Lets not make a drama out of a crisis
I’m not one to panic, as many of you will know but today i’ve sort of had my hair on fire all day.
Dennis and I set about attaching my tubeless tyres and after initial slapping on backs and general self congratulation first tyre mounting, some how the second wasn’t the same. It went on the rim and I started pumping and I pumped and pumped and pumped still harder, no air went into that tyre. We tried adjusting the way we held the rim, pressing, squeezing, cajoling and even swearing but that tyre remained flat. After another half hour of me bouncing on the pump until sweat ran in rivers down my red face I collapsed, handed the pump to dennis who made similar unsuccessful efforts. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the hose had sheared from the pump meaning we had been spouting hot air into a void for nearly an hour!
A local bike shop – action bikes – sorted us out in seconds, so helpful and friendly, if only the bike shops back home were like that, what a wonderful world it would be.
To top this I had a call from the fraud office at natwest. Some Lind soul had cloned my credit card, spent £500 locally on jewellery and was obviously off to buy more objects of desire on me when the boys at may west were on to him. They stopped the card, brilliant, but now I only have £253 to last ten days, no spending spree for me unless I borrow Dennis’s card! He has kindly offered to sort mr out though like the good friend he is.
Tomorrow at 7:57:30am we start the prologue. We had a practice session today and we both found the going interesting, a bit like trying to walk on ball bearings really. The surface is loose tiny rocks that slide and roll under the wheels. The downhills are treacherous with speed bumps littering the trail. Four people were hospitalised with broken bones after being to overconfident. It will not be the case for us, we are both suffering a bit with nerves although we excited, it’s like waiting for Christmas in many ways.
March 21st, 2009 at 12:15 am
good luck both of you, we’re with you every step of the way. When I say ‘with you’ obviously I mean several thousand miles away with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other. oh, don’t forget the vasolene…
March 21st, 2009 at 7:17 am
Paul “had been spouting hot air into a void for nearly an hour!”….so many sarcastic comments to make…so little time! Keep on keeping on!