“The big green box” 6 days till departure...

Usual Monday morning getting two of my children off to their weekly boarding school Hurstpierpoint College which is a two hour round trip.

Happily dropped off I arrived home to find my new bike box purchase had safely arrived. I have a very large Thule Roundtrip hard box which I rate highly but it is very large to lug around with the addition of a suitcase on tow. However the main reason why I’ve decided to invest in a new box is that I do not like having to remove my headset every time I travel (which has been relatively frequent the past two years to overseas races and Tri camps). The brake and Di2 cables get twisted every time the headset is removed and reassembled and in the long term its simply not ideal. I decided on the new Bike Box Alan Triathlon Easy Fit in bright green of course.

Missie is not so sure about the new arrival...

Time for today’s training. After almond butter toast, banana and a coffee for breakfast (will be my pre race breakfast), it was a tyre testing day. First up my 50 front wheel which Tony kindly refitted over the weekend, as it was returned from InGear not holding it’s air pressure which I discovered when I rode on Saturday and had a slow puncture. A local loop around Forest row 👍 Sorted! Thanks Tony.

Then my 30 front wheel which I had to tighten the valve yesterday evening, as it also wasn’t holding pressure as it should and I discovered the valve was a little loose. Tick that box!

One prob though was my bike was making an annoying ‘tin‘ like noise in specific gears (the ones I use the most). I dropped in to InGear and asked them to put a new chain on as I was convinced that was the issue despite it measuring only half worn. I was relieved to find the noise had disappeared when I set off for home. My legs also seemed to start waking up having ridden for over an hour and a half haha. They were feeling very heavy today, not surprisingly after my strength session last Friday at Tonbridge school gym, I think I got a little carried away (I do enjoy my strength sessions very much).

Remaining part of the day was uneventful, apart from usual household chores and adding more and more items to my ever growing packing list. Tomorrow hooray is my longish run in my new Turkish slippers 🏃‍♀️...