Author: Administrator

Four Years of War in Ukraine and Counting

It’s been four long years of war in Ukraine. Who ever thought it would get this far? The last time I posted my thoughts on the war was at the end of 2023. Very little has changed.

Russia has kept on grinding on the ground. North Korea and other countries have sent troops to support Russia. Iran has sent drones. Also Ukraine has been supplied by new category of weapons, one by one. Tanks have been taken over by drones, and their power and number just keeps on increasing. Videos from the battlefield speak of almost Terminator-style apocalypse. Ukraine started to hit Russian targets inside Russia with drones and long range missiles. The line of combat has moved towards west but in the grand scheme of things it has been slow and costly. Ukraine is still holding the main lines of defense in Donetsk and right now even gaining some ground again.

Over the past year or so there has been expectations of some kind of peace deal to no avail. When Trump came in 24 hours passed and there was no deal. It seems obvious Putin has no interest to settle the war. After all he started it all with the aim of taking all over Ukraine and he is still there reigning. — Just the other night I watched Metallica’s Moscow concert from 1991. That is the same Russian society out there in the audience. You get a very different picture. Peace is an option once the regime changes.

Zelensky and the Ukrainian heroics are also still there. Zelensky has been touring the world like before and getting back from any momentary setback like what he had one year ago in the Oval Office. While US support has come into question, Europe is still in the middle of getting its act together. Frozen Russian assets remain locked. Hungary keeps on messing around. Not all weapons are available. Security guarantees are at the level of loose talk. Meanwhile Ukraine has built the strongest and most experienced army in Europe. And their own weapons systems. It looks like Ukraine can join the EU one day and will be as close to NATO as any non-member can be.

Overall, we have become so used to the war. The news don’t anymore make the headlines here. And the same seems to apply to those at war. Most notably Putin does not really care. Russia has lost 1M+ troops total out of which reportedly 300k+ as dead but who cares? When Putin started the war he postponed the day to cross the line over the Olympics 2022 just to finish the gold medal match in hockey. Now after the full four year Olympic cycle he didn’t get his team in the games in the first place. What more can he lose?

There is no end in sight to this war as we speak.

Stelvio Santini

This year’s first Grand Fondo didn’t begin like I had hoped for. The rain hit just 15 minutes before the start and gave a good beating as we hit the road. Made me think does this actually make sense. I’m going for the Gran Fondos mainly to see the scenery, passes, and be part of the cycling community. But why suffer? Waiting for another day or just an hour or two to start later would have avoided the nasty rain. Then again riding in a group is a completely different experience than going solo.

Okay 15 minutes in and the rain stopped. Back to pedaling, focus on the road. First 50km or so in the valley was pretty easy. Just two short uphills. Some more shower from the sky. Then the most important choice of the day: Guspessa or not? Looking up the hill I see Mortirolo completely under heavy clouds and possibly raining somewhere up there. Easy choice. Mediafondo meaning 105km+ and 3000m+ climb today for me. Focus on Stelvio, what I came for. Besides Guspessa is not the Mortirolo road I wanted to take, and I was anyways short on time to get back to the airport by night.

From the bottom of the valley back to Bormio was like 700m vertical up but it didn’t feel that tough. I was at Bormio feeding station in quite exactly 3.5 hours from the start. Right on time what I was planning. Then hit the epic climb. Sky started to clear up and sun warmed me up. Stelvio is long, yes, but somehow it didn’t feel as hard as I had thought. There were just two short sections more than 10% steep. Also the altitude didn’t hit that bad. Close to the top we got even some help from tailwind. Strava section tells the climb went in under 2 hrs.


Stelvio’s iconic turns.

Overall a great experience. Google Maps directed the drive back for some reason over Gavia pass. Now that looked beautiful in sunshine. Now planning GF Gavia & Mortirolo for 2026…

Trump comeback

Little did I know some four years ago that this day would come. We have Trump re-elected as the US President. Quite a historic comeback.

Some thoughts:

1. Character didn’t matter in the end. History was all forgotten and past political sins forgiven. This election was all about the usual political back-and-forth wave, dissatisfaction to the democratic Biden government.

2. Trump is still a very good, energetic talker at 78. He kept his form. He aced most of his interviews and there were many. He didn’t chicken out or over prepare. He was his authentic self whom everyone knew beforehand. And it did make a contrast to Harris.

3. Trump made a solid VP pick with Vance while the democrats made a poor pick with Walz. Vance was really sharp in every interview I saw him. He represents the next generation. That guy has potential if he just keeps his rhythm.

4. Polls predicted on average like 2-3% points wrong in favor of democrats. The latest had Trump and Harris neck to neck. Harris would win popular vote for sure. Nothing like that happened. The betting markets by contrast knew it all along.

5. While GOP got also the senate and house will go down the wire I don’t expect any major tectonic shifts in US politics. It will be interesting and unpredictable for sure, especially at the start. But Trump 2024 is no Trump 2016. He is today an experienced politician. At 78. He also doesn’t have a team. Very few key people from the previous term will carry over. He needs to recruit all new people who will have a say and influence how to move forward.

Marmotte Alpes

Marmotte Alpes was most likely the hardest Cyclosportive or Gran Fondo I will ever do. 170km+ and 5km uphill across famous Tour de France climbs, in peculiar alpine weather. Strava stats here.

Typical race set-up for me is these days a minute ad-hoc schedule. Again didn’t have too much preparation, sleep or energy intake before the race. Just the previous race behind as the training buildup. Add on top 10hrs+ car driving and business meetings in the past 24 hrs, we finally arrived sometime 1am to the hotel in Alpe d’Huez with wife and one kid. It didn’t help the race was moved from Sunday to Saturday at short notice because of the sudden French elections. Crash immediately to bed. Alarm goes off 5:30 or so. Breakfast, bike set up, and off we go rolling down the bends to the valley. Pick up number just before 7am and get in the starting grid in time. I pass the line around 7:30am.

First climb to Col de Glaudon goes pretty well. Weather great. Cloudy, no wind. On top in about 2:15 and feels energetic. The first weather surprise comes at the end of the descent. Feels like a heat barrier hits at some point and the temperature goes up. Wind also pick ups and of course it is headwind. Struggle in the flat or slight uphill with the wind, and drop from peloton to another. I am not comfortable riding at the heels of others.

Col de Telegraph, the second climb, goes quite fast. A hint of rain pours in at some point but the clouds give away. A short descent to the bottom of Galibier and I finally get to the first food station. Have some banana bites and a piece of a cracker. Clearly service doesn’t compare to Italian events. I could have taken more calories if available.

Then Col de Galibier. I know this is where this race comes together. I start pretty easy, watching the heart rate not to go too high. Closer to the top the wind picks up and it looks like there could be more rain coming. At the top we have another food station and energy refill. Pass the entry to the tunnel at around 7:15, still pretty much in the planned schedule. But when the light comes out at the end of the tunnel the rain goes sideways. And we have storm!

Hitting the descent with huge headwind, rain and overall coldness feels both surreal and unbearable. Brings to my mind some the legendary Tour videos I’ve seen. Curse heavily as the water blinds the visibility. Have to stop multiple times just to figure out where to go. I can’t see a thing! Maybe 15 minutes in my hands, legs and essentially the whole body starts to shake. Feels like my bike is shaking. My body is about to break. I wish I have had a jacket. Neck gets stiffer and it feels like a curtain shuts whatever I have left of the little visibility. Have to consider quitting for real. But it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t make sense. It was supposed to be just a long fast downhill to the bottom before the final climb. There is nowhere to quit, we are in the middle of nowhere, with no bail outs.

Arrive finally to the bottom, the temps get higher, the rain goes away, and clock ticks about 8:56 or so before the finale. I think I’ve lost half an hour in the downhill because of the weather and its implied wear & tear to my body. Okay, let’s hit it. And. It. Is. Tough. Alpe d’Huez takes about 1.45 instead of my planned 1.15. It is simply too much for me today. Have to stop multiple times to drink and rest.

Final time is over 10:30. I thought sub 10:00 should be doable. I am however very happy to make it to the end in one piece and all the damage I’ve built up will eventually wear out. The bike did great job, no mechanical issues whatsoever. Today it was the nature that took the show.

Sportful Dolomiti

Opened the bicycle racing season with Sportful Dolomiti. Chose medio corsa 125km, which was the right choice today. About 2500m uphill and final time a bit under 5.45. Strava stats here.

Had some hesitation before the start how will it go. I hadn’t had time to ride more than 150km total this year on bike and haven’t also run much. The previous day I had a wild 10 hours drive from Munich to Italy as Brenner pass was totally stuck. Add on top little sleep and weather forecast saying it starts to probably rain mid day.

All fears and doubts however disappeared once I got on top of my Wilier and hit the road with thousands of other riders. The bike rocked and I was sure to check my heart rate didn’t go over 150 but in the toughest climbs. Sun broke out after a few hours and instead of rain it started to heat up. Had just one food & toilet stop. Overall another great day in the middle of gorgeous Dolomites.