The trip over East went reasonably smoothly. The flight was fine, despite the woman next to me rather ominously announcing at the beginning that 'she doesn't fly well'....
Hire car pickup went fine. I now the proud driver of what I am sure is the ugliest coloured Nissan Pulsar known to man. Seems to work though and it gets me were I need to go. At least I don't have to look at the colour from the inside.
The drive out to Penrith went okayish, other than me missing the entrance to the M5 Motorway. Twice. And the terrible traffic. I am not sure if what I was driving in is normal for Sydney or not. If it is, well, safe to say they can keep it. I won't complain about traffic in Perth ever again. I got here in the end though, just a little bit later than I had hoped
Due to the late arrival, last night was a bit of a whirlwind. There was a quick drive over the bike course, some shopping, bike construction and finally dinner. By the time I was in bed it was somewhere between being late for Penrith and early for Perth. About right for me though.
The rushed evening last night means that I am only really starting to feel settled in now, almost 24 hours after landing. I am feeling a little tired at the moment, but I suspect that is the aftermath of travel, a rushed evening and the time difference. I am fairly confident that the feeling will pass as I get a chance to settle in and catch up on rest.
For this trip Ironman nicely organised a Home Stay for me, which is a new experience for me. I am staying with a rather awesome guy from the local club named John Taylor, or 'Super Squizz' as he seems to be known to everyone here. His place is a little bit out of Penrith (just past the end of the bike course) and what it loses in convenience it gains in spectacular scenery and awesome surroundings. It is very nice to be able to settle into a place that has all the comforts of home. It is making this trip a lot easier.
This morning's activities have been pretty simple. Get up at a reasonable Sydney time, get moving and ride a lap of the bike course. All those things are now done. Although I haven't actually been into the regatta centre yet since they haven't been letting us. I should get a chance to get in there and get my first look at Transition this afternoon once registration opens.
My lap of the bike went well. My outing confirmed my suspicions that this will be a fast bike course, the lap certainly flew by today. The course is nice and straight forward, quite flat. One 'hill' which isn't really much, and a couple of false flats. Road surfaces are a bit of a mix, with some lovely new bitumen mixed in with some really chopped up bits. Fairly typical roads for semi-rural Australia really. Two legs of this course (my favourite configuration) should make for a good leg.
The only hiccough with the session came at the beginning when I noticed that one of my brake levers had come loose in transit. Functional, but not the safest of arrangements, and unlikely to pass transition inspection during bike racking tomorrow. No big deal though, after my ride I dropped the Falco off at Panther Cycles in Penrith. Should be all good to go this afternoon when I head down for registration. Great shop, full of some awesome triathlon history, signed posters of Dave Scott and Mark Allen, signs from various Forster Ironman races etc. Really impressive place.
As I mentioned above, this afternoon is registration time. I always prefer to get this out of the way on Friday if I can, leaving bike racking as the only activity for Saturday. Good chance to have a wander around the expo before the crowds arrive too. As well as registration (and picking up the bike) I am also going to head out for a bit of an easy run on the course. I am looking forward to it, both as a chance to stretch the legs and get the body into race mode and also as a chance to see the regatta centre again. I haven't been here for 15 years or so, but there was once a time when I spent a fair bit of time here abouts. It will be interesting to see what memories pop up.
Other than those activities though, the rest of my day has some stretching and a whole bunch of relaxing. Better get on with it.
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