Getting There

Its on....but  a few wobbles.

Thursday morning, I get ready to go. Taxi booked for 0800 so I am doing a last minute check. 0745, I pop out to the garage fora tool I think might just come in useful and notide I seem to have left the door unlocked. I enter and it seems roomier than it should and then the penny drops. 2 bikes are missing......WTF! I spot something shiny at the on the floor and it the last remaining piece of my padlock. Some bastard has used a bolt cutter to break the lock. Thankfully, I had brough the race bike into the house the day before so that is still safe.

The taxi arrives as I hurriedly secure the door with a new padlock. My brain is a bit frazzled and I am not thinking clearly...my confidence is a bit shaken and I suddenly cant find my passport....FFS! The day is not starting as it should. Eventually, we load up and go to pick up Alvaro and I have a few moments to thing how close I came to not being able to do the race.....you need  decent bike to do it,,,...what if the buggers had turned up a few days earlier. 

I start to post-rationalize the whole episode into an 'upgrade opportunity'. I decide not to let this incident cloud my mind for the race....but it does a bit. Nobody died and what was taken can be replaced. I can still go and race. That will do. 

We are first onto the aircraft.....never happened to me before so hopefully this is a sign of some good luck ;-) Its a small thing and not important but every little bit counts.

We arrive in Porto and dump the gear in an Airport hotel and go see a few of the sights and try to chill out. Porto is looking pretty spectacular at this time of year but then it seems to most of the time. Late afternoon sun and a pleasant 22C. If you ignore the perpetual rebuilding, the old city looks magnificent as usual. 

We head for the river and try some downmarket port tasting. Where else can you taste 5 ports for 5 euro. How this can be profitable is beyond me unless this is some sort of cheap hooch but it tastes OK. Cash only of course so I guess that is a factor, 

Not sure this is the best way to prepare for an endurance race but I feed the need for a little stress relief. It does the trick and I start to relax a little. For the last week I am feeling anxious about the race and I don't really know why. The start of the day really didn't help but now that I am here in the sun with Al, I feel a cloud lifting and can begin to get into the mood.

On Saturday, we are picked up and taken the last 140k to Chaves. We pose and be heroes for a second and imagin it all done. On a simple graphic, this looks easy but the week is relentless and has a way of wearing you down. 

Finally the bikes arrive  and we reassemble  and try to make them race ready. I make a schoolboy error and need the assistance of the professional mechanics to get my bike to change gear properly, Another near miss avoided, Phew!

The race crew greet me like an old friend and it is great to see they have remembered me and Chris from last time round. I see some old faces in the entrants and a lot of new ones and I am reminded of how much of a family feeling this whole race has. It is rather special. At the race briefing, they award commemorative race jerseys to two guys are doing the race for the tenth time...no way in hell will I be getting one of those. Though Fred, the race owner is trying to sell me the idea of Trans Portugal Roads ride which he organizes in October....

One thing I cant change is being listed as British on the race book. At race entry I selected Irish for nationality but didn't see the Flag selector had defaulted to my home address,,,,, so I am now a  proper 'Plastic Paddy'. Think of it as my little Coronation Day gift. Shamrock sticker goes on to cover up the error tomorrow.

It rains but I stick to my guns and don't fit a mudguard. Time will tell....