Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Triathlon tourism and hugging some more Olympians

Deer looking at a bike
Damn, but I'm a good vacationer. Slept late, went for a bike ride on the Saranac road and cultivated a new appreciation for Maine drivers (generally don't drive on the shoulder, rarely honk, don't try to hit you with their beamy boat trailer). Stumbled upon the farmers' market, dug out my list of low-residue/low fiber foods I'm allowed to eat this week (basically 1% of my usual diet, but critical for keeping my gut in shape on Sunday) and bought a gorgeous supply of local plums, cucumbers, carrots, beets, and spinach.


I'm staying at a cute little mom-and-pop motel owned by Anna and Bogdan, a couple originally from Poland. Bogdan has a bike shop out by the tiny swimming pool where he's watching the Tour de France, and he's got a bike stand set up out front under an Ironman tent. Anna says she likes it when "the Iron people come home", and she gave me a free employee pass for all the Olympic venues. 



The Olympic ski jumping complex has a "summer splashdown" freestyle demo series on Wednesdays, so I headed over to watch the kids show their stuff on the jumps above the pool.


Three jumpers in mid-air (bear with me, it's only an iPhone)



They demo was almost over anyway when thunder and lightning chased us all indoors, where I chatted up all the members of the junior Olympic volleyball team who were saying at the training center nearby. The storm cleared, and they opened up the chair lifts for rides up to the big jumps, and a few Olympic team members did what they do on the 90-meter jump. Can I just tell you? No I cannot. Holy crap.




LOOK HOW COOL:


And THIS:


Almost missed this one because I was still so excited about the last one:



And oh my:


Chris Lamb and Luke Daniels



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