Olympics-cycling & sleepless in vancouver?

[Serendipity]

Hmmmm, guess I'm one of the dorks that will invade the area.
Why would I do that? Primarily in support of athletes pursuing their dreams (4 of them - one a family member and the others children of friends). Didn't get in on the lottery as all of them have not qualified for their sports yet but the sports they are involved in are not 'high demand tickets', so should be able to do okay.
All of the competitions will be up in Whistler, so at least away from the busiest spots, I hope......

[crazycanuck]

Serendipity-i don't mean you..I mean the real tourists from outside Canuckland who have no clue!!!

[buddha_bellies]

I wanted to check out the Richmond Oval speed skating but OMG! they'are so expensive!! DH thinks it would be better to watch it on TV anyway.

Oh well, I guess I'll check out the Open House on the 12 and 13th instead...

[shootingstar]

I wanted to check out the Richmond Oval speed skating but OMG! they'are so expensive!! DH thinks it would be better to watch it on TV anyway.

Oh well, I guess I'll check out the Open House on the 12 and 13th instead...

Yes, I read about the open house. I heard from someone it was originally for cycling.. have I got that right. The source was the mother of a racing cycling son. This was several years ago.

In all honesty, I haven't paid much attention to the past few Winter Olympics. What I end up watch at length is the figure skating.
This summer I didn't even watch the Summer Olympics hardly at all. Working full-time and cycling homeward..and not getting in until 7:30 pm, then making supper..leaves very little rm. for alot of TV. ..after I check my email, TE forums.

I just heard one of our cycling friends wants to do a home swap for a few days with someone. He lives near Lynn Valley Regional Park in North Vancouver.

[buddha_bellies]

Here's a link to the Oval Skate ring Public opening...

http://www.richmond.ca/news/city/ova...ertainment.htm

[Serendipity]

crazycanuck - I had to laugh when I read the post because my normal state of mind seems to be wandering around without a clue...

We were fortunate enough to get to the 2006 Olympics in Torino. It took a while to figure out how everything worked (security, transportation, etc. etc.) including the train system becasue we stayed in a small town 60 km and 2 hours (!) away from the venue that we were particularly interested in. Add to that the challenge of a language that my DH and I knew only a few words of! Interesting to say the least.

The organization in Torino was certainly well set up to look out for people like us - fabulous volunteers/employees! I would expect Vancouver to have the same level of support for those participating. After being a newbie at Torino, I expect getting around to the venues in Vancouver/Whistler to be a piece of cake - language I understand, in a city I've visited many times - now just have to wait a while to make sure the athletes qualify (!).

[badger]

for those of you who are coming to Vancouver, may I ask where you're staying and how much you're paying? I was just at a site yesterday looking into putting my place up for rent, and some morons are hoping for an idiot to walk into their over-inflated price trap.

A Jr. one bedroom, aka studio apartment, 4 blocks away from my place, is going for $800 A NIGHT!! Ridiculous, and I hope they never find anyone to rent.

I'd be more inclined to rent at $300 a night (which is still ridiculous but miles better than the one above), but I can't think of regular folks being able to afford that.