Olympics-cycling & sleepless in vancouver?

[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.

[Serendipity]

badger - I have a sister & brother-in-law that live south of Vancouver so that is probably where I will stay. Having said that, given the length of time it will undoubtedly take to travel to Whistler, I will definitely look at staying part of the time in that area. Cringe to think how much I will have to pay so we shall see!