Written by: Jeff Shapiro
6/21/2009 1:18 AM 

It's been a whirlwind (literally) the last few days with a mistral blowing though the Haute Alps. We were able to wade through the forms and insurance/registration paperwork to be official and are now in the process of waiting to race. Although everyone is happy and the mood is positive, I can tell that I am not the only one, by a long shot, that is chomping at the bit to start the comp for the same reasons that I was excited for Christmas morning when I was a child.



It has been a huge bonus this year to have my wife, Kara with me to see and experience some of the things that add such charm and romance to this area of the world. She has been a trooper dealing with the hang gliding oriented tasks and fourtunately we have been lucky to travel with a great group of people and to have time to do some of the things that I really wanted her to have the opportunity to do. Yesterday, after a walk through town and a visit to the train station for a schedule to get her to the airport in Marcielle for her flight on Wednesday morning, we drove the short distance to the town of Sisterone and walked through the Citadel (built 2000+ years ago by the Gauls) followed by a stroll and a coffee. On our way back to Laragne, we stopped for a swim at the same gorge with the waterfall that we cooled off at so many times last year. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and had me feeling thankful to be "here, now" for sure.






By the time we got back to town, the evening was setting in. Dustin and I felt like we needed some exercise so we decided to take a run/ hike up to launch. Our friend, Kurt Warren decided to come with us and the three of us started off with the wind howling through the trees at the base of Chabre. It was a really cool hike/run (about 20K's I think) and felt like just what we needed. I have to say, it was really cool being up on launch at the end of the day with the wind blowing close to 50k's/ hr. We arrived back at the campground tired, hungry and psyched that there was the entire comp listening to live music and drinking wine. Nothing like coming home from a long stroll directly into a party;-)

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