TdH Mass Chaos and Confusion - Day 1

I didn’t work for the Pre-Race Services department this year. There
were a number of factors that went into this decision. On a personal
note I was in the US this summer and had no clear idea of when (or if)
I’d be back in China. Just because my airline ticket was for August
27th that didn’t exactly mean that my leg would be ready to let me go
back on that date. The race also doesn’t pay me very well. On the
opposite side of things, I cost too much money (even at my highly
reduced “but I want to do this” rate) and I’m a foreigner at a
government event. To further complicate matters I went and got a full
time job at Sea Turtles 911.

I won’t say much about Sea Turtles 911. At a monthly wage
approximately twice what I can make in a good afternoon of translation
work I was trying to make a difference in the world. I wanted to be a
good person. Marine biology is not my specialty but living in Hainan
is and this was a job in Hainan. It seemed to be a perfect match. I
was there for seven weeks when the boss threw a hissy fit worthy of a
child one third his age and went back to the US. He didn’t know when
he was coming back to China. He didn’t know -if- he was coming back
to China. I’d been hired so that there would be sponsors and donors
and grants and there weren’t. In my 50 days as Fund Raising
Coordinator all I had done was talk on the phone, write emails, and go
to meetings. Even if I weren’t oh so clearly unsuitable for the job
the company was going away and there was no job to be had.

I won’t pretend to have been pleased about this turn of events. The
silver lining, however, was that I’d be able to go to the Tour.

Or so I thought…

When I called the race office I found out that I was too late. All
the staff positions had been arranged. All the volunteer positions
had been arranged. And one of the leaders was being xenophobic and
only wanted Chinese people in positions of responsibility. Even
though this had meant that a Korean wasn’t hired to be the Korean
team’s translator, that a Russian wasn’t hired to be the Russian
team’s translator and that the Belgian guy who goes riding with the
motorcycle club wasn’t welcome I didn’t think it applied to me. After
all, I’d worked the race the past three years. Everyone knew me.

Initially it seemed that “doesn’t apply to me” was the name of the
game. While I might be officially not a staff member and officially
not welcome I was unofficially very welcome. Just show up and we’ll
find stuff for you to do, a car for you to sit in, food for you to eat
and a place for you to sleep. No money this year but the promises of
money aren’t what gets me to work at bike races in China. Assuming
they pay me on time (which they never do) the salary is a pittance
that merely serves to formalize my role – I could make more doing less
as an English teacher.

I caught a ride down to Sanya with someone who sternly told me not
to let anyone important know I’d been in his car. Since we were with
the whole caravan of equipment vehicles lots and lots of unimportant
people knew I was in his car but they didn’t matter. So long as the
leaders didn’t see it happen it didn’t happen.

I got to the main hotel in time for a late lunch at the staff
cafeteria. The secretariat staff initially wouldn’t let me come sit
behind the desk with them but one of the directors of the sporting
events administration okay'd it and I did some simple translation
work. At this point there really isn’t a lot of formal translation
that needs me. The weather report, the commissaire communiqués, the
doping control notice, the rules and regulations regarding the use of
team cars don’t really change from year to year. It doesn’t take too
much work to find out how “Improper conduct, urinating in public” was
translated last year, to copy/paste, and to change the name of the
athlete being fined.

The assistant headmaster of the sports academy turned his back to me
and the guy arranging hotel rooms while he arranged my room in Sanya.
As long as he didn’t see me doing something wrong it hadn’t happened.

Shimano told me I could sit in their car at least one day of the
race. One of the teams told me they might let me sit in their car.
I’d be able to get my bike when we got back to Haikou and ride one of
the stages. I could choose between the sweeps bus and the feed zone
bus on other days. I might even be able to get one of the coveted
spare seats in a com car if I was lucky. I wasn’t an employee. I was
free. It was going to be a good race.

Since 2006 the teams have consistently complained about the food.
So far as I know the race organization has, in turn, complained to the
restaurants. There seems to be some slight improvement but the food
at the race basically sucks. With the exception of Waika
International in Wenchang none of the hotels we stay at get enough
western guests to have a clue about making foreign food beyond what
they’ve seen in photos. I’m sure they try. In fact, what with the
hotel in Changjiang sending out for a very successful meal of fried
chicken sandwiches and French fries last year I know they try. Try
and succeed aren’t always the same however.

That being said I really liked the breakfast.

I ate it while sitting with Team China. I was in an especially good
mood. There was muesli and cold milk. The fruit was fresh. And I’d
had an unbelievable conversation with Coach Fu the day before. Even
though I hadn’t been completely serious when I said the only way I’d
teach them English would be if they gave me room, board, airline
ticket, and the chance to go train with them and even though it
stretched credibility when he’d said “yes,” the fact that the riders
knew about this conversation meant it had been repeated to them.
There was no reason for Coach Fu to have repeated it to the riders
unless he seriously meant that he was going to find some way for it to
happen.

After breakfast I went to get my flu vaccine. All of the staff were
strongly encouraged to get a shot. Even though I wasn’t actually staff
I was told to get one. Although I’m not particularly worried about
H1N1 I didn’t see any reason to turn down a free dose of preventative
medicine.

Considering the reaction I had I probably should have turned it
down. Certainly I'll never take a flu shot again.

Of course, I’d never had a flu shot before so I didn’t have any way
to know I was going to react like that.

Even before they sent for the ambulance to take me to the hospital I
had a pretty good idea it was a very severe reaction. Although I was
expending too much energy on staying conscious to worry about worrying
there were far too many people who kept telling me "don't worry, it's
a very minor reaction."

I did not get a skin reaction.
I did not have a swollen throat.
I did not get a headache.

I did get very dizzy.
I found it very difficult to form complete sentences in Chinese. (I
wasn’t given the opportunity to form complete sentences in English so
I don’t know whether or not those were also difficult.)
I was very lethargic.
I felt like I had no energy.
I sweat a lot.

When they stood me up to take me over to a shadier part of the hotel
restaurant my feet and lower legs went all pins and needles numb but
sensation had already completely returned to the good leg and mostly
returned to the bad leg by the time I managed to tell them this.

One of my motorcycle club friends tried to convince me that I was
okay. I rough house with them a lot and an outsider who doesn't know
my relation to them might think they don't like me. He yanked
violently at my arms trying to get me stand up. He told me to stop
goofing off. Even told me that he'd let me ride on his motorcycle if
I got up now. He pushed, pulled, cajoled, even slapped me. Among all
the professionally calm people working very hard not to let me see
that they were worried his panic was strangely reassuring. Even when
they made him leave the room it was comforting.

I wasn’t told what my blood pressure was. They took four times
before they put me on the ambulance so, despite them telling me it was
perfectly normal, I really doubt it was normal. You don't keep taking
blood pressure again and again when it's normal. I wasn’t told what
my heart rate was. I couldn’t have read the results of the EKG even
if they’d let me see them.

The constant chorus of "perfectly normal" and "minor reaction"
combined with the clearly "this is not perfectly normal" behavior on
the part of the medicos nagged at me some but there wasn't any benefit
in worrying. I was already surrounded by medical people. Either
things were going to be okay or they weren't but there really wasn't
anything I could do to effect the outcome.

I don't know what they put in my drip at the hospital. I fell
asleep for about two hours and was released to take a bus back to the
hotel.

The problem with not having a specific assigned location in the
caravan is that the car you are in has a tendency to leave without
you. Of course, if I had been clever enough to already be in the car
this wouldn't have been a problem but I was deep in conversation with
someone whose car had no room for me.

The Media Bus took me to the start line.

This year's Grand Depart was from Deer Looking Back Park about
halfway between Sanya Bay and Dadonghai. This is both a good place
and a bad place to start from. It's better than Phoenix Island (last
year's Grand Depart) because locals can actually see what's going on.
It's worse than Sanya Bay Road (2007) or All Green Garden in Haikou
(2006) because it's smack dab in the middle of the land connection
between the two major bays that make up Sanya City. Traffic was
probably a nightmare for the rest of the day.

I scored a ride with ones of the Shimanos. I've known him since the
2007 Tour of Qinghai Lake. He let me ride in his car at that event as
well. With the exception of a break the Shimanos ride off the front
of the peleton and there really isn't a whole lot to see. It's still
a world and a half better than the sweeps bus or one of the vehicles
that leaves before the race.

There were no real climbs in Stage One so the racing wasn't
especially exciting and the breaks were few. The disadvantage of
being in a Shimano car is that they only get one of the Commissaire's
private channels so it was often difficult to figure out exactly what
was going on. One of these days I've got to get myself into a team
car so I can hear all the Radio Tour but just being there is good
enough.

I ate lunch in one of the staff cafeterias and and dinner with the
secretariat staff in the athlete's cafeteria. I spent most of my time
hanging around the main lobby not especially doing anything but being
available in case I was needed to translate something. Because I was
not staff I was specifically told that I wasn't allowed to sit behind
the desk but I was highly encouraged to be where I could be found. A
group of kids from International Cyclists to Asia who just happened to
accidentally plan their cycling trip the same time as the Tour had all
sorts of complications because their rooms had preempted and the
dining room wasn't serving food to anyone who wasn't with us. I
probably spent an hour or more talking with their tour guide, a guy
who I knew from 2007.

I would have liked to go swimming in the hot springs but my housing
situation was complicated and remained a big unknown until very late
in the evening. The hot springs at Baoting are sufficiently active
that there are natural pools of steaming water by the side of the
road. One pool, located about halfway between two of the resorts the
race was using, was fenced off with a locked gate and a warning sign
in Chinese "water very hot, danger of scalding, enter at your own
risk".

I should have been able to get a hotel room with no problem but the
number of people on the road somehow changed from 570 at the time the
reservations had been made to over 700 at the time we got on the
road. The hotel room I initially thought I would be able to sleep in
was shared with a woman whose husband was also in the caravan and he'd
left his room to go to her's. They hadn't been given permission for
this room change and when I went to knock on the door at ten thirty
she just said "oh no, there are two of us that bed is taken" and
wouldn't open the door.

Eventually I ended up in my sleeping bag on the floor of a friend's
room.

On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:31:49 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

The problem with not having a specific assigned location in the
caravan is that the car you are in has a tendency to leave without
you. Of course, if I had been clever enough to already be in the car
this wouldn't have been a problem but I was deep in conversation with
someone whose car had no room for me.

The Media Bus took me to the start line.

This year's Grand Depart was from Deer Looking Back Park about
halfway between Sanya Bay and Dadonghai. This is both a good place
and a bad place to start from. It's better than Phoenix Island (last
year's Grand Depart) because locals can actually see what's going on.
It's worse than Sanya Bay Road (2007) or All Green Garden in Haikou
(2006) because it's smack dab in the middle of the land connection
between the two major bays that make up Sanya City. Traffic was
probably a nightmare for the rest of the day.

I scored a ride with ones of the Shimanos. I've known him since the
2007 Tour of Qinghai Lake. He let me ride in his car at that event as
well. With the exception of a break the Shimanos ride off the front
of the peleton and there really isn't a whole lot to see. It's still
a world and a half better than the sweeps bus or one of the vehicles
that leaves before the race.

There were no real climbs in Stage One so the racing wasn't
especially exciting and the breaks were few. The disadvantage of
being in a Shimano car is that they only get one of the Commissaire's
private channels so it was often difficult to figure out exactly what
was going on. One of these days I've got to get myself into a team
car so I can hear all the Radio Tour but just being there is good
enough.

I ate lunch in one of the staff cafeterias and and dinner with the
secretariat staff in the athlete's cafeteria. I spent most of my time
hanging around the main lobby not especially doing anything but being
available in case I was needed to translate something. Because I was
not staff I was specifically told that I wasn't allowed to sit behind
the desk but I was highly encouraged to be where I could be found. A
group of kids from International Cyclists to Asia who just happened to
accidentally plan their cycling trip the same time as the Tour had all
sorts of complications because their rooms had preempted and the
dining room wasn't serving food to anyone who wasn't with us. I
probably spent an hour or more talking with their tour guide, a guy
who I knew from 2007.

I would have liked to go swimming in the hot springs but my housing
situation was complicated and remained a big unknown until very late
in the evening. The hot springs at Baoting are sufficiently active
that there are natural pools of steaming water by the side of the
road. One pool, located about halfway between two of the resorts the
race was using, was fenced off with a locked gate and a warning sign
in Chinese "water very hot, danger of scalding, enter at your own
risk".

I should have been able to get a hotel room with no problem but the
number of people on the road somehow changed from 570 at the time the
reservations had been made to over 700 at the time we got on the
road. The hotel room I initially thought I would be able to sleep in
was shared with a woman whose husband was also in the caravan and he'd
left his room to go to her's. They hadn't been given permission for
this room change and when I went to knock on the door at ten thirty
she just said "oh no, there are two of us that bed is taken" and
wouldn't open the door.

Eventually I ended up in my sleeping bag on the floor of a friend's
room.


I really love reading your stuff. Thanks for posting these.

On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:43:23 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Certainly I'll never take a flu shot again.

Wow. Can't believe -anyone- would take any Chinese medicine or
vitamins, given all the press about bad processing and lead
contamination. You have NO idea about how someone might process and
store something like an injectable. They might be using live embryos
or (partly) killed virus or who knows what.

Glad you didn't have a worse reaction, but gotta say it's you're own
dumb fault for doing something so stupid like that, MR.

On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:31:49 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Eventually I ended up in my sleeping bag on the floor of a friend's
room.

Great report. Thanks for posting!!

Nobody wrote:
On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:43:23 -0800 (PST), marian rosenberg wrote:
Certainly I'll never take a flu shot again.

Wow. Can't believe -anyone- would take any Chinese medicine or
vitamins, given all the press about bad processing and lead
contamination. You have NO idea about how someone might process and
store something like an injectable. They might be using live embryos
or (partly) killed virus or who knows what.

Glad you didn't have a worse reaction, but gotta say it's you're own
dumb fault for doing something so stupid like that, MR.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Tom Kunich wrote:
Not everyone here recognizes what you're saying. They'll just treat your
position as being the result of blind racism.

The penis wags the bonobo.

On 11/17/2009 01:12 AM, Donald Munro wrote:
Tom Kunich wrote:
Not everyone here recognizes what you're saying. They'll just treat
your position as being the result of blind racism.

The penis wags the bonobo.

"The Penis"? No one's called me that since ... MY GOD! Has it really
been 11 years since I set aside the Super Hero uniform?

Fred Fredburger wrote:
"The Penis"? No one's called me that since ... MY GOD! Has it really
been 11 years since I set aside the Super Hero uniform?

http://blogs.heretv.com/hotgayblog/f...is-costume.jpg