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| It took a lot of work to get here |
Day 4: Saturday, October 17
On this, the day that everything goes wrong...
Activities:
Activities:
- Day begins according to plan. I wake, eat, and head out to do some leg openers on the rugby field. I'm finally back in all my gear and I feel good running in my inov-8s again. I have a good session doing strides and then openers, opting to do some longer 800m efforts since I hadn't had the chance yet. After the first one I am starting to manage the drier air, and by the second and third efforts I am not only adapted, but feeling very confident about tomorrow's race. Despite, or perhaps because of, the extended rest I'd had, I wasn't feeling sluggish, but my legs were surprisingly spritely! The efforts felt almost stupid easy, and it quelled my fears about feeling slow or weak for the race. I felt ready.
- I ran back inside with a grin, grab my bike, and roll out to where Maddie tells me the outside velodrome is about 10 minutes away. Plan is just roll easy in the velodrome and do a full gear check.
- Halfway to the velodrome I suddenly hear a POP! Then fizzzzzzz as all the air suddenly leaks from my rear tire. Fan-fucking-tastic.
- I call Maddie for a ride.
- We first head to her local bike shop. Unfortunately, the guys there can't help me because they say they are all booked up. I show them my can of Vittoria Pit Stop I'd been advised to bring. They tell me it's self explanatory and I should be able to do it myself. I am disgruntled because I've never used the stuff and I don't know what exactly to expect.
- Maddie then offers to drive me to Playford Hotel (home of TeamUSA) so I can meet with the mechanic there. The streets are shut down outside of it due to protesting at the capitol grounds, so unfortunatley she has to drop me off a flew blocks from the hotel and I walk the rest of the way.
- Partway there, I decide what the hell and try out the Pit Stop stuff. BAD IDEA! FOAM EVERYWHERE! MASSIVE NIGHTMARE! I apparently have 2 giant holes in my tire, and foam will not stop spewing out of them. Foam is falling out of the valve stem, too. It's getting up into my breaks. And all over the street. And all over me. People are staring now. I am cursing. I finally decide to run the bike the rest of the way to the hotel on foot and hope the spewing eventually putters itself out.
- Make it to the hotel and realize that no more foam appears to be leaking (thank goodness). I scurry up the stairs to the second floor and into the mechanic's room, where I discover that he's out to lunch. My heart is pounding and I'm already exhausted, but there's nothing I can do for an hour so I leave Fury there while I head downstairs to find lunch.
- I pop into a nice Italian place a few doors down, Parlamento, where I have a much-needed calming and fantastic lunch of salt and pepper squid and rocket salad ("rocket" = arugula).
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| Yeah, I was that person. Worth it! #foodporn |
- I then head back to Playford and meet the mechanic, Jay, who is just back from lunch. He assures me up and down that he can fix this - he just needs a new tubular and would I happen to have one? No? Then I need to run over to Rundle Mall and procure one from one of two bike shops down there. And don't forget the glue!
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| Yup, this is gonna work... |
- I leave and he strips off the old tire in the meantime. I remember Marty at Schlegel's was ordering me a new tire to take to Adelaide. Unfortunately with all the family business I had to take care of before my trip, I completely forgot. I am cursing having not been able to grab that, now.
- At the opposite end of Rundle mall there are two bicycle shops. I pop into one, grab two very large tubs of glue (he assures me I'll only need one but Jay said two, dammit! So I will grab two!), and the only tubular they have left in stock - some Schwalbe Lugano thing at 22 cm. I then run directly across the street into the second shop and manage to nab the only free employee to help me find another tubular. It appears he is also the new employee and has no clue what I am talking about. I manage to spy their stock - they, too, have almost nothing left, but I see something that looks Vittoria and I ask him to sell it to me. Turns out it is close to what I use, it is a Vittoria Corsa at 24 cm. I literally run back to Jay with my loot.
- Jay spends next couple of hours prepping and then gluing on my new tire. We opt to use the Vittoria. Turns out the guy was right and we only needed one tub of glue, which is fine, I can return the rest when done. I've never run with a 24 before, and we can't use my favorite valve extender either, but at this point I'm happy to have a working wheel, period.
- The tire is finally glued on. I thank Jay profusely, grab all my shit, slam on my bike race number stickers, and literally run with my bike by my side to the race transition, where I have a paltry 30 minutes left to get my bike racked or risk missing the race. The crowd of protesters has gotten larger, and I awkwardly have to navigate my steed through the crowd. It is embarrassing, and the police offers who spied me looked on me with pity.
- I finally, finally reach the transition area with minutes to spare! I had to carry my helmet and all my numbers and gear with me to get in, but apparently once there I just leave my bike there and can finish assembling my shit in the morning. I am instructed to rack it by the bullhorns for the evening, and that I can turn it around to the saddle in the morning. They promise they will have bike pumps there for airing the tires. Jay promised me that the tire glue would get a chance to cure with the bike sitting out there in the hot sun. I hope he is correct.
- I run back all the way to the other end of Rundle mall one more time to return the Lugano tire and the extra tub of glue. At this point, I am so tired that it takes me 10 minutes to work out where exactly I put the reciept and where is my credit card - oh, it's in my hand? - thanks, make the return, and get out.
- Maddie texts and is anxious to hear how things go. I fill her in and thank her for her help. She tried to find me a spare wheel in the meantime, but everyone there seems to have already converted to an 11 speed, so no dice. I feel like she's already done a ton for me, and she's focused on her group project, so I assure her I can find my way back home on the trains.
- After waiting 20 minutes in the station for the train to finally appear, I board it, and then promptly fall asleep out of exhaustion. I wake up, and realize that I've missed my exit by 2 stops. I run out, cross the platform to the other side, and wait another 20 minutes for the return train. This time I stay alert and exit at Edwardstown like I should, and gratefully walk the final 10 minutes back to home.
End-of-day:
- I learn I am not the first person to miss the train exit, and that I should have called. But I'm happy Maddie had a chance to study, and I'm exhausted, and I'm ready for dinner.
- John fell in love with cajun food on a trip to the US, and he has prepared a large pot of gumbo for us tonight. He kept it pescatarian for me, and threw in some brilliant salmon, swordfish, and shrimp. We have a true family style dinner in the formal dining room. This is one of my favorite memories of the trip. The conversation is lively. Maddie's family reminds me very fondly of sitting down to dinner with the Murphs, and I feel re-energized and re-invigorated and right at home.
- John is also an accomplished musician who composes his own music and is in a band. He was kind enough to regale me (with help from all the ladies) with Waltzing Matilda, kind of an unofficial song of Australia
- It is a good night :)
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