I am a totally rockin' biker chick!

During our last long bike ride I came to the realization that some of my gears seemed to have gone missing. I called the local bike shop the next day to ask what the turn around time for a tune up would be and was told that it was running about a week.

Ugh!

I was totally unwilling to give my bike up for a week.

So today I met my swim coach at the beach in Palo, the actual starting point for the triathlon. It was a gorgeous day, but the water was still freezing.

We did an easy 200 yards in an attempt to acclimate ourselves to the water and the surroundings. Following the swim, it was time for pointers:

Objects best suited for sighting, general direction of the path to the transition area, a reminder to smile as I came out of the water as there would be official photographers waiting to snap my picture.

Joy!

One thing that had been missing from my life was a photo of me, purple faced, falling over as I struggle to regain my equilibrium while attempting to strip out of my wetsuit.

I skipped the ride that I had planned for after the swim and instead settled down with my computer, a beer, my husband's bike tool kit and my bicycle.

Thanks to the wonders of Google I read many articles that I did not understand. Articles that talked about the whozamawhatsits and the thinggamajigs and the cogs and the barrels.

I eventually found an article that included pictures of the whozamawhatsits and the thinggamajigs and the cogs, though I still had to guess at what the barrels were.

I determined that 6 gears were missing: the top two and bottom one from each of the front rings. I don't know how important some of those gears were, but I do know that it included my lowest gear. The one used for climbing hills.

That one was a little important in my opinion.

45 minutes, several greasy fingers and a bit of swearing later and I had not only a nicely tuned bicycle, but more mechanical knowledge of bicycles than my very handy husband.

I am a totally rockin' biker chick!

6 days, 10 hours....