The last morning workout for the Dec camp was on Wednesday morning at 7 30. On Thursday I planned to move all or the training equipment that i/we had been using: 2o Dynamax med balls, 20 × 65 cm swiss balls, 20 resistance bands, 20 tennis balls, and 20 Trigger Point grid foam rollers into storage and then in the afternoon I planned on a short ride and then planned to meet with 4 riders for movement screens. Then in the evening I was scheduled to be taken to Valencia where I would spend the night in a hotel close to the airport. My flight to Paris was scheduled for a 7 am departure and then my flight to Seattle would see me home by 1 pm pct. Awesome, I may even be able to make the rocket ride on Saturday morning.
Change of plans.
I was told on Thursday mid-morning that I would be leaving for Valencia at 2 pm. Not the worst news but because I had carefully planned out my schedule for the day, I was forced to be adaptable when quite honestly….. I really liked my plan!!! The new plan meant packing up my room quickly, not meeting any riders for movement screens after their 5-6 hr day and not…………… well I guess really It wasn’t that big of a deal. The biggest “issue” was not being able to kick back after lunch and enjoy a coffee as was my post lunch standard during the camp. When I go back and read that I think…. “really man?”
I moved all of my training gear to the storage room out by the team trucks- simple. It meant approx.. 7 trips back and forth with a cart but that made for an excellent morning core work out. I took some video of the team busses to give people an idea of how off the chain these euro pro transports are and then proceeded to the task of organizing my personals and getting everything back into the suitcase. It’s so nice not to have to travel back with a bunch of gear and but I am already dreading the pack up and ship at the end of the January camp….. woah, that’s coming up soon. Super bonus that Stefano from
BMC brought me a bike to use for both camps, so no packing up and transporting a bike back and forth. At 2 pm I met my ride in the lobby, social media overlord and
BMC Racings media man at large, Sean Weide. Steve Cummings was also coming with us as he had a flight later that afternoon to Italy. So far so good.
I got dropped at the hotel around 3 30, checked into my “premium room” (premium rooms have internet……I also made a point to take some video footage of my “premium room” to share when I get back home). I hooked up to the web, turned on the TV and started answering e mails. Scott Nydam was in the room next door and we planned to meet up at 7 for some drinks and then dinner. So far so good.
Scott and I had an excellent night out, eventually ending up back at the hotel restaurant where we feasted on some paeia and drank some local red. By 11 we were back to our “premium rooms” and off to sleep. My alarm went off at 5 am as planned and I met Scott in the Lobby and by 6 10 we were at the airport- which was across the street from the hotel.
And then…………………… it all went pear shaped.
Our Flight was delayed an hour and then…..another hour. And that meant for sure I missed my connection in Paris and that meant my plan to be home by 1 and even maybe into the office by 3 is/was done-sky. The reason was “maintenance”. Scott is on the same flight with me (I’m typing this on the plane to Paris), so we took our time in the airport coffee shop. 2 hours later we finally boarded and here we are. The
REAL catch is that when I was showing the gate agent my boarding pass, she handed me a
NEW itinerary for my departure from Paris. Turns out I’m heading to Helsinki before Seattle. Ok. I’ve never been to Iceland, so the pro Is that I visit a new country. The con is that I won’t be there for more than 90 minutes. I’m hopeful that I can at least find an interesting souvenir in the airport to bring home to Thea. I’m supposed to get in at 5 30 pm oct, but I have no hope that any of my flight will be on time today. And to go along with that I ate a big bag of peanut m and m’s and e a big baguette with ham and cheese that Scott passed up to me from the seat behind mine on the plane. I ate it all in about 20 seconds and now I have a stomach that nearly has me doubled over in my seat. On top of that I ordered a coffee from the beverage cart and was told it would cost me 2.50 euro……….. whatever lady, keep it. Soon I’ll be home where it makes sense to spend that much loot on a coffee.
What a ride it’s been.
TH
PS: HOLD ON, things got way more out of hand. Long story short,, it took me 2 hours to get to terminal 1 due to a massive strike by airport personnel. JUST in time to catch my flight. I was told to take a shuttle that didn’t exist, met up with a French guy (who was on his way to Kuwait……) and hopped a cab- he paid because I was out of Euros. I bolted towards the gait, got held up in the security line and just had enough time to visit the men’s room before we were called to board.
I drank an Icelandic Christmas beer on the plane and ate my weight in cookies. I watched 500 Days of Summer- which was an erie reminder of a college romance that went…… away and “Kingdom of Heaven” which was….. not awesome. I pulled out a new book on exercise phys that I have been trying to reed for a month but I just wasn’t feeling it. I picked up 2 super-sized bags of Haribo gummy candy and a BIG dark chocolate bar with a name on it I cannot pronounce (so it must be good) for Thea.
I have no idea what time it is in Seattle and I really need to brush my teeth. There you have it.
PSS- and now my flight to Seattle is delayed.
AWESOME. Time for vodka.
Move ahead to Sunday morning……. I made it home, the je leg is kicking in hard
AND to add insult to injury, my bag is still
MIA. Perfect. Can’t wait to do it again in January………
I’ve eaten all the gummy bears.
Best,
TH
