Arrival in Scotland

Ready in Scotland

Incredibly, not only did Steven manage to travel nearly unscathed from some dark corner of the universe; he managed to do so while I was granted the misfortune of spending an additional unplanned evening in lovely New Jersey due to mechanical issues with the plane. While I was upset with the delay, I certainly appreciate the fine folks fixing the aircraft while it was safely on the ground.


In my efforts to stick to the training schedule that Dave Smith has laid out for me, I was forced to descend into the bowels of the fine accommodations in Edison to get in a quick run on a treadmill, and some quality time on a recumbent trainer (it was almost the same geometry as my Cervelo). 

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When I finally arrived in Scotland, my much anticipated reunion with my husband was again delayed by the realization that the bikes decided that we didn't have enough angst yet, so they decided to take a slower route.  After arranging for delivery of the bikes when they finally did manage to show up, Steven and I headed back to the hotel.  Now, just to ratchet up the anxiety another notch or two, we inspected the race wheels and noted the careful manner in which they were treated, resulting in a large crack in my wheel cover.  


We decided that a bit of unwinding was in order before attempting to tackle our list of unfortunate events, and took a quiet walk around the beautiful city and had a delicious meal of local fare before returning to the hotel where I was joyously reunited with my missing bikebox (which got a much more enthusiastic greeting than I gave Steven.)  

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Following the detailed reassembly instructions provided by Dani from Final Kick, we were able to quickly get the bikes back into nearly full working order.  Amazingly, Steven was able to find the Scottish equivalent of the "Home Depot", and with the application of some super-glue and tape, the wheel is practically good as new.  On the 31st, we took our first ride in Scotland under gorgeous conditions (sunny skies, 70 deg, and low humidity) with absolutely breathtaking backdrop of the city and countryside to add to the pleasure of the ride.