Tour de Clearwater

Fraser and Julie gave me a HUGE surprise on Wednesday. I thought nothing when more boxes arrived at the house addressed to Julie. But when she told me that these were for me, it really, really surprised me. It was the bike holder attachments for my Thule car racks. Julie and Fraser bought three of them for me!! So now I can put three bikes (and wheels) on top of the car and three more bikes on the rack on the back of the car. Now my car looks like one of those in the Tour de France!

Dann Brook, Julie Dibens, and Fraser Cartmell

loading up the car

We drove to Clearwater on Thursday morning and got settled into our usual spot - Golden Villa. The weather has been really terrible lately with Ida having been here recently. The clouds are lingering as is the strong wind. There is talk that the swim may be moved to the Bay if the Gulf remains as rough as it is.

Everyone was up and out the door around 6:30 this morning for a test swim.

Joel Jameson, Dann Brook, Fraser Cartmell, Julie Dibens

Getting ready for a rough swim.

Sunrise on the beach.

It will be interesting to see what they do with the swim for Saturday's race. Most of the athletes should be able to handle the rough water, but there is talk that the swim may take place on the Intracoastal side in calmer waters. Even if the athletes can handle it, they couldn't have the swim without proper safety support from surf boarders and kayakers.