San Diego Training Week: Day 5

Well it's all done. My week of training in Southern California is complete and even though it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be it was still productive. The weather didn't co-operate till late in the week and besides that I wasn't able to put in the intensity or volume because of being sick. Today was my final session, a long run out at Lake Miramar. It's a man made reservoir but you wouldn't know it from looking at it. It has a paved 8 km path that runs around the rim of the lake and I was planning to do 2 loops. As with the rest of the week I wasn't feeling 100%. My legs felt heavy and tired from yesterday's ride and my lungs felt tight and I didn't feel like I could get a good deep breath. I began the run and thought that it didn't matter how much it hurt, this was my last training day here and I had to complete it. The lake's shoreline isn't straight but instead it's jagged with all kinds of little inlets and lagoons so this made the run a little more interesting. This is a popular spot for runners, cyclists and roller bladers and there were plenty of them out today. I did a counter clockwise loop first and when I got around to where I'd started I turned and did the second loop in the opposite direction. Anything to try and make the second half seem different. I felt uncomfortable for the entire run even though the route was pretty flat and my pace was slower than usual, a 5:16 pace. I obviously still haven't recovered but I've got the next 3 days off and hopefully can get back to normal for my last 2 weeks before Miami. I know it sounds ridiculous but after months of training I'm having thoughts of not being able to finish the race based on how I've felt this week. I hope that's just the cold talking.

San Diego Training Week: Day 4

I'm feeling a bit better today but definitely nowhere near 100%. Today was the ride I'd been looking forward to since I planned this trip and now I was wondering if I'd be able to enjoy it. The weather had also come around and there was no threat of rain, the sun was shining and it was warming up so if nothing else I'd have a nice day to ride. I was also intending to run after the ride so I packed all my riding and running gear into the truck and took off. I headed inland, towards the hills and canyons and after a bit of trouble with my GPS I arrived at the starting point. I started out and the first thoughts were that it was a bit of an effort pedaling. I was confused because even though I wasn't feeling best I was on a bit of a down grade but I could only maintain 28-29 km/hr. The other thing I kept thinking was that I shouldn't be on a downgrade, the entire 1st half of the loop was a climb. Well maybe it was just a bit of a downhill before it started to go up. This kept up for 8 km and I was really confused so I tried an experiment. I stopped pedaling. If I was going downhill I should continue to coast. As soon as I stopped pedaling though I started slowing down significantly and came to a stop. Wow. Talk about deceptive. All this time I thought I was going down when I was actually going up. I got to the first turn and now the grade became apparent. I was definitely looking at UP from here on and as I went further it seemed the grade just got steeper. This was absolutely small ring territory. I continued for another 13 km of climbing and arrived at a spot that looked like it might be the high point of the ride because the road started going down from there but I wasn't at the midway point of the ride yet. I figured that it was probably a bit of downhill and I'd encounter another climb at some point but the climbing to this point had sucked a lot of my energy and feeling how I was I didn't want to get further out and bonk on another climb. I decided to turn back and add some mileage at the bottom of the descent so I turned back and headed down. What I hadn't realized was that the wind was at my back on the climb and I'd be heading back into it while descending and it turned out to be pretty stiff and tossed me around a bit. I didn't take a single pedal stroke for 5 km and was on the brakes the whole way. I'm going to have to check my brake pads to see if there's any left. When I got to the bottom, a LOT faster that when I got to the top, I turned onto another road to try and add about 10 km of what I assumed would be flat road to the ride. I don't know why I assumed this but needless to say, it wasn't flat. In fact, I encountered 2 short climbs steeper than any part for the initial climb. I only rode for 5 km and turned back (again, 3 km of no pedaling and on the brakes) and headed towards where I'd parked. I did 55 km total and averaged 25 km/hr but for the most part I was probably riding between 13-14 km/hr. At some points at 10 km/hr and under. My legs were sore but this was a good opportunity to get them running. I was originally thinking 10 km but that was before I got sick so 5 km would be my limit today. Anyway, I was planning a long run for tomorrow. I ran out along the same route as I'd ridden, this time knowing I was running on an upgrade even though it still didn't look like it. At the 2.5 km point I turned around and came back and I ended up with a 5:06 pace but I felt pretty bad. Usually as I finish my run I recover really quick but this time I had to sit down and wait it out. I felt weak and dizzy and I may have been a bit dehydrated too but mostly I think it was from the cold. I guzzled down some Gatorade and sat on some steps for a few minutes and then packed up and headed for home. This is a ride I'd do again easily and would really enjoy it if I was feeling well.

San Diego Training Week: Day 3

Today's plan was for an open water swim followed by a run. I haven't been able to kick this cold and was feeling crappy but I had to get out and try to get something done. I grabbed my wetsuit and running gear and headed for water. I wanted to swim in Mission Bay where I've swam before during the Mission Bay Triathlons and figured this would let me avoid the ocean coast and waves and tides. When I got there though they had posted No Swimming signs. Apparently the rain during the week had stirred up "stuff" so swimming was a no-no. Ok, well I decided to head to the coast and see what the situation was there. I drove to La Jolla Cove and it wasn't pretty, the wind was pretty hefty and the water seemed angry. The waves and breakers looked pretty nasty and swimming alone and not being familiar with rough water swimming I wasn't about to chance getting out there. So it was going to be just a run. I got my running gear on and was hoping to get 10 km in but I'd have to see how I felt. I started running north along the cliff overlooking the cove towards the town of La Jolla. I really didn't feel great and the best I could do was maintain a 6:00 pace. And this was on a slight downhill. I ran past the cove and hit a steep uphill into La Jolla which I did slowly and then continued through the town and on to Torrey Pines Rd. which was a long descent down to La Jolla Shores. All I could think about was that I'd be climbing this on my return. I got down to the shores, a long beach, and ran to the end where I had to take a break. I was at 4 km and with the exception of a short uphill the run so far was all downhill. Not good. I took a short break and started back and it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I made it all the way back up to the cove and had a 5:50 pace for the 8 km run but at this point I had to just be happy with what I could do.

San Diego Training Week: Day 2

I woke up this morning coughing and hacking and thought great, another lost day. I looked outside and there was sun, although it would be short lived as the forecast was calling for showers starting shortly. Even though I wasn`t feeling great and the weather was touch and go I felt like I had to get something in today but I hadn`t brought any clothing for rain. After all, as the song goes, `It never rains in southern California`. So I took off to one of my favourite store here in San Diego, Road Runner Sports, where they have a clearance centre that prices are drastically reduced. I found a cycling jacket for 50% off and stumbled across a pair of CW-X tights at a fabulous price and thought these would be great if I wanted to stay warm on either a ride or run. So with gear in hand I headed back to the house and packed my bike and running shoes into the truck and headed for the coast. On my drive from LA to San Diego I`d scoped out a possible route that had a starting point not too far from the house so I drove to it. I parked in a lot at the Torrey Pines State Reserve which is in the Carmel Valley right on the coast. I started getting ready while watching huge waves crashing the beach and thought that Chris and Justin would love to be here right now. As I mentioned, the reserve is in the Carmel Valley which is right between cliffs to the north and south and this is typical of this area as the terrain varies from high cliff to beach to cliff all up and down the coast. My planned route was to head north for about 25 km and then turn around and head back but first I wanted to attack the huge climb south from the beach and then turn around and head north. Chris if you want to train on climbing this is one of the places. It was a 400 foot climb over 2.5 km and you can see the elevation graph on my Garmin Connect page. Even though I wasn`t feeling 100% it felt good to be riding and I didn`t mind the grind. At the top I turned around and prepared to ride north along the famous US 101 highway. I headed down the climb I`d just come up but had to maintain my speed because I could have easily hit speeds unhealthy to my body as well as I`d realized that the there was a pretty healthy crosswind coming in off the ocean. Once I got back down into the valley I started pedaling but kept it easy. I was still lacking energy so this was going to be more of a tour than a training ride. My mini tour de California. Of course being in  a valley you come to the inevitable climb out. I hit the climb up into Del Mar which wasn`t nearly as tough or long as the first climb but was still enough to get me working. I rode through Del Mar, descended back down to sea level and then back up a climb to the North Bluff Reserve. This was just on the outskirt of Solana Beach where I was in July for the Solana Beach Sprint Triathlon. I continued through Solana Beach, past Fletcher Cove where the race swim was and down into the San Elijo Lagoon and rode past Las Olas Mexican Restaurant where Tammy, Cassie and I had lunch after my July race.  I climbed out of the flats of the lagoon and into Cardiff by the Sea and on into Cardiff. Up till then the roads had been great. Biking is huge in this area and everywhere you`d look you`d see riders, Almost every road has nice wide bike lanes but as I was leaving Cardiff and heading into Encinatas the lane disappeared and the road got pretty rough. No worries though as I was only planning on riding another 3-4 km and then turning around and just then .... smack .... I hit a raised crack in the road. A few seconds later I felt it, the unmistakable feeling of my tire flattening out and mushy handling. I`d flatted. Ok, no big deal.  I stopped and pulled my bike over and off the road and began the process of changing my tube and the whole time I was thinking ``Do Not pinch the new tube against the wheel rim and put a hole in it``. I`d done that in the past and I only had 1 spare with me today so I was in no hurry and was going to take plenty of care. Well all went well and it seemed like I`d installed it without pinching but the real test would be after I filled it. So I took my CO2 cartridge and screwed the inflator head on to it and ``pppfffttt`` some gas escaped. I put the cartridge to the stem and ............... nothing. Again ............... nothing. CRAP. The cartridge had emptied. Now people, I know it seems like a lot of crap has happened to me on this trip and I know you guys must be thinking no one`s this unlucky but I swear, I`m not making this stuff up, its all happened. Anyway, there I was standing around holding my deflated wheel in my hand and I was going over the options in my head. One, I could start walking back to the truck about 20 km down the highway. No I don`t think so. Two, I could start walking and looking for a bike shop. That was very plausible as I new that Nytro Bikes was somewhere in the area. Or three, I could wait for another rider to come by and ask for help. Well no sooner than having gone through the possibilities when I saw a rider approaching from the north so I ran to the road and flagged him down. I`m pretty sure that seeing me with my wheel in my hand he knew what was up. I asked if he had a spare CO2 cartridge and luckily he was carrying 3 so he gave me one and this time I screwed the inflator head on very quickly so the gas wouldn`t escape. I pushed the head onto the stem and yay, the tube inflated. I offered to follow him to the nearest bike shop and buy him a couple of cartridges but he said no problem and continued on his ride.  I turned and headed back towards the truck while looking for a bike shop to replenish a tube and cartridge and about 5 km along I came across Nytro and popped in. They had everything I needed but when I went to pay, all I had was my debit card and they didn`t take it. Come on! We`re living in the 21st century! So I left empty handed but I knew B&L Bikes was in Solana Beach about 10 km from there. When I got there they were very helpful but didn`t take my debit card either but there was an ATM machine in the bar next door so I went and got cash to pay. I picked up a couple of CO2 cartridges and a new inflator head and a new tube. Unfortunately the longest stem length they had was a 60 mm and I need an 80 mm but they threw in a valve extender so I threw that into my tool kit as well to have in case I have to ever borrow a tube from someone. If that were ever the case I would think the chances of another rider carrying an 80 mm stem tube would be low. I was only a few km from the truck now so I finished up the ride thinking I`d try to follow it up with a short run but just as I was descending from Del Mar into Carmel Valley it began to sprinkle. So far it has not been a great training week.

San Diego Training Week: Day 1

I`ve been to San Diego several times and in all my travelling here I`ve never encountered rain. Especially in October which is usually gorgeous. Well today it showered and rained and training day 1 was a bust. Regardless of the weather though I am now firmly entrenched in a head and chest cold and training of any kind wouldn`t have happened anyway. I spent most of the day laying around but I did get out to purchase a pair of goggles to replace my lost ones in hopes of an open water swim later this week. I hope I start feeling better by tomorrow and can get a ride and run in.

LA Tri Race Report

It was a 4:00 am wake up call but only because I couldn't sleep. I'd set my alarm for 5:00 am, I only needed 15 minutes to get ready and it was a 15 minute bike ride to the race start from where I was staying. It would be easier riding there rather then trying to deal with parking so I specifically looked for a place to stay fairly close to the race. All I had to do was get my tri suit on under some shorts and a t-shirt, grab my new transition backpack, jump on the bike and head off. I had some time to kill now so I went through my gear to make sure I had everything but apparently I didn't do a good enough job of that. More on that later. I couldn't wait around any more so I left a little early and you would think that at 5:00 am there wouldn't be a hell of a lot of life going on. But this is Venice Beach. I started my way down toward the beach boardwalk and I was passing people coming from who knows where. When I got to the boardwalk it was about a 2 km ride to T1. I saw skate boarders, people walking dogs, one lady rummaging through waste bins and a couple of guys having a "bath" in the sinks at the public restrooms. This is one strange place. I got to T1 and searched for my wave's setup area and luckily it was right next to T1 exit and this would make it easy to find when I came in from the swim. I racked my bike and opened up my transition bag, set things up, grabbed my litre bottle of water and then wandered off to check things out. First I wanted to see where T1 entry from the swim was and once I located that I figured out the best route to my spot. Then I headed to body marking and from there I made my way to the pro's transition area. This race is fairly high profile and included today were Javier Gomez, the 2010 ITU World Champion, Matt Reed and Greg Bennet. This sport is great. What other sport can you compete in the same competition as professionals? In July in Solana beach I was in a race with Scott Tinley, a 2 time winner in Kona. I went over to drool a bit over the pro's gear and in case you're interested Chris, Gomez's setup is a HED rear disc with an H3 front. Sound familiar? A little more wandering around, I hit the Port-O-Potty and headed over to watch the pro men's start. After that I went back to my spot to put on my wetsuit and get down to the water to do a warm up swim but first, another visit to the Port-O-Potty. You can never pee too much before a race. I made my way to the water and just kind of hung around till about 20 minutes before my wave start at which point I wanted to get in for a short warm up swim and then get up to the start line. I asked someone what time it was and at 8:15 I got on my cap and goggles and headed into the water. Ocean swims are way different than lake or river swims. In a lake the water is usually calm unless it's pretty windy and in river you may have a bit of a current but in the ocean you've got the tide, surf, waves and swells. Well here we had all of these. The tide seemed to be coming in which made it a bit of a chore walking out, the surf would smack you which pushed you backwards several feet and just beyond the surf the waves would break and swamp you. And once you got past the breakers you'd have to deal with the swells which often obscured the buoys so sighting was touch and go. Well I never made it to the swells. I got crushed by a wave just as it broke and while it didn't do me any damage since I was ready for it, the wave ripped my goggles right off my head. OH CRAP! I looked all around but nothing. These things were gone. I was about 15 minutes away from starting so I busted my ass out of the water and ran back to transition and here's where my earlier comment of not doing a good enough job of checking my gear before I left the house became apparent. I brought 2 pair of goggles to LA but as I rummaged through my bag I couldn't find the 2nd pair ... they were back at the house in my luggage. DOH!! What a dope. What to do now? Beg, borrow or steal came to mind. So I immediately started asking people if anyone had an extra pair and finally one guy said he did and pulled them out for me. You gotta love triathletes. Some guy I`ve never met before hands me his backup goggles and likely doesn`t expect to see them again. He was starting in the wave after mine so I would probably come out of the water before him so I asked him which spot was his, where was his bag and told him I`d run by and drop them off and thanked him profusely. I charged to the swim start and got there with just a couple of minutes before the start. The horn went off and we all raced down the beach and into the water and it was so powerful it felt like I was battling my way through gel. Then the surf, a couple of big waves that I dove under and came up on the other side and I was off swimming. Geez, I was already tired but I got into a rhythm and headed towards the first buoy which would be a left turn. I got there and made my turn but a few minutes later I realized I was kind of swimming alone. I`d been trying to sight often but the swells made it difficult to get a good view so I stopped and took a look at where I was. Well I guess I hadn`t made a tight enough turn the buoy and I think I was swimming out to sea. Yikes! I made a course correction and made my way back towards the line of buoys but again, the swells gave me problems and I stopped again to do a check and I saw that I`d swam past the line of buoys and was swimming towards shore. This was supposed to be a 1500 m swim but I think I managed to turn it into 1700 m. So I made up my mind that I would swim back towards the line of buoys and find another swimmer and rely on his sighting. No way it would be worse than mine. I managed to get next to another guy and I just swam at his side through all the rest of the buoys and everything was fine until at about 800 m one of my calves tightened and felt like it would cramp. So I stopped kicking for a bit and when it felt better I started to kick again. Then at about 1200 m both my calves just about cramped. The water was cold and even though my wetsuit kept me warm my calves must have been affected. I`d cut 4 inches off the legs because I was having trouble getting the suit off and my calves were now partially exposed. Well I stopped kicking entirely for the rest of the swim because cramps were the last thing I wanted with the bike and run still to go. While the wetsuit kept me level in the water I`m used to kicking to help with balance and it just felt strange to swim without moving my legs but I wasn`t about to risk cramping. I got around the last buoy and swam towards shore and just as I got to where I could put my feet down I looked behind me to see where the waves were so I wouldn`t get hit from behind by one. Too late. I got swamped by a monster wave and got knocked under the water and for a couple of seconds I didn`t know which way was up. But luckily my feet hit the bottom and I stood up and got my ass out of the water as fast as I could. Read this: http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_16248551 about the number of swimmers needing rescuing. My time was 38:30 which sucks for a 1500 m but not bad for about the 1600-1700 m I probably ended up doing. I ran into T1, ran by where I think I was supposed to drop off the goggles and threw them into what I think was the guys bag but if not I`m really sorry dude but thanks for letting me use them. I got to my spot and removed my wetsuit which after being cut, came off really easy. I threw it and my cap and nose plug into my bag and closed it up and had it ready to be picked up for transport to the race finish. They told us that anything that was on the ground around any bag would not get picked up so it was important to get everything into the bag and secured. This is where my new bag really came in handy. Check these out to get an idea of how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8e-hUGsOBQ, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8CCJboaF2E. Socks, shoes and helmet on and away I went. The bike course started at sea level and ended uatto about 135 feet in elevation. The 1st 16 km were a very gradual grade and I was able to maintain a pretty good pace but I felt more tired than I should have on a road like this. The last 24 km were an 8 km loop that we did in, out and back in and it wasn`t as flat but more gently rolling. Even with feeling like I was working too hard for the pace I was keeping I ended up with a 1:12:02, a 33.5 km per hour average speed. I ran into T2, found where I`d been assigned my spot and got out of my helmet and bike shoes and got on my runners, grabbed my number belt and visor and raced out. Most of the morning had been cloudy but with about 5 km to go in the ride the sun came out and it was starting to get warm. I find that coming out of T2 for the run my adrenaline gets going and I start out way too fast and that was the case again as I looked at my watch and saw that I was running at a 4:30 pace. I didn`t want to be doing that so I yelled at myself to `slow down, slow down` and even though I felt like I was crawing I was still running at a 5:00 pace. Even this was a bit fast at this point but I felt good so kept that pace going. The run was a 2 loop 2.5 km course shaped like the letter `L` with the lower part of the `L` only about 500 m long and the rest about 2 km long. The first 500 m was flat but once we made the turn it was an upwards grade for about 1.5 km and then we hit `The Hill`. That term is an understatement, it was a Wall. It was about 60 feet of gain over the 1st 1.5 km and then 70 feet of elevation gain over about 200 metres. That hurt. It killed my legs temporarily and obviously smacked my time but I wasn`t going to walk it. I shortened my strides, slowed up a bit and leaned into the hill and plugged away to the top. At the top it was a short run to the turn around at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and back down to finish the first loop. Going down `The Wall` still worked my legs because it was so steep I had to `brake` all the way down. But once I got to the bottom it was a downhill run and I was able to pick up my pace while still recovering. My second loop was a bit easier and after climbing the hill I was able to steadily increase my pace as I ran the last 2 km into the finish line at the Staples Center. The race was a bit tougher than I thought it would be but I think I was verging on a cold. I`d had a bit of a sore throat the previous couple of days that I`d hoped would disappear and it did but it must have just been a pre-cursor. I caught the shuttle back to Venice Beach and rode back to the house where I showered, pack my luggage and gear into the truck and took off for San Diego. After getting to Tammy`s mom`s house I unpacked everything I went a grabbed some food and by 9:00 pm I was hammered tired. This was way unusual for me but I crashed and slept for a while but I was up in the middle of the night with first chills and then the sweats and aches and a headache. I figure I`ll take today real easy and try to get over this and get into training starting tomorrow and build through the week with some riding, running and swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday and a long tough ride on Thursday and a long hard run on Friday. Well that`s the plan.

LA Tri Pre-Race Report

I got in late last night, 10:30 pm Pacific time so my body was thinking 1:30 am Eastern time and it would be at least another hour and a half before I got to my rental. My first concern was my bike, did it make it to LA with me and lo and behold, Air Canada got it here with the rest of my baggage. Next thing on my mind was food. I hadn't eaten and even though it was late I wanted to get a small salad and maybe some cereal on my way from the airport. I found an all night grocery store pretty close and pulled into the parking lot and saw a group of ... umm ... let's say scary looking gents loitering around the entrance. I almost turned and drove away but I was too hungry. I figured if I looked like a wuss I might encounter some hassling but if I looked kinda crazy they'd leave me alone. I wasn't exactly sure how I'd go about looking crazy but I sure wasn't going to look like a wuss, so I just made a beeline for the entrance and didn't slow down till I got inside. Ok good, but I still had to get back outside and to my car. I found my salad, some cereal and some water, paid and practically ran to my car ... in a non-wussy kind of way mind you. I found the rental house, got the key out of the mailbox, let myself in and got out my food. To me it was 3:00 am and I wasn't going to be awake much longer so I ate up and crashed. This morning I was up at 7:30. I had a lot to get done so I started by unpacking the P3. Now normally this is a painless job but not so this time. I got the seat post and seat installed, the pedals and the bars but my first challenge was getting the damn rear wheel installed. The horizontal drop outs make it a pain. I struggled with the chain position and the cassette but I finally got everything lined up and fitting. I put the front wheel on and it looked good, ready to test ride. I took it out to the street and got challenge number 2. I rode a bit and found that I was not able to get into lower 2 and upper 2 gears. What the? This shouldn't happen, all I did was remove the rear wheel to pack it and then re-install it. So without trying to figure out why it happened I did a quick tune on the rear derailleur and I was back to having all 10 gears available. I'm a little concerned though because shifting is often not bang on after a tuning, it needs some more farting around with but I'll just have to live with what ever happens during the race. For now it was shifting fine. Ok, bike done. Now it was time to head to registration. With this race being a point to point bike segment I also had to take and drop off my T2 bag with my running gear so I packed it with my shoes and visor and left for registration. I decided that I'd follow the actual bike route from T1 so I could get any idea of what the route looked like. The first 16 km were essentially a long fairly shallow upward grade. No hills or climbs but definitely a slow rise. The last 24 km were on a road that we'd actually have to do 3 times. It was approximately 8 km of very gently rolling roads to a turn around, back along the same road for 8 km and a second turn around to finish the last 8 km and into T2. I got to registration and parked at a lot about 1 km away. The registration took place at LA Live. This is a sports and entertainment complex which includes the Staples Center where the LA Kings and Lakers play, the Nokia Theater, the Grammy Museum and world class hotels and restaurants. For those of you that follow Hell's Kitchen the LA Market is located here and while I did go in I didn't order anything. Anyway I made my way to registration, got my kit with my bib and stickers to put on my helmet and bike, got my timing chip and cap and dropped off my T2 bag. Then I got my goodie bag. This is by far the best swag bag I've gotten from any race. Not only bars and gels but also a couple of bottles of Powerbar Perform, Powerbar Pro 03 Recover, my t-shirt, a towel, Lava magazine, a power shake mixture, a small box of Wheaties Fuel cereal, Clif Shot Blocks, 2 packets of Lift Off and a tube of Aquaphor Healing Ointment. Nice. From there I went to take in the course talk which was pretty basic and then to the expo. I hate the expo. Well not really, but it always means I get to drool over stuff I want but can't get or I end up getting stuff which costs me. Today it cost me. I've been looking for a transition bag but one that wasn't just a backpack. Well I found it. It is so technical it makes my head spin. It's by a French company called Gyst and rather then trying to describe it it's easier to just visit gystconcept.com for details. Anyway, I got it, the backpack 1-10 model. Next on my agenda was to look at the run route. The run is a 5 km 2 loop route which until the time I saw it, I thought was flat. Not so much. So it's 2.5 km out to a turn around, back for 2.5 km and repeat. It's a gently rising first 1.5 km and a flat last .5 km with a .5 km long wall that needs climbing in between. Let me tell you, this thing was hard to walk up! If I was riding up it on my bike I might be tempted to use my small ring up front! This is not going to be fun, it's going to hurt. I walked the 2.5 km out and back and then got into the car to head to see the swim start. I figured that I'd go back to the house first though to get my bike and ride there. I was planning on riding to the start in the morning so I wouldn't have parking problems and I wanted to get an idea of how long it would take. I got to the house, grabbed the P3 and off I went ..... for about 10 feet. Something was rubbing. I didn't have this when I test rode the bike this morning, what was going on? The brakes? I checked them, no. Could it be a tire on the frame? They looked ok, I spun the wheels and they spun freely. WTF? I checked a little closer and it looked like it could possibly be the rear tire was too close to the curved seat tube and may have been rubbing when I sat on the bike. So I pulled the rear skewer out to adjust the limiting screw in the dropouts and HOLY CRAP, the one screw looked mangled. What the hell happened? No idea but here it was 4:00 pm the night before the race and now what? Well in theory the skewer holds the wheel in place, all the screws do is set the distance for the wheel to the seat tube. I made a few adjustments, eyeballed the straightness of the wheel and locked it in place. It all seemed well so I rode down to the beach to look around and time the trip there. Only 15 minutes, not too bad. I got back to the house and I remembered that Triathlon Lab was in the area so I jumped in the car, got out the GPS for directions and took off. I made it to the store just as they were closing and explained my situation and they told me they didn't have any of the screws but also confirmed that once the skewer locked the wheel in place the screws didn't do anything. While I was in the store I asked if they had any in-line shift adjusters that Chris has on his shifter cables and the techie pulled out a couple and handed to me. No charge. I think he may have felt sorry for me and my mangled screw woes. I didn't spend too much more time in the store because I was starting to drool again and got worried I'd start spending money so I headed back to the house and had one more thing to do before trying to relax. I got out all the gear I'd need in the morning and at T1 and packed it into my new transition bag. Race day tomorrow.