My Euro Trip: Quelle Challenge Roth

By Steve Bouey in

July 21, 2006 – 9:53 am

Those of you who have been around me over the course of the last six month know that I have not been my usual psychotic self when it comes to triathlon training. Usually when I am in Ironman mode, all I do is swim, bike, run, eat and sleep. This time around, I have had too much on my plate with planning the TWBR trip, trying to hold down my day job, enjoying life and when possible getting in some training. A lot of people told me I was going to get worked over here in Germany, but I wasn’t to worried about it: I was just coming over here to have a good time. 

That said, there were some other factors that came into play leading up to the race and on race day that sealed my fate and insured that I was going to be participating in a suffer-fest. About two days before the race, I caught some sort of stomach bug. Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the beer, but it prevented me from eating as much as I needed to in the few days before the race. The day before the race, I was up in the air about whether or not to even start given the condition of my stomach, but I had come a long way to throw in the towel. Race morning, I still could not hold much down but decided to get in the water anyway and actually ended up having a pretty descent swim  time of 1:02.  The first lap of the bike went well and I made it through in about 2:45 but by that point, had still not really eaten much of anything and was quickly putting myself into caloric debt at a rapid pace. About 80 miles into the bike, my heart-rate was through the roof and I was in a lot of discomfort. I was feeling bloated, yet at the same time, knew I was dehydrated and malnourished. I found a field and a spot of shade behind the Mavic support truck at the top of one of the tougher climbs and laid down to try and collect myself. I ended up collecting myself for about 45 minutes, but by that point, was able to choke down a powerbar and some energy drink. I finished off the bike in 6:23 including the 45 minute siesta which still was not that bad all things considered.

The thing that kept me going were the crowds on the bike course. Words really can’t do any justice to all of the people that were out there, and remained out there all day. Every little village we pedaled through must have had a thousand people lining the streets shouting "Hop! Hop! Hop!" The bigger towns had pulled out tables and benches to line the course and people were out partying to 80’s rock music, drinking and cheering on competitors. The climax was the short but steep climb leading up to the town of Solar. The infamous "Solarberg mile." I had seen pictures of it and had been told what to expect, but you really have no idea what you are about to ride into until you round the corner. Upon taking a sharp right after cruising back into Hilpoltstein, you are faced with a sea of people. The bottom of the hill has baracades holding back the crowd, but they end about a quarter of the way up the hill. At that point it is just people, 10-20 across, and stretched out the length of the hill. When faced with this sight, part of you cracks a grin and starts to feed off of the adrenaline being pumped into your viens by the crowd. The other part of you starts to panic because common sense tells you not to ride into the middle of this mass of people. As you make your way up the hill, people are cheering and screaming, waving flags and banners in your face and slapping you on the helmet, back and behind. You "ride the mile" twice and on the second lap, you hope you have enough left in your legs to make it through.

After getting off the bike, I knew my day was close to being done. My electrolyte balance was totally out of wack, I was dehydrated and hungry, yet could still not hold down anything besides sips of sports drink. I needed protein, but couldn’t stomach it. Yet, for some strange reason, I was still not going to quit. I would walk the whole F’in marathon if I had to, and for the most part, that is what I did. It took me a hair under 6 hours to walk out the remaining 26 miles. I was hurting pretty bad, but managed to finish. IT was a long day and 13 and a half hours is a long time to be out there and when it was all said and done,  so was I. Sunburned, shivering (in the 88 degree heat!) and exhaused I curled up in a ball under the grandstand by the finish line and went to sleep until someone came and got me. Looking back on all the chaos and discomfort, it was still worth it. The crowds, the atmosphere, even the pain. Ask anyone who has finished an Ironman and they will always tell you it was worth the pain. That 30 minutes of pure ecstacy upon completing the event is better that any drug out there. 


To view more pictures from my trip visit the following link.
By Steve Bouey | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006) | Comments (2)

My Euro Trip: Pre Race Week

By Steve Bouey in

July 20, 2006 – 9:47 am

This was probably the most relaxed I have ever been going into an Ironman distance race. Again for those of you not quite sure what an Ironman triathlon entails, it consists of a 2.4 mile swim (3.8k) 112 mile bike (180k) and a full 26.2 marathon (42k) all done in succession on the same day. The Quelle Challenge is the biggest Iron distance race in the world. More than 2,000 individual competitors and over 500 relay teams for a total of over 3,500 athletes. However, the big draw to this particular race are the crowds. In no other endurance event anywhere in the world will you find more people excited about a triathlon. All of the communities on the bike and run courses come out in full force to cheer and volunteer. Wearing your starting bracelet around the week before the race, you are treated almost like a pseudo celebrity. People come up and ask "You make the Ironman?" and when you reply in the affirmative, they want to know your number and say they will be at spot x out on the course and will be cheering you on. There is ruly no better atmosphere to race in period.


In the days leading up to the race, I did manage to get in a few sites. After all I was in a country I had never been to and the triathlon starting to become only a small part of my overall expereince on this trip.  There just happened to be an old castle or "burg" two blocks from where we were staying, so my parents and I ventured up there one afternoon. The castle was constructed in 1142 and today plays host to a Shakespeare festival in the summer. The interior of the castle was actually closed, but one of the individuals working on the sets for the festival was kind enough to let us in for a closer look. We were even offered the opportunity to climb the creaky wooden stairs to the top of the castle tower which offered an amazing view of the village of Hilpoltstein and the larger cities of Roth and Nuremburg off in the distance.

Another side trip included a stop at the Documentation Center in Nuremburg. My parents, Bob Swift (aka Bob Fast) and his wife and I spent about 3 hours touring the facilities and parade grounds that Hitler built to energize the people during the Nazi movement in Germany. The site was home to massive parades and political demonstrations meant to rally, gain and maintain support for the Nazi machine in the 30’s and during WWII. Nuremburg and the Bavarian region was known as the spiritual center of the Third Reich, and walking around on the parade grounds and through the remarkably well planned museum chronicling the rise of the Nazi’s in Germany was quite a sobering and somber experience. One can read about Hitler, the Nazis and the National Socialist movement in textbooks and can view it in films and documentaries, but until you see it first-hand, it really does not sink in the power of persuasion and the ability to destroy millions of lives these people had.

All of these side trips and the atmosphere of Germany itself really kept my mind off the race and the fact that I was probably pretty well under-trained for the whole thing. Because I was so relaxed and at ease, I took the liberty of indulging in some great German cuisine washed down with some of the finest fermented beverages I have ever tasted. So much for sticking to "race week" nutrition, but what the hell, when is the next time I am going to be able to drink and authentic liter (or 4) of German beer?

The entire race preparation phase was not aided in any way by the fact that it just so happens we were in Hilpoltstein during their annual Strassefest or "street fair." Two days before the race, the main street was shut down and basically turned into a giant beer garden complete with live music and a never ending flow of the golden nectar. Needless to say I enjoyed the culture and the company of many new German friends I had made over the course of the last few days.

To view more pics from my trip visit the following link.
By Steve Bouey | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006) | Comments (0)

My Euro Trip: Roth and Hilpoltstein, Germany

By Steve Bouey in

July 17, 2006 – 9:34 am

Well folks, I am back in the States and as usual, I can say that I am not too thrilled to be back. Every time I go overseas I somehow seem to find myself in the company of the coolest people on earth in the coolest place on earth. My recent three week trip to Germany and the Czech Republic was no exception to this rule. The original purpose of the trip was to go and race the epic Iron-distance triathlon, the Quelle Challenge which is based in Roth, Germany. Roth is a medium sized town situated in the Bavarian region of Germany just south of Nuremberg and about an hour north of Munich. The German countryside here is quite beautiful – rolling hils, small villages, delicately planted fields and this time of year, everything is really green. After leaving the States on June 24th and a brief stopover in Frankfurt, my chaperones/travel buddies (Mom and Dad) and I hopped on the train and headed for Nuremberg. The DB rail network in Germany is incredible and one can get pretty much anywhere they need to go in the entire country by rail. There is no other model of German efficiency quite like the German rail network. The train schedules are mapped out for the month, down to the minute for both arrivals and departures, and when they say the train to Berlin leaves at 12:04 you had better not show up at 12:03 because they have already started to close the doors without exception.

After a quick train ride to Nuremberg (The ICE trains (Inter-City Express) can reach speeds of over 270 km/hr), we were met at the Hauptbanhoff – the main train station – by my friends Greg and Christine. Greg and Christine have been organizing trips for American triathletes to come and race in Roth for several years and they really know what they are doing, with the exception of backing up large vehicles in cramped parking lots. The race itself is in Roth, but we were staying in a smaller town just to the south – Hilpoltstein. The town of Hilpoltstein  itself is pretty much out of a fairy tale. Large historic church in the town center surrounded by homes and shops built in the traditional Bavarian architecture and all interconnected with delicately cobbled streets. Everything is clean (not one piece of trash anywhere to be seen) and the flowers seemed to have just bloomed. The Inn/Guesthouse that we called home for the next week or so was the Schwartzen Ross. This place was great. The charming decor and style of the rooms and the guesthouse itself really made you feel right at home. This feeling was compounded by the fact that the Frau who ran the Inn was a master hostess and did everything she could to make your stay as comfortable as possible and the language barrier was not a factor. Last but certainly not least, the Inn was home to probably the best restaurant in town as well as a  great beer garden, all within stumbling distance of my room. Staying here for the week leading up to the race was going to be a real test of my willpower. Trying to avoid Wiener Schnitzel, real Bratwurst and great Bavarian Wies’n beer was going to take every ounce of strength that I had and it would not be enough.

To view more pics from my trip visit the following link.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006) | Comments (0)

Another day in paradise, or have I just lost my mind?

By Steven Shoppman in

July 8, 2006 – 1:09 pm

If you ask anyone about me they will tell you that I am good at planning things.  I am usually the one coordinating trips and adventures.  I will be the first to admit that I have a regular tendancy to overlook things.  Sometimes these oversights can be more of a problem than others.  This 4th of July my oversight was taking a look at the weather.  Even though weather is generally not a deterrent for me when it comes to a weekend in the woods, it is still a good thing to make note that there is a 50% or greater chance of thunderstorms.

My good friend Chad Niernberg came to pick me up towing our boat on Sunday morning to leave for Lake Granby to go camping for a couple of days.  As we were loading the truck, I was then made aware of the weather report.  Ha Ha, there is no way a couple of hot shots like us are going to throw out a weekend of boating, wakeboarding and surfing just because of a measly 50% chance of rain.  Ooooo God, you are gonna have to come at us with more than that…And he did.

IMG_3598t.jpg The rain was about on par with what was predicted, but the one factor that we did not throw into the mix was the fire ban.  After long afternoons with thunderstorms, it tends to be quite difficult to dry tihngs out.  Here is where the insight of others comes into play when I make my oversights.  Chad took the liberty to bring his fathers tent which is something of valor.  Chad mentioned that this tent was a little older, but I was overjoyed to have a true portal through time.  The manufacturing of this bad boy dates back to circa 1950, and honestly looks like a tent that may have been used on the set of a civil war film.  It certainly has the tailorings of a prop from the set of an old disney summer camp movie.  Holy lord almighty, I never realized that canvas does such a good job of keeping out the rain.  Here and there were a few leaks, but overall this was certainly a good place to waste a few hours until the rain cleared.

IMG_3677t.jpgNow, when you have had one to many beers the night before and have been permanently wet for the first 36 hours of a trip, you will have the tendancy to lose your spirit a little bit.  You are many times tempted to throw in the towel, pack up and go home, but as I said before–Ooooooo Jesus, you are going to have to come at us with more than that.  So on the verge of my spirit breaking and fully giving up, the rain begins to go away and the sun starts peaking through the clouds.  I don’t know if you have ever had the opportunity to be surfing behind a boat just after a storm clears and the sun is setting, but this mixed with a few beers is something that everyone should experience at some point in their lives.  It becomes easy to forget the fact that you have never been really warm or dry in quite a while, and wish for more.  And to our luck, we were able to have this happen to us three times in three days…so on that note, thanks Allah, you are a real good guy, we can tack another 3 days on to paradise.

So as for my little oversights, it seems to always work out in the end, but a word to the wise: Friends with time portals are always a good addition to the mix.

Click here to go to the photo gallery with all of the pictures

Come back soon, I should have a video up by tomorrow. 

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006) | Comments (0)

9 languages?…um, Heck yes that’s what I said.

By Steven Shoppman in

July 2, 2006 – 10:44 am

I recently put a little time in to install a module that allows machine translation into 9 different languages.  Just wanted to let you all know.  I am still messing with the format of how this will work, but the little flags in the sidebar will change our entries to your desired language.

Also, I just installed a module that makes it a little easier for you to view our videos and podcasts.  I have to tweak a couple of things, but by late next week you should be able to subscribe to our itunes feed and automatically have your ipod updated with our most recent video and audio content.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006), Expedition Updates | Comments (1)

Modern Art – WTF, The Met, Really Good Stuff

By Steven Shoppman in

June 30, 2006 – 12:20 pm

In the great city of Manhattan, in the great park called City Park, there lies a great Museum, world renowned for its archetecture, the art and history it holds, and simply the history of the museum itself.  This place is the metropolitan museum of art.  Outside the museum there are all kinds of street vendors selling art and the musuem is surrounded by Central Park, the park itself was designed around a competition of civil engeneers with ideas for the park.  The park itself is a work of art.

After more than five hours of getting lost in its hallways, the museum has officially postitioned itself as one of my most favorite museums and certainly one of the best places to waste away an afternoon.  As you walk through room after room full of everything from statues to ancient armor, it is easy to get lost as the museum itself is almost a maze.  This maze is one of the best places to get lost in, and with a handy electronic tour guide your brain can be filled with as many factoids as you can handle.  Every other peice has a little number on it to punch in and listen to associate curators give you their ten cents on a work.

Walking through many of the rooms full of paintings made me realize that many of my core classes that seemed so useless in college prove to be valuable in a place like this.  These are all of the paintings and statues that I had to memorize for Art History and Humanities classes.  Many of the paintings and sculptures were old news to me, I could mouth off the names of the artists and in some cases the year that the work was made.  I could even pair up some of the music of the time with some of the works.  It is easy when you are in school to get tired of taking classes that seemingly have no value to your future, especially when your future amounts to how drunk you are going to get when class gets out this afternoon.  Although two of my humanities classes were the most intersting classes I have ever taken, I still regularly posed the question, "When in the hell is this ever going to be of use to me?"  Overall, it does not really make much difference if I already know the names of the paintings on the walls or the history behind them, they all have labels and explainations.  However, there is no doubt that a place like the Met becomes a lot more exciting when you are your own tour guide.

On the other hand, modern art (or at least some of it) is something that I may never be able to understand.  Below, I have critqued some of the installations.

Ummm….This one has some paint splotches on the right and left, it also has a white spot in the middle.  The composition is amazing,  seriously I have never seen anyone slop paint on a canvas like this.  And the idea of using two different shades of white…bravo my friend.

Holy Shit, I just think I had an epileptic seizure.  I want to talk to the manager about this peice.

I am kind of angry about this one.  I thought that the Metropolitan Museum of Art did not allow forgeries of other peoples work at the museum.  I do recall a lad named bejamin moore doing this rendering first.

I think that I made something that looks like this in my graphic art class in middle school.  Is this special because they were able to copy it to such a large canvas?

I put together a little video/slideshow of some of the photos and video(shhhh, video is not allowed) I took at the museum.  Have a look.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006) | Comments (0)

It doesn’t smell so rosy anymore.

By Steven Shoppman in

June 30, 2006 – 10:13 am

I consider myself to be a person with a great attitude.  I usually see the upside or tend to look at the potential of people and places rather than what is actually before my eyes.  Whenever I arrive in New York City, the situation is no different.  For some reason everything smells just peachy and wonderful.  The streets are filled with weirdos and businessmen, models and musicians, cops and degenrates, the list goes on.  While in New York you can find just about anything you want…fake replicas of over priced originals, the origninals, and you can find all kinds of other shit you did not even know existed.

I have quite a few friends in the Manhattan area, I even dated a girl there for a handful of months.  Over the last couple of years the amount of time I spent in NYC has allowed me to feel like I know what to expect.  I have certainly learned my way around the city and surrounding area.  With my knowledge, I always feel like I will be able to go there and have a jolly old time; esentially riding a rollercoaster with no low points. Maybe someday  I will learn…this is never the case.

I arrived in town late on a Thursday night.  With my firend Anne I made my way to my friends Amanda and Mike’s place via the subway.  It is a pretty easy ride and the trains are mostly new on this line, and since the subway is air conditioned, who can complain.  And a Frommers fun fact, the construction of the subway began in 1885.  Upon our arrival we were greeted with a quite warm welcome as I suprised my friend Amanda with Anne.  To my suprise, their air matress was not working so we were allowed the privilge of sleeping on the floor.  Not too bad with some pillows, but this was no Marriot.  Even more to my suprise, I find out that I would not be allowed to stay at their place for the entire week as they wanted some alone time, a fact that would have been nice to learn about before I arrived.  But that all faded away with a couple of Mike’s martinis.  And I am a seasoned traveller, I have slept on many a couches for many a days, this was certainly not going to ruin my spirit.

Lindsay Robertson and Anne Lynn at Battery Park in New YorkThe next few days were lined with gold.  I met some new friends, including Lindsay Robertson, who is one of my new faves.  Her, Anne, and I walked around the city brownbagging some liquid courage.  After passing ground zero and the financial district, we made our way to Battery Park for some good old fashioned afternoon drinking.  We followed this up with some margaritas in the West Village where I was promised an encounter with a movie star, which never came to fruition.  All of this was surrounded by beautiful weather and perfect temperatures.  The rest of the weekend was grand as well.  I will not bore you with all of the details, but I had a chance to hang out with Duane, one of our newest recruits to the TWBR team.  We went to a club called APT, one of those clever New York pretentious joints with a cute theme, this time the theme is supposed to be modeled after an apartment.  Who was the rocket scientist who came up with this, and more importantly, why are all of the people there so willing to spend hundreds of dollars a night to hang out here?

Then came the heat.  Monday rolled around and I Sat in an internet cafe in Chelsea most of the day working and sweating.  I later called my friend Tara who offered me a place to stay. I moved my things to her place that evening only to have a not so warm welcome and a request that I find a new place to stay the next day.  The strange part is that she insisted that I stay with her; people are so strange.  This was the beginning of a realization.  Tara blew up an air matress for me that had a slow leak, so I spent the night tossing and turning in her apt that has no AC on a half inflated matress that sqweeks every time you Cool Picture from Central Parkmove around.  I woke up the next morning and immediately started my search for hotels in the area.  The most appealing choice in my price range was the St.Mark’s hotel, which isn’t too bad of a place, but certainly not worth $110 per night.  I walked my not so happy ass over to the hotel with my heavy bags in the swealtering heat and was stopped at a corner in the east village.  At that point the air from the sewer wofted into my nostrils, I looked over to see a pile of trash that had not been collected yet, and said to myself, "It doesn’t smell so rosy anymore."  The thing is that it never smells rosy in New York.  For that matter, there is a lot of shit that simply isn’t rosy or nice in the City.  These are all things that I already know.  This was not my first time in New York.  In fact, I have been to NYC enough that I have lost count of the number of times I have been here.

I guess the important thing about this moment was the way I was able to just stand there and accept the fact that the air and everything surrounding my situation was far less than keen.  Instead of fighting it and trying to do something to turn my situation around, I just went to my shoebox sized room and let things be, and proceeded to stand in front of the air conditioner full blast for about a half hour.  In the past I have had real problems accepting this.  Especially on longer trips, it is hard to just let things be.  It is hard to just admit to yourself that things cannot always be a walk in the park.  The more you travel, the more you see that there is no escape from the sewage getting into your nostrils.  No matter how much you plan or know about a place, sometimes shit is just going to suck.

Thanks East Village street corner.  I am now a more enlightened person.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006), Trip Thoughts | Comments (0)

It has been boating season way too long for this to be my first time.

By Steven Shoppman in

June 28, 2006 – 12:35 am

I finally was able to get out on my boat this season.  Hands down, this is the best way to relax.  I also was able to purchase a surfboard at the end of last summer for the bargain price of $1 to add to the fun.  We spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to figure out how to actually surf the boats wake without holding on to the rope.  One of the best workouts I have had in a while.  Check out the video of mi amigos Bob and Chad keeping it nice and gay holding hands while they wakeboard/surf behind the boat together.

And just to give me a little credit, I was driving the boat weaving through other boats on a crowded lake while filming this one.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in For some laughs | Comments (0)

What Are You Going to do When You Get Back?

By Steve Bouey in

June 19, 2006 – 12:11 pm

I was at a party this past weekend and as usual, ended up talking about the trip with several people. One of the questions that I get asked a lot is what I am going to do when I get back. My usual response is: I don’t know. It sounds like a lame answer and not a very well thought out response, but the more I actually do think about it, the more I realize that it is the only answer that I can possibly provide. There is really no way of knowing what I am going to do when Steve and I get back from this adventure. So much is going to change over the couple of years that we are gone. Some change will be good and yet others will undoubtedly be harder to adjust to. 

Denver is a rapidly growing city and I can’t even begin to imagine what it is going to be like in 2 years. There is also the very real possibility that somewhere over the course of 70,000 miles and 90 plus countries, that I may find a place that is entirely suited to me and may not want to come back or will at least try to pursue moving back there after we finish our post-trip engagements.

Friends are also going to change. It seems like Steve and I are going in the opposite direction of a lot of our peers. People are settling down, getting married, worrying about 401(k) plans and their careers and in general seeking stability. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing, but for me personally, it is not the time for it. Steve and I are pretty much diving headfirst into a deep pool of uncertainty and instability which can be scary, but at the same time deliver some pretty substantial rewards. Not only will people back home change, I can guarantee that Steve and I will come back significantly different people as a result of our experiences. We will be exposed to many strange and fascinating things over the course of our travels and with open eyes and an open mind, it is impossible not to be changed from such an experience. Unfortunately, I feel that it is going to be harder to relate to some of our friends upon our return.

In terms of making a living, again, it is impossible to say what I am going to do when/ if I come back. Post trip, Steve and I will have our hands full doing post production work and editing on the documentary, trying to write a book, and sharing our experiences with others. I imagine that will keep us busy for quite a while. Right now, I don’t see myself throwing a tie back on. The experiences and knowledge gained on a project such as this will open a whole new world of possibilities, and even before we started planning the trip, I felt myself gravitating away from the typical 9-5 gig. Although I am still engaged in my current job and contribute, I find it harder and harder mentally to contribute 100 percent. This is a telltale sign that it is time to move on. Life is too short not to actually live it. Again, I’m not trying to take anything away from the 9-5 crowd, but I feel that life can be more fulfilling for me doing other things.

So again, I don’ t know what I am going to do when I get back. One thing is certain, a lot of things are going to change and I really don’t know why lies down the road beyond the trip…

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Trip Thoughts | Comments (0)

New Developments

By Steve Bouey in

June 16, 2006 – 3:58 pm

Many of the contacts that we have made with various aid organizations, sponsors and media companies have seem to come about completely by chance. We usually get contacts from friends, friends of friends, relative of friends and even just casual conversation around town in bars and restaurants. One of the latest developments for TWBR was truly a chance encounter and we can thank the judicial system for it. Steve and I were eating lunch in downtown Denver with our buddy Chad and were joined by a friend who was serving on jury duty. Another member of the potential jury pool also joined us for lunch since they were on a break and we got to talking about the trip. This is how we met Charlie Branson. Charlie is working on a pretty exciting project and we met up a few weeks later and hit it off immediately. Charlie and business partner Issac Bouchard are currently in the final stages of shooting and editing together the pilot episode for a T.V. series called Nice Drives. The show features automobiles of all makes and models, the stories behind the cars and the people who own them, sweet road trips and great music. Based on the vehicles they have already shot and the trips they have already documented, it is going to be a cool show. We now have some agreements in place with the guys from Nice Drives to highlight parts of our adventure on recurring segments of the show. We have tossed around a lot of ideas and there will be some great material to look forward to in the future. Stay tuned for more developments related to Nice Drives and we will let you know when the first episode airs.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Before the World By Road (2005-2006), Trip Thoughts | Comments (0)