Hey from Wu Long, China !  Cold, rainy, and wet. Lots of fancy new asphalt roads around here …

I’ll be in China for the next 4 weeks in the warm and humid Southeast of the country. Right now I’m officially at “Amber hotel and resort, Fairy town, Wulong County, Chongqing, China.”

 

It’s been a long but comfortable travel on Qatar airlines, who charged me $372 for my bike box (!!). Ok, I’ll admit it was heavy (12 days of energy bars, gels ain’t light), but $372 ?!

I was flipping through Qatar’s endless TV options and found a multisport show about the Mark Webber Tasmanian Challenge. Suddenly I was watching my two “soon-to-be” China teammates, Jarad Kohlar and James Pretto, dominate the race !

I’ve never met James (or my other teammate Nic Leary from New Zealand) and have never raced with Jarad before. But I felt pretty comfortable as I watched Jarad and James destroy the high-powered combo of Richard Ussher and Braden Curie (both past Coast to Coast winners and superstars in the multisport world). They beat them on every day of the five-day stage race (!).

Jarad (left) and James (right) with race director Mark Webber.

 

Before getting on the plane, I got some help from Stefan Silfver, the adventure racer who runs the baggage storage at Stockholm airport called Bagport. He solved a dilemma for me:  After an early morning workout, I headed to the airport for my China flight with a bunch of sweaty clothes that I was going to put in storage for 5 weeks. To avoid a hazardous alert at the airport, Stefan offered to take them home, wash them, and return them to my bag. What a sponsor, hey?

But it gets better. He came by as I was paying for my bike box at the check-in. I gave him a little look and pointed to my carry-on bag (which weighed 12 kg and would have cost me another $200!). He got the message immediately, covertly picked it up and walked away. Nice work, Stefan.

Stefan even “pimped out” my bike box with a new sticker. 

 

I picked up a last-minute delivery of new Inov8 190s from my sponsor – perfect timing !

 

Packing …

I have raced in China 3 times so I’ve got a good routine for packing, but this was a challenge: I’ll be in the country for 4 weeks and doing 3 separate races. Here’s how my living room looked last week…

Note the scale in the background — I had several rounds of weighing things and making tough decisions about what to cut.

 

Besides The Economist, I never leave the country without both passports (what if Sweden suddenly started a trade war with China and I couldn’t leave?!)

 

Gels, bars, energy drink, AXA oatmeal (I can’t imagine eating rice every morning for breakfast…), and some Chinese herbs from my sister the acupuncturist to keep my immune system strong – thanks Beth !

 

So why do I race in China? Several reasons, in a rough order of importance …

• It’s exotic. I like the terrain in Jämtland Sweden where I live, but I love to experience new landscapes. These races gives us access to parts of China’s National Parks and backcountry areas that most tourists don’t know about – let alone have permission to enter! The landscape is green, lush, steep, and mountainous with waterfalls, steep creeks and caves. Some of you have seen this in my China video from 2011.

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• The Chinese know how to put on a party.  A multisport race in Sweden may attract a few friends at the finish line, but in China the whole city shuts down for us – for 4 days in a row! We get a police escort out of town at the start, cheering school children out in the country and an opening and closing ceremony with thousands of people!

• 

• I’m a superstar. Don’t mis-interpret this … I’m not an arrogant athlete, but it’s hard to “blend in” as a tall white foreigner with spandex and a fancy bike. The hype and excitement that the Chinese create around the event (see point above) leads to several iPhone-carrying, rising middle-class Chinese Paparazzi approaching me before/after races and politely asking “Picture? Picture? Please! Please!”

• A country in transition. I first came to Wu Long in 2011, but it looks amazingly different now. I read a recent article about the spread of wealth in this country and it had a great picture that went along with it …

 

• The race volunteers.  The smiling volunteers work so hard and do everything they can to help us make our way through a foreign land. They are always excited to see us when we get off the plane … Lilly met me yesterday at the airport with a smile!

 

• Lost in translation. I get a great laugh out of how the Chinese translate signs into English. I have no right to make fun but … what’s fascinating is that many mistakes get through the proofreading because of the cultural taboo against questioning your boss. I was greeted at the hotel by a woman who spoke perfect English, and she stood behind this sign … Can I buy an “a” please?

 

But this one is still my favorite from the Chongqing airport …

(And yes I have re-read this blog several times to find any of my own spelling mistakes, as it would be embarrassing for me if you find on … er, I mean one.)

• The competition. I’m a competitive person and in this race I get to race against the best in the world. This year will be no different, as I have a strong set of teammates and an elite starting field to challenge us. Can we beat the Kiwis and keep the other strong Swedish teams behind us?

• Prize $$$.  This is not the main motivation, but it doesn’t hurt that I typically come home with more money in my pocket, rather than less. This is a nice bonus for an otherwise expensive hobby.

 

I’m staying at the Amber hotel and resort. The race invitation said it was 5 stars, which is usually a typical Chinese exaggeration, but this time it’s true. This is high-class living at 1,300 meters (4,000 feet) with beautiful views.

 

         My bike and I received valet service to our room

 

The dinner and breakfast buffet were top-notch. As soon as I sat down, a waitress brought me a silver spoon, knife and fork. I smiled and continued to use my chopsticks. The other non-white guests didn’t get that treatment.

 

                                                     I met the race volunteers on their way out to mark the course with red ribbons.

 

I even got a visit from race director Wei Jun this morning. He shared a secret about the race course – he’s going to have an individual navigation component on Fairy Mountain, where the team is divided up and each person is given a map/compass and must find the control points. Usually this race is marked with ribbons, so this navigation component is new (although he did something similar in the Wenchau Race in April, I believe?).

 

Time to put my bike together and head out for a little light training … (and navigation practice)

Train hard

Scott C

PS When I was flipping through the tourist magazine in the room I found a pic from thte 2011 Wu Long Race and recognized Team AXA-adidas (that’s me trying to hang on to John’s wheel in the back …)