Always Forward

{cptags} Chile is not a well-known country. There was nothing in popular culture, history, or recent news that I could rely upon to inform my presumptions about Chile. Only bits and pieces, from the horrors of the Pinochet regime to the likely beauty of the Andes Mountains, however contaminated by Santiago’s smog, really occupied my mind. But really, it was a clean slate. The only thing I really knew was that I was headed for South America, a place that, in general, I imagined to be poor, but in a rustic kind of way.

{cptags} After checking out the vineyard, a quick stop in Los Andes to check out the nearest city (population: 80,000), and a late dinner, we all headed to sleep.

{ctptags}   Shortly after the 15-km freestyle cross-country race ended, the wind picked up and the fog rolled in. Within a few hours, the snow was coming down en force. The temperature plummeted and the gusts howled through the buildings of the Chilean Warfare School. Out of the bay windows of the officers’ lounge, which face Tres Hermanos and Hotel Portillo, one could see only a few feet. All was gray and white.

{cptags} Eventually, the roads were cleared and the military received permission to transport us via bus down the switchbacks to the vineyard. A few trucks were still stranded. By the time we reached the bottom of the regulated part of the road – what we’ll call the mountain section, guarded with a gatehouse at the bottom – we noticed that the road was actually still closed for the most part. Besides us, only a few passenger cars and vans from Hotel Portillo were on the road. Truck after truck after truck was waiting to get moving and deliver their goods to Argentina. The truckers eyed us with envy as we passed, this gigantic bus. I think the military uniform of our driver convinced them to limit their envy to their eyes.

{cptags} For the night following the 20-km biathlon race, the weather forecast called for a chance of heavy snow, strong and gusty winds, and dense fog. As Travis and I walked back to the warfare school from Hotel Portillo, whose Wi-Fi connection we used to get on the internet and make some phone calls, we could see the fog started to creep up the valley and start to block out the base of the mountains and some of the stars. Only time would tell if that fog would bring a blizzard worse than the one earlier that morning during the individual race.

{cptags} Racing at 9500 feet is a whole new world of fun. I was just standing beside my bed this morning and my heart rate monitor showed 120 bpm. No lie. The past several mornings, my heart rate has been high, but not that high.

{cptags} We arrived in Chile yesterday after a long trip from Vermont. Chile is awesome. There's snow. There are huge mountains. We're underneath Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas, and the highest mountain outside of Asia at 22,841 feet, according to Wikipedia. It's actually in Argentina, which is a testament to how close we are to the border. Every day, the mountain pass fills with semi-trucks carrying goods between the two countries. They must stop at the border station, so there's a lot of traffic on the dozen or so massive switchbacks.

{cptags} Tomorrow, I fly to Chile for a week of racing at the South American Championships. Should be exciting! Brian

{cptags} The past week has been interesting. Things were going pretty well until around noon Tuesday. I had just finished up my usual 15-km biathlon time trial when suddenly my body felt like it'd been hit by a semitrailer.

{cptags} Reducing our use of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity can be solved effectively through the intangible levers of our market economy. As energy prices have soared, Americans have quickly responded by driving fewer miles, transitioning to more fuel efficient vehicles, and making use of public transportation. Businesses have imposed fuel tariffs and invested more heavily in logistical efficiency. No environmental rhetoric was necessary to effect these adaptations. Individuals, acting in their self-interest, are making the market more efficient as a whole.

{cptags} Since what I’ve created here is much different from what I had before, I’m going to give you a quick tour of the new site. First, you’ll notice that things might take some time to load. That’s because instead of being coded using Dreamweaver, Always Forward runs on Joomla, which is a PHP/MySQL database-based program. This allows me to update the site from anywhere I have an internet connection, or even just from my phone. Joomla is behind most of the cool features of the site. It’s also open-source, which means anyone can download, use, and even modify and sell it.