Today was rest day, or rather, a day off from competition. Team GB were in breakfast early as everyone was off to see Jerusalem and the dead sea. Well everyone except me, as I had the IOF advisors course to do (see posting to be published later).
I met the Swedish rep at lunch, and as he was off to the model event (for the long race) I tagged along to look at the terrain and go for a bit of a bimble.
I was just getting in to the 1:20,000 map with 10m contours when a cricket noise seemed to start following me. I turned another corner and it still followed me. Suspecting a flat I stopped and checked the rear wheel.
Poking out if the tyre was an inch of stick with lots of bubbling latex doing it’s best to keep the air in. Remarkably it stopped but I thought it prudent to cycle
the 2km back to the car rather than risking getting stuck miles from anywhere.
The ‘just riding along’ latex milk worked a treat and even managed to plug the hole when I eventually pulled out the 5 cm sharp stick but I decided to replace the tyre with my spare rather than risk racing on it.
My Swedish pal had an even worse time, though. He had a huge “off”, lacerating his elbow, knee and right hand as he slid off on the loose gravel, certainly a lesson in not forgetting gloves!
The team returned from their dead sea mud baths later in the evening in high spirits and we are all looking forward to the relays tommorrow.
Evenin’ Stodge,
Me dad said he’d bumped into you today and to google you, so here I am… Looks like nowt much has changed and you’re conquering the Orienteering/biking world one competition at a time. Congrats! Anyroad, just a note like, I hope you “gain selection for the British Team again and get a top 5 placing at the middle race at the British Championships”,
cheers
g