Distress at Tarleton
Being of the good boy
scout mentality I prepared for the evening time trial at Tarleton, run by Southport CC, with great care.
Check my bike, put
chest strap (frequently forgotten) for heart rate monitor in bag, club jersey, put heart
rate monitor on the bars, also frequently forgotten. Goggles, also known as
shades, frequently forgotten, in the bag, check bag for mitts , shorts,
(occasionally forgotten) spare tub and co2 inflator, shoes,(occasionally forgotten) good, all there.
Final check on tyre
pressures, here things begin to unravel. While inflating rear wheel to around
120 lbs I notice the tub looks a bit mis-shapen, further investigation reveals
why when warming up on the turbo trainer there was a slight regular bump on the
wheel. The tub was approaching end of life, jeeze what a time to find out, what
to do? The answer was my high pressure lightweight wheels I used last year, all
I need now is spare innertube and tyre levers. Just in case of a puncture I
like to be prepared to avoid a long walk back to the start.
Right, pump up the
spare wheels, fit a magnet to the front wheel, there I’ve thought of
everything, load up the car let’s go.
I arrived early at the
lay by, parked near my spot with a bit of level sidewalk for the turbo trainer,
I was second car to arrive and was well away from the other car, over 100 yards
or so.
I went for relief at
the spot well used by all competitors, came back and could not believe what I
saw, a huge van had decided to park right over my level bit for the turbo, four
feet from my backend, the guy had a hundred yards to park in and chose to rob me of
warming up space. Jeeze!
I decided to
reposition my spot at right angles to the road and managed to level the
trainer, just as I had set up the trainer the guy with the van offered to move
his van back a bit, politely through gritted teeth I said it was ok.
While going through
the pre event ritual I took stock of the wind, quite strong and according to
the forecast estimated to be 18 mph, wow it could be a struggle.
I took out the wheels
then the bike from the car, put in the front wheel, checked out the magnet
placement, yep, the speed is registering, then put in the back wheel.
That dreaded ‘I don’t
believe it’ moment came like a lightning bolt, there was no skewer in the back
wheel, in my haste to swap wheels I failed to notice the damn quick release was
missing.
I sat in the car and
reflected in misery, but as I reflected I was mindful that the wind was waving
the trees back and forth with strong gusts. I was reluctant to try and borrow a
spare quick release fearing my evening of woe may result in further disaster in
a battle against the wind resulting in some kind soul wondering if they would
ever see their spare skewer again
I decided to make the
return home, regretful on one hand and cheered by the fact that I was avoiding
more misery battling the wind for ten miles.
I arrived home and
watched the last ten k of the Giro, later I received the results from Tarleton
by email, I was cheered by the fact Andy Horner was over a minute down on the
time he achieved the previous week, not in a nasty way but a realisation I
would truly have been shafted by the wind.
Being forgetful can
sometimes be very satisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment