Bike case found!

Today was a work day which consisted of several PowerPoint decks and much discussion. Not the most exciting day but it was effective. Lot's of good dialogue, all in English, and now we just have one more day before we head to the expo on Saturday.

So after lots of talking with people who had no idea where our bikes were, we were able to see online that the bikes had been found and were in the process of being delivered. Eric Zaltas later told us of this online system of worldwide baggage tracking that everyone uses except the US. It worked perfectly for us but not for Eric. More on that later. I was so happy that they found our bikes that the stomach ache I was starting to have went away. One less thing to worry about other than the actual race itself on Sunday. Now I will just need to put it all back together for the first time. I hope nothing is broken.

After the first day of the summit, David and I decided to go for a 30 minute run. Actually David wanted to run and I decided to tag along. We just ran down the local side streets and it was the first time to really check out a little bit of Zurich. Lots of different cars made by not so well known car manufacturers like Peugeot and Renault and Fiat and others I didn't recognize. There were a lot of little Smart cars, some parked front ways next to parallel parked regular cars- They are tiny! Lots of greenery and cottage houses and playgrounds and random small mom and pop busineses. It was warm and humid and we sweat our butts off. We were literally soaking after an additional 20 minutes on the stationary bike but it felt really good. We didn't have time to go into the top floor pool but maybe tomorrow.

Tonight we went to dinner at this place within walking distance from the Hotel called Giesserei. As you might know many of the the streets in Europe don't follow any reasoning so we almost got lost a few times. Imagine an ameoba-like group of 15 or so slowly wandering the streets of Zurich. The restaurant was an outdoor affair that was a former metal manufacturing building. We started the dinner outside but a thunderstorm came out of nowhere and forced us to move inside. We stayed there for quite a while after dinner playing an interesting, make up your own question for everyone to answer around the table. A great way to learn something different like "favorite movie" or "if you were a car" from your worldwide co-workers. One of the highlights of the evening was talking to one of our PowerBar professional triathletes, Luke Bell and his wife Lucy. Big Boss Phil flew them up from Australia for the event and it was really cool to hang out with two down to earth people. Luke got us all nervous though when he described the bike course as a little difficult. Great.

See you tomorrow.

More from Vertigo

Have you ever seen the movie Logan's Run? That's what this place reminded me of. There is a large space in the middle of the building and the club spiralled down around the sides with a big curtain thing in the middle of the ceiling. Definitely futuristic but in a way, kind of creepy. The DJ booth was strategically perched on the side and looked like there were plenty of controls to rock the party. Actually I think it was more of a techno venue but I've known to be wrong. From time to time.

You know I like action shots so here's one of me eating salad. Exciting I know. The meal was really good and I wonder how much it was but since I wasn't paying for it I didn't ask. I'm not really paying attention to the conversion rates anyways. What I did like was that I had a table all to myself.

Later that evening the Germans arrived after driving in from Munich, I think. They are both racing on Sunday. A few weeks back they came out to Lake Zurich to try swimming in the lake and apparently it was so cold that they didn't really swim but just got wet and then got back out. Painfully cold. I am not looking forward to that. That's what happens when the lake gets fed by the Swiss Alps.

After the Australians went home we went to a local bar called the Double U. The weather was warm so we sat outside and David ordered a nice fruity drink. He didn't know it was going to be so festive but he pounded it anyways. When it started to sprinkle we moved inside where it was dry but smokey- as you know everyone in Europe smokes because it's cool and sexy. Once we were inside it was disappointing because we could have been in any bar in the world. Nothing really Swiss about it as far as I could see except for the local beers. I tried to keep up with the Germans and the Brit but I was no match and nursed my beverage all night long.

Greetings from Zurich!

Since I didn't mention before, I'll be in Switzerland for the 70.3 triathlon on Sunday, June 2nd. I'm excited to do a race abroad but nervous in that I haven't really trained as much as I should. Harold knows what I mean. I'll be working a few days before the race for a summit meeting and then after the race we're going to travel through Europe until the 11th. The plan is to travel from Zurich to Lausanne, Switzerland, then to Venice, Italy, meet up with Joey in the South of France, up to Paris and then fly out of London.

So everything with the flight went well except for one small detail- the airline lost my bike. Needless to say I am getting nervous as they cannot confirm where the bike is whether it's still at LAX or lost in London Heathrow at the dreaded Terminal 5. I'll keep you posted if they find it or if we have to go rent a bike, buy new running shoes, and bike helmet.

One thing I've noticed since arriving last night is that it is very quiet here. We are across the street from a train station and major trolley juncture and you can barely hear the low rumble of the train. There is no noise from traffic, horns or the normal hustle and bustle of a city. It's weird but I don't mind it.

Dinner was at this interesting restaurant/club that I don't recall the name, wait- it was called Vertigo. The waiting area/bar when you walked in looked normal- stylish, hip and dark. Then you go upstairs into a whole different experience. The walls were all white as were the sofas and cushions. We had to take our shoes off which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The food was really tastey including the cauliflower puree but what I thought was cool was the room was constantly changing the ambient light color from white to yellow to orange. It made the room feel alive. Kudos to Fabienne who found the cool place.

Thanks for visiting

Here goes my attempt to put it out there and see what happens. Thanks for taking the time to check in. Please feel free to comment, respond, answer, retaliate, correct...