As part of our typical winter training on the swim team at Carleton, we take a trip somewhere outside Minnesota, somewhere warm, to beat the living hell out of our bodies. This year, we went to Puerto Rico and swam twice a day at the University of Puerto Rico pool. Practices each day were from 6-8am and 2-4pm. Time in between was usually spent taking a nice long nap and some fun time at the beach. Outside of training and napping, the team was able to make it to the old town of San Juan, Luquillo beach, and El Yunque rain forest. My favorite parts: Fresh oysters with mango salsa, lime, and salt from a street vendor in Luquillo The chicken kebabs lathered in delicious barbecue sauce The waterfall at El Yunque Constant reggaeton on the ... read more

We decided to ride our bikes west to Ganden monastery for a day trip today. The total round trip distance i think was around 120 kilometers...with one very difficult climb up to the monastery. Ganden Monastery is the central monastery of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It was built in 1409 under the supervision of Zongkapa. A large number of pilgrims are attracted by many naturally formed manifestations of the buddha, the lush shrubbery and the beautiful sceneries surrounding Ganden Monastery. By law, we were required to have a guide come with us to the monastery. The agency we were signed up with hired a guide who said he would ride with us... the guide showed up four hours after we arrived (his services weren't needed to enter the monastery or to really do anything...huge ... read more

We decided to do our longest ride yet...145km worth from Amdo to Nagqu...one rather large tibetan town to the second largest city in all of Tibet. The rides in tibet have been much more spectacular and interesting in comparison to our rides in the Qinghai province (although historically all of this land is Tibet). New experiences include: -monasteries -tibetan horse races -tibetan parties -the first shower & bath of the trip -joining up with our guide and driver (required by chinese law in tibet) -finally being allowed to play basketball at a police station more to come in the very near future...... read more

Day 1 Distance: 90km Locations: Golmud to Najitai Highest Altitude: 3200m Golmud is situated at an altitude of around 2700m above sea level. On our first day of cycling we were able to rise up to an altitude of 3200m and ride about 90km. We departed Golmud (as well as the last western style toilets we will see until lhasa) around 11:00am. I am keeping this journal short, because i just lost about 500 words i typed up. Hopefully the pictures load! ... read more

So my friend Alan, who is interning here in Beijing and swims with me at Carleton, did some research and found out that it is now possible to swim at the pool that was used during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. So, naturally, we checked it out...... read more