Pan Ams wrap up

Our female team pursuit team on their way to gold and a pan am record.

Morning of the BMX race.  They scheduled our event for 9am, so we had to be at the track at 7:30am and it was still dark.  The races went well and the lone Canadian Jim Brown made the final.  We were happy for Jimmy to end the season with a solid finish.

Here is Curt Harnett (1996 Olympic medalist in track cycling) reenacting his Pert Plus commercial to the cycling team.  He quoted it word for word, we watched it on YouTube after to confirm.  Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-xxC_qImd0   ….. Priceless

To go to event we supposedly needed ticket, except when we arrived all we needed was our accreditation.  Jim and I walked into swimming and tennis (almost on to the court). 

How to make working the road race interesting

We finished off our games with a Canada vs. Brazil female soccer game.  The 2 top ranked teams ended 0-0.   Then it was off to bed for a 3am wake up call and a 12-hour travel day home.

Home sweet home. So happy to be home for a couple of weeks.  Food never tasted so good!

Pan Ams – Guadalajara

I have been in Mexico for a week today and a week to go.  The first couple of days we used to orientate ourselves with the village and venues.    The traffic here is crazy, we went on a 4 hour drive take took us about 40km in total.  

On Friday I got to walk in the Opening ceremonies with the Canadian team.  We were 400 hundred strong, it was very exciting walking into the stadium and being apart of the group.   The Ceremonies were really well done and impressive, it gives me chills to think of what London will be like in August.

On the opening day of the games cycling took home 2 medals in mountain bike.  With BMX not until next Friday I am helping with the other cycling disciplines and athletes.  On Sunday morning I got to ride in the team car following Laura Brown to her Bronze medal in the Road Time Trail.   

Every other night the Canadian team gathers to celebrate our medal winners.

Today I was with the men’s track team at the velodrome. Tomorrow we start with the training for the BMX events.

The food:  The food at the village is….. ok.  We have a good selection but you are never sure what your getting.  They never have any real Mexican food, so today when the velodrome program was done we went to a small place across the road for some really good, authentic tacos.

I’ll post more pictures of the games after the games are complete.  Due to media and privacy reasons we have been told not to post stuff. 

Thanksgiving and Pan Ams

Last Weekend Dayna and I finally went to the Pitt Meadows corn maze.   I say finally because we have only been talking about this for the past 8 years.  It was great to be home for Thanksgiving with Dayna, it’s an odd thing to say but we were able to spend some quality time together. We also celebrated our 3 month wedding anniversary!

On Monday I was off to Pan Am games in Guadalajara, Mexico.  This is my first major games.  It’s exciting to be here in the athletes village with all the Canadians.  Were in a complex dedicated to the Pan Ams athletes and staff, complete with dinning hall, gym, swimming pool, sports bar, etc.

So far we are having a great time, I’m looking forward to the week ahead.

Montreal

I just got back from a week in Montreal.  I was there is meet with B2ten about funding for Tory leading into the Olympic games in London.  I got to meet Alex Bilodeau and Eric Guay while they were training at the gym with Tory.

My Favorite thing about going to the Montreal airport. Moe's smoked meat sandwich!

David Suzuki recently wrote an article about Dayna’s school aka “Tree School”.  Check it out, she’s a big deal!  http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2011/09/environmental-school-has-lessons-for-all/

Starting a blog

Often when i talk to my friends and family the first thing they ask is "where are you?"  Yes, i do travel a lot and my family does live 4000km from me.  So i decided to start a blog or is it pronounced ylog?, i think the b may be silent.  This way if your interested you can read up on what i'm doing and see the odd photo of what i'm up to.

Chula Vista - Back when the race schedule came out last year, it looked like my traveling and work load would be tapering off after the World Cup finals in Chula Vista.  Little did i know that this trip would be the beginning of 23 of 26 days on the road.  When i return home tonight, I'm off to montreal tomorrow and then to Pan Am games in Guadalajara.  Not to stoked.

Its not all about the travel, sometimes its about the journey.  Here's a picture of the track in Chula Vista.

"You got to experience it while you can" - The Champ