Stack of failures

Rode out to safety beach with the guys on Saturday. It was the beginning of trying to get some extra K's under the belt. The theory is that a good base is important. For me it ended up being only a 130km day. I had a flat on the way out, one more at the turn around. A group of us stopped off at "Boyz 4 Breakie" café in Mornington. The restaurant lacked in "serving with flair and passion". Rex (the ride boss) told us to move out after our order was not served within 5 minutes, so we did.

Rex was in no way wanting to wait for anybody or anything. By the time we were at our bikes outside our group was already split and we had a head wind. We got back together by Frankston. As no one was willing to sit out the front, even though we had favorable tail wind, Team REA (Andy, Alex and yours truly) took the lead. Rotating with 3 people is about as much fun as being juggled, just as you fall gracefully you get thrust back out to do the work out front. Our pace slid quickly from 43, 40, 38, ... . That is so weak! but when the guys from African Safari (will get a link next time I see them) came through, it was like getting reinforcements. They pulled us along at over 43+ km/h and we just glided along in the slip stream I was even thinking that if my legs recover I may have something for the sprint. Only Alex had anything to hold in contention up the last hills into Black Rock.

We had breakfast, it was hard to move, it was hard to believe that next week this would be barely past the half way point. The tail wind pushed me all the way home.

I thought I was dizzy when I started bouncing around out front but it was just my front tyre loosing pressure. I kept my weight over the back as much as I could and the cushion of air in the front allowed me to ride the next 3km all the way home. That was flat number 3 for the day.

I jumped in the bath, had a glass of wine and was so happy that the kids and wife were out. When they came home we all went for a nap.

Sunday was the season opener at Glenvale but as I still had

1. flat tire to attend to,
2. 2 kids to entertain and
3. Sarah had an extra coffee which meant she was running late for her race so she took the car.

3 "fails" in a row, no ride for me. I went roller blading with the kids instead.

On Tuesday the morning ride was looming. I hear rain in the middle of the night and something that sounded like a leak. It was no leak it was the dog weeing on the fridge.

It was so hard to get up from sleep, this feeling of the legs aching, warm under the doona, stretching in bed just reinforces that you want to keep on sleeping. The sound of an SMS from Alex did manage to drag me out of bed just to stand in the puddle. I did check the rain radar and there were a few intense but small patches across Melbourne. After cleaning the floor I got on with fixing my puncture. In this case it was a small leak through an existing patch, that is what let me ride on it so long the other day when it was flat. I picked up the floor pump and the handle sheared off at the head.

It started raining again. Alex called to say that he was the only one at the group start, that it was cold and wet and he was going back to work. I tried to give a strong sense of support but inside I felt relief, no wet riding for me. Again a stack of failures stopped me riding.