Silver Lining

Nice long run this morning. It was great to be able head out for a long run without having to plan exactly where I was going to get my water from in order to avoid an untimely demise, as it sometimes feels like in Darwin. And yes I went a T-shirt this morning, I'm not crazy, it was chilly. Also nice to be able to get back from a run and not have my clothes ringing wet with sweat. Ringing wet is never nice. I usually run in a visor, but if it gets much cooler I think I might have to switch to a hat, I will need all the body heat I can generate. Either that or run harder. Where's that hat...

Speaking of cold, I had a bit of a swim in the Swan River (big river in Perth) this afternoon. Very nice water, but not warm.

Now to the silver lining.
When I first got to Perth I unpacked my training bike from its box and found the bottom bracket felt like I was turning the cranks through honey. Hmmmm, being the mechanically minded person that I am, it occurred to me that it probably shouldn't be like that. Off to the bike doctor with you my trusty blue steed. A friend of mine had recommend the good folks at Churchill Cycles in Myree, so I thought I would give them a try. The bottom bracket turned out to not to be much of an issue, rust. Rust is always a threat when training in the wet season in Darwin. Everyone up there is usually pretty careful, you get very good at cleaning your bike up there. But I guess training and then putting the bike in a box for a 2 week trip to Perth may not have been a great idea. Anyway that was sorted without to much trouble. However, they also noticed a crack in the rim of my rear wheel. Not so great. I had noticed it before, seemed to have got a fair bit worse. Anyway the Churchill guys reckoned I was probably good for another couple of weeks, but sooner or later it was likely to fail resulting in me crashing spectacularly and most likely exploding in a huge Hollywoodesque fireball (or something like that).

The Crack (there is actually two, but this one is bigger)

You can't really repair that sort of thing I am told, so I took it as a very thin excuse to buy a new set of wheels. I always feel a bit sorry for my training bike. It puts up with all the rubbish, the rain, the abuse, the sloppy gear changes, the miles and gets none of the racing glory. So I thought why not, lets spoil the old girl. Much searching and weighing up of options later and I ended up with these.

New wheels !!!

They are a set of Fulcrum Racing Zeros and I am hoping they are as nice to ride as they are to look at. Getting them on the bike will be a job for later tonight, but first ride will have to wait until Tuesday morning because tomorrow is

REST DAY

Hooray.