If you thought the world’s toughest athletes who have climbed the world’s highest summits or finished multiple Ironman races call it quits after accomplishing those impressive feats, you thought wrong. They go on to compete in the toughest challenge of them all … riding bikes 3,016 miles from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD for a torturing elevation gain of over 100,000 feet in 8 – 12 days.

For a point of comparison, the 2009 Tour de France only covers 2,174 miles in 21 days. As for Mount Everest, it is 29,029 feet high.

Ultimate Ironman Athletes

So, who are these crazy blokes who sleep only a couple hours a day for over a week while pushing their Mount Everest climbing, Ironman racing bodies through the ultimate test?

They include among others:

• Four time winner Jure Robic, a Special Forces soldier from Slovenia
• Three time winner Wolfgang Fasching from Austria who personally vouches that completing the Race Across America is harder climbing to the summit of Mount Everest.
• South African Michele Santilhano, who has climbed to the highest summit on all seven continents.
• Twelve-time Ironman Florence Debout and her teammate Robyn Benincasa, a San Diego firefighter and two time World Champion with TV Producer Mark Burnett’s Eco-Challenge in Borneo and Gerald Fusil’s Raid Gauloises in Costa Rica.

As you may have noticed with the last profile, some racers do compete on teams of 2, 4, or 8. It will be interesting to  follow one of the two-person teams led by Christina Domecq. She will be broadcasting live on SpinVoxAdventurers.com from her cell phone throughout the race using voice recognition technology developed by a company she cofounded. Along the way, she will be attempting to raise $500,000 to help fellow entrepreneurs with micro loans.

Another interesting team to follow will be the 4-man Team Surfing U.S.A. with professional surfer Laird Hamilton, Rage Against The Machine’s bassist Tim Commerford, and 76-year old health club pioneer Don Wildman.

Watching the Race

The solo woman competitors started on their journey today at noon. You can catch the men’s solo competitors tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon when they kick-off from Oceanside Pier. (The Navy Seals will be parachuting in at 11:30AM.) If you can’t make it for tomorrow’s lunch time start, dust off your bikes and bring them to watch the Teams Start on Saturday at 2PM.

Saturday is the big event day when The Strand next to Oceanside Pier is shut down to vehicles allowing cyclists of all talents to enjoy a leisurely ride along the beach. An Expo starts at 9AM while event-related speeches followed by team introductions start at noon.

So, go to Oceanside Pier to give a loud send-off to these brave adventurers as they head off to compete in the ultimate physical challenge. While you are there, make time to visit some great Oceanside Attractions.

Tour Map, Details & Coverage

Race Across America Map from raceacrossamerica.org

 

I had just finished kayaking near La Jolla Cove with a few friends.  We returned to La Jolla Shores and jumped out when the water was about waist deep. I felt something brush up against my leg so I glanced down and lo-and-behold there was a four-foot long fish swimming away. A moment later I realized I was surrounded by a whole school of 4- 5 foot long fish.  As I looked closer, the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up as my brain started to register them as sharks.

Quickly, another nearby kayaker must have seen the look on my face and told me not to worry; they were only harmless leopard sharks. Sharks? Harmless??

I was not ready to fully trust this stranger so I promptly found my way onto the beach where I could watch the creatures swim around from a safe distance. I was still skeptical about what the stranger had said until the next morning when the Union Tribune published an aerial photograph and story about the sharks in La Jolla Shores. The photograph captured hundreds of sharks swimming next to the beach.

Since that time, I’ve always made a point to take my out-of-town guests who visit during July and August to La Jolla Shores so they too can swim with the sharks. It’s one of the things that makes San Diego such a great place to live and visit. There’s a brief video of the sharks in La Jolla Shores on YouTube that will give you a glimpse of what you’ll see in the shallow waters.

If you would like to explore the life of leopard sharks in La Jolla Shores with experts (there are also smoothhound sharks and guitarfish), you can join the Birch Aquarium for a snorkeling tour. Tours go from 8AM – 10AM and are scheduled for several Saturdays and Sundays starting June 28 and ending September 19th.

For those who are more adventurous, the La Jolla Underwater Ecological Reserve is a great place to go scuba diving with sharks. The following YouTube video taken by a diver in La Jolla Shores to give you an even better appreciation of what to expect in the paradise called San Diego.

Don’t be scared. I’ve been swimming with the sharks since 1999 and now I’m the stranger who calms the newbies when they take their first dip in La Jolla Shores.

Fifteen pilots will be competing through an obstacle course at up to 250 mph over the San Diego Bay, between the Embarcadero (south of Seaport Village) and Coronado.

The three pilots from the U.S.A. are Mike Mangold, Kirby Chambliss, and Michael Goulian. Mangold was the  2007 Red Bull World Series Champion, while Chambliss was the 2006 Champion. However, both got off to a rocky start at the first race of this season in Abu Dhabi.

The planes arrived in San Diego last week on a 747. I got a nice up-close view of them being off-loaded from the 747 when I took a tour of Lindbergh Field on Friday. It won’t be long before we see them being put through their maneuvers in the skies over San Diego as the pilots prepare for the races.

Two qualifying rounds take place on Saturday May 9th with the top qualifier earning a point towards the World Series Standings. The Wild Card round, Top 12, Super 8, and Final Round take place on Sunday, May 10th. You will get to see planes navigate the course about 30 times each day.

San Diego Red Bull Air Race Tickets can be purchased online. Ticket prices start at $20 ($10 for children and military) for spectator viewing and range up to $1,360 for VIP treatment at a High Flyers Lounge. This year, both spectator and special seating areas will be set up on the Embarcadero side of San Diego Bay. You can also buy a parking pass for Brown Field to see the planes up close on Saturday night.

This is the 5th year for the Red Bull Air Races and the 3rd for San Diego. Take advantage of our unique opportunity to see these flying aces with our own eyes. This will be the only stop in the United States this year.

If you can’t make it down to Red Bull’s San Diego Air Race, which will be broadcast around the world, you can catch a tape of it on Fox Sports Network sometime in September.

On a side note, you might be inclined to use the word ‘acrobatic’ when describing the amazing air maneuvers being performed by the pilots. However, the precision and skills of these great pilots are known as ‘aerobatic’ stunts.

I was ready to plunk down $70 to take part in the 1.5 hour odyssey but my wife kept me focused on the purpose of our visit (the butterflies) and said I should wait for my birthday. (159 days to go!)

Visitors start with a 470-foot long practice run through the forest landscape from Lorikeet Landing down towards Lion Camp. Once they master that, visitors will be driven up past the Botanical Gardens for their 3,700-foot long ride over the animals of East Asia and Central Africa before arriving at Kilima Point. The whole adventure takes an hour-and-a-half or so.

You can get more information on flightline from the Wild Animal Park web site.

Check out my profile for the Wild Animal Park for insider details on what to expect and brief descriptions on other tours offered at the Park.

By the way, here’s a picture of one of the cute butterflies we got to see after waiting in line for an hour. (If you are interested in checking them out, you’ll have to wait until next spring since yesterday was the last day.)

The Carlsbad Flower Fields is the only place in the world for the public to visit a commercial grower of Ranunculus flowers. During your visit you will see workers out in the fields cutting the flowers and preparing them for shipment around the country. It’s interesting to watch how quickly they can cut, wrap, and place a price tag as they prepare the the flowers for distribution.

My wife and I got an early start by arriving a half-hour after it opened in hopes of avoiding the crowds. When I drove in the parking lot, I got a little nervous because buses from Corona, CA and Salt Lake City, UT had just dropped off their passengers. Fortunately, they didn’t need to hop in the ticket line so it only took a few minutes for us to get through.

That was just the first sign of how popular this destination has become. While we were waiting in the ticket line, the staff mentioned they’ve been having a problem with bloggers posting counterfeit 2 for 1 coupons on the internet. (I’ve heard of counterfeit tickets and coupons for high-priced events but for a $10 entrance fee?) Apparently, the only real 2 for 1 coupons were provided to the community newspapers in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Once inside, you’ll get to enjoy over 50 acres of flower fields. Most of the amenities, and crowds, are just inside the entrance. You’ll see a small LEGO display of flowers, vendors providing crowd favorites like Kettle Corn, Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade, and Strawberry Shortcake, and displays about how San Diego became the #1 producer of  floriculture in the United States.

A little farther inside, the wife and I browsed through the All-American Rose Garden looking for the winning roses in the years we were born. (The winning rose selections go back to 1940.)

Then we ventured into the Sweet Peas maze. It’s in a very small area and looked quite simple. However, it became quite an adventure and ended up being a team building exercise with fellow guests stuck in the maze. We passed advice to one another as we found ourselves constantly being one row shy of where we needed to be to exit the maze. (It was fun to watch couples enter the maze locked hand-in-hand but end up going separate ways as each started to express different opinions on where they needed to go to extract themselves from what seemed to be an endless puzzle. Happily, all eventually made their way out and were back hand-in-hand at the finish line.)

Once you go past the Sweet Peas maze, the crowds get lighter as you explore the rows of colorful flowers. Head up the hillside and you’ll get to enjoy magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean. As you exit the Flower Fields through the Armstrong Garden Center, be sure to buy the freshly cut flowers to enjoy at home.

To learn more about the Carlsbad Flower Fields and get advice on how to make the most of your visit (especially to avoid the long ticket lines), check out the Flower Fields profile on my San Diego travel web site.

Have you ever driven south on Harbor Drive past Petco Park and wondered what was behind the gates? Or, do you remember the hubbub surrounding the proposition on last November’s ballot about building an entertainment deck that could possibly house the San Diego Chargers stadium above ship docks along San Diego Bay and wonder what goes on at the 10th Avenue Terminal?

Well, now’s your chance to find out. Go behind the scenes at one of the most unique ports on the West Coast by taking a free tour with the Port of San Diego.

I took their free bus tour yesterday and will be taking their free harbor cruise next Thursday. I’ll share my experiences here, in case you can’t make one of their tours being offered through June. (A few weekend harbor tours are available. Everything else takes place on weekdays.)

Most of San Diego Bay’s northern shores are used for tourism and personal watercraft while the southern shores are protected as part of a National Wildlife Refuge. A small sliver of the eastern shore, just south of Petco Park, serves as San Diego’s working waterfront.

Before I get to the exciting stuff, take a moment to think of all the materials it takes to build the home you live in or the building where you work.  Then ask yourself, where did it all come from? As you start thinking of just the basics like lumber and cement, do you wonder, ‘gee, how did it get here’?

It could come by train but as you probably realize, there are very few train tracks around San Diego. It could come by tractor trailer, but you don’t see too many of those either unless you are out on the highway during the wee hours of the morning. The only other option for these heavy materials to make their way to San Diego is by ship. So, when the Port of San Diego says, ‘hey, protect our small working waterfront that offers a deep water port from attempts to rezone it for commercial and tourism purposes’, we might want to keep in mind how it serves as a vital link for our major metropolitan city. Even a big tourism proponent like myself who wants everyone in the world to visit our convention center, hotels, and walkways around San Diego Bay can appreciate that.

Now to the cool stuff. Unlike the other major ports along the West Coast that focus on processing standard shipping containers, the operations in the Port of San Diego focus on unique items that usually do not fit neatly inside metal boxes. For example, windmill blades. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed the other day that I retweeted: RT @portofsandiego: Innovative Wind Blade Project Creating Green Jobs in San Diego http://bit.ly/OCfqK. Having a port that with the specialized skills to handle wind turbines, which can range from 100 – 200 feet long is one more element that helps San Diego be a leader in Clean Technology. There were no blades in port during my visit but we did get to see the hubs for the wind turbines.

San Diego does import one major product that come in containers…bananas.  50,000 containers from Ecuador to be more precise. Dole sends their refrigerated containers to San Diego because we are able to give the specialized containers and their precious cargo a little more tender loving care. I’m sure if the bananas came through LA they’d all have bruises.

However, the most noticeable cargo handled at the Port of San Diego are the cars – lots and lots of cars.  (Pun intended.) I saw Bentleys, Porsches, a number of Lotuses, and lots full of VW and Audi vehicles.  (How would you like to be a longshoreman who gets to drive these exquisite cars off the boats?)

Just about every car imaginable, including Lamborghini, Acura, Honda, and Toyota makes its way through San Diego. One in eight cars headed to the U.S. enters through the port.

Even American cars are processed by Pasha Automotive, which manages the operation. (If you’ve rented a car while vacationing in Hawaii, chances are it was shipped from San Diego. Surprisingly, I didn’t see any convertible Mustangs on my visit yesterday.)

The other thing I found of particular interest is the boat yard where Mega Yachts, the really, really big boats, can be serviced. Billionaires like Larry Ellison and Paul Allen send their yachts here for work and maintenance since its one of very few ports that are capable of handling such large boats. Although there’s not a whole lot to see at this shipyard, having them serviced in San Diego does increase the odds that we’ll get to see them up close at the Mega Yacht mooring area on the tourist part of San Diego Bay.

The port tour by bus was scheduled to take two hours but we completed it in about an hour and a half. I highly recommend this unique opportunity to go behind the gates along the Port of San Diego. Our coach bus took us through the National City Terminal, the BAE Systems Boatyard and the 10th Avenue Terminal. (The 10th Avenue terminal part of the tour will likely not be included the next time tours are offered because of Navy activity so be sure to sign up before this current opportunity passes.)

Jim from the Port of San Diego is a great tour guide. We also heard from representatives at Pasha Automotive and BAE Systems, who boarded the bus to tell us more about their activities.

Stay tuned for my write-up next week when I take a tour of the working waterfront by boat!

This past weekend I had the good fortune of organizing a tour of the USS Ronald Reagan for my local alumni club. It was my 2nd tour of the aircraft carrier. Each visit has left me with a remarkable impression of both the ship’s capabilities and the hard work and dedication of its crew.

To give you some perspective on the size of the ship, take into account that its flight deck is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is high. It has more runways than the San Diego airport (two vs. one). When you step into the hanger, which is just one stairway up from sea level, there are seven floors above you (including the flight deck) and eight floors below you.

If you asked a sailor, “Do you know so-and-so who also serves on the Reagan?”, there is a good chance they’ve never crossed paths with the person. Each of the crew members (20% are women) have a defined role and generally stay within a specific area of the ship.

When speaking with the crew, it is amazing and refreshing to see how much pride the young sailors (the average age is 19) exude. They take it as an honor to represent the USS Ronald Reagan and our country.

There are four high-speed elevators that take jets, and guests, from the hanger to the flight deck in a matter of seconds. Each elevator can support two F/A – 18 jets, allowing eight jets to be raised to the flight deck simultaneously.

Once on the flight deck, four jets can be launched each minute. There are two runways so that one jet can be prepared for take-off while another jet is landing. (A former Navy officer on the tour told me one of the challenges in WWII was that fighter planes would return to the boats very low on fuel. With only one runway and a stream of planes coming in for emergency landings, there was no way to send up new aircraft to protect the ship from enemy fighters.)

Walking around the flight deck affords visitors not only an appreciation for the size of a U.S. Aircraft Carrier but great views of Downtown San Diego and Coronado. I can’t imagine how tough it is for the crew to see San Diego disappear on the horizon as they embark on a six to nine month deployment. Then again, a few of the sailors I spoke with were excited to tell me which countries they’ve been able to visit and which ones they hope to see in the future. One in particular had been stationed on the East Coast and sailed past Europe and around to Dubai. He transfered to the USS Ronald Reagan for the opportunity to go the opposite way and sail past Asia and onward to Dubai for the opportunity to have circumnavigated the globe.

From the flight deck, we climbed up several floors to the captain’s bridge. The birds-eye view looking down on the flight deck just reinforced the concept that this is a BIG ship. Despite its enormity, it can basically turn on a dime and speed up to nearly 35 mph while carrying food, bunks, and belongings for 5,500 crew members, 60 planes and their ordinance, electronics equipment, an airport, and two nuclear reactors.

After getting a good workout climbing up and down the stairs to the bridge, our tour ended in a small museum dedicated to the ship’s namesake, housed next to the hanger. A video played clips of Ronald Reagan’s well-known role as George Gipp, ‘The Gipper’, in the movie classic about Notre Dame football, Knute Rockne – All American. (As Notre Dame alumni, we hold a special place in our hearts for the USS Ronald Reagan because of Ronald Reagan’s connection to Notre Dame and the fact our University supplies more naval officers than any other school except for the Naval Academy.) Another notable piece in the museum is a remnant of the Berlin Wall. It offers a symbol of freedom that is characterized by the ship’s motto: “Peace through Strength”.

 I thank all member of the U.S. Military, both past and present, for your dedication to our country and I offer special thanks to the crew of the USS Ronald Reagan for giving us the special opportunity to step onboard and build a greater appreciation and understanding of the aircraft carriers home ported in San Diego.

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A few follow-up notes for those who would like more details. The ship is home to 180 officers and 3,020 enlisted members. In addition, the air wing is comprised of 220 officers and 2,260 enlisted members.

There are no aircraft onboard the ship while it is moored in San Diego. The aircraft depart from the ship the day before arriving in San Diego and return to their home naval bases throughout the West Coast. The aircraft meet-up with the carrier after it leaves San Diego on deployment.

The Marine Corps pilots we see flying around San Diego just east of La Jolla are not a part of the permanent air wings associated with the local aircraft carriers. However, the aircraft carriers do assist in getting the Marines and their jets to their destinations as necessary.

San Diego is also homeport for the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and will become the home of the USS Carl Vinson in 2010.  The USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS John C Stennis are also frequent visitors to San Diego Bay.

You can see the aircraft carriers from the Harbor Walk in Downtown San Diego and from the Ferry Landing on Coronado. To easily distinguish the aircraft carriers, look at the hull numbers.

CVN 68: USS Nimitz

CVN 70: USS Carl Vinson

CVN 72: USS Abraham Lincoln

CVN 74: USS John C. Stennis

CVN 76: USS Ronald Reagan

There are currently ten operating aircraft carriers in the United States Navy, meaning that having the opportunity to see up to three in San Diego Bay at any one time is very unique. (The USS George H.W. Bush passed its sea trials this past weekend and will be put into operation in 2010 as the eleventh carrier.) Outside of the United States, there are only ten other aircraft carriers, none as big or as sophisticated as the U.S. aircraft carriers.

On Saturday, the IRONMAN season gets its start in Oceanside and on Camp Pendleton as the world’s top triathletes compete for 20 qualifying spots to the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Ironman California is sold out but you can cheer on the athletes and spend time exploring attractions in Oceanside.

One of the most internationally recognized regattas, the San Diego Crew Classic, takes place on Saturday and Sunday. Teams from the Ivy League to the Pac-10 and everywhere in-between will be in town to compete on Mission Bay.  This is one of the few collegiate Olympic Sports that gets coverage overseas through the likes of the International Herald Tribune.  It’s a festive atmosphere as alumni and fans rent party tents and cheer on their teams.  You to can be a spectator and then check out some Mission Bay attractions before the summer crowds arrive.

The World’s Fastest Road Race, the Carlsbad 5000 takes place on Sunday. Sixteen world records have been set on this ocean view race course. After cheering on thousands of local runners and before watching the elites attempt to set another world record, fans can take part in a Health & Fitness Expo and a Beer Garden.

Finally, the Women’s Professional Billiard Association will be kicking off their season at Viejas Casino. Watch the women’s top billiard players you’ve seen on TV and then take advantage of the discount shopping in the Viejas Outlets.

It’s going to be a busy weekend for ESPN in San Diego. Rather than being a TV spectator, get out and enjoy these world-class events taking place in our own backyard.  Have a good weekend San Diego!

My wife and I took advantage of the great rates last summer to enjoy a staycation. Now I see the rate at the same resort is nearly 60% lower than what we paid!

Take advantage of this downturn in the economy while helping it out at the same time and book a vacation. Whether you are a native to San Diego or a new visitor, you will find plenty of San Diego attractions to make the most of your vacation.

The Travelocity Special with COUPON CODE: TWITTER25 only lasts one more day. Even if you miss it, I highly recommend you treat yourself to a nice San Diego vacation before hotel rates go back up.

Whenever I watched the Tour de France, I always got a good chuckle from crazy costumes some spectators wore as they ran alongside of the racing cyclists. (I’d also be petrified that one of the loonies would knock over the cyclists.) It turns out San Diego has its fair share of loonies looking to be seen on TV around the world.  The costumes ranged from sumo wrestlers to birthday suits but the one that stood out most for me was the guy wearing four-foot tall antlers on his head. He did a pretty good job sprinting alongside the cyclists as they reached the highest peak ever for the Tour of California. It was very cool to see a few inches of snow along the side of the road on Palomar despite temperatures being in the low 70’s at the bottom of the mountain.

Speaking of Palomar, in a post last week, I mentioned Lance Armstrong compared the climb of Palomar to the venerable Mont Ventoux stage of the Tour de France. Tonight, the editor-in-chief of Bicycling Magazine who wrote Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France with Floyd Landis, spoke with Jim Lasovic from NBC 7/39, and noted that Landis calls Palomar Mountain the best mountain for cycling in the world. (So, there you have it, two of the cycling world’s best riders praising our own Palomar Mountain.)

Not only is Palomar Mountain one of the best mountains for cycling in the world, but Bicycling Magazine rates San Diego as the #1 City for Cycling.

San Diego received great worldwide publicity from today’s final stage of the Tour of California. The TV coverage on Versus provided an overhead view of San Diego’s Wild Animal Park and continually made remarks about the big crowds that stayed well after the race had finished. Even one of the Versus analysts noted he is heading to the San Diego Zoo tomorrow.

I am so glad San Diegans made this event a huge success for our community. Let’s hope this  encourages the Amgen Tour of California officials to include San Diego once again in next year’s race!

(By the way, for those who saw the race on TV, if you were curious to know why the guy wearing the antlers had a Montana jersey, it was to cheer on the eventual Tour of California Winner, Levi Leipheimer, who is from Montana.)

If you have photos from today’s stage you want to share with others, let me know using the comments below and I’ll add them to this post!