müsli went out the window, as did milk in my coffee, sandwiches, pastries of any kind (even most gluten-free muffins are made with eggs or butter), beer (hey, it is the off-season, so I’m missing this one), and—heavens above!—cheese.

I dreaded starting this diet, but as soon as I had one gluten/dairy/egg-free breakfast under my belt, I didn’t want to ruin the project or have to start all over again. Besides, looking at it as a 30-day challenge made it much easier to manage; anytime I found myself craving a pastry (we live above a bakery for crying out loud), I’d think, no big deal, it’s just a month.

Soy and almond milk made easy, accessible substitutes for my milk habit (though I now prefer to drink my coffee black). I scoured the web for gluten-free, dairy-free recipes to substitute my other staples (e.g. cereal, breads, pasta) and found plenty. For baked goods, the hitch was finding the right ingredients – almond flour, coconut oil, egg substitute. These things are not easy to find in Austria.

Discouraged by the lack of ingredients, I tried a pre-made gluten/dairy-free bread mix from the health food store. I was a few days into the diet and had found that I wasn’t really craving bread as much as the comfort of my daily rituals. I wanted a sense of normalcy, and since I was giving up all this good stuff, why shouldn’t I at least have that? I made three loaves of this stuff before I decided I didn’t actually like it. My only motivation for eating it was to enable other cravings, like jam.

So far, this kind of discovery has been the most valuable part of the experiment – reexamining my eating habits. Habits are not bad, unless they’re doing you harm. In fact, you can develop some really great, healthful habits when it comes to your nutrition. Although my habits were never particularly bad (there are worse addictions than müsli and plain yogurt), it’s been good to reexamine them and find areas for improvement. I might also find that what I thought was a healthful food is actually causing an allergic reaction in my system. So far, I haven’t noticed any major changes to how I feel physically, but I have yet to reintroduce any of the potential allergens. We’ll see!

In the meantime, I’ve received a lot of questions on what to eat, if not wheat, gluten, dairy or eggs. Truth be told, I thought I might not be able to survive without milk in my morning coffee, or (gasp) my daily yogurt and müsli fix. Other meals are a bit easier, but making breakfast without wheat, gluten, dairy OR eggs seemed like a big challenge at first. So, here are some ideas for tasty gluten/dairy/egg-free breakfasts!

Smoothies

Smoothies provide a delicious start to the day, and they meet all the criteria that make cereal so appealing – quick, easy and tasty. I use an immersion blender, which makes prep and clean-up fast and easy: toss the ingredients into the plastic cup, blend, and drink. The mixer rinses quickly and easily in the sink (even less clean-up than cereal). Cinch!

Here are a few of my favorite combinations, so far.

1 banana
½ cup fresh or frozen berries
¼ cup almond butter
¾ cup soy or almond milk
honey (to taste)
vanilla (to taste)

½ can coconut milk
1 banana
1 TBSP cocoa powder
honey (to taste)
vanilla (to taste)

½ can peaches (I do try to avoid anything with fructose syrup)
½ cup soy yogurt
½ cup fresh or frozen berries
2 TBSP almond butter
½ cup soy milk

1 cup loosely packed fresh baby spinach
½ can peach halves
¼ cup Zwetschkenrösti (cooked plums)
½ cup soy yogurt
¼ cup fresh or frozen raspberries
2 TBSP almond butter

Gluten/Dairy/Egg-Free “Cereal”

If this doesn’t quite cut it, and you’re craving a bowl full of crunchy goodness, then here is a good cereal replacement:

Combine
¼ cup hot water (I use an electric kettle for this)
1 TBSP Chia seed
2 TBSP Almond Butter
1 tsp Honey
¼ tsp Salt (less if your almond butter is already salted)

Mix until creamy and smooth; then add:

Coarsely chopped walnuts
Pumpkin seeds
Flax seeds
Dried fruit (e.g. raisins, cranberries, etc)
Fresh fruit (e.g. berries, chopped banana, grated apple)

Stir; then top with soy or almond milk.

There are some great resources on the web; here are a few of my favorites:

http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/

http://www.caneat.org/

http://www.affairsofliving.com/

http://www.elanaspantry.com/

http://smittenkitchen.com/

Questions? Comments? Please leave a message below!

Thanks for reading,
Amber

*  The term "carbs," as it is used in Atkins-type nomenclature, annoys me to no end. A carbohydrate is a macronutrient present in all fruits and vegetables, cheeses and even in lean meats (all muscle tissues store glycogen – admittedly a nutritionally negligible amount, but still carbohydrate). To say that one is not eating any “carbs” when in fact one is eating fruits, vegetables, cheese and meat is just wrong. It’s not possible to not eat “carbs” unless you are not eating; virtually every food contains some form of carbohydrate. The notion of vilifying carbohydrates is seriously misled. If you want to avoid eating processed sweets like pastries, or you want to cut back on refined breads and pasta and rice, by all means, do it. Just call it what it is.

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

Photos: Amber Pierce

By Amber Pierce

It’s the off-season! Since I’m temporarily scaling back my training regime to normal-person hours, I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands. This extra time gets allocated to everything I don’t get to do during full-time racing and training. Some of those things are fun; for example, I get to have a social life, drink wine, play tourist, hike, run and be home. Other things, however, are necessary but not fun, like filing and doing taxes. Let’s focus on the fun stuff, shall we?

Hiking in the Austrian Alps:

A Hütte on the trail in the alps south of Salzburg

Rest stop above a glacier

Hiking toward the gipfel on the Sonnblick

An alm below the Hochkönig

Hiking through Plitvice National Park in Croatia:

The unbelievably clear water of the Plitvice Lakes

Views from the trail

Waterfalls cascade from one lake to the next along the trails in the park

Wooden boardwalks wind above the lakes and falls of Plitvice National Park in Croatia

Relaxing on the Croatian Coast:

The harbor in Selce

Beautiful blue waters of the Adriatic

Home:

View from the Schlossberg in the Altstadt Graz

The off-season is a time to target different goals than the race season, and the next couple of columns will address some ideas on nutrition and cross training. If you’ve got questions, send them my way! Please leave your feedback and questions below in the comments section.

Thanks for reading!

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

Photos: Amber Pierce

By Amber Pierce

In the sport of cycling, there’s a saying: no one else in the picture. It’s the sweetest way to win a bike race—solo, so far off the front that you cross the line with no one else in the picture. The only way it could be sweeter? To do it in your hometown.

The Tour de Nez is Nevada’s longest-running stage race, 2011 being the 20th year of this spectacle of unabashed enthusiasm for bicycles. The party features world class hand-cycling, clunkers, kids, professionals, couriers, and showgirls (this is Reno, baby). Not only is this race ridiculously fun and cool in its own right, but it also happens to be held in my hometown.

This year, the race integrated nicely with another staple of the Truckee Meadows—Artown. For one month every summer, the community pulls out all the stops for a celebration of art and culture, in the same all-inclusive style as the Tour de Nez. The Artown festival runs the gamut of creativity and culture with visual, performance, and historical arts featuring local and visiting artists. Part of the mission of Artown is to make this festival as accessible as possible to everyone, so museums and galleries open their doors for free exhibits, public parks echo with the music of free concerts, sculptures abound in public spaces, and local businesses subsidize events to keep entry fees as low as possible.

Allow me to paint the scene of Artown in Reno. A couple nights before the race, my parents and I headed downtown for dinner (that’s yet another thing to love about this town – a smorgasbord of excellent dining experiences). As we strolled along the river (downtown has too much cool stuff to see to just go straight to the restaurant) past some impressive sculpture installations, crowds on picnic blankets and folding chairs took in a live open-air concert at Wingfield Park—the island in the Truckee River downtown. The concert provided a nice soundtrack while folks gathered on the river banks to swim, wade, tube, kayak, fish and sunbathe (for real, I saw at least one person partaking in each of these activities, all within three city blocks). Just imagine—floating on the river in the afternoon sun, enjoying live music only a few feet away from a litany of fine restaurants, microbreweries, cafés, galleries, museums, wine bars, old west saloons and casinos. Later that evening, the same open-air amphitheater would be screening the weekly free-movie-in-the-park with a public showing of Breaking Away. Seriously, how cool is this town?!

Well, it gets cooler. Sunday morning got things rolling with the annual Tour de Nez in all its unconventionally fabulous glory. The Nez is much more than a bike race. It is—and always has been—about celebrating bicycles with a big, fat party.

This year, the festivities kicked off with some of the top hand cyclists in the nation throwing down in an inspiring show of strength, followed by both Juniors and Masters categories on the same course. Couriers lined up for the N’Alley Cat race, a crazy full-speed scavenger hunt through the streets of downtown Reno, followed by the Annual Clunker Race, in which folks bring out some crazy looking bikes including everything from big old commuters to antiques and hand-made or super-modified machines. The kids’ race was led by local police on motos that blared full sirens and lights, much to the delight of all the little tykes.

Then came the women’s race: my favorite race, in my favorite town, in front of the home crowd. There was so much to be happy and grinning about that I felt more excited than nervous. I got to reconnect with a bunch of people I’d known growing up, not to mention catch up with some of my favorite bike racers I hadn’t seen since racing most of the season in Europe. It was a banner day before the race even started!

Whatever nerves I did have went away the moment the starting gun blasted. As we rounded the first few corners, I felt right at home – calm, focused and happy to be racing my bike. I think I heard at least one “Go Amber!” in every corner of the technical course, which made it hard not to grin from ear-to-ear in the middle of the race!

Without getting into the nitty-gritty of a race report, I went for a late-race prime and kept going. With a monster effort out in the wind (and some disorganization in the field behind me), I stayed away to cross the line first, with no one else in the picture. Best of all: I got huge hugs from my parents at the finish. And two Reno showgirls presented the awards on the podium, which is what happens when you win in the Biggest Little City in the World!

Amber Pierce - An American expat living in Austria, Amber has made the leap across the Atlantic in pursuit of her dreams on the road. After making a name for herself as one of the top road cyclists in the US, she now faces new challenges in her life on the road in Europe.

Amber's path to full-time racing in Europe has been anything but linear. From high school valedictorian holding national swimming records, to scholarship athlete at Stanford University and researcher on the open ocean, she has found herself in countless adventures all over the globe. With 53 career victories under her belt, however, Amber appears to have found her calling on the bicycle.

Photos & Video: Amber Pierce (first, second); Gary Douglas (third - fifth & video)

As saying goes, most people come to Colorado for the winters [skiing] and end up staying for the summers.

But as I think back on my time in Colorado, or for any place for that matter, it is truly the people that make the place.

Aside from Kirsten Texler, Public Relations & Communications Manager for the Vail Cascade and a former elite figure skater, who originally hails from Vail, each Coloradoan along my journey came from elsewhere.

Whether they came out West to be a part of the ski industry, teach fly fishing, or guide rafting trips, each of these transplanted natives has a heartened spirit, which helps them endure, and an independent and self-reliant nature about them.

They are self-starters and flexible enough in mind to move with what life presents them.

Each of the individuals below played an invaluable role in helping me navigate the Centennial State to preview the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge, and for that I am grateful.

In no particular order, they are:
Carly Grimes, Larry Grossman, Rich Grant, Mike Brumbaugh, John Dakin, Kristen Texler, Maya Berthoud, Rachel Zerowin, Sally Croker, Kevin Holmquest, Kristin Yantis, Sunny Frost, Michelle Krasilinec, Grant Fenton, Michael Schilling, Rob Mitchell, Cathy Wiedemer, Mary Topping, Joy Meadows, Alison McGee Johnson, Karlyn Tilley, Krista Rider and Johna Rice.

So while there may be 7 days of magnificent racing beckoning you to head out to Colorado, there are 23 reasons listed above on why you should consider staying.

Golden, CO - The final stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge begins in Golden and ends in Denver. Only 73.79 miles long, the stage features a climb up and descent down Lookout Mountain.

After starting under Golden’s famous “Howdy Folks” welcome arch, which was featured in the Kevin Costner cycling film, American Flyers, the peloton will head north out of town. Getting a close-up glimpse of both the North and South Table Mountains as the peloton works its way through the back of the Coors Brewing Company factory, the riders will go past the start line a second time before taking on Lookout Mountain.

At an average 6.1 percent grade and 1300 feet of elevation gain over 4.8 miles, this section provides an intense challenge on the tour’s final day. After a breakneck descent down the winding roads of Lookout Mountain, the cyclists will once again make their way to the start line in Golden before speeding toward Denver.

Once in Denver, the racers will take six laps of a five-mile circuit along Speer Boulevard before heading past the original Quiznos store at 13th and Grant to reach the finish line on Broadway next to the State Capitol Building.

Riders to Watch

Although Lookout Mountain will provide a sizable challenge to the peloton, like other climbs in this inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge, it comes early enough in the stage that the sprinters's teams will not be adequately dissuade from bringing the whole group back together for a field sprint.

Once again look to the whole of UnitedHealthcare led by Robert Forster and Fast Freddie Rodriguez (Team Exergy) to light it up.

People, Places & Things

Golden - The City of Golden is situated near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the mouth of Clear Creek Canyon just fifteen miles west of Denver. Established in the mid-nineteenth century as a supply stop for gold miners

American Flyers 25th Anniversary Reunion - August 27th at 8pm

Citizens' Hill Climb - August 27th at 8am

Denver - Sitting at 5280 feet, the Mile High City offers more than 850 miles of paved off-road trails that connect to hundreds of miles of dirt trails and mountain-bike adventures. The nearby Rocky Mountains boast hiking excursions, ski slopes and wildlife. Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the top outdoor destinations in the world, is just a 90-minute drive from downtown. Denver also has one of the largest bike sharing programs in the nation with B-Cycle offering 500 bikes at nearly 50 stations throughout the city.

Photos: John Poli (second and third)