“The doctor will see you now…”

Andrew must have the patient of a saint.  The hours he’s spent sorting my poor bike out…  I am so grateful to him 🙂  Yesterday, and once more, my bike and I spent a few happy hours in his “office” getting my bike checked over and sorted one last time before the Maratona.  The brake pads – check.  The bottom bracket – cleaned and greased (which always, sorry I’m juvenile, makes me want to giggle in a “tee hee” Benny Hill fashion).  The gears checked and tweaked, since the new cable had now stretched a little bit.  More importantly, he’s lent me a front wheel that actually has rims!  It may not be quite as good as mine, but a wheel that works is way better than one that might fail right?!  🙂  I also have my shiny new Schwalbe Ultremo ZX tyres on.  Very slick.  Much faster, right? 😉

Once back home, the plan was to go ride for a couple of hours and make sure it was working properly.  However by then I was freezing cold (Andrew doesn’t feel the cold, I do, and it ain’t warm in there), the weather was windy and unattractive, and my insides were throwing a pain party.  It would appear that I’m back on the pills again *sigh*.  Riding just wasn’t happening – I ended up sleeping it off on the sofa for a while, and then hit the gym for a couple of hours in the evening.

However that meant the bike still wasn’t checked out, so this morning I took it out for a quick spin to make sure it was all working, and to scrub the tyres a little.  Just a quick loop, which did the trick, and reassured me that all was ok, which it pretty much was.

Cycling time: 0:48:56 hrs
Distance: 13.59 miles
Avs: 16.7 mph.
ODO: 14496 miles

Once home it was time to get on with faffing, loading up the car, etc. for tomorrow’s Dartmoor Classic.  I got all that done, grabbed some lunch, and another siesta, before heading down to HQ in Kingsteignton, which is only an hour and a half or so away – easy peasy.  I was marshalled in to the parking, parked up and walked over to the event village, along with a great many other people who don’t fancy waiting until tomorrow morning to sign up if they don’t have to!

The registration tent wasn’t busy, so I found my name, signed up, disclaimed all responsibility, and had my timing chip checked.  Today it turns out that I’m number 2149, though I could have sworn the website said I was 2505 when I looked it up as instructed!  I also met Gary and GB in the tent, serendipitously, and we wandered around the event village for a while, with live music in the background, and the weather slowly deteriorating…

The Specialized tent and groovy seating, which was proving very popular.

 Bike porn.  Something to do with Mclaren… 🙂

Lots of stalls, aka opportunities to spend money on last minute essentials.  Or non-essentials.  I got a couple of SiS bottles as my bottles are knackered and don’t match – and that’s just not on, right? 😉

Time to take a seat, drink some surprisingly good coffee, eat icecream if that’s something you’re allowed to do, and debate the weather forecast, the layers to be worn, where to stick the jersey numbers, you know, the usual pre-sportive type of chat.  

I love that the ladies get luxury toilets :).  We’re very special you know *grin*

Right now I am, courtesy of the organisers, safely ensconced in my hotel room in the Passage House Hotel, watching the rain fall outside my window, and hoping it will have passed by by tomorrow morning.  I’d check a weather forecast to see, but we all know how helpful that’s likely to be!  I think I’ll settle for waking up tomorrow morning, probably at 5:45 am ish, and looking out of the window to see what’s actually happening out there before I decide what to wear :).  Time to go and see if I can find something safe and fuelling to eat.  I’m thinking something potato based…