We finished up a trip on Monday. No worries, I still intend to write about it, but right now the trip seems a bit insignificant compared to some other things that are going on. One involves me, and in the grand scheme of things is incredibly insignificant. It’s big to me, but not particularly to anyone else. The other is of a huge significance, and I’m afraid that too many people in the States can’t grasp what is happening.

There are fires in Australia. This is possibly one of the largest understatements that can be made, but is probably the extent to which anyone in the States is aware of the situation. In the midst of a record breaking heat wave in southeastern Australia, primarily in Victoria, near Melbourne, wildfires broke out. While I am relatively removed from the fires themselves, and certainly well out of danger, it has affected me. It would be impossible to be in Australia right now and not be affected by the fires. I was in southern California a couple years back and was awed by the power and devastation of the fires that took place there. The fires in Victoria put it all on a totally different scale. Even in Adelaide we were in the midst of a heat wave that lasted over ten days of temperatures well into the 100s, topping out around 117F. The fires broke out in Victoria, multiple fires burned, fueled by incredible heat and strong winds, some merging and creating an unimaginable terror. It’s remarkable hearing the stories about these fires – moving faster than anyone could have imagined, catching people off guard, overtaking and trapping people trying to escape in cars, overwhelming those who stayed back to try to save their homes. As I write, the death toll is at 181. As the stories first came across the news the numbers were in the tens, then quickly there were fears of 50 dead, then 75, then 100. Current estimates are at over 300, and the terrifying truth is that even that number could be grossly underestimated. Entire cities have been wiped off the map. Imagine if you lived in a city, with schools, churches, businesses and homes, and one day a fire came through and destroyed every single structure and killed several residents . Imagine trying to rebuild that. Imagine starting from scratch with no infrastructure. Imagine even if you could re-build your home, having to wait for water, having to wait for power, having to wait for businesses to support your life, and even when all of that is restored, having the constant reminder of lost neighbors. One town has lost an estimated 1 in 5 residents. It’s really truly tragic. The most tragic story in the midst of all of the tragedy is that some of the fires were deliberately set.

In the midst of tragedy, however, is hope. In response to the horror that so many have seen here, there is an incredible sense of community. Not only community in the affected areas, not only community in Victoria, but community across the entire country of Australia. In the midst of an economic crisis on the scale of what is being seen in the States, the government has acted quickly, claiming aid money with no cap – providing aid money to affected people instantly. Government aid aside, the people of Australia have given with incredible generosity. One radio station raised over AUS$2 Million yesterday alone. During the Australian national team’s cricket match last night alone over AUS$6 Million was raised via a hotline. Everywhere you go there are stories of people donating generously in a time of economic hardship. With estimates of damages exceeding AUS$1.5 Billion, every little bit helps. It all goes to show what an incredible spirit of community and selflessness exists here in Australia. When it comes down to it, even when times are tough, if someone else is in a tougher spot, people are quick to offer what they can. The rest of the world could learn a lot from the Australian response to this tragedy. What I’m basically getting at here is, please, what is happening in Australia is more than just a headline on the third page of the “World” section of the local paper. It is a huge tragedy that affects an incredible number of people. Take a minute and let it affect you.

Briefly, my current situation: In November I suffered a grade three separation of the AC Joint (that’s a fancy way of saying I really, really, really screwed up my shoulder). This came on the same day that I was offered a winter schedule with TT. This was not good news. After a few visits to the doctor, and based upon the first few weeks of physical therapy and progress I was making, I ultimately got to come over to New Zealand and Australia for the winter season anyway. Long story short, progress did not continue, and in the last week or so, my shoulder has been bothering me (a lot) more. I have had to make the exceptionally difficult decision to return home to see a shoulder specialist. It’s not that I don’t trust doctors here, quite the contrary. I could have seen a doctor that was recommended by a coach for the Australian track team; it’s safe to say, that would have been a good doctor. However, at this point the best case scenario for me is a necessity for rest, rest, rest for my shoulder, and that was definitely not going to happen if I stayed south of the equator. It kills me to do so, but I’m flying home. I’ve never had to call a boss and tell them that I was unable to fulfill an obligation that I made. I agonized for days. I fought through a lot of pain, but ultimately, I realized that the pain was getting to a point that I realized it was not only affecting me, but also affecting my co-guide and affecting the guests. Inconvenience to me is one thing, disrupting my co-worker or having a potentially negative effect on someone’s (very expensive) vacation is something entirely different. As a result, I’m on my way back to the States. Travel plans aren’t finalized yet, but I’m going back to New Zealand on Sunday, then on to the States hopefully not too long after that. While this is all incredibly difficult and disappointing to me, I can take a couple good things away from it. I get to go spend some time with my incredible friends who have already been exceptionally supportive through this, and I get to focus on getting better and moving on.

And when all else fails, when you’re feeling a little sorry for yourself, some Belgian beer never hurts.

Aussie Open!

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So I know that by now, anyone who has been reading my blog for any amount of time – whether that be one blog, or as a more dedicated reader than I have been as a writer – is concerned about me. I know what you’re thinking, “Gosh, with all that work, how does JV ever have time for any fun?!?” Never fear, I manage to make some time for myself once in a while. We finished up a trip on Monday, and after a long week, even though it wasn’t a super tough trip, I’m always exhausted at the end of them, so I slept for the better part of Monday. Tuesday was my birthday here in Australia, but since I’d slept away Monday, we had a good bit of work to do. We finished up all of our trip paperwork, moved some bikes and equipment around, and wrapped up the rest of our post trip tasks. Some way to spend my birthday, eh? Nothing was made of my birthday here really. I didn’t tell anyone about it, but I did decide that I wanted to do a little something. Prior to coming to Australia I realized that the Australian Open was going on while I was here. I was excited at the opportunity to go to a Grand Slam tennis tournament, but after looking at our schedule, it didn’t look like it was going to be possible to go. Monday morning I got the idea in my head that maybe it would be possible to catch a day of it. Jared was pretty amped about taking a little vacation after the Tour Down Under to go to a couple days before going to the Astana training camp in California. Bec was going to take a day to see the tennis before returning to her regular job in Melbourne. I was jealous. I wanted in. So I decided I wanted to go. Texts started flying, emails bouncing back and forth, pretty soon I had secured a round trip plane ticket to Melbourne, Bec used some contacts and scored me an incredible seat at center court, I booked a plane ticket, and at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday I was on my way to Melbourne.

I basically claimed a mulligan on my birthday here and celebrated my birthday the next day. It worked out brilliantly! With the 17 hour time difference to Minnesota, almost all of my birthday wishes came in on the 28^th here, so I spent all of that day watching some pretty awesome tennis, enjoying the atmosphere of a Grand Slam quarterfinal, and watching birthday wishes roll into my phone. After a solid day of watching tennis, I met up with Bec, we spent some time watching tennis on the lawn in front of the arena before heading out to see Melbourne. Bec knew of a couple good places to see. Melbourne really embraces the Australian Open while it is going on. There is a huge plaza in the center of the city where they set up a huge tv screen and people come out by the hundreds to watch the tennis. We managed to secure a table outside of a great Japanese restaurant at the edge of the plaza and have a great meal while watching some more great tennis. After dinner she continued playing tour guide and we walked along the river. On a beautiful summer night there were tons of people out and there was a great vibe coursing through the city. I have realized that I am very judgmental of cities. I have been in a lot of them throughout the world. I’ve loved some, I’ve hated some. In general I’m not a big fan of big cities, but I’ve realized that the make or break for me for most cities is the “green space” and public spaces in general. Melbourne is great for public spaces. There is a river that cuts through the city, flanked by parks on both sides, loads of public art – gigantic sculptures of all types, incredible architecture that becomes a part of the public space, and all in all exceptionally well designed public space, the kind that encourages people to actually go out and use it. Granted I’ve only spent about 24 hours in the city, but initial impressions of Melbourne are overwhelmingly positive. Eventually I made my way back to the hotel to get some sleep before boarding a plane the next morning for Adelaide and back to work.

Even though it was a very short trip, it was a great trip. I feel refreshed, renewed, and ready to crank up a new trip starting tomorrow (Sunday)!

Time flies!

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The Tour Down Under came and went, and Trek Travel had quite the week!

Stage 2 started in the town of Hahndorf and headed north for a loop before swinging back down to Stirling for three circuits of 20 km each. We started riding from city centre of Adelaide - a very cycling friendly city. We started at our hotel in the central business district and rode all the way out of town, able to stick almost entirely to streets with dedicated bike lanes! We rode up the Crafers Bikeway. It’s about a 10 km climb from Adelaide to Crafers, almost all of which is an off-street bike path or bike lane separated from traffic by a concrete barrier. It’s great to do a climb of that length without ever worrying about a car coming from a blind curve behind you and buzzing a little too close! Cars weren’t much of a concern that morning, though, most cars took the expressway that parallels the little road we were on, but there were plenty of cyclists out! I even ran into a guy in a Nature Valley/Flat City/Penn Cycle kit! He raced for the team while he lived in Minneapolis for a couple years working at Honeywell. What a small world! We got to the top of the hill in Crafers in time to ride one lap of the 20km circuit through the Adelaide Hills wine region that the pros would do a couple hours later. After lunch, we watched the pros come into town for their feed (they were hungry by then, too!) and set out for three laps! The excitement ramped up; even Lance wanted in on the action as he led the charge of a small breakaway group that tried to get away during the second lap! Matt, our driver, found the perfect parking spot about a half kilometer from the finish to park the bus and trailer as the perfect viewing platform! After the stage finished, some of the group called it a day and rode back to the hotel in the bus while some hopped back on the bikes for an exhilarating descent back into Adelaide! That evening we were treated to a fantastic buffet dinner in the Tour Village! Sponsors of the race and teams had booths set up in the Village and everyone had a chance to grill them on their product or drool over the shiny new bits and pieces on display while enjoying a cocktail hour hosted by the Tour Down Under Club Tour. Following the cocktail hour we had a fantastic buffet dinner surrounded by the Team Mechanics’ kiosks. Dinner entertainment included interviews with up and coming Australian rider for Team UniSA Jack Bobridge (and what a show he put on this week!). Recently retired Shane Kelly OAM was on hand to talk about his career and the voices of cycling – Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin – took their turns at the microphone telling the stories of the Tour de France that you don’t hear on TV!

Thursday morning we set out early from the hotel to get a jump on the pros as they worked their way south from Unley to Victor Harbor. The pros have the advantage of road closures for the race, so while the race course swung west on some busier roads, we stayed east and rode some beautiful and challenging hills before rejoining the tour route about 30km south of Adelaide. As the day went on the wind kicked up, and it was “blowing a gale” as they say around here. We reached the first King of the Mountain of the stage and were happy to find a bit of a tail wind to help us up, by then we had definitely earned the help! While the pros get the help of closed roads, no one shuts down the wind for them, and they battled brutal winds all day. Lance picked a great day to get out in the break, as there was carnage in the peloton. He showed great form as the break stayed away for a long time, and the break proved to be the safest place to be that day! We watched the race from the top of Wickhams Hill and excitedly counted the minutes from the time Lance passed until the peloton came by! After the KOM most of the group hopped in the bus to Meadows for lunch. Three of us battled the wind a little longer to ride our bikes to Meadows, and after lunch one guest decided to ride all the way back to Adelaide!

The Tour de France has the Etape du Tour, the Tour Down Under has the Mutual Community Challenge Tour. Some 7100 riders signed up to wake up way before the sun and ride all or some of Stage 4. Trek Travel wouldn’t miss out on that fun for the world! Some of us rode the entire 155km, with other options being 97km and 32km. I think if you add up all of my road miles for all of the Januarys in my life (excepting 2009) it wouldn’t add up to the 155km I rode that day! It was an awesome course though – a course that lent itself to getting stronger as the day went on, and with a healthy tailwind for the last three kilometers, everyone had a little left for the kick and sprint across the finish line! The toughest part of the day was waking up before coffee was available! Fortunately not too far into the ride I was able to find an open coffee shop to stop at for a Long Black. It certainly was a popular place that morning!

Regardless of the distance they chose, everyone had a great day on the road! After watching another exciting sprint finish in Angaston, we got in the bus and drove back to Adelaide, waving to Robbie McEwen as we passed him in his team car, and got into Adelaide for a great dinner at Ristaurante Auge. If you’re ever in Adelaide and looking for a good meal, I’d highly recommend it!

Keeping with its spectator friendly theme, the Tour Down Under did two sets of circuits on Saturday, passing one stretch of road through Willunga five times! We got out early to ride the 40km flat circuit past the beautiful beach start in Snapper Point and through the McLaren Vale wine region. I’ll make some enemies saying this, but I think this might be the best wine region in the world! Then it was up Willunga Hill to the KOM and around a 20km loop with one of the most beautiful (and fastest) descents I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to ride it – still recovering from my separated shoulder just before I came out, my shoulder was pretty sore from the 155km the day before, so I passed on the climb and stayed in Willunga to watch the pros fly by! From the VIP/Sponsors viewing platform at the finish line, we watched Allan Davis sprint to his third stage victory of the tour, virtually guaranteeing if his first overall Tour Down Under victory in eleven tries! That evening everyone put on their finest threads and Trek Travel rolled red carpet style at the Tour Down Under Legends Dinner! I’ve never seen a place setting with four forks and four knives before! We had an incredible dinner and watched a parade of some of the biggest names in cycling walked to the platform to be interviewed. A lot of time was devoted to Lance Armstrong and his comeback. I’ve always been a big fan of Lance, and I don’t know if it’s just old age, but I think he’s a lot more open and approachable in his comeback. He certainly stole the show, and the highlight of the night was when Johan Bruyneel joined Lance and Phil Liggett on stage to talk about the relationship that he and Lance had, as well as highlights of both of their careers. Eventually Lance dragged George Hincapie to the stage as well – to see those four sharing a stage was a moment I’ll never forget.

After a week of some challenging riding through the hills, we took an easier morning and did a local favorite Sunday morning ride. Our driver, Matt is a cyclist in his non-work life and lives in the area; since we didn’t need him to drive for us that day, he joined us to lead a group ride out to Glenelg Beach, where we stopped for a coffee break and some final souvenir shopping.

Sunday afternoon we gathered back in the Club Tour area to watch 18 circuits through Adelaide. It was the perfect end to a great week of racing, riding, and viewing. Lance challenged the field with a little attack on the second to the last lap, not an attempt to win, but a chance to prove that he still has it. Davis finished safely and pulled on the final Ochre Winner’s Jersey. Sunday evening we went out for a final round of drinks to toast a great week, and a fun dinner in a lively restaurant, joining the city in celebrating the finish of a great Tour Down Under and the eve of Australia Day.

This was the fifth race I’ve guided at with Trek Travel. Having started with the Tour de France in 2005, returning to Europe for the Giro d’Italia and Tour again in 2006, and last year’s Tour of California and Tour de Georgia, I was excited to see what the Tour Down Under had to offer. My final impressions of the race were overwhelmingly positive. It was incredibly well organized, accessibility to the teams and village was exceptional, and it was easily the most spectator friendly race I’ve ever attended. The official final spectator count was 700,000, but some estimates have put it over 1 million. Lance loved the raced and has promised to return next year, and I’ll fight for the chance to be back, too!

It's summer here!

G’day!

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this little corner of the internet, but it’s been a long time since I’ve done something this exciting!

Just to catch you up. I finished up last season with a couple trips out in Bryce and Zion, followed by another fantastic season in Vermont. There were truly the best colors I’ve seen in my four years out there. It’s safe to say the highlight of my Vermont season was the Trek dealer trip, with several dealers that I’ve known for years, including Pat, from Penn Cycle. It was a special trip for me, and a great way to end the guiding season. After that I ventured west for the third annual Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge. It was another successful event, with one of the best teams Trek Travel could possibly have put together to execute it. After that, it was a very welcome flight back to the Upper Midwest.

 

Fast forward three months. I’m in AUSTRALIA! The Tour Down Under kicked off on Sunday with the Down Under Classic and Trek Travel is here! After guiding at the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Tour of California, and Tour de Georgia, it’s great to be here for Trek Travel’s first foray into Australia for the Tour Down Under. South Australia is buzzing with Lance-mania. I’m a huge fan of Lance and have an incredible respect for everything he’s done, on and off the bike, but I’ve never gotten that caught up in the craziness that seems to follow him around. That said, it’s hard not to get caught up in it here. I was there at the end of July 2005 when Lance rode into retirement down the Champs as Tour de France champion, and it was pretty special to see him announced with Team Astana at the Tour Down Under!

 

Trek Travel’s trip started off with quick introductions on Sunday before kicking off with a bang! Straight to the team introduction in Rymill Park before heading into a VIP viewing area at the start/finish line of the race. The teams ripped off 30 laps in just over an hour and we were there for it all. What a way to start a trip, watching the pros pass 30 times finishing with an exciting win by local boy Robbie McEwan!

 

There was no slowing down on Day 2! After a morning bike fit, we headed out into the Adelaide Hills, through the vineyards up to Mount Lofty, one of the highest points in South Australia. It was a crystal clear day and we had incredible views into downtown Adelaide and out to Glenelg and Henley Beaches. It was a beautiful day, although a little on the warm side (topping out near 100 degrees Fahrenheit). After a great warm-up ride, the highlights continued. There are a number of reasons that I love working for Trek Travel. First is the bikes we get to ride. It’s hard to complain when you’re riding the same frame that Team Astana rides. The second is our race trips. Because of the relationship that Trek has with Team Astana as the bike sponsor, Trek Travel gets a few fringe benefits. One of the greatest is our team access trips. Yesterday was a rest day between the Down Under Classic and the kickoff of the Tour Down Under. We had the opportunity to go to the Hilton Adelaide, where all the teams are staying for the duration of the Tour, to meet with team representatives from Team Astana. Our contact there is Jared Melzer. This guy can get anything done for us. He’s a great guy to know, and a great guy to call a friend. After a brief introduction to the Tour Down Under, he brought out Ben Coates. Ben is the Trek liaison to Team Astana (and Lance Armstrong). Ben brought out Lance’s bike for the TDU. This bike is truly special. I’ve seen a lot of cool bikes in my day, and this one made me stop and say wow. 

After a photo session with the bike, Ben took some time to talk about the bike, about what the team is riding, and answered every question thrown his way. I think the most interesting thing he said was that Lance auctioned off the bike that he rode in the 2005 Tour de France for the LAF, but would never sell this bike. It means that much to him, and I can see why! After Ben, Jared brought out a couple riders from the team, Jose Luis “Chechu” Rubiera of Spain and Michael Schaar from Switzerland.  Rubiera is one of my all time favorite riders. He’s incredibly genuine and personable. This is the fourth race I’ve guided that he’s been a part of the Trek Travel access package (starting with Discovery at the Giro in 2005). Last year he told us that it would be his last year of racing – that he was looking forward to going home to Spain to spend time with his family. He has, however, spent years riding on various teams with Lance, and when Lance announced his return, Chechu committed to one more year riding with Astana. He and I have one thing in common; we both think that the Giro d’Italia is the most beautiful race in the world. Michael was also part of the Trek Travel access program last year at the Tour de Georgia. He’s probably the only guy in the pro peloton taller than me. Trek builds him a custom seat cap so he can ride a smaller bike, and I want one! The highlight of the night, however, was when the man himself Johan Bruyneel came out to say hello. This was my first time meeting him, and was left with the impression of a very personable guy, full of smiles, gracious with autographs and photo ops. Trek Travel provided copies of his recent book for each of our guests that he signed for everyone. Everyone left the evening with stars in their eyes.

 

Today we woke up and headed north to One Tree Hill, where Trek Travel guests got their first taste of the Tour Down Under race course. Just 10km into the ride we tackled the first King of the Mountain of the Tour Down Under. After a 45km ride some rode back into One Tree Hill to watch the first sprint points of the race, and others took another crack at the KOM to watch the peloton crest the climb! We reconvened in One Tree Hill to watch the race pass again two hours later. It was Lance Armstrong’s first day back into a UCI race, and it was great to watch him sitting comfortably and safely at the front of the peloton. Time will tell what his season will bring, but it’s fun to see him back on the road, and bring Trek Travel guests along for the ride. Some of our guests have been to pro races before, but some haven’t, and seeing the looks on guests’ faces the first time the pro peloton flies by, with a sound that is better than any other and a rush of wind and color. There’s nothing like it, and I love watching people see it for the first time because it reminds me of the first time I saw it. Have I mentioned there’s nothing like it? There’s nothing like it.

 

It’s hard to believe we’re only three days into the trip. With five more days of incredible riding planned and exciting racing coming down the pipe, Trek Travel’s Tour Down Under trip has the fixings to be one of the best trips I’ve ever guided! More to come as the week progresses!

A couple quick updates, without really saying anything new...

What you see below is a test of a website I'm using called Bones in Motion. It allows me to use my cell phone to track my rides: speed, distance, and elevation. Then it spits out all the cool info you see below. That was basically a test of how the posting from that site to this blog worked. Click on my BIM Active link to the right for a few more rides I've done, and stay tuned for some rides from upcoming trips.
BIM Active

Also, I have a new photo website. I've got all my photos from Costa Rica, Vermont, and the first trip out here in California posted. I'll keep posting as I keep shooting. And yes, I'll post those more often than I've posted photos before because it is WAY easier to upload than other sites I've used in the past.
Jon Vick's SmugMug

This is a ride I did in Oregon with Karl from Trek Demo. The words most often heard from my mouth, "we don't have hills in Minnesota." Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 923 ft Location: Corvallis, OR Elev. Gain: -33 ft Date: 04/27/07 Up/Downhill: [+1561/-1594] Time: 12:14 PM Difficulty: 3.8 / 5.0   Weather: Fair   72F temp; 49% humidity   72F heat index; winds SE 3 Performance Distance: 7.18 miles Time: 1:11:37 Speed: 6 mph Pace: 10' 00 /mi Calories: 0 Map   Elevation (ft.)   Speed (mph)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 09 -0' 51 6.5 +0.5 +43 ft 2 11' 07 +1' 07 5.4 -0.6 +262 ft 3 11' 19 +1' 19 5.3 -0.7 +288 ft 4 19' 17 +9' 17 3.1 -2.9 +351 ft 5 4' 11 -5' 49 14.3 +8.3 -174 ft 6 5' 30 -4' 30 10.9 +4.9 -522 ft 7 7' 53 -2' 07 7.6 +1.6 -263 ft end 17' 08 +7' 08 3.5 -2.5 -20 ft Versus average of 6.0 mph

Posted from bimactive.com

It's not Costa Rica without coffee...

Another new feature to this year’s Trek Travel Costa Rica trip was a coffee tour. Being the coffee connoisseur (read: addict) that I am, I thought it was a little crazy that we visited a country as famous for it’s coffee as Costa Rica is without so much as a mention of coffee. That would be like visiting Bordeaux or Napa Valley without even mentioning wine.

Monica knew of a coffee company that was located very near the start of our last ride. We stopped in during our FTP to see if it was feasible to do a tour, have a picnic, and start our ride from there. They were willing to do a tour for us so we signed it up. The day we visited they didn’t have time for a tour, so we went into the first trip with little to no idea what to expect of the tour. It turned out to be really sweet! They are working very hard to be as environmentally friendly and organic as possible. Café Diria is a coffee co-op made up of many very small, family run coffee farms. The farmers bring in their beans for processing at the Diria plant.

If your coffee started it's life like this, it's Robusta.

There are two primary types of coffee: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is the only type of coffee grown in Costa Rica. It is actually illegal to grow Robusta in Costa Rica. There are several drawbacks to Robusta. First, it drains the soil of nutrients. While it produces much larger quantities of coffee per plant, it is a lot harder to sustain the soil where it is grown. The trees are also much larger, making hand picking impossible. While Diria requires all of its coffee to be picked by hand, thus allowing the farmer to pick only the best coffee on each pass through the field, Robusta is picked by machines, eliminating the ability to be discerning in what is picked. The result is an overall lower quality of coffee. Arabica has a much smaller number of cherries per plant, meaning more nutrients, and more taste, go into each coffee bean!

If your coffee started it's life like this, it's Arabica.

All of the coffee that is brought into Diria is picked by hand. This allows the farmers to go down the row of coffee plants and only pick the coffee that is ripe and ready for processing. This results in a higher quality coffee, but requires that the farmer make as many as six or seven passes down the row over the course of a harvest season. When coffee is picked, it is in “cherry” form. The cherry that surrounds the coffee bean is filled with sugar. If the coffee is not processed very quickly from when it is picked, the sugars start to ferment, resulting in a bitter and acidic coffee.

Coffee measuring bins

When farmers bring in their coffee, it is measured as it is unloaded, ensuring each farmer is paid his or her fair share of the profits when Diria sells the coffee on the world market. Currently, about half of Diria’s farms are producing organic coffee. It requires seven years without use of chemicals on the land for the coffee that is grown there to be considered organic. Diria faces the challenge of convincing its farmers that it is worth seven years of lower yields before receiving a slightly higher payout for organic coffee. Once the coffee is measured it is divided into organic and non-organic. The cherries are then washed and soaked in water for a few hours to soften the cherries and to make it easier to extract the bean from the cherry. They are then run through what is essentially a squeezer, that squeezes the bean out of the cherry, the cherries are taken to a large, open air warehouse for storage until their later use (I’ll get back to this). The water used to soak and clean the cherries is pumped down to large holding tanks (I’ll get back to this, too). The beans are sorted by size. The larger the bean, the higher the quality, and the higher the going rate on the world market.

After sorting, the beans are set out to dry. Diria has large concrete patios on which the beans are spread for drying. Sun drying is good for two reasons. First, it doesn’t require the burning of any type of fuel, so no fuel is used, and no pollution is dispatched into the environment. Second, it’s free. It does require constant stirring and turning, but that is a small price to pay for the environmental and economic advantages. High school students are hired for this process during a break from school, which further allows Diria to give back to the local economy. They do use large ovens for final drying, but doing initial drying on the sun patios allows them to use the ovens for three to four hours, instead of over fifty if they went straight into the ovens.

After the final drying, the coffee beans are stored in large bins until the market in Europe or the US is at a good price to sell, or until the next season comes along and they need to make room for the next year’s crop, whichever comes first. When the beans go into the holding bins, they have a husk on them, similar to the husk on a peanut. When the beans are sold, these husks are removed. The husks are stored because they are burned in the final drying ovens instead of using oil or gas powered ovens.

A lot of coffee is shipped to Germany. Nearly all of the decaffeination done in the world is done in Germany. If you’re inclined toward drinking decaf, know that even if you’re in a place where coffee is grown fresh (Costa Rica for example), the decaf you drink has been to Germany and back. The woman who gives our tours said that when people ask for decaf there, she recommends orange juice, because that’s decaf and fresh!

Recognize this? It's a cashew!

The organic farms use a similar approach to anti-pest and anti-disease that is used at Rancho Margot. They plant a lot of other crops in with the coffee to mask the aroma given off by the coffee. Amongst those often planted are citrus fruits, cashews, and hot peppers. This deters pests and disease, as well as giving the farmers another crop to sell throughout the year as an additional source of income. When pesticides are needed, the organic farmers use a natural solution made of things like lemon juice, hot peppers, and water instead of chemicals.

Sedimentation lagoons

I mentioned before that Diria tries not to waste anything from the process. I’ve already talked about how they use the husks from the beans as fuel for the drying ovens. The water that is used for washing the coffee cherries is filled with all kinds of stuff that, before the use of the holding tanks, was pumped directly into the rivers and turned the rivers a lovely shade of green. Now that water is stored in sedimentation pits. There are a series of three pits. After a certain amount of time to settle out in the first one, the water is pumped to the second, and then again to the third. Most of the sugars that were absorbed into the water settle out by this time, but some remains. This water, rather than getting dumped into the river, is pumped to a neighboring farm for use in irrigation. The remaining sugars in the water act as nutrients for his crops. By the end of the dry season all three sedimentation pits are dry, and the sugars that have settled out are dug out of the pits and loaded into trucks to be distributed to the co-op’s farmers as a natural fertilizer.

Discarded cherries

The cherries that are removed from outside the coffee beans are also used. They are put into large troughs that are filled with worms. These worms compost the cherries into extremely rich soil. The soil is used in the greenhouses to start new coffee plants, sent to the farms to enrich the soil, and sold to hotels and offices that use them in the gardens and indoor planting.

Worms!

Diria does its best not to create waste, and turn everything that would normally be considered byproduct into something useful and profitable. It’s a great operation that is a model of what the coffee industry should be all about. Unfortunately, not all coffee plantations offer this high standard of quality, not only in their coffee, but in the standard of treatment of their farmers. Organic and fair trade coffee are the future of what coffee production should be world wide. Supporting companies that strive for high standards of both will make a huge difference for coffee agriculture worldwide.

For more info, check out:

http://www.coocafe.com/coopepilangosta_coffee.htm