We finally made it to Whistler and wow, it is breathtakingly beautiful!!
But to get here, it was a long and stressful trip.
But to get here, it was a long and stressful trip.
I allowed 7.5 hours to travel to the Atlanta airport from our home so that we wouldn't be rushed for our 7:30pm flight. Our plan was to check in our bags and bikes at the airport, drive to our friends house to drop off our car and then head back to the airport. Again, I planned 7.5 hours for all of this.
After dealing with the unavoidable Atlanta traffic, we arrived to the airport around 3:15pm (3 hours and 15 minutes after we left our house). Check-in was surprisingly smooth and thanks to Delta's new bike policy, our bikes were free!! Wahoo! All we had to do was pay for an extra bag (we each had 1 suitcase and 1 bike bag) so we paid only $100 instead of $300. When we travel, we park in the hourly parking to check in several hours before our flight as it's a lot easier to take our stuff directly from the parking garage across the street vs. dealing with the shuttle (especially when traveling international). After we check-in, we aren't rushed to deal with the car/parking.
After dealing with the unavoidable Atlanta traffic, we arrived to the airport around 3:15pm (3 hours and 15 minutes after we left our house). Check-in was surprisingly smooth and thanks to Delta's new bike policy, our bikes were free!! Wahoo! All we had to do was pay for an extra bag (we each had 1 suitcase and 1 bike bag) so we paid only $100 instead of $300. When we travel, we park in the hourly parking to check in several hours before our flight as it's a lot easier to take our stuff directly from the parking garage across the street vs. dealing with the shuttle (especially when traveling international). After we check-in, we aren't rushed to deal with the car/parking.
After our bikes were inspected, we went back to the car and left with plenty of time to get to our friends house (~18 miles away) to drop off our car. However, plans quickly changed when it took us about 15 minutes to travel only a few miles - more traffic. So we decided to ditch that plan and park in economy. After driving back to the airport and finding the economy lot, it was completely full. We then had no where to park! Luckily, we found a place at the Park n' Fly and it turned out to be a few bucks cheaper than economy. Although we don't like Atlanta traffic, I weigh my options when we travel for a race and the flight I found was a direct flight (5.5 hours) from Atlanta to Vancouver and I could also use some of our miles on Delta which saved us money. I then used that extra money to upgrade our seats to comfort and to select our seats (we each had an aisle).
Since we saved some time by parking at the airport, we weren't rushed when taking the shuttle from domestic to international. The security line moved quickly and we had ~2 hours until our plane boarded so that we could get some dinner. We both had a delicious dinner - Karel got chicken and rice and veg and I got two salads and a wrap.
After enjoying our dinner, we made our way to our gate for our 7:30pm flight, which was to board at 6:30pm. The flight was delayed so instead of a 7:30pm take-off, it was now 8pm. Not too bad. Well, as the minutes ticked away, the departure time kept moving back...8:30, 9pm. It wasn't until it was just after 9pm that we boarded our flight. Luckily, Karel and I could get some work done on our computers which helped pass time by. And we met up with our athlete Reid who is doing his first Ironman at Whistler!
Although we planned for a long day of travel and late night, we didn't arrive to Vancouver until just after midnight PST - which was 3am EST. Next came customs - which was Karel's first time using his American Passport since becoming a US Citizen in Sept. After that, we waited for our luggage and bikes. We were told to go to a special line with our bikes for questioning so that took a few more minutes. Finally, nearing 1am PST, we arrived at the rental car kiosk. By 1:30am PST, we were in the car, making our 2 hour/85 mile drive to Whistler. Thankfully, there was zero traffic but it was raining - which made it a little sketchy on the windy up and down roads on the Sea to Sky hwy. Karel did the driving and he was really tired but we both made it safely to our rental place at the Olympic Village.
It was just past 3:30am PST/6:30am EST when we crashed in bed but it was a little restless of a night as we were almost too exhausted to fall asleep. We managed a little over 5 hours of on and off sleep and woke up HUNGRY.
It was just past 3:30am PST/6:30am EST when we crashed in bed but it was a little restless of a night as we were almost too exhausted to fall asleep. We managed a little over 5 hours of on and off sleep and woke up HUNGRY.
With no shortage of places to eat, we made our way to Purebread for a delicious selection of fresh breads and bakery goods. Now that's how you start the day when you are sleep deprived! We then did a hefty grocery store shop and had a good breakfast meal at 11am PST.
We ran into more of our athletes at the grocery store. We are excited to see more familiar faces as the days go on as this is one of our 4 team key races of the year where we will have a good showing of athletes (15 Trimarnis racing, including me and Karel).
After taking our time in the morning, Karel put together our bikes around 1pm and in the mid afternoon, we finally got outside to spin our legs. And wow - what a beautiful place to ride!
We moved some blood and stretched out on the bike with a nice easy spin (~50 minutes). We rode from the village (where we are staying) to Alta Lake (swim start/T1).
We spent a few minutes at the lake just soaking in all of this beautiful scenery.
After our spin, it was time to eat! Karel made homemade vegetable noodle soup, which hit the spot. The weather is just perfect (in the mid 60's) and I can't stop smiling because of how amazingly beautiful it is around here! We are looking forward to checking in and getting our packet tomorrow, attending the athlete briefing and fitting in a swim/bike/run workout (I'm hopeful I can do a run tomorrow - crossing my fingers my hip/leg/back is continuing to improve - last update here) and to see more of this incredible race venue.