Athens 2 Atlanta Inline Episode

It’s been a while since the last Blog update. Sorry for that. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy over here at ET. Since our double Ironman filming in Austria and Switzerland this past July, Endurance Traveler has filmed in Colorado, Nevada and Georgia.

Starting with Colorado, I decided I was't going to be capable of completing the Athens 2 Atlanta (A2A) inline skate if I didn’t learn to skate some hills and increase my distance rapidly. So, I packed my bags and took off for Steamboat Springs. There I was able to take several weeks of hills and long roads to really learn how to skate. That said, I wasn’t any good at it, I was just able to do it, which is a start! I was also able get the filming done for a webisode related to the A2A and several tips from the road we’ll be releasing shortly.

Now, from there we made our way to Boulder, where Brooke Burger and Justin Daerr were nice enough to put me up for a few days. While in Boulder I was able to get a great trail run and skate in. But the real reason I was there was to do interviews. We interviewed Chris McDonald and Justin Daerr while there and got some great footage of them training for their upcoming race in Wisconsin. They went on to finish 4^th and 5^th respectively. We were supposed to do an interview with Chrissie Wellington also, but that fell through. It was too bad, since we would have used the footage to help promote one of the charities she supports.

A week after returning to Miami, we back at it again as I boarded a flight to Las Vegas for the 2009 Interbike convention. We have a series of webisodes featuring all the cool products, racing and interviews that will be released in just a few days. We fell behind on production because we are so backed up, otherwise this stuff would already be up for your viewing pleasure.

Finally, it was October and while everyone in the triathlon world was ramping up for Hawaii, I was ramping up for an adventure of my own…A2A!!!

We arrived in Atlanta on Tuesday, October 6 where the Hotel Palomar provided lodging. This exquisite and new establishment is beautifully designed inside and out. We were able to shoot inside the hotel, at Pacci it’s Italian restaurant and AltoRex the terrace bar. Production began in earnest the following day when me and the crew hooked up with “Top Chef” Kevin Gillespie and his Sous chef E.J. Hodgkinson to do some slow food cooking at Woodfire Grill. The term Slow food was introduced by Carlo Petrini in Italy to counteract the fast food. It is an effort to preserve the cuisine, produce and animals within a region, without sacrificing too much time in the preparation of meals.

Later that same day was one of the coolest things we could have done…we went scuba diving in the Ocean Voyager exhibit at Georgia Aquarium. I don’t want to give too much away, so that’s all you get.

Thursday, we were off to Athens, where we checked in to the modern and ecologically friendly Indigo Hotel. The Indigo just opened about a month ago and is currently being evaluated for Gold LEED certification, which would make it only the 5^th hotel in the world to achieve such status. Oyeah, and Tyler made me a mean Indigo Martini, their signature drink.

Again, this blog is to give you a feel for the show but not give it away. So, I will tell you where we filmed with a few stills, but I can’t give it all away. The Day was spent filming at TRR Cobbs residence, Athens most influential citizen prior to the civil war. After which we went for some lunch and an amazing filming experience at Weaver D’s , “Automatic for the people Y’all”. In the evening we hit up Terrapin Brewery, Athens home grown brewer, where Thursday thru Saturday night they offer festive beer tours, live music, dancing lessons and of course great beers to sample. Finally, we finished the filming night off with a visit to Melting Point, where the Gourds were performing, a “honky-tonk badonka-donk” band from Austin Texas.

Friday was back to Atlanta for the day. We filmed with our feature athletes Jessica Wright and Eddy Matzger along with their respective families and friends over at Flip Burger, where Richard Blais made us some of his crazy concoctions and unreal burgers!! We followed that with a visit to the World of Coke for and interview session with Jessica. Then in the evening, we got Eddy’s interview after the very cool and very fun FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE.

Saturday was a much needed break from the camera for me and I spent the day roaming the streets of Athens with Caroline.

Sunday, it was on! The race started promptly at 7:30 and we were off. I am not giving anything about the event away here. All I will say is that our feature athletes put on an amazing show for the cameras and well I…I did my part too! I can’t wait for you to see this episode in the spring, it may be the best episode yet.

3 weeks of travel and 2 European Ironman Episodes (Phase 1)

It’s been a long hard journey over the past 3 weeks, but totally worth it! First, lets just touch on what we did to try and get the best programming set up for the show.

Austria was first on the list, but in order to get there, the Endurance Traveler path went through Munich. Toby Wadinger is a friend of mine from there and happens to be life-long friend and manager for Faris Al-Sultan. After spending a day wandering the streets of Munich, Faris sat down with me for a great interview that we’ll be posting here on Endurance Traveler in the coming days.

Faris and Me in our interview

Next, we were off to Klagenfurt, Austria for the first of two Ironman events we would be racing and filming at.

My friend and fellow triathlete Meinhard Vintler was gracious enough to have me as a guest at his parents home in St. Michelle about 15 minutes outside the city and at the base of the 10 kilometer climb to the famed Magdalensberg. If, your planning a trip to Klagenfurt, the views cannot be seen any better than this vantage point. It’s also one of the best places to try Kantner Noodle a regional dish.

Me with Meinhards parents

Our first location was the Wörthersee, the lake is this majestic teal, reminiscent of the healing waters of the Havasu in southwestern grand canyon. The Wörthersee ferry system offers visitors a tremendous way to visit all areas of the lake without a vehicle, take in the castles and view all the different architectural influences that have touched the region.

Denis Dal Bianchi (Camera) Eva Windich (Guide) and Me

Second stop was back in the kitchen. As those of you already following production know, we try to hit at least one restaurant per episode. Maria Loretto, is a seafood restaurant serving both saltwater seafood and fish pulled from the Wörthersee itself. Cooking there was great and the meal was delectable. Whats even cooler, was that the restaurant actually sits right on the swim course and is the marker we all swam towards as we headed into the river

Cooking at Maria Loretto

Our next shoot landed us at Burg Hochosterwitz. The castle that is rumored to be Walt Disney’s inspiration for the Cinderellas Castle now famous the world over. Whats even more amazing is the familial history of the Khevenhüller family, owners of the mystical place. They once owned 16 different castles in the modern state of Karinthia, including Castle Feldon, now a Casino hotel located on the Wörthersee’s western banks.

Burg Hochosterwitz Count Kevin Khevenhüller

During our race, we were able to cover two athletes from California, Joe Traba (on my right) and Bill Moore (on my left). Both of these guys are great athletes. For Bill, it was his first attempt at the Ironman distance, while Joe was making his 8th attempt and looking to go sub 11 hours. We’ll follow their day during the show.

Following the race, Monday was our last day of filming and a great one. We went to Hirter Brauerei (Brewery), founded by monks in 1270. As we find with most edible products that have outlasted all the others, one of the key ingredients that makes Hirter unique is the water they use. They one of only a few brewers that use natural un-distilled water to make their 12 different styles of beer. Between the water, no pasteurization and the dual fermentation process are all part of making Hirter beer truly dignified.

Brew master Raimund Linzer and me discussing the fermenters

A STOP IN MUNICH

The next production of Endurance Traveler is officially underway, and it’s going to be a double. We’ll be filming for 2 races over the next 3 weeks. Ironman Austria is the first and then Ironman Switzerland. But before I get in to that, I had to get there first. I decided to fly through Munich, Germany and take a train to Klagenfurt, Austria.

Faris Al-Sultan, 2005 Ironman Hawaii World Champion lives there and this was a perfect opportunity to catch a few good minutes with him as he does his last minute preparation for Ironman Germany, European Championships. Toby Waldinger, Faris’s manager is a good friend of mine and offered to put me up for the night.

During the day, Toby unleashed me in Marienplatz to check out some of the cathedrals, shops, open market and the Jewish Museum of Munich. All of it was very cool and packed with an even spread of tourist and locals. Of course, like any good Bavarian, Toby made sure I ended up at a beer garden. In this case it was Augustinerkeller, home to the oldest brewery in Munich, dating back to 1328. I am going to find a race near Oktoberfest time, so we can incorporate all of Munich and Augustiner, that’s for sure!

In the morning, I woke to a plethora of German delights, with soft cheese, breads, pretzels, cured meat, fresh eggs and coffee. I almost went back to sleep after eating, but I had Faris’ interview to do. The interview was great and we’ll try to have it up in the next few days. In the mean time I hope you enjoy this little video log of my day in Munich.

Brasil First Day of Filming: "Surf & Turf"

Today was pretty dam cool. I drove over the mountain range from Centro to Lagoa da Conceição and met up with my 2 camera operators Weslei Vianna and Sydney Pihiero. Wes is actually staying at the the Surf house we filmed at. My host for the day was Luiz Stadler and his wife Lucy. They were absolutely awesome and we had a blast!! After showing me around the surf house, a whole group of us went to a secret surf spot, where the waves were crappy but the comradery was killer. I discovered that my Skins short sleeve top not only "improves power and endurance", but also acts as an amazing rash gaurd while surfing...double bonus!

Between my broken Spanish and the Brazilians broken English, we had no trouble communicating all day. It was probably much like a cycling peleton, where an Italian rider and an American rider are having a conversation in Spanish.

After surfing we headed back to Lagoa da Conceição to grab a bite to eat. Luis insisted we all go to this place called "O Barba Negra". This is a MUST EAT restaurant. We had all kinds of amazing seafood that you'll have to wait for the show to see. But, I'll say they served us this dish called Camarón en Moranga, which is served in a pumpkin and is going to make Thanksgiving a whole new experience. Tomorrow is an off day from filming and I need to put my bike together so I be blogging to you!

Caio!

ROOKIE MANEUVER

No matter how seasoned a traveler you may think you are, it doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. I’d like to think I’m a veteran of international travel, but that doesn’t automatically make you impervious to blunders.

It never dawned on me to check if I needed a Visa for Brasil!!! A classic rookie maneuver. I made a huge mistake writing off the entirety of Latin America as this dynamic and free flowing appendage to domestic travel. I mean after all, I make my home in Miami, a place loaded with Brazilians, Argentinians, Colombians, Chileans….flying in and out all day, every day. Well, I found out otherwise, when I wasn’t allowed to board the plane headed for Sao Paulo a few days ago. Then, when I showed up at the Consulate to get a visa, I was informed it’s a 2 business day wait!!! I was very fortunate, and the Consulate was very nice when they made an exception to let my sorry butt through. But still, it was an easily avoidable blunder had I simply checked out the situation online.

What’s funny about the whole situation is when I spoke to several people about it, they told me they never said anything because they assumed I knew. They made that assumption based on my frequent international travels. The simple lesson to learn here, which applies to endurance sports as well, is stick to your basic checklist! I remember almost exactly a year ago, reading Johan Bruyneel’s book and he said exactly that. He said the main thing he does with his riders is keep them doing the very basic things we forget about (like eating and drinking). Endurance sports, travel, business, learning…this lesson is applicable everywhere you turn. Needless to say, I am in Florianopolis a day late and a little wiser.

O, and one more thing...everyone down here was quick to tell my why U.S. citizens pay $130 for our visa and wait 2 days. It's because the Brasil's government is treating U.S. citizens the same way we treat Brasilians. It's hard to argue with the logic, even if it only hurts tourism in the end.

The video was shot along the beach of Baia Norte in the Centro district of Florianopolis.