Time to Learn and Time to Give

This is a place holder, where I would like to describe my meeting with Georgi (Jora) Ivanov as he and his wife and daughter were visiting with us in the last weekend of August.

Jora is an extraordinary fellow. He is a theater actor and director in Brussels, Belgium. We are related, as his sister Natasha is married to my uncle Oleg, my mother's brother. Natasha deserves a post or two by herself. Suffice it to say that she is one of the kindest, warmest, best people I've ever met. She is also mother to my beloved cousin Zhenya.

One of the things that Jora said to me that especially touched me was "There is time to learn and time to give."

This Week's Accomplishments!

This week (August 15-21) I've done a lot of cycling and meditation:

• 2h 15min of meditation (including walking meditation, sitting meditation and body scan meditation)
• 2h of spinning
• 2h 25min (61km) of cycling training
• 5h 30min (101km) of just-for-fun cycling with Anne Sophie

I also spent a lot of time with Anne Sophie (played games with her, went with her to the beach, to the playground and to visit friends), and finally finished reading Primo Levi's 600-pages long book.

Biking the Route des Legendes in the Belgian Ardennes

Last Sunday my months of bike training were put to a severe test. With a bunch of Flemish friends I travelled to Remouchamps, south of Liege, Belgium, to bike the Route des Legendes, which is a 100km scenic route consisting of two loops of 70 km and 30 km, with numerous climbs and descents and beautiful views to enjoy.

We had a perfect bicycling weather as we started biking at quarter to 10 in the morning. The first climb, which lasted a couple of kilometers was quite a shock. Although by now, having biked up the Alp d'Huez, the Grossglockner and the Mont Ventoux, I should know what climbing is, nevertheless the first few climbing kilometers are still quite a challenge. But I felt that my training has been paying off big time!

This was followed by many more climbs and descents, with some slopes reaching up to 17%. Initially, we stopped quite often in order to keep our group together. I enjoyed the nice views of the countryside and the neat little villages that we passed by.

The second loop started with a long 5km climb, which felt like it would never end. But overall it was much easier than the first loop.

Back at Remouchamps, we set out for the final, but also the most challenging ascent, that of the infamous La Redoute, in which you climb 161 height meters over the distance of 1.7 km. This means 9.5% on the average, with a maximum of 20%! This was absolutely the most difficult climb I have ever done!



In total I biked 105km (and more than 1500 height meters) in 5h45min. I got home very late and tired, but it was a great day and a great training for the upcoming conquest of Passo dello Stelvio!

30 Hours of Exercise in July 2011!

Although this past July was quite a rainy month, I managed to do almost 30 hours of sport activities, including:

1. 9 long training bike rides (450km in 18h 30min)
2. 4 hours of spinning
3. 6 hours of strength training
4. 1 hour of squash
5. 1 hour of inline hockey

Although my plan was to do 2 spinning hours a week, I only managed to spin once a week instead. Let's see if I can do better in August!

With my wife and daughter back from their holiday, this may be quite a challenge. But I set out to bike with Anne Sophie on my city bike, sometimes accompanied by Luda. This doesn't go quite fast, but still it's a good exercise!

Tomorrow I'm going to bike the 100km Route des Legendes near Remouchamps in the Belgian Ardennes with a few Flemish friends. That should be quite a challenge!

30-Day Meditation Challenge

I've been on and off meditating and wanting to meditate for years. There are many benefits to mediation, which I will not discuss here. Suffice it to say that it can be good for both your physical and mental health and for learning more about yourself.

In order to develop my meditation into a lasting, daily habit, I am embarking on a 30-day meditation challenge and I invite you to join me! The rules are quite simple: meditate at least a few minutes every single day for the coming 30 days. In fact I already did this once last year, and I really enjoyed the challenge, but the habit didn't take root at the time.

Because different people understand different things under meditation, it's up to you to choose your meditation technique. I'll be using non-religious, but Zen-Buddhism-inspired meditation techniques developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn as part of his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. In essence, it's about sitting mindfully, following your breath and taking mental note of what's going within your mind and body.

So if you wish, please join me in this endeavor and share your experiences!

To help you start, I've shared a number of guided meditations by Jon Kabat-Zinn:  https://docs.google.com/#folders/folder.0.0B2tp0bSwDZS4ZWM2Y2VkMTItMGRmNy00OTEyLWI3OTAtYWYxNTkxOGE1YjI5
These meditations explain what it's about and guide you in how you can meditate in various ways. Good luck!