Race Week Countdown: 1!

the last day before the big day. Aside from a light swim out to the Coffee boat ( and a few failed attempts to free dive about 15m for a handful of sand in exchange for a free pair of Blueseventy goggles!) and a final spin on the bike before check-in, the idea was to have a very relaxing day. Something that i’m still getting the hang of, evidently! After the questionable wisdom of the deep diving challenge, I had some very stretching good work done on my quads and glutes by the ART crew followed by a carbo based breakfast. I could not resist a final round of the expo in the hope of collecting a few more nutritional freebies – and scored some Erin Baker granola and cookies for my pre race breakfast. Stopping into Hawaiian Pedals for a chat with the guys from Oomph regarding kit sponsorship (well, you might as well ask!) I bumped into Mike and Johnny from Epic camp who are over from California for the weekend. Great to see them and I’m sure I’ll be even more glad of it tomorrow out on the run course.

Having assembled my gear bags as follows :
Pre swim – goggles, Blue seventy suit, surgical tape( against chaffing), vaseline, chip, swim cap, safety pins, spare inner tube, multi tool, cable tie, bike food and shoes and gas canisters (to be loaded up in the morning)
Bike – number belt, sunglasses, tri top (incase it’s cold!!), gel
Run -Diadora shoes, socks (both regular and compression in the end), visor, spare sunglasses ( $14 in the mall), wrist band with ibrobrofen, immodium, pils in, hairband, magnesium shot and a gel)
And stuck all the label son my biek, I took it out for a final 45 min spin on my way to be massaged.

Not quite sure how I managed it, but I took a wrong road having overshot my turn onto Alli drive and wound up doing some pretty steep climbing to recift y this as well as being in danger of being late for my massage. Not very relaxing really, however the bike was all fine, and I did get theer just in time ( albeit pretty disgustingly sweaty). The massage was wonderful, she worked on my shoulders, shins, feet and a bit on my back. Heaven. As I lay there listening to her gentle mystical chanting music, I was thinking about what a harsh contrast this was to what will be tomorrow and focused on gathering up my energy inside for what my body was about to undergo.

Gave the bike a quick clean, over the raod to drop it and bags in for their night in transition before dinner. Having been advised to deflate our tyres a little when leaving them out in the heat, I discovered that somehow the valve of my front tube was stuck right inside the rim of the wheel, fully closed. With the style of extender that I’m using (just a straight screw-over tube) I couldn’t figure how this was possible, or how to open it. Although I might have just left it like that – there was enough pressure to ride and chances of it exploding over night were slim – I would have been screwed in the event of a (slow) puncture on course so it was of with the wheel, back to the hotel and bursting the tube out to replace it with a longer valved one. All rather rushed and not the most calming experience, but far better to discover this now than later. Feel a little disconcerted having changed a tyre I would have liked to ride it in make sure it rolls ok with no bulges or whatever, but thems the breaks. Will get into transition early and have a good old fuss over it in the morning.

Hot-footed it up to Bongo Bens for an early diner with Steven, Russ, Roger and his wife, Mary who has jetted out for the weekend and managed to get my order in with theirs. Taco salad. Good fuel food, resisted adding chilli sauce!
Returned home via the superstore where I purchased my post race treats (iced coffee and German Beer) and finally back in our room with my feet up and an old Patrick Swayze movie on the box. Phew. A little pre race target setting ( based on my last race here) mental rehearsals and checklists before sweet dreams of the Queen K and Alii drive……

finally, huge thanks to everyone for all the good luck commnets, emails and texts. I'll e doing my best for you! And my own wishes for he best possible race for all my kona 09 buddies, especially Steven, Russel, Roger, Rachel, Richard, Martin, Douglas, Nick Rose and Kit
good night!