That coaching gig in July....yeah...uh ..well...& Packing adventures...

Well I lost the coaching gig in July and August as there was not enough interest in the tri camp...stupid economy....the plus side from this is I can reclaim my vacation days...

Last night I decided to pack the bike myself...read Al was out of town and Dave was going to charge me to pack it. so after a late night of classes and budget crunching with Bjoern and Erik...Erik being the new President of the Central Tri Club, I got home at about 11PM and decided to pack the Stomper.

I managed to tackle the tricky business of getting the handlebars off, the front brakes, the seat post, derailleur hanger ( Dan told me to take this sucker off last year unless I wanted to risk cracking the frame.) But I almost had a Speedy Claire moment with the pedals. ( note this is an old post...she has since mastered the art of bike packing.) I managed to get one off relatively easy, the other took some torque. Turned it one way wouldn't budge, tried the other barely moved, finally contorted myself over the bike and got a cloth to grip my bike tool and after about five minutes of battle my pedal and crank parted company. Total bike dis assembly and packaging took about 15-20 minutes. Then began the 2 hour, epic of how do I make my pump, nutrition, water bottles, and spare parts, fit in the case and not go over the 25kg/ 50lbs. weight limit, as well as wrap and protect crucial exposed moving parts. Hence it was 2 hours of taping, wrapping, compressing, adjusting, and weighing by feel.

I also packed my carry-on. I remember the fiasco that awaited one poor guy last year when his luggage ended up on a different flight and his bike and wetsuit didn't show up until day of check in...hence everything I need to race but the bike ends up in my carry on...shoes, helmet, wetsuit, tri suit. If anything goes wrong it's a hell of a lot cheaper and relatively easier to have to try to rent/ borrow just a bike at the expo, than to have to buy/borrow/rent ALL of the necessities. I also bring about 2-3 days clothes, easy in a warm weather environment cargo shorts have atleast a 2 day lifespan, and basic toiletries.

Tonight, I haven't trained in about 3 days, I would like to get a half hour run in this afternoon, but if I can't no biggie...I'm tapering, besides I have 5 days that I can do some light running, and cycling in a warm weather environment. I need to finish packing, and then I'm taking my sister out for her birthday.

Part of me is a little nervous heading into this, my run training is nowhere near where I would like it, but for as weak as I feel there I know my swim and bike are strong, hopefully the racing gods will smile on me and I'll be able to go a tad bit faster than last year. For months this has been a distant thing, and uncertainty, a maybe, as I packed last night the reality set in that this is really happening....I just hope the prep and the sacrifice was worth it.

Hoping re-packing in NZ will easy as it was last night.
R.D.