Some things are not 'invincible'

We had an early start and got to the start line with time to spare. Shooooo!! Here I am already to go. The field was much bigger than I thought it would be so I was one happy camper.

There was a lot of early morning mist which added to the ambiance of the day. :-))

Cyclists waiting for their turn to go. We were being let of in groups. Mine was the last to go.

Today was going to be a day of firsts!! At the water point which was at around 20km. I fell while I was standing still. Yep, don't ask me how I did that - I did!! One second I was up and the next I was on the ground. Luckily I was wearing gloves. The worst was trying to get myself unclipped from the left pedal. Eish!! Talk about embarrassing.

I managed to get up while blushing madly and assuring everyone I was fine - really fine. Hardly a scratch. Dusted the dirt off and was good to go. Nearly wiped out the 'Bride to be' - what a way to have your bridal shower and got back on the road. Just around the bend and as I was crossing the bridge - something sounded wrong, something felt wrong. Praying to the 'heaven's above' was clearly not helping. I unclipped, stopped, got off and **sigh** and a few other choice words found the problem. I had a flat!! Now this is my problem, I have tyre levers and puncture patches but *uhhhhm* no pump...WTF...(this is when I curse hubby dearly as he professed I would never need a pump - I had a magic strip in my tyres which was practically a guarantee of 'no punctures' in his book)...Yeah, right!! I don't have a spare tube either ...please note that I have begged and pleaded to get one but hey...I have that magic strip - RIGHT!!!

Luckily I had my cell phone on me - this gave me the perfect opportunity to blast 'dear hubby' and proclaim that on this same day we WOULD be buying spare tubes and a pump and whatever else was needed.

I was fortunate to have one gentleman stop to help me who was dumbfounded that I did not

a) have a spare tube and

b) not have a pump

but I had patches and tyre levers - YES - go figure!!

He helped me get the wheel off and the tube out but his pump did not work on my tube. Graciously thanked him for his help and sent him on his way.

This time I phone hubby and yell at him - my race is over....but hang on.

Two lovely young Afrikaans boys taking part - STOP - and immediately begin to try and help. They must have been about 10 yo - 14 yo. Their pump works, we find the puncture, put on a patch and get it all back in and then the valve goes.....thank them profusely, assure them that hubby should be arriving shortly and face the fact that the race for me is REALLY over!!

Hubby arrives and tries the bigger better pump and the valve has definitely gone. Oh well!! Pack it up and head home!!

The Good!!

I road 20.7km's in 50 minutes. I was definitely heading for a 01h30min finish. I was doing my best pace ever and was feeling great!!

At the end of the day:

1. I can now change my own tyre

2. I have a pump on my bike

3. I have spare tubes

4. I also have C02 canisters and the fitting

5. I SURVIVED my first fall

6. When arriving at my fave cycling shop (Solomon's in Woodmead - The BEST service EVER!! ) I could laugh at myself.

Some lessons are only learned the HARD way!!

Let's see what's in store for tomorrow. I'll keep you in suspense.

Later

Mich

Nerves, nerves, nerves....

Apparently I don't have much to distract me today from the race tomorrow. I'm just a ball of nerves. There wasn't even a goodie bag to offer some form of distraction of ooh's and aah's. Now I've cycled 40km's and I've cycled 22km's so you would think I would have NO problems with a 33km but I do.... What I totally forgot is that there is a bigger race happening on Sunday -hmmmm, and that is the race everyone seems to be in. When I collected my number this morning, the lady handing out the numbers had all the numbers organised according to our surnames - not very big piles I tell you. Does this mean another teeny field of cyclists tomorrow. Does this mean I'm being chased by the ambulance and sweeper vehicles.....it is becoming clear why my nerves are shot. I didn't enjoy having those vehicles right behind in the last race. I guess my best bet would be to try and forget that they are actually there. Also on the 'To Do List' was to get my pedals sorted out. At the last training session the left one broke. All the shops we tried today did not have parts to fix it which meant getting a whole new set of pedals. These don't come cheap as they are Shimano SPD pedals. I also wanted to get a cycling shirt that fitted - no more 'hoping like hell' that the fat will disappear promptly!! Yes, I still wake-up some mornings hoping that a miracle has taken place and that 'poof' I'm thin!! My favourite cycling shop had cycling shirts on special - woohoooo- and I managed to pick one up at a bargain. I love the colours (see pic above). Now I have the all important pockets at the back where I can safely tuck my Sport Gels. And trust that one of the more expensive gels on the market is the one that is palatable and works, hence, my decision to stick with it for now even if the budget groans a bit. Some good news: I got my baby back. My Nikon is all ready and in working order. She definitely deserved some TLC. :-)) Here's hoping for a good race tomorrow. Have a super weekend everyone. Mich