Well then, that was most definitely one of the more roundabout ways to get to Australia – but I have arrived! Well, we finally arrived. Upon leaving CES in Las Vegas, I picked up The Girl and The Little One in Paris. And then after a total of three consecutive redeye flights and over 16,000 miles of flying, we landed in sunny Adelaide earlier this morning. Heck, I even got in an early morning run upon dropping off the suitcases at the hotel. It’s at that point The Baby finally decided to sleep. Apparently that wasn’t in the cards the previous 24 hours. She was rather displeased with our choice of destinations.
The bright side is that’s finally given me a chance to write this post.
Adelaide & The Tour Down Under
Of course – you may be wondering what I’m on the other side of the earth for. Sure, the weather is far better this time of year in Australia than in Paris. But that’s not the main reason (though, it is a major reason).
Instead – the big event is the Tour Down Under. This popular pro cycling race kicks off over the weekend, and is often a good place to dig into the latest sports technology as pro teams first publically adopt it for the season ahead. It’s an ideal spot to see who’s using what (or sometimes more interestingly: What they aren’t using off the sponsored products list). Oh, and did I mention the weather is better?
Plus, you may see a product announcement or two here…
So I’ll be looking at the tech side of things at the Tour Down Under, plus some of the usual goodness of the race itself. I’ll not so much be covering the racing aspect of the race – but rather more of the atmosphere of the race. Similar to my Tour de France posts over the past few years. More about the spectacle of the race, the fans, and the experience. There’s plenty of other places to get the breakaway by breakaway race coverage.
Of course, being that I’ve never been to the TDU before – I might miss a few things (tips welcomed!). On the flip side, since I’ve never been before, it’ll all be ‘new’ to me. Thus I get to experience it for the first time, versus the Tour de France being a bit old hat for me.
(Tidbit: The above picture I took a few hours ago at a nearby café. Some interesting thoughts on the backstory of that rider in the replies to this Twitter post. Fascinating the detail people have picked apart on that picture.)
But wait, there’s more!
Now given we flew a crapton of miles to get here, there’s no good reason to leave so quickly. Thus, we’re staying a while. Like, till next month.
First up will be Sydney later next week, followed by heading up north to Hamilton Island the week after. Then it’s back down to Melbourne for a few days at the end of the month. We had looked into also getting back to Western Australia (see our last trip there), though, it was throwing a bit of a loop into the airline reward seat thingy. So sadly, not this time.
Still, we’ve got a solid itinerary, and all three of us are already enjoying the sun (Me, The Girl, and The Peanut). Unfortunately, Lucy couldn’t join us due to restrictions on bringing dogs in the country. So she’s livin’ it up back home with a friend.
Swim, bike, run:
More than anything else, I’m looking forward to getting in some swims, runs, and rides while I’m here. Running is easy, and in places like Hamilton Island – it’s likely pretty self-explanatory. While I’ve run a bit in Sydney before, I’m always up for suggestions that are easy from Sydney city center (-ish) to get to. Same goes for Melbourne.
Plus, I’ve got tons of gizmos and gadgets to test – including plenty of new goods brought back from CES! My suitcase was exactly 1 pound under the 70-pound limit!
I’m hoping to ride here in Adelaide (brought my helmet/shoes/pedals/clothes), though adding a bike to the checked airline luggage mix was too much. Been looking at a few bike rental spots – but paying $100-$125 a day for a road bike is crazy, especially when you’re talking a week of bike rental. So if anyone has any suggestions for road bike rental companies in Adelaide that don’t cost more than just buying a new bike, I’m all ears!
As for joining up on runs/rides – I’m definitely game! Especially in Adelaide (for next 7 days) and Melbourne (last four days of the month). Sydney might be tight since we’re only staying 2-3 days. Though – if there are any Hamilton Island readers out there…drop me a note too!
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With that – I’m back to pumping out CES posts for the next few days, before turning to both Tour Down Under posts as well as all sorts of other goodness I’ve been writing over the past few weeks. It’ll be a rare case of me actually planning and writing posts more than one day in advance. Plus, if the interwebs function, keep your eyes peeled to the blog/Twitter, as we may do another Ask DCR Facebook Live session! Except this time The Girl will join in!
Thanks for reading! And hope to see some of you around!
