Can’t Sleep
So I am up at 3am china time! I can’t sleep anymore!! I hope that I get adjusted to the time change sooner rather than later…. Since I have some time, I will share with you some news and updates. First, sadly my blog is not going to be as exciting as usual while I am here. The IPC, they are the people that run the Paralympic Games, have some very strict blogging rules that all athletes must follow. Click below and read them for yourself.
If you can understand the legalese let me know. From what I gather it basically said that I can’t tell you anything or show you picture or cool clips of anything! This is a shame because there are a lot of amazing people and stories that will go untold because the mainstream media does not cover the Paralympics. If I were running the IPC, I would encourage blogging to help build the base of support for Paralympics, then once Paralympics is a household name/brand I would sell it to the highest bidder!
Now that is off my chest…………….yesterday we rode the road course. The course is very good with a few very challenging sections. The course winds its way around a large dam that is located north of Beijing. We will be doing laps around the 12km course. The start-finish area is actually located on top of the dam. It features a very cool grandstand and spectator section. If you had a chance to watch the triathlon during the games, the start-finish area is the same. The main feature of the course is a 2km climb that works its way from the bottom end of the dam to the top. Once we reach the top of the climb the course winds slightly up hill around a large lake and then works its way back to the dam area. The road is rarely straight in any section… that could encourage some break aways. I think that the course is going to be harder than the racers think, and the race will be won by the person who manages their effort the best!
Last night we participated in our flag raising ceremony at the international zone of the Paralympic Village. It always warms my heart to witness the raising of the American flag on foreign soil! Our Chinese host did a great job with the ceremony and I think that all the USA Athletes are ready to GET IT ON!!
The Paralympics are amazing and it is incredible to see all the different athletes from over 140 different nations. Yesterday while I was eating lunch I thought to myself, “If you think that you have it bad, you should just sit and watch 4000 disabled people from all over the world enter the dining hall at the Paralympic Games.” I also thought, “Dang, I am going to get run over by all these wheelchairs!”
Have a good day, I am off to find Coffee…………..
Clip of our marathon travel Day
