A series to pay homage to the biggest cycling event in Spain: La Vuelta a España. You can join this tour without a bike, but not with an empty stomach. For more Spanish recipes on this series, follow this link.

Today’s recipe is a very Pacific North-West take on the extremely popular “pastel de cabracho” by Basque chef Juan Mari Arzak – the first chef in Spain to win three Michelin stars, and also the first to popularize cabracho, the fishy protagonist of this very recipe. It seems that nobody before Juan Mari had thought of inviting this freaky-looking fish (Scorpanea scrofa, by its Latin name) to the Spanish table. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, given his face:

Ugly Cabracho as last seen in Wikipedia

But probably the fact that nobody in Spain seems to agree on how to refer to it wasn’t helping it to get popular with neither the ladies nor the Spanish palates. While the English speaking folks seem to have come up with “red scorpionfish” as its name for consensus, we Spaniards seemed to have let every region have its pick: the Basque decided on itxaskabra, the Asturians, tiñosu; the Catalans chose escórpora; the Canarians, cantanero; the Murcians, gallina; the Balearic, cap roig; and finally, any other region I know of seems to be fine calling it cabracho – but then, I wouldn’t go and try and discern whether this is really the case: those are already far more names than I could ever remember. Now, go and try to have a conversation about fish in Spanish!

Behind that ugly exterior and confusing terminology, cabracho happens to be hiding the most delicate, shellfish-like white meat. It also hides venomous spines, which doesn’t come with as much of a surprise given the face (an extra point for the English speaking folks: not only were you able to decide for one single name, yours is also probably the most true to the nature of cabracho). But, in cabracho’s favour, let me tell you that the venom is easily deactivated when boiled. And, hell, I would risk the consequences even if it didn’t: cabracho really is that delicious!

So… I went around Vancouver and tried to get a hold of some red scorpionfish…

…

… and, of course, found none!

Therefore, until Juan Mari decides to come to this side of the Atlantic to get you guys to try all sorts of new, ugly things, we will need to make the best with what we’ve got. And what I had was some hook caught, Pacific Sockeye salmon – which, actually, is far from being a let down! Salmon had the side effect of pumping up the orange factor of this pâté, and orange happens to be exactly the colour of the all Basque, Euskatel-Euskadi pro-tour cycling team. As I was taking the pan out of the oven, I kept thinking that there can hardly be a more fitting recipe to join the Orange Tide of Euskaltel cycling fans: orange Euskatel-Euskadi cap on your head, orange “Euskatel-Euskadi  pâté” in your mouth and… go Samu Sanchez, go!! As long as you remember to swallow before actually shouting that out, I am sure Juan Mari Arzak, a proud Basque himself, will forgive us both for bastardazing his recipe and for the cycling-themed change of name.

INSTRUCTIONS

Difficulty: Difficulty is beating Lance Armstrong in a time-trial up Mont Ventoux. This, my friend, is a piece of (salmon) cake.

Time: 70-80 minutes

INGREDIENTS

The Tour down Under has been going on all week in Adelaide, Australia kicking off the cycling season. Typically an event which is sprinter-heavy terrain, this year’s TdU added an uphill finish on the stage 5 ‘queen’ stage of the race. Prior to that we saw Andre Griepel dominate the race early on with wins in the prologue Cancer Classic, Stage 1 and Stage 3. Will Clarke had an unexpected solo breakaway to steal a stage 2 win and Oscar Friere got the sprinters back in on the action winning stage 4. However, the day everyone was waiting for was the 5th stage which saw pre-race favourite Simon Gerrans go head to head with the fast-finishing Spaniard Alejandro Valverde on Old Willunga Hill. It was Valverde who took the line first over-taking Gerrans on the outside and winning by half a wheel-length.

Today is the final stage of the race with Gerrans in the ochre jersey and thanks to the win yesterday, Valverde is tied with the same time. It’s unlikely we’ll see a change in the standings as Gerrans possesses the stronger team for today’s 90km crit and only has to protect the lead. It’s been an exciting first race of the season and you can watch the conclusion live from Nine News in Australia at the following web-address starting at around 1:10pm Adelaide/3:40pm EST/6:40pm PST:

Nine News Live: Tour Down Under

TDU Top Three:
1. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge)______18h49’24″
2. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)_____s.t.
3. Tiago Machado (RadioShack)_____+:08″

Tour Down Under Official Site

We’ve been scouring the web for information regarding a good two-week cycle route which hits most of our points of interest and this is what the trip will likely look like. The route will be just over 1000km’s in 11 days of riding with two days of longish bus or train transfers between Santiago and Santa Clara, as well as Cienfuegos and Havana.

We’ve never been to Cuba prior, that’s kinda of why we’re going, so if you have and your experiences tell us we’re missing something, let us know. We’re probably going to stick to this concept, and major changes will have to be for another trip, but we’re also open to feedback.

We’ve got two months exactly to get prepared, and we’re feeling good about the route plan, so now it’s all the other stuff. Stay tuned!

Here is our basic Itinerary:

Mar. 19th – Arrival Frank Pais Airport.
DAY1 (19th) – Ride: Airport – Bayamo (62,0km)
DAY2 (20th) – Ride: Bayamo – Manzanillo (67,0km)
DAY3 (21st) – Ride: Manzanillo – Pilon (90,0km)
DAY4 (22nd) – Ride: Pilon – Chivirico (110,0km)
DAY5 (23rd) – Ride: Chivirico – Santiago De Cuba (80,0km)
DAY6 (24th) – REST DAY in Santiago – Evening Train/Bus? to Santa Clara
DAY7 (25th) – Ride: Santa Clara – Trinidad (85,0km)
DAY8 (26th) – Ride: Trinidad – Cienfuegos (82,5km)
DAY9 (27th) – TRANSFER DAY to Havana… Extra/Contingency Day.
DAY10 (28th) – Ride: Havana – Pinar Del Rio via San Christobal (164km)
DAY11 (29th) – Ride: Pinar Del Rio – Bahia Honda (108km)
DAY12 (30th) – Ride: Bahia Honda – Havanna (98,0km)
DAY13 (31st) – REST DAY in Havanna
DAY14 (1st) – Ride: Havanna – Matanzas (102,0km)
DAY15 (2nd) – Ride (TAXI?): Matanzas – Varadero Airport (16,0km) Flight departure
Total riding = 1048km in 11days = 95km/day

Last night, or yesterday, but technically Tuesday afternoon in Australia – also known as future land – we had the first official stage of racing on the World Tour calendar. Andre Greipel edged out Petacchi in a sprint and added to the ceremonial victory he had in the Cancer Classic in Adelaide. Racing is back, even if it’s in front.

Follow the race on their website : Tour Down Under

We’ve done quite a number of tours in Europe to date, and this year and going forward, we’re interested in exploring what other cultural, economic and environmental variety exists around the globe. Cuba has long been on our short list of places we’ve wanted to explore and we took the plunge, bought tickets and committed to it, the latter of which is often the hardest part.

We’re interested in seeing Cuba, as the Cuba it is today. Perhaps the closest it’s been and will be to the Cuba of yesteryear. We’re interested in the challenges, the opportunities and the polarizing nature of a tiny island steeped in political and historical turmoil.

We’re interested in seeing a country, the first and only, to meet and exceed the WWF sustainable development metric in 2006. Cuba scored less than the required 1.8 hectares per capita ecological footprint standard with a 1.5 hectares/capita as well as more than the required 0.8 Human development index with a .826.

The latter value – Human Development Index – measures amongst other things: Life Expectancy, Infant Mortality, % of Population with access to drinking water, and Adult Literacy. Interesting to note that Cuba has the highest % of Adult Literacy in the world at 99.8% of the population.

Both .pdf reports can be found at the following links:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR06-complete.pdf
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report.pdf

So, stay tuned for updates, planning and ultimately the tour report on our return. If you have cycled in Cuba in the past, feel free to join the conversation in the comments with tips, hints, advice or any other positive feedback you care to share.

The 2012 Vuelta route was announced today in Pamplona – the departure city of this year’s race – and it looks to be a climber’s delight. The unconventional route is hardly a Tour of the grand country, and instead plays out as an east-west sufferfest touring the peninsula’s great Northern mountain ranges. With 10 mountain top finishes, 39 cols and a total distance of 3293km, the 2012 Vuelta visits the Pyrenees, the Cordillera Cantábrica, the Galician Massif and the Basque mountains before finishing in Madrid.

Considering this year’s Tour de France is going to be so Time Trial heavy, the Vuelta offers a much more inviting route for those who struggle against the clock, featuring only 40km of ITT. Add that to the fact that most of the climbs are short, steep and punchy and it looks to suite a rider like Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez perfectly. In fact when asked about the route, Rodriguez replied “There are lots of explosive summit finishes. I like it, I like it, I like it…”

Route detail.
Stage 1, August 18: Pamplona team time trial, 16.2km
Stage 2, August 19: Pamplona-Viana, 180km
Stage 3, August 20: Oion-Arrate (Eibar), 153km
Stage 4, August 21: Barakaldo-Valdezcaray, 155km
Stage 5, August 22: Logroño-Logroño, 172km
Stage 6, August 23: Tarazona-El Fuerte del Rapitán (Jaca), 174km
Stage 7, August 24: Jaca-Motorland (Alcañiz), 160km
Stage 8, August 25: Lleida- Coll de la Gallina (Andorra), 175km
Stage 9, August 26. Andorra-Barcelona, 194km
August 27: Rest day
Stage 10, August 28: Ponteareas-Sanxenxo, 166km

Stage 11, August 29: Cambados-Pontevedra time trial, 40km
Stage 12, August 30: Vilagarcía-Mirador de Ezaro (La Coruña), 184.6km
Stage 13, August 31: Santiago de Compostela-Ferrol, 172.7km
Stage 14, September 1: Palas do Rei-Los Ancares, 152km
Stage 15, September 2: La Robla-Lagos de Covadonga, 186.7km
Stage 16, September 3: Gijón (Villa de Jovellanos)-Cuitu Negro, 185km
September 4: Rest day
Stage 17, September 5: Santander-Fuente Dé, 177km
Stage 18, September 6: Aguilar de Campoo-Valladolid, 186.4km
Stage 19, September 7: Peñafiel-La Lastrilla, 169km
Stage 20, September 8: Palazuelo del Eresma-Bola del Mundo, 169.5km
Stage 21, September 9: Cercedilla-Madrid, 111.9km

Official site: La Vuelta

2011 was a great year for Cima Coppi, and we have to thank you all for the amazing continued support and feedback you have had for our shared project. With the growth we’ve seen and the orders coming in, we have had to evolve to meet demands. That sentence sounds compromising, doesn’t it? Perhaps not at our scale, but looking forward, it sure sounds like the commercial status-quo.

But hang-on, it doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe because we’ve been taught by conventional business that growth, evolution and meeting demands must be pejorative, we’ve lost faith in what an organization of focused people can do.

A New Wool Mill in the Foothills of the Alps

For 2012, we’re going to be working with a knitting mill in the foothills of the Alps, about 160km NorthEast of Venice, Italy, and they will supply our wool for our jerseys going forward or until a fine quality local solution can be found. We’ve chosen this mill for five reasons, with the three most important being: 1. The quality per cost, 2. The ‘first-world’ labour standards, and 3. The location.

At 8,500km from Vancouver, our wool is going to have to do some significant travelling and every km it moves it uses fossil fuels and produces carbon to get from there to here. However, our new supply mill is also only 1,200km from the Pyrenees in northern Spain – a planned manufacturing hub location for the not-so-distant future.

The current reality is: not only are almost all garments made in China, but almost all raw materials are made there as well. This is even with most raw sheep wool coming from New Zealand. In fact, most companies don’t disclose where materials come from because they aren’t obligated to, and instead, only disclose where the garment is sewn. Comparing a small, decades old European Mill to both our other viable supply options to ship to Vancouver: 1. New Zealand direct (11,800km) and 2. New Zealand via China (19,700km), we’ll save between 3300km and 11,200km of Carbon impact per shipment of wool yardage then to be cut and sewn into jerseys here in East Van. Going forward, if we began to supply a second manufacturing hub in Northern Spain from the same wool mill, it would then be 18,500km less shipping for each order of wool from our mill vs a New Zealand via China route.

From 386lbs up to 3487lbs of CO2 less using this mill location.

The Carbon Footprint calculation below illustrates that by choosing a European mill vs exploiting the Asia-Pacific markets we can save 386lbs of CO2 per shipment to Vancouver today, and up to 3487lbs of CO2 per shipment to a planned hub in Northern Spain.

Average shipment weight: 56kgs (.056ton)
Distance less travelled: A. 3300 (2050mi.) B. 11200 (6959mi.) C. 18500 (11500mi)
Average single shipment (ton-miles) = A. 114.8, B. 389.7, C. 1036
Air cargo =3.366lbs CO2 per Ton-Mile = A. 386 B. 1132 C. 3487
Numbers from Carbon Fund Shipping Calculator

And That’s Only The Shipping!

The four criteria we equally considered when trying to find a supplying wool mill were: 1. Worker conditions 2. Quality of Wool 3. Cost of Wool 4. Carbon/Shipping Impact 5. Location/Strategic Flexibility.

We don’t even want to get involved in the race-to-the-bottom tactics which are consuming other manufacturers. Both the social and economic outlook for ‘third-world’ labour is a mess and manufacturing in China isn’t even something we are going to consider. I personally know the value and effort involved in sewing a jersey and I’m not about to short-change an over-exploited culture just to over-pad my pockets.

In Shenzhen, China’s garment hotbed in the Guangdong province, the garment industry is collapsing as it already has in Cambodia, as it is threatened by even cheaper, more exploitative options in Vietnam and Bangladesh. And in these new locations, there is already concern for raising wages to fair standards for fear the industry will migrate again to save a buck.

Read More: China’s Once Mighty Garment Industry Strating to Unravel
Read More: Bangladesh, With Low Pay, Moves in on China

There are certainly changes happening for us here, but we remain committed to our core sustainability principles and thoroughly investigate the impacts of each change with a sustainable future in mind. It’s certainly more than just carbon impact, but in that consideration alone, we’re confident that we’ve made the best decision currently available for our planet, our customers and Cima Coppi.

I felt lucky to be able to ride on January 1st in nice weather. I also met up with Bill along the way and we rolled out to Whytecliff park together to burn off some of those holiday calories. Got to catch a nice long sunset out by the sea today.

Happy New Year everyone. All the best for 2012.

One of the new products coming in for the New Year. The Podium Jacket is a women’s specific cut with very feminine lines and a simple understated approach to the extremely popular Track Jacket. Featuring a seamless randonneur pocket, full zipper and high collar it’s perfect for alpine riding and cold weather. It’s currently available in Ciclamino Purple, Vuelta Red and Cima Coppi Team Blue.

We have been testing it as a second layer over our wool jerseys and arm warmers and we found the two layers and warmers are comfortable down to a frosty +5 degrees Celsius and could be pushed a little further if it was really needed as we were riding in +2 with wind making it feel like -1.

Let us know what you think of the new design and the features it has. There are a couple at OnTheRivet currently, so check em out!