365 Days and Counting

Happy One Year Anniversary to myself! I have survived a whole year in the sand pit they call Abu Dhabi…and now I am leaving! I’m in familiar territory now.  Packing, watching the Giro, moving and getting up to ride my bike at 4am!  Same place I was one year ago. 

Jen and I found a place in Dubai Marina, living in the The Jewels.  It should work just fine.  It’s right across the street from Jumeriah Beach Residences where the have “The Walk” with a ton of places to eat and shop.  That means I lost, and I have to commute.  It wasn’t a contest because I was the one that wanted to live in Dubai, specifically the Marina area.  Living in “the city” is something that I have always wanted to do.  I don’t get to walk to work, but it will have to do for now.  It’s really not that much of a city, but it’s as close as I am going to get right now.

I had grand ambitions to post a brilliant Top 10 list, but I haven’t had the chance to compile the list.  Instead I will tell you about the desert run/hike the other weekend. 

 The course was 5 checkpoints covering 60kms through the desert, near Hatta.  I only did 33kms as I am still training, not trying to burn out, for IM France.  It was super fun though.  Running on sand is like snow, but I would say harder.  I ordered up some sand gaiters.   After failing to find a cobbler to sew the velco to my shoes, Jen had to venture into Satwa, apparently where you can get your car fixed for cheap. 

The first two checkpoints were almost 10kms apart where the next two were about 5kms, but harder terrain wise.  We were following GPS coordinates and since it was after dark (on purpose – it was a full moon and it’s too hot in the sun) we couldn’t exactly pick a “good line” through the dunes.  At some point you just go up and down, up and down until you reach the CP.  There was beer, water and food at the points.  Kevin did an excellent job of setting up the course and making sure he had people or cars at the checkpoints.  As it was there were teams that took until 7:30am (started at 8pm) to reach the finish.  

Kevin and I did the first 20km, trying to run as much as possible.  We made good time and caught a team that was also running/walking that left 20min ahead of us.  We picked up a 3^rd guy that styed with Kevin for over 50kms.  I bailed after the CP4.  Jen and her friends were walking the first two CPs and I met them about 2am at CP2.  I had short 3km run to CP2 from CP4.  We all got in the cars and headed to CP1 were camp was.  After a few beers and some food (I don’t remember eating much) we crashed about 4:30 on to wake before 7 as it was roasting already.  The last team finished just then was well. 

We (I do want to help Kevin do some more of these as the weather gets cooler in the Fall) want to do more of these, make a series out of it.  I still need to practice my orienteering, since Kevin did all of it for us that night.

The TT in the Giro is going through Cinque Terre, Italy right now.  Looks very cool, can’t wait to hike around the cities in July! 

Safari and Surf in SA

I owe some serious updates since getting back from South Africa.  Facebook really does get in the way of this blog. 

The second day after therace Jen and I decided to take a tour of a couple Game Reserves.  The bus picked us up in the morning and we headed off to Addo Elephant Park.  We were in a smallish tour bus, with plenty of windows.  Wasn’t ideal for viewing wildlife, but the windows did open enough to take photos out of. We several pods of elephants, warthogs, dung beetles, a buffalo, ostrich and probably something other animals, but I forget.  I didn’t take notes on the provided paper when I saw something.  This took a couple hours and then it was off to Schotia Game Reserve, pretty close to Addo.  At Schotia we had lunch.  It was some sort of beef/egg back together over rice, it was good.  Open bar, but I didn’t drink, didn’t want to fall asleep. Now we got to ride in a real safari vehicle – an open air Land Rover Defender 110!  This was much more like it.   Here was saw more animals, in bigger herds, just no elephants.  Herds of oryx, kudu, giraffe and zebras.  We saw a lion and her cubs, in an enclosed area, because she wasn’t liked by the rest of the lions in the park…   There were little ponds were we saw the back of a hippo, some alligator and rhinos.  The brochure says there are Black Rhino, but there are only ~2000 of them and not in SA, so Jen insists they are White Rhino, more like ~12,000 of them. Whatever. 

We stopped and had a tea break and some coffee.  After which we headed around looking for lions.  We finally found one, she had just finished with her kill and was napping.  By the time we left as the sun was setting, there were 5 or 6 Defenders around her, she could have given a shit.  She was so full, and not moving, just sleeping.  The guide says they sleep 16 hours a day, much like normal cats I guess. 

Dinner was also provided on the tour so we headed to the dining hall.  Kudu was on the menu!  Thing elk, but as good, but better than deer would be in a stew.  Open bar again!  This time I indulged myself as the tour was over and I could sleep on the way home.

It was a good long day.  The next day was a rest day, I think.  We planned to rent a car and drive to Jefferys Bay the next day. 

We got a sweet ass Hyundai!  Right hand drive at that!  That was fun getting used to; shifting with the left hand was not as hard as I thought.  JBay was 80km south along the coast.  Pretty boring and not very scenic for most of the way until we were closer to JBay.   It’s a nice little surfer town with every surfing clothing outlet you need, anchored by the Billabong Factory Store.  Can you say super cheap?  We bought, well I bought, a bunch of stuff.  Then I went surfing on one of the many breaks there.  I choose the beach break right where we were since it’s been awhile and there wasn’t many people out.   It cost a whopping $5 to rent a board and wetsuit for 2 hours…   It was fun, but I am out of practice and my legs were more tired than I thought.  Good fun. 

We heard that there was the World’s Tallest Bungee Jump further south, about another 100km.  So we had lunch at a sushi place, which was good, then headed out to see if I could get a jump in before dark.  At lunch, our last day in SA, we realized that we could have been drinking bottles of wine, the most expensive on the list, every meal and would rarely cost us more than $20/bottle if ever!  Next year.  I never got past the $2 beers and $4 cocktails, like Long Islands! 

 

As we drove further south, there was better scenery.  More mountains, more green and more construction.  We got nearly there and had to stop and find out exactly where it was.  That was when we found out that you need reservations (I knew I should have called) and they

 closed at 5...it was 4:50.  We drove there anyway, it was still light out and I wanted to see what I was missing.   At 216m, it looked pretty sweet!  They had a bar over looking the jump zone where significant (or jumpers) can get drunk and the courage to jump.  Again, can’t wait to get back there.  This part of SA has a ton of things to do - rafting, caving, hiking, mountain biking, canopy tours. 

Hopefully my brother Nick, his girl Kendra and I will be able to do all of those things between World Cup games in Durban and Port Elizabeth.  Jen may join me at some point…may be meet her at Mt. Kilimanjaro.