Time Trial

We were headed to Kvitsøy today. I wanted to get a ride in, so I decided to ride out to the ferry landing. Lise would drive Julian. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 10:45am. I had a late start today-- my target departure by bike was 9:30. I really had no idea how long it would take to ride there. Last weekend it took 40 minutes to ride out to Randaberg, so I estimated it could take 75 minutes.

I ended up leaving a few minutes late. I was on my fixed gear, and I took the long way around the big hill we live on. It took ten minutes just to reach the football stadium. I was feeling rushed. As I was riding in Mariero, the rear tire felt strange. I pulled over and of course it was flat. I was just thinking how long it had been since I had last flatted. I phoned Lise to tell her that I might miss the ferry. The good news was that the next one left about an hour later. I quickly found the source of the flat- a hole in the tire so large that I could see light through it. I rummaged through a nearby garbage can and used a plastic ice cream bar wrapper to boot it, changed the tube, and was on my way. I was fortunate that I had the Continentals-- I could remove and reinstall the tire without needing any tools- fast and easy.

I was quickly on my way. I spotted a road biker ahead who offered me some motivation to step it up a notch. I chased him down like a rabbit. I quickly threaded my way out of downtown, unsure how far I had to go. It was 10:30- fifteen minutes from departure. It would suck to wait an hour at the ferry landing with nothing to do. If I would miss the ferry, it would be by mere minutes. With seven minutes to go, I noticed that I had 4.6 km to the ferry. If the ferry were late at all, I could make it. I grabbed for my cellphone to call Lise and have her ask if the ferry could wait a minute. People in cars do it all the time-- why not bikes? Then I realized my phone was in the bag- not on the strap. It hardly mattered. As I pulled onto the main road heading to the landing, I suddenly saw Lise in our car. At that point, I realized that I had an extra five minutes- that the ferry actually left at 10:50. She started off by motorpacing me, but on a fixed gear, I quickly spun out. She took off-- if she made it on time, at least she could ask them to wait a minute for me. As I pulled around the corner, the ferry was still visible. I had plenty of time.

I ended up with interesting heart rate data. I came within a few BPM of my maximum, something I am not normally able to do outside of a race. A little extra motivation helps. It only took 1:05- including the tube change. On the way home at 4:30, it was nothing but rain. The nice thing about riding home in the rain is that I would normally avoid riding in the wet, cold weather. However, when it is my only way to get home, I have to ride. Again-- motivation.