at long last.....

My trip is finally over. I am back in comfy old Lincoln, Nebraska trying to recover from a serious case of jet lag. It has been a long, long trip. Here are some of the vitals of the trip. I raced in 3 different countries (China, Singapore, and United States). Visited 4 countries (add Thailand to the prevouis list. Here is a list of all the cities that I spent at least one night in: Chicago, Rochester, Lincoln, Beijing, Jinzhou, Singapore, Chiang Mai, Beijing, Jiayuguan, Beijing, San Francisco, and then finally back to Lincoln, all in the five weeks (in that order too). I raced 4 times in 5 weeks, and met all kinds of new mates (cant call them friends because they are all Kiwi or Aussie). It only took me 3 days of travel to make it home. I at rice rice at 47 times out of a possible 56 luches and dinners (I refuse to eat nooldles, rice, and/or strange meat before noon). I even got bumped up to business class from Toyko to LA. And most importantly I had three solid results: 8th, 5th, 6th.

Yup, the 6th is from Jiayuguan ITU race last weekend on the 12th of August. It was a really, really tough race. First off, Jiayuguan is a 1683m (higher than Denver). Secondly it was at the end of my monster trip, and I was exhausted. I was flat all day, ecpecially on the bike. But, it was another solid, but not great finish. Now it is back to work. 3.5 weeks till I race again in Cali, and believe me hard work will be done.

Jiayuguan really was incredibly beautiful though. I even got to go see the great wall. It is too bad that I am so over travelling at this point to enjoy it. Oh well I did my best. The food here, on the other hand, is horrible. At one of the last nights for dinner, we saw that at the buffet there were these potatoes in this stew with meat. The potatoes looked really good so we has a few. They tasted all right, but when we went back for seconds, we realized that it was potato and chicken head stew. The meat was chicken heads with their eyes andeverything. I almost threw up on the spot. SO no more potatoes. Well there are plenty more stories but I am simply too knackered to write any more. If you want some more funny stories you know where to find me.

until next time.......


Sooo whaaaatttyyyy Kraaaaaapp! (good-bye in Thai)

Waiting for my plane to Jiayuguan

The statue for triathlon......only in China would they build this

Fresh mountain air

The wall is pretty cool

au revoir thailand

It is finally time to leave Thailand to head back to China. It has been a successful trip so far, but I want to get one more solid race under my belt before returing back to the states. I have spent the last 10 days or so with my sis and her roommates in Chiangmai, Thailand. It is always great fun to hang out with the sis, and this time was no different. It has been a long month and training is really starting to suffer. I am ready to get back to Lincoln, and get back in my groove. Hopefully, after this next race I will have enough points to be able to get into my first ever World Cup in Rhodes, Greece. I just need one more solid score (good result) and I should be set.

Right now I am in Bangkok awaiting my flight into interior China. It should be interesting. I have no idea where I am going, only the name of a city: Jiayuguan. No one (even people who live in China) that I have talked to knows where it is. I had to have Chinses travel agent book the interior flights (definitely didnt speak a word of English). I didnt receive confirmation that I am on the flight, I didnt pay for the flight yet, and I have no idea how much it costs. All I know is that I am supposed to be picked up by a little tuk-tuk and taken to the race hotel (dont know that either). Oh well, It is always an adveture travelling through Asia (China especially).

Here are some pics of Thailand. I got to go to a real Muy Thai fight which my sis's freind won. We also went to the Night Safari, which is Thai for "outside zoo at night with mosquitos" but it was a good time nevertheless. I even got to hold a baby white tiger.

enjoy,

B

Post Singapore Race Carnage

The Night Safari

I look like an idiot

I am too scared to stop and take a pic with the real ones......