MONDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2008
I was still festering at 5.30am when I laid in bed listening to the rain on Monday morning. A 6 hour bike, great!!! Still, I dragged myself out of bed and went for my 3.8k swim shrouded with negative aura and complete dread about the bike that followed.
Well blow me down with a feather, by the time I headed out at 10am the sky was clear blue and it was getting hot! I had taken off my leggings at Ranagiriri, my thermals by Ohinewai and broken out in a sweat by Te Hoe. It was a breeze, enjoyable and extremely pleasant. I was keeping a good pace and had only had one flat tyre. I spent a bit of time sitting by the road side, enjoying the sunshine, whilst I picked out glass shards from the tyre. Despite being very tempted to have a little snoozy, I thought it best to head into Morrinsville to buy a new tyre.
In the bike shop I had one of my typical bike shopping experiences. I was faced with the choice of 40 tyres ranging from $40 - $110. I spent a couple of minutes before my brain went into melt down and I was forced to make my choice. I picked a mid price range, black tyre, in an attractive box and I yelled across the bike shop (since no-one had asked me if I needed help) “Will this fit my bike?” I was acutely aware that I might have made a huge mistake and picked a tyre that was only suitable for a childs bike, but I had reassured myself that this chance was fairly low, as there was a very fast looking man-biker on the package and no ducks or bears. After the guys in the bike shop had established my ‘possible’ average mileage they let me part with my money.
At this point I admit I haven’t had a speedo on the bike since I got it. I have a heart rate monitor thing, that despite costing the price of my car, works only intermittently at picking up the km’s on the bike. I’m sure I have missed out on some vital information during my training but I’m too lazy to sort it out and not very technically minded. I actually have a speedo, right here on the book shelf, just waiting to go on the bike – it’s on my ‘to do list’.
I was still festering at 5.30am when I laid in bed listening to the rain on Monday morning. A 6 hour bike, great!!! Still, I dragged myself out of bed and went for my 3.8k swim shrouded with negative aura and complete dread about the bike that followed.
Well blow me down with a feather, by the time I headed out at 10am the sky was clear blue and it was getting hot! I had taken off my leggings at Ranagiriri, my thermals by Ohinewai and broken out in a sweat by Te Hoe. It was a breeze, enjoyable and extremely pleasant. I was keeping a good pace and had only had one flat tyre. I spent a bit of time sitting by the road side, enjoying the sunshine, whilst I picked out glass shards from the tyre. Despite being very tempted to have a little snoozy, I thought it best to head into Morrinsville to buy a new tyre.
In the bike shop I had one of my typical bike shopping experiences. I was faced with the choice of 40 tyres ranging from $40 - $110. I spent a couple of minutes before my brain went into melt down and I was forced to make my choice. I picked a mid price range, black tyre, in an attractive box and I yelled across the bike shop (since no-one had asked me if I needed help) “Will this fit my bike?” I was acutely aware that I might have made a huge mistake and picked a tyre that was only suitable for a childs bike, but I had reassured myself that this chance was fairly low, as there was a very fast looking man-biker on the package and no ducks or bears. After the guys in the bike shop had established my ‘possible’ average mileage they let me part with my money.
At this point I admit I haven’t had a speedo on the bike since I got it. I have a heart rate monitor thing, that despite costing the price of my car, works only intermittently at picking up the km’s on the bike. I’m sure I have missed out on some vital information during my training but I’m too lazy to sort it out and not very technically minded. I actually have a speedo, right here on the book shelf, just waiting to go on the bike – it’s on my ‘to do list’.