P.P.S.

With 5 days to go, suddenly the reality of what we are about to embark on is dawning on me. 6 Days of really tough mountain biking... making it to the start line in itself deserves a medal. Being in the middle of selling our house, buying a new one, juggling training and work commitments, finishing up with projects before the event, major IT upgrades and my wife's birthday not only made the last few weeks speed by, it also ate into valuable training time. The reality is that mountain biking only forms a small part of our lives (well for most of us non-pro's with families and work commitments anyway).

Now with 5 days to go I find myself suffering from P.P.S (Pre Pioneer Stress). It actually started last weekend when suddenly I shot up and started packing.
Drawers being opened and closed as I started to organise all my cycling kit. It seems that since my last stage race these items magically migrated throughout the house. Every drawer and cupboard seemed to be stashing cycling gear.

Once everything was piled up in the middle of the spare room, the packing started. Everything into its own ziplock bag and the ziplock bags into a plastic container. Labelling machine out to label the containers and the bags.

A list was generated for items I must still go out and buy. Sunblock, lip balm, contact lenses, new water bottles, ear plugs...

Bike being serviced on the small items that I can attend to. New brake pads, new chain rings, new rotors... oops the Hope rotors knocks against the brake calipher, so back on the old ones go... check the wheel... hmmm the back wheel has a lot of play in it! Guessing its bearings. This was where I re asssembled the bike and decided to let my bike shop fix her up for me. Complicated moving parts like hubs needs specialist attention. Especially before a big race. And now someone can go over my work to correct mistakes that I may have made.

Monday comes. I get to work and can't focus on the items that needs to be done before Friday. I get into the car and the bike goes to the shop and the shopping gets done for the last items. Back at work I can once more focus on the important tasks that needs to be done before Friday.

Tuesday is no better. Lunchtime I amble through the new Chris Willemse Cycle Shop near Willowbridge with a purpose. Armed with my list I walk up and down the shop trying to find any more items that I may need. Nothing. My Garmin! I sent it off for repairs a few weeks ago and the store didn't phone me to tell me when it will be back. I phone them and doing my best to stay calm, I remind the attendant that I did tell them that it needs to be back in Cape Town by Thursday 13 October. He follows up with Garmin and tells me that the unit is not being repaired, it's being replaced and should be here by Thursday...phew!

Now with my bags packed and every conceivable base covered I lie awake at night waiting for Monday to come...