If bad luck comes in threes, we have definitely had our lot and the horizon is looking much brighter for us from here on in! Great timing considering it’s Time Trial day tomorrow and everything will theoretically be going our way!
The day dawned very rainy and cold – I’m not sure what has happened to the Sunny Hawkes Bay but we haven’t seen any of it yet! Never mind, the week is young.
The crew headed out to the Time Trial Course for a drive and then a ride of the challenging parcours – general summary courtesy of Laura is that it’s up hill on the way out and downhill on the way home, with a few ups and downs in between and some ‘gnarly’ bits. Should be exciting!
Another van headed into Napier to pick up the next influx of Southlanders and we all met up later in the afternoon to swap stories and there were a few!
First of all, in the SQUEEEZE to fit all the bikes into the van on the way home from the Time Trial recon, Brooke’s wheel was left behind at the start finish area.
Thankfully there was a happy ending to this first whoopsy - after a considerable period of stress / panic, the crew that headed out later in the day to check out the course ended up finding the wheel in a bush where some kind fellow-cyclist had safely hidden it. I have faith in human kind!
Next of the hard luck stories, was a doozy. The crew that discovered the missing wheel were then heading out to check the TT course out when the van they were in (one of our two rentals) threw all of its toys out of the cot and snapped the cam belt. Bit of a drama and several hours later the woeful crew arrived back with a replacement van. Thanks Stewart Morley for taking that one on the chin! Double thumbs up!!
Meanwhile, while the van drama was going on, Stu MacDonald was giving the U17 girls a lesson on how to clean their bikes. After supplying them with buckets, sponges and cleaning gear and a description of the exercise, he came to join me in the big communal kitchen to help cook our Holiday Park Masterchef entry. Soon after, Laura arrived to report that she had had a derailier ‘explosion.’ A quick inspection confirmed that this was indeed the case, and right on 5pm, the remaining trusty van was off to grease up to the local the bike shop in the hope they would keep their doors open for a few minutes longer and supply them with a new part – again a happy ending and the replacement job began in earnest back at the camp.
After a meal of Risotto and Salad – (I can’t comment on my own Masterchef entry sorry!!) it was time for me to head off to the Manager’s Meeting with my sidekick Doddzy and then home for a team meeting to figure out logistics of start times, van departures, food intakes and what time the medal presentations might be?! Fingers crossed there are some Southlanders on the podium!
We conquered all the challenges that today presented head on (thanks the Southland Support Crew – BIG UPS!) and we’re still smiling and enjoying being all squashed in together in a tiny space with hordes of bikes - Life is Good!!! Let’s see what tomorrow brings ... I have a good feeling!
DT
CLUB NATIONALS LINKS
Full results and race reports: Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Team Tour Diary Day 1 - Tue | Day 2 - Wed | Day 3 - Thu | Day 4 - Fri | Day 5 - Sat | Day 6 - Sun