Showing posts with label london olympics tours. Show all posts

Friday, February 25, 2011

London 2012 Olympics: World-class athletes given little chance to test main stadium as university event get thumbs up

Taking shape: Olympic Stadium's main test event will be
The British Universities and Colleges Sport Championships
in May next year

Spyns is based in Whistler, Canada and France but you get used to traveling around the world to the events that we follow, Tour de France www.tdf-tours.com, Pamplona Running of the Bull www.pamplona-spain.com, New York new years eve www.newyork-times-square.com, to name a few. If we are not permanently based on the ground there we always go there months/years in advance to make sure everything is in place for our client’s arrival. It’s all about perfect preparation for the perfect tour.

Now all the Olympic Athletes have been training for years but no one will get to prepare in the Olympic venues as the Olympic Committee has decided to trail it with a Universities and Colleges Sport Championships in May next year. This willbe the only official test event at the Olympic Stadium.

If you would like to join Spyns on a luxury Olympic adventure, check out our website www.london-olympiad.com or email me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

World-class athletes will have minimal access to the main stadium in a competitive environment after Olympics organizers chose to 'test’ the technology and stadium capabilities with the school’s lower-key mass event, rather than host a grand prix or special invitational track meet.

Lord Coe, the chairman of the London organising committee, previously told The Daily Telegraph this would not be detrimental to elite athlete performance and instead create a “special” environment for when the Olympics were held.

But leading British and international athletes will be given specific training opportunities to get used to the track.

The British swimming championships on March 3-10, 2012, will be the test event for the aquatics centre, and will also double as selection trials for the Games, while the beach volleyball international will provide the trial run at a specially constructed Horse Guards Parade venue on Aug 13, 2011.

Some sports, such as gymnastics on Jan 10-18, will have their test events as Olympic qualifiers. Others, such as cycling on Feb 17-19, will host World Cup events which form part of the Olympic qualification process.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Will there be global mobile coverage in London 2012

http://www.london-olympiad.com/

At Spyns we know our clients are busy people and usually like to keep a finger on the pulse at home while on vacation. That’s why we take care of all the necessary arrangements, that way you can keep an eye on their affairs at home, and still get the most out of your adventure with us. Having mobile coverage all over London will definitely help everyone stay in touch. If you would like more information on our luxury 5, 7, and 10 days tours then check out our website www.london-olympiad.com or email me at henry@london-olympiad.com

London Underground, colloquially known as the ‘Tube’, may roll out mobile coverage across the network ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

The rollout is currently under bid by Chinese telecoms manufacturer Huawei, which would allow hundreds of thousands of Londoners and tourists each day to work while commuting to work.

Mobile access has been difficult, if not impossible on the vast majority of the network in central London. Only certain mainline railway stations and Underground stations are equipped with Wi-Fi and cell repeaters, such as Charing Cross and St. Pancras.

Oddly enough, nearly 60% of the London Underground network is in fact over ground which has good cell coverage. But for those hundreds of feet under the surface of London who commute around the city center each day, teleworking is impossible.

But mobile network access on the Tube has gone without controversy.

After the Kings Cross fire in 1987, an inquiry headed by Desmond Fennel QC led to recommendations in radio communications on the Underground. Though nearly twenty years after the disaster, now police and emergency service radios now work underground.

Had these changes been implemented sooner, it could have assisted the recovery in casualties during the London suicide bombing in 2005, where 52 people were killed.

Conversely, some are concerned that the ability to communicate through cell networks on the Underground could assist bombers who could remotely detonate explosives on trains, as seen in 2005.

As a frequent commuter on the Underground, along with hundreds of thousands of students who study at over a hundred universities in London, the benefits would outweigh the perceived negatives.

Similarly during the time I spent in New York City last year, I recall looking at my BlackBerry, clear as day as I sat next to Mary Jo Foley on the subway traveling south towards towards Wall Street. I turned to her and said, “Ooh, I can get mobile signal” in a moment of delight.

Perhaps we weren’t that deep underground after all. Nevertheless, I saw this as New York taking care of its telecommuters. How wrong I was.

Though there is no direct cell provision installed on the network, the city authorities are also hoping to bring mobile signal to the entire subway system. Costing $200 million and starting three years behind schedule, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority called the subway “an information black hole”.

Considering what the Tube is like first thing in the morning, it should probably come as no surprise that the most popular reason for wanting mobile signal on the Underground was to “let people know when I’m running late”, according to recent research.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

Monday, February 21, 2011

London 2012 Olympics: why you should buy tickets for swimming's morning sessions

www.london-olympiad.com

At Spyns we have small intimate tours that will cover the whole swimming schedule, for the opening ceremony on the 27^th July until the last day of swimming on the 4^th August. And if you want to stick around to the closing ceremony on the 12^th August, we are more than happy to have you. Hotels, tickets, and London attractions will all be included in our tickets. Get in contact with me at henry@london-olympiad.com for information on our Gold, Silver, and Bronze tour options, or have a look at our website http://www.london-olympiad.com/

Mulling over Olympic tickets and the 2012 schedule already, in particular the swimming events? Wondering if morning heats and sessions are worth the money in the likelihood that the finals are going to be over subscribed?

You may look at the schedule and see five session events in the space of an hour and think is it worth it. The swimmers will race and be gone in a flash. Not so. Go. You won’t regret it.

You’ll be watching athletes who’ve toiled for the last four years just to get to the Aquatics Centre. Of course, some like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte will breeze into the semi-final and finals of their events.

But for the rest, racing to get one of the eight lanes on offer will be their own Olympic final. You’ll witness their own personal dreams.

As Steve Parry, Britain’s former Olympian turned BBC pundit, says: “People are at their best on that one day every four years so it is a great chance to see them in action before the finals.

“There is an awful lot that goes on in the morning heats and it is just exciting to see a host of different nations.”

These sessions are still likely to be filled to the rafters with patriotic Britons and the swimming fraternity. There may even be a huge upset or two. The fact of the matter is that complacency comes at a price at the Olympics.

Parry, then aged 27 and the world No 5, thought he would do enough to qualify in the morning heats at the 2004 Games in Athens.

“I made the semi by 4/100ths of a second,” he recalls. “I thought I would easily make it through to the final but finished sixth in my heat and qualified last overall. I just had the afternoon to sort my head out.”

The Briton came back that night and qualified for the final from lane eight, edging out Phelps to qualify fastest. The final saw him return return home with bronze, the first British swimming medal since Graeme Smith, Parrry’s team-mate at Stockport Metro, took bronze in the 1500m freestyle at Atlanta in 1996.

Parry backs up the notion that there are relatively few duff swimming sessions at an Olympiad.

“There was only one event that was considered a non-event at the last Olympics and that was Rebecca Adlington in the 800m freestyle where she smashed the world record.”

And what of Parry’s event? There’s no question that Phelps will be overwhelming favourite for a third gold on day three of the meet (ticket code SW008).

“It is his best event and he won it at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. He beat me in the event aged 15 which was outrageous so I fully expect him to win at 2012.”

British Swimming also realise there a number of high-profile athletes with decisions to make with the schedule now set in stone. Those include Hannah Miley, Fran Halsall and Rebecca Adlington, who is considering a four-pronged medal attack.

David Sparkes, British Swimming’s chief executive, says: “Just to make the final of the Olympic Games you have to be close to your very best. To make the final of the world championship is similar but not quite the same.

“There have been athletes over the years who have medal favourites who have subsequently slipped up in the morning. Cruising is not an option at the Games.”

Still need to mull over morning session tickets?

Saturday, February 19, 2011

New images depict how key London 2012 venues will look during Olympic Games

www.london-olympiad.com

Spyns is excited to be releasing tour information shortly. We have a package of 5, 7, and 10 day tours starting from the opening ceremony through to the closing ceremony. All tours include handpicked Hotels in central London with easy access to Olympic Park, as well as added extras like London walking tours, luxury dining, river cruises....... If you would like to join in and be one of your many happy customers, have a get in contact with me through our websites www.spyns.com, and www.london-olympiad.com

London 2012 - along with Populous, Atkins and Drivers Jonas Deloitte - have issued new images showing what Lord's Cricket Ground for archery, the Lee Valley White Water Centre for canoe slalom and Greenwich Park for equestrian and modern pentathlon will look like during the Olympic Games.

The images aim to illustrate the work done to enable more than 120 world class temporary venues to be created for over 20,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes and 10 million ticketed spectators to experience.

James Bulley, the London 2012 Director of Venues and Infrastructure, said: "The London 2012 Games will deliver what no other Games has before in terms of the complexity and scale of the event overlay and temporary structures needed.

"Alongside the absolute commitment to meet the Games requirements, central to our plans have been legacy, sustainability, accessibility and safety.

"Our vision for the London 2012 venues is the integration with London's historic and iconic landmarks alongside our existing world class stadiums and sporting arenas.

"Our combined overlay team are world class and will deliver the technical excellence required to make this a spectacular Games."

The London 2012 Games are unique for their innovative approach to the use of temporary and existing venues both on and off the Olympic Park.

From Horse Guard's Parade for beach volleyball to Wimbledon for tennis, London is being used as the stunning backdrop for events hosted in entirely temporary venues.

Working together to create these sites, and under the direction of London 2012, Populous, Atkins and Drivers Jonas Deloitte have developed all aspects of the venues from the look and feel, the user experience, the delivery of seating, accommodation and landscaping, as well as back of house requirements including power, water and lighting, together bringing an innovative approach to the delivery of London 2012.

Jeff Keas, Principal of Populous, said: "Sport is at the core of the overlay project, but more than that, we have focused on London as the backdrop.

"This means ensuring wherever we can that either the historic buildings at venues like Greenwich Park or Lord's, or the iconic London skyline, remain in sight for spectators whilst creating an intimate atmosphere for the athletes.

Steve Cardwell, Atkins Director and Design Manager, said: "The unique approach taken towards temporary venues for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has presented fantastic opportunities to think differently about the delivery of major sporting venues.

"As a result we have in essence had to go back to first principles, and are proud of the innovative, light touch, and sustainable solutions we have developed with our partners."

Stephen Jepson, Director in Drivers Jonas Deloitte's Sport team, added: "The venues we are project managing at Greenwich Park, Horse Guards Parade, the Mall and Hyde Park are entirely temporary and present an exciting challenge.

"We have spent a great deal of time understanding the site constraints and making sure the way in which each venue is delivered is done sensitively and ensures there is no long term impact.

"This gives us the confidence that it will be delivered - after all we can't change the delivery deadline."

In total, the overlay project for the London 2012 Olympics will include 250,000 temporary seats, 165,000 square metres of tents and 2,500 cabins.

A further 140 kilometres of fencing will be used while 250 kilometres of crowd barriers are set to be in place for the Games.

Friday, February 18, 2011

London 2012 to have strawberries and cream factor

www.london-olympiad.com

Spyns has been in London finding the best hotel suites and restaurants for our 2012 Olympic clients. If you would like to have a stress free Olympic experience, get in contact with us via www.spyns.com or www.london-olympiad.com and let us take care of the rest. Who knows, you might find strawberries and cream in your hotel room, along with a bottle of champagne to celebrate a special occasion. It’s just part of the pleasure and surprise of travelling with Spyns.

LONDON — The London 2012 Olympics will have the feel of an English summer event, organisers said Thursday, bringing the strawberries and cream flavour and the open-air festival spirit to the Games.

The team designing the venues said the atmosphere of unmistakeably British classic sports events like the Wimbledon tennis championships and the Royal Ascot races had been ingrained into their designs.

They want to replicate the English summer culture, when people revel in the chance to enjoy warm weather, long evenings and an outdoor garden party.

The organising committee of the July 27-August 12 Games have also tried to show off the best of the city in their venue design, using the capital's iconic landmarks as a backdrop to competition sites outside the main Olympic Park in east London.

Venues and infrastructure director James Bulley told AFP that the Englishness factor would be a key part of forging a successful Games.

"If you look at some of our annual events running through the summer, whether it's Ascot, the Henley rowing regatta or Wimbledon, they all have a real Britishness about them," he said.

"We're trying to capture that in the designs, the feel and the look and the way in which we'll be able to enable our spectators to enjoy the experience.

"We'll enable that open-air, al fresco, picnicking feel for our spectators to really enjoy the space -- and watch the sport, of course."

The LOCOG designers looked at events such as the 1951 Festival of Britain, its delight in post-war innovation and the legacy of buildings it left for London.

They also studied the English love of parks and gardens, the street parties that break out for major national events, and the sheer fun of enjoying the precious summer months.

"This is the scene we want to set," said London 2012 venue designer John Barrow, a senior principal with architects Populous.

His team examined Sydney 2000 and Barcelona 1992 to see what made a successful Olympics.

"So when it came to London, the team said: 'What is quintessentially London, what is quintessentially English?' That's the sort of experience we're trying to drive through," he told AFP.

"It's actually a very simple model. It's park, garden, enjoyment, relaxation.

"All of those things speak to having a lot more fun in the Olympics," he said, otherwise "it won't have that fizz".

The designers have come up with several horseshoe-shaped venues to capitalise on views of London landmarks.

They include the beach volleyball arena in the historic Horse Guards Parade ground and the equestrian centre at Greenwich Park, which open up onto a view of the Royal Naval College and the Canary Wharf business district towers.

"We've chosen fantastic, superb locations in London, we want to showcase them," Bulley said.

"As the broadcast images go out around the world to our four billion viewers, they'll know this is very much a London Games."

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

2012 Olympics admits aquatics centre is a race against time

www.london-olympiad.com

Spyns has been busy booking Gordon Ramsay restaurants and finding the best suites in London for our 2012 clients. If you would like some information on our tours, email me at henry@london-olympiad.com or check out our website. www.london-olympiad.com

Target end date for construction of the £262m structure has already slipped from April to June this year

The £268m Aquatics centre, which has soared in cost from the £73m originally cited in London's bid book, will contain two 50-metre pools, a 25m diving pool and associated training facilities.

A new National Audit Office report into the 2012 Olympics has underlined the extent to which security costs have risen and warned that timing is "becoming tight" to hand over the aquatics centre to organisers.

But the fifth NAO report into preparations for the Games concludes that preparations are going well overall and that the Olympic Delivery Authority, the body charged with spending £8.1bn of public money constructing the Olympic venues, remains on course to deliver.

The ODA's recently appointed chief executive Dennis Hone has acknowledged that it faced a race against time to hand over the Zaha Hadid-designed aquatics centre to the organising committee by July.

The NAO reports that the target end date for construction of the £262m structure has already slipped from April to June this year "because the design and fabrication of the roof steel, which proved more complex and protracted than envisaged, has affected the rest of the project".

In response to earlier NAO calls to finalise the cost of venue security during Games-time, which was not separately accounted for in earlier versions of the budget, the overall cost has risen.

Although the NAO reports that the Home Office has predicted it will be able to deliver policing for £475m, rather than the £600m originally budgeted for, the £282m allocated to Locog to provide venue security from within the overall £9.3bn public sector funding package has pushed the overall cost £757m.

Although it acknowledges that risks have been reduced as the construction phase of the project nears completion, the NAO warns that the final cost remains "inherently uncertain". Of the original £2.75bn in contingency funding, £974m remains.

"As there can be no guarantee that the remaining contingency will be sufficient to cover further unknown risks to the Games, the GOE should have plans for how it will meet any requirement for extra funding which cannot be met from within the remaining contingency," said the NAO.

The report also calls on the government to carry out work to estimate the net benefits that will accrue to the UK that can directly be attributed to the Games, in order to help it measure progress towards delivering on legacy targets.

"Good progress is being made in the preparations for the 2012 London Games which will begin in 17 months. All construction and infrastructure projects are forecast to be completed on time, albeit in two cases with little room to spare before the deadline for handover to Locog, the Games organiser, and operational planning has improved," said Amyas Morse, head of the NAO.

"However, the final cost of the Games to the taxpayer is inherently uncertain and as the Games near there will be less flexibility to make savings in response to any unforeseen financial pressures."

Lord Coe, the Locog chairman, said he was confident that the 8.8m tickets for the Games due to go on sale on 15 March would sell out. This week, the schedule and pricing details were published for the first time.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The schedule of events for the London 2012 Olympic Games has been released.

www.london-olympiad.com

Spyns is excited to see the full 2012 London Olympic schedule released today. We will be running 5, 7, and 10 day tours spanning for the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony. If you would like more information on our luxury packages or sign up and become one of our many excited clients, check out our website www.london-olympiad.com

The first action will be women's football in Cardiff, Glasgow and Coventry on 25 July, two days before the official opening of the Games.

The middle weekend promises to be unmissable, with British trio Jessica Ennis, Christine Ohuruogu and Paula Radcliffe set to be going for gold.

The men's 100m final, with Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt likely to be centre stage, takes place on Sunday, 5 August.

The dates, times, venues and prices for more than 600 sessions of competition across all 26 Olympic sports will be emailed to the 2.2m people who have signed up for information ahead of tickets going on sale on 15 March.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe described them as the "greatest tickets on earth for the greatest show on earth".

Double Olympic champion Coe said: "This is a really big moment, a huge moment.

"In my own experience as a competitor this is the point that it suddenly becomes very real.

"I remember this point in the build-up to Los Angeles, and suddenly realising I was going to be running seven races in nine days.

"We are now getting to the business end of the project and we know from the number of people who have signed up for ticket information that there is a real hunger from all parts of the country to be there."

After the women's football group games on Wednesday and the men's on Thursday, the opening ceremony of the Games will take place inside the Olympic stadium at 1930 BST on Friday, 27 July.

Mark Cavendish could capture Britain's first gold of the Games in the men's cycling road race the following day.

Attention will turn to the Aquatics Centre on Sunday, 29 July, where swimmer Rebecca Adlington hopes to be defending her gold medal in the women's 400m freestyle.

On Monday, 30 July, swimming legends Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe could be going head-to-head in the men's 200m freestyle, while Tom Daley expects to be competing for his first medal of the Games in the 10m synchronised platform diving final.

Rowing, taking place at Eton Dorney, will also feature heavily in the opening week, with Greg Searle's comeback 20 years after his Barcelona 1992 gold set to be one of the Games' most romantic tales.

Track cycling, dominated by the British at Beijing in 2008, gets underway at the velodrome on Thursday, 2 August with Sir Chris Hoy hoping to lead the hosts to gold in the men's team sprint.

The Olympic Stadium's track and field events begin on the Friday, with Ennis in line to begin her quest for heptathlon gold and finals in the women's 10,000m and the men's shot put.

Saturday, 4 August is already being dubbed as "Super Saturday" with the climax of the heptathlon competition and the women's 100m final taking prime-time slots. The Olympic rowing and swimming competitions will also reach a conclusion.

The following day features an equally mouth-watering array of sport, with Radcliffe and Ohuruogu hoping to be involved in the women's marathon and 400m final respectively, before a potentially electrifying showdown between Bolt and American Tyson Gay in the men's 100m.

Coe added: "We can already start to picture what might happen. There is a recognition now that the men's 100m is a pretty serious moment and we have planned that to be fairly early on the evening of that Sunday.

"The things people remember are head-to-heads and we could potentially have one of the best given that Tyson Gay is going to make this a really tough run for Usain Bolt."

Also on the middle Sunday, British gymnast Louis Smith should be aiming to surpass his Beijing bronze on the pommel horse at the O2 arena, Ben Ainslie could be lining up to add to his three Olympic titles off the coast of Weymouth and the men's single's final will take place at Wimbledon.

Hoy and gymnast Beth Tweddle should be in action on Monday 6 August with Alistair Brownlee expected to be vying for a home gold medal in the men's Hyde Park triathlon the following day.

Canoeist-cum-doctor Tim Brabants, a gold medallist in Beijing, hopes to defend his kayak single 1000m title at Eton Dorney on Wednesday 8 August.

On Thursday, 9 August, Phillips Idowu could be adding an Olympic title to his world and European crowns in the triple jump final, while the women's football final takes place at Wembley.

The men's football final is on the concluding Saturday of the Games when the athletics programme reaches a finale and Daley competes in the individual 10m platform dive.

British boxers Tom Stalker and Bradley Saunders will hope to still be involved when the medals are decided on the final day of the Olympics on Sunday, 12 August

Monday, February 14, 2011

Missy Franklin hopes to join U.S. Olympic team in 2012

www.london-olympiad.com

Missy Franklin takes a rare few seconds to rest during a

Regis Jesuit practice.

London 2012 may seem a long way off for our guests that have already booked tours with us, but for young Olympic gold hopefuls the countdown is on and the pressure is building. If you would like information about our luxury tours on offer, email info@spyns.com for a list of our 5,7, and 10 day packages for every budget.

Missy Franklin is just your typical 15-year-old student if typical means being one of the best swimmers in America with hopes of being a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 2012.

It's 4 a.m. and the Franklin household is coming to life. Mom D.A. starts the coffee and wakes her husband, Richard. Ruger, the dog, awakens as Richard puts breakfast in a bag and throws a parka and blanket in the warm dryer for their daughter Missy, just in time for her to make it to the car in her swimsuit.

It's the beginning of another 17-hour day filled with two swim practices, dryland practice and school for Missy Franklin, the 15-year-old Regis Jesuit sophomore and 2012 Olympic swimming hopeful. She is still chauffeured around to each destination by her dedicated parents, who are waiting patiently for her to get her driver's license in July.

Franklin has taken the swimming world by storm over the past two years — breaking into the world's top-10 rankings in seven events — but good luck getting her to brag about it. Missy can't bear her dad putting up Facebook updates about her accom- plishments. The family rarely talks about swimming around the house.

As she leaves home, one of just two visible signs of Missy's success hangs on the entryway wall, a framed copy of the October 2009 issue of Swimmer's World magazine with Missy doing her self-described worst stroke — the breaststroke — on the cover. When Franklin made that magazine cover is when their world began to blow up.

"When you see your daughter on the cover of a magazine, that just blew us away," said D.A., a family physician. "That's what really started it."

The magazine cover, coming after her per- formance at junior nationals, did more than add art to the wall. It aided her in getting a special invitation to join the U.S. national team for the first time at Duel in the Pool in Manchester, England, later that year. Placed in the lead position of the 400 freestyle relay, her time of 52.78 clocked in as the second-fastest leg in U.S. history.

"I didn't know anyone (there)," Franklin said. "I was so young compared to all of them. I was freaking out at the beginning because we were all given teddy bears to sign and throw up into the stands. I didn't want to throw mine because I thought someone will get it and not want it because they won't know who I am. I thought someone would throw it back."

The 6-foot-1 Franklin, who has a 6-foot-4 wingspan, needn't worry about being just another swimmer. America's top prodigy in the sport has a trophy shelf sagging in the middle. The medals that were once held up on a shower rod became too heavy and have found their way into drawers scattered around the house.

Missy has come a long way since maneuvering the pool without floaties as a toddler. She was recently named the youngest member of the U.S. national team set to compete in Shanghai in July, the final international competition before the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

"There has been an acceleration (of attention) as we get closer to London and Missy making the national team," said her father, who estimates the cost of Missy's swimming around the world so far equating to a full-ride college scholarship to a top NCAA school.

Over the past three years, her success has transformed family life from scheduling and travel to trying to fit in bits and pieces of a normal teen's life. Between practice and school, Missy, who manages a 3.95 grade-point average, said she finds ways to keep up with Regis Jesuit's academically rigorous honors schedule by finding her way to the dining room table to study, or her own study, whenever she has a free moment. Her snow days turn into school catch-up days. She occasionally has to take a day off from school just to recuperate.

"We don't have to make sure anything is done," D.A. said. "Missy takes accountability for her swimming, but also she takes responsibility for her schooling."

Her father agrees.

"This girl gives up a lot," he said. "She does very few things very well. There are a lot of distractions, but Missy chooses not to do them."

Missy's sacrifice of personal time has been amply rewarded as she solidifies herself on the international stage. Yet Missy said it is her time spent with her Regis Jesuit teammates that keeps swimming in perspective for her.

"High school swimming is just so much fun," she said. "High school state is unlike any other meet in the world. You know every person, lanes one through eight."

Her life may revolve around the pool, but she doesn't hesitate to be involved in other school activities. In December, at the World Champions meet in Dubai where she won a silver medal, Missy also was contemplating how she would ask a friend to Regis Jesuit's winter formal. She turned to teammate Nathan Adrian for advice.

"Well, just let him know that if he's mean to you that you have a bunch of older brothers on the national team who will go after him," Missy recalled of their conversation.

Her new "family" includes Adrian, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Natalie Coughlin and other Olympic-caliber athletes. Being around those world-class swimmers has her parents worrying less about their daughter as the baby of Team USA.

"It is hard, when you have a 13-, 14- or 15-year-old, just to hand them over to the USA," D.A. said. "That's what we have done since she has begun making national teams. The only time we see her at meets is from the stands, and occasionally she will come up."

Through a whirlwind of travel, school and swimming, Missy's life can be a blur. Her rising stardom is reaching beyond the pool.

Richard, the co-chair and executive director of Rocky Mountain Cleantech Open, which looks to help clean-energy startup entrepreneurs, said he had a reality check at a recent chamber meeting when John Brackney, president and CEO of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, introduced him as Missy Franklin's father, rather than his job title.

"This is just another time when I realized my world was changing," he said with a grin.

D.A. prefers to stay in the background. Though she has traveled the world to follow her daughter, having missed just one of her daughter's meets, you won't find her in the front row making sure everyone knows who Missy is.

"I have always liked to stay in the background," she said. "But I know things are changing, and this last year things have been happening very quickly."

Before they know it, their daughter will be in Shanghai in July for the FINA World Championships and, next summer, the Olympic Trials in Omaha. Then, if everything goes right, it will be on to London and the 2012 Olympics.

It may be time to extend the trophy shelf.

Life in the fast lane

Wake up, breakfast in car, go to pool.

Practice with Colorado Stars, her club swim team.

Breakfast with Stars swimmers who attend Regis Jesuit High School.

Classes at Regis, and lunch.

Homework and meal in car.

Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Lone Tree for physical therapy and dryland training or Regis Jesuit practice.

Meal in car.

Colorado Stars practice.

Ride back home.

Dinner and homework.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Thought the Olympic Road Race course would be easy? David rides it and finds it’s anything but a walk in the park

www.london-olympiad.com

Cooke lands the big one.
Crossing the line after a long sprint to take her
first Olympic medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Spyns offers both London 2012 Summer Games packages and cycling tours to France (including the Tour de France). Spyns former clients will be thrilled to learn London 2012 organisers have unveiled the route for the men's 250-kilometre (156 miles) road race. The race takes place on the opening weekend of the Games, and will start on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace before heading south west towards Surrey Hills. Following the departure, riders will pass through the London boroughs of City of Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, Wandsworth, Richmond and Kingston in what will be the biggest one-day bike race ever witnessed in Great Britain.David rides the London 2012 Olympic Road Race course

Thought the Olympic course would be easy? David rides it and finds it’s anything but a walk in the park

So what is the route of the London 2012 Olympic road race going to be like? Well, there’s only one way to find out, so with a rough idea of the route before the official announcement today, we (Richard, George and I) cleared a day in our diaries and, with enough food for a day's riding, set out for a recce.

While you can read about the course, and indeed see the route we rode and see some great photos of Team RCUK in action, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on the course. When it was first revealed that the course would start in London and its featured highlights would consist of Richmond Park and Surrey’s Box Hill, there was plenty of criticism and mocking and no doubt the course will continue to draw much criticism in the run up to the event next July.

Having ridden the course it’s easier to get a real sense of what the racing could be like on the day.

Sure, there are no mountains in Surrey but the course designers have worked around this obvious shortfall to create a course that should provide for an open and exciting race. It favours neither sprinters nor breakaway specialists, with it easy to imagine the race going either way.

Once out of London and south of the M25, the route really comes alive. Into narrow and quiet country lanes the early climbs like Staples Lane will cause some explosive racing, and the roll into Dorking via the A25 is a lumpy old slog. Another factor to consider is the road surface; in general it’s appalling and we noted only a few short sections of sublime new Tarmac. But rather than being a negative and something else to criticise, the road surface if it's not repaired will add to the demanding nature of the route. It’s rough and in places really drags, and there are millions of potholes. We rode the route on steel winter bikes; I can only imagine what a carbon race bike with deep section rims will feel like on these roads. Not nice, I feel the answer is.

Then there's the nine ascents of Box Hill. Not a big climb but taking into consideration the ascent to Headley and the combined 2400m of climbing that the nine laps add up to, all ridden on the same rough and slow roads and extremely narrow in places, and it, I reckon, could be the ideal place for a breakaway. It’s hard to see the bunch controlling proceedings around this repeated section.

And, once the succession of Box Hill loops are over, it's anything but an easy ride to the finish. Here, the route planners really have picked a good route for ensuring that the race potentially causes fireworks in the last 60-odd kilometres.

Once out of Leatherhead it’s generally a downhill and fast route run on wider roads, but there are a few rises to consider, and in places there’s little shelter from the wind. If a group of six or eight riders are still intact along here they’ll need a decent cushion of time over the peloton, as they’ll be really hurting by now.

One thing is for sure, it's going to be one hell of a finish. The route offers easy access all the way through London and around Surrey, with spectacular views around Dorking, Box Hill and Richmond Park in particular – the sight of the peloton roaring over Putney Bridge will be some sight indeed.

How the race will be won is a difficult one to put forth an opinion. As Richard points out, most of the press are pointing at a bunch sprint, but I don’t think that will be the case. I just feel the challenging and tough Box Hill circuit will be too much for the sprinters to stay in contact, and it’ll be tough for a team like HTC-Highroad to control.

Instead, I’m going to put my neck on the line and say that the winner will come from a solo breakaway. From a racing cyclist’s perspective, a breakaway win will be scintillating to watch on roads that I know so well. A rider like Phillipe Gilbert, with his aggressive attacking style that won him the Omloop Het Volk in 2008 could be a prime candidate, the course could really suit his style.

If there’s one thing having ridden the course has taught me, it’s that it’s too easy to judge a course and the possible outcome without having ridden. Only having ridden it can I get a feel for how it really rides, the challenges it’ll offer the pros and how the race could possible pan out. The mainstream might stick to the Mark Cavendish victory song for the next 18 months, but the route is perfectly setup for an open, thrilling, exciting race that no one will forget for a long time.