I arrived at the race site at about 7:20 am. Pulled my bike out of the back only to discover that my tire was flat again. No way! I must be stupid! I have been changing tires for years and never experienced anything like this. Of course as I mentioned I had no spare and so my first reaction was to put the bike back in the car and head home.
But...I knew there was a possibility that one of the exhibitors would have a spare and after the second try I found one.
Back to the car where I completely removed the tire from the rim. I inspected every millimetre of the rim and the inside of the tire but could not find any problems. Sometimes if there is a jagged edge or a piece of debris lodged somewhere it can cause this repetitive problem. But I could not find a single irregularity anywhere and so I installed my new tube and headed off to rack my bike in the transition area.
I almost got there before it blew again!! I said "fuck" out loud! Time to go home for sure!
But...I knew the bike shop guy a little bit, as we bought Roos bike from him years ago and I remember him as a a good guy. I went and explained my problem and he agreed to help me out. He coached me through good tube changing process, and then as we were pumping the tire again he suddenly said....wait, wait, wait! He had spotted something. Thankfully just before it blew again because we were now on the last tube available.
Personally I think he got a bit lucky to find this, but I can assure you that I never would have. This is the inside of the tire, where perhaps you can make a out a wee little cut maybe 3 mm long.
So now I was going home for sure. No more tubes left, and for sure if we put any amount of pressure in it that would be the end.
But.....maybe he had a new tire? Lets look. Yup! So after a bunch more farting around I had a tube and tire which would probably work but of course no spare again.
I now had to hustle cause it was getting close to race time and all my stuff was still in my car back in the parking lot. So I got my bike racked and headed back to the car for the rest of my gear and to start getting changed.
And then it started raining. That was the last straw. I left my stuff in the car and started back to transition to get my bike back. It was just not meant to be and since this was only a training race there was no harm done.
But...what was I gonna feel like later?
Back to the car, got my stuff, got it all set up in transition and put my wetsuit on. Game on!
And with this positive attitude things started to go better.
I was thinking that maybe I could do this race in 1:50. Based on my recent experience I should be able to do the swim in 15 mins, the bike in 60 mins, and then the run in 35. That of course left no time for transition but I figured I could make it up on my bike ride.
Sure enough, I stood up out of the water at 14:45. After 2 transitions and the bike I had indeed made up the extra 2:30 that my transition took and I headed out on the run at 1:14:54. Perfect!
Now all I had to do was run my planned 5 min kms for the 7k run and I would have achieved my goal.
But....was this a 7k run like I considered when doing my math, or was it actually 7.5? Whoops!
Oh well. Game on! I ran the 7.5 kms in a very respectable 33:30 and finished with an overall time of 1:48:12. Very satisfying. Here is the official if you care.
I was 54th out of 180 overall and 3rd out of 8 in my age group.
I did my best Elly....even though I almost didn't!
To compensate myself for all the grief I experienced with the tire situation I allowed myself to but a new secret weapon that the bike guy had. I am gonna save that for tomorrows post however but I can tell you now that on top of making me faster, this secret weapn has the added advantage of making Claudette laugh. Stay tuned!
(swim 750, ride 30, run 7.5)
"A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change."---Earl Nightingale
But...I knew there was a possibility that one of the exhibitors would have a spare and after the second try I found one.
Back to the car where I completely removed the tire from the rim. I inspected every millimetre of the rim and the inside of the tire but could not find any problems. Sometimes if there is a jagged edge or a piece of debris lodged somewhere it can cause this repetitive problem. But I could not find a single irregularity anywhere and so I installed my new tube and headed off to rack my bike in the transition area.
I almost got there before it blew again!! I said "fuck" out loud! Time to go home for sure!
But...I knew the bike shop guy a little bit, as we bought Roos bike from him years ago and I remember him as a a good guy. I went and explained my problem and he agreed to help me out. He coached me through good tube changing process, and then as we were pumping the tire again he suddenly said....wait, wait, wait! He had spotted something. Thankfully just before it blew again because we were now on the last tube available.
Personally I think he got a bit lucky to find this, but I can assure you that I never would have. This is the inside of the tire, where perhaps you can make a out a wee little cut maybe 3 mm long.
So now I was going home for sure. No more tubes left, and for sure if we put any amount of pressure in it that would be the end.
But.....maybe he had a new tire? Lets look. Yup! So after a bunch more farting around I had a tube and tire which would probably work but of course no spare again.
I now had to hustle cause it was getting close to race time and all my stuff was still in my car back in the parking lot. So I got my bike racked and headed back to the car for the rest of my gear and to start getting changed.
And then it started raining. That was the last straw. I left my stuff in the car and started back to transition to get my bike back. It was just not meant to be and since this was only a training race there was no harm done.
But...what was I gonna feel like later?
Back to the car, got my stuff, got it all set up in transition and put my wetsuit on. Game on!
And with this positive attitude things started to go better.
I was thinking that maybe I could do this race in 1:50. Based on my recent experience I should be able to do the swim in 15 mins, the bike in 60 mins, and then the run in 35. That of course left no time for transition but I figured I could make it up on my bike ride.
Sure enough, I stood up out of the water at 14:45. After 2 transitions and the bike I had indeed made up the extra 2:30 that my transition took and I headed out on the run at 1:14:54. Perfect!
Now all I had to do was run my planned 5 min kms for the 7k run and I would have achieved my goal.
But....was this a 7k run like I considered when doing my math, or was it actually 7.5? Whoops!
Oh well. Game on! I ran the 7.5 kms in a very respectable 33:30 and finished with an overall time of 1:48:12. Very satisfying. Here is the official if you care.
I was 54th out of 180 overall and 3rd out of 8 in my age group.
I did my best Elly....even though I almost didn't!
To compensate myself for all the grief I experienced with the tire situation I allowed myself to but a new secret weapon that the bike guy had. I am gonna save that for tomorrows post however but I can tell you now that on top of making me faster, this secret weapn has the added advantage of making Claudette laugh. Stay tuned!
(swim 750, ride 30, run 7.5)
"A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change."---Earl Nightingale
Love
Peter
Your overall numbers in all the races you do still continue to blow my mind. 54th out of 180 overall?? For your age and what you've been through cancer wise (and the throat/saliva issues that still persist), that's just wicked. I know you always have your own personal goals, but I hope you always remember just how awesome it is that you're doing what you're doing. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteI loved today's blog. It just indicates how much perseverance and dedication you have; despite the numerous setbacks, you continued to seek out help and a way to race that day! I would have definitely been heading home after the first tire issue!
Congratulations are in order!!
Love,
Michael
way to go on the race, Pete, but I'm calling "foul" on resorting to cliffhangers to get people to check back again tomorrow! Just for that, I'm not gonna!
ReplyDeleteShe's lying you know! She always checks. Congrats little brother. I feel such pride.
ReplyDeleteRight on!
ReplyDelete