The week before Barcelona I was sick... there was a lot of sofa time and over analysis and then there was the fun of getting the bike into the box! Everyone had warned me that this was going to be easier said than done... and it was! Thank goodness for friends with know how and strength - because even if I'd had the know how there's no way I could've got my pedals off - Kerrin had to hammer them off!!
Scott had similar issues... so much so that he was at my house at 4am Friday morning looking for a hammer! Only in Evo!! So 4am start, 5am pickup by Dan and Vikki and 7am flight.... 10am in Barcelona in the warm sunshine!!! We checked into the hotel, had lunch and then it was time to get the bikes out of the boxes!
It was too funny! Mine went together quite easily - although did forget to tighten the wheels up - noticed that a couple of hours later - when on the bike... ooops! Vikki's bike thought.... nightmare!! To get it into the box Dan had taken deralier off.... not a great move when he wasn't there to put it back together.... and we were!! There was a lot of grease.... everywhere.... but in the end we called Kit... and then we called Simon!
Eventually we were on the bikes having a leisurely ride around the hills of Barcelona dashing through rush hour traffic!! Quite amusing!! Random Chinese tourists clearly thought we were rather amusing so insisted on having hundreds of photos taken with us!! Hysterical!
Post bike ride all home safely and bikes functioning a bit better!! Yep wheels fully secured!! Time for dinner and a drink or 3! The thing I love about Team Evo is that they really do love socialising as much as they love to train and race! We had a brilliant night in a fantastic restaurant with lovely food and inspiring chats and a lot of laughs!! But by midnight the 4am start had caught up with us and it was home to bed!
Saturday morning was a late start... really late and then really lazy! Breakfast and then eventually a practice sea swim and then a bit of a shop before a nap and then a pasta dinner in town near Las Ramblas! And yet again an early night - wake up call was set for 6am... race day was looming!!
Vikki and I were sharing a room - which was a giggle but bless her Vikki was really stressed. She was doing the sprint race and I the olympic so we had different start times and I felt bad leaving Vikki but knew she was going to rock the race and do really well. If anything I think Vikki's nerves helped me to stay calm! I went to the race start with Kevin, Mark and Helen and I felt calm and excited and just totally up for a fun day!
Luckily race day was dry, warm and a calm sea (last year was full on surfable waves on race day!!) so we racked our bikes, laid out our kit for an easy transition, pulled on our wetsuits did a final wee stop... (interesting lack of girls in the race - you can always tell by the toilet queues hey!) and headed to the beach! Race time!!
I LOVED the race! I laughed and smiled the whole way round... well maybe there were a few grimases but overall I really enjoyed it! The swim was the usual ruk at the start and around the turn around buoys but I just kept calm and carried on. Having no idea of what to expect from this distance I was determined to enjoy it and see how it felt and not stress too much!
I came out of transition, changed into bike gear and ran through to the bike start (that was a long way!) and then the fun started!! I am not the Bike's biggest fan if I am honest... but I LOVED this bike ride!! Everyone said that the drafting would be fun... i didn't realise how much fun!! I tagged along with a few cute bottoms and suddenly realised that I was going 5mph faster tucked in there than i was on my own! Brilliant!! 1043 had a cute bottom but eventually he was too fast for me sadly but then there was another guy who came along and we played tag for a while before I told him he needed to go faster and stop making me go in the front... so we had a chat for a while! He was cute!
Coming off the bike I met Kev and we had a great laugh both in hyper mood saying how much fun it was! Then it was into the run! Kev told me to go ahead and at every passing point all I heard was Go Shoesy!!! Shoesy is my Evo nickname... long story started by Mark when I couldn't get my trainers on at the pool one day!
So I crossed the line and felt BRILL!! We thought my time was pretty good - I didn't realise how good! 2hours 26mins! I was first lady home for Evo beating some brilliant girls who I have huge respect for! I later found out that I was 13th lady home out of the whole event! Happy days!!
Here are the photos!
Post race it was time to do what Team Evo does second best... celebrate!! Back to Friday night's restaurant where they had sofa's to chill on so we did for hours.... all the while drinking and eating!! Perfect!!
Here are kit and Jo in relaxed state after brilliant races!!
Monday morning.... time to pack up bikes (its easier the second time!) and then we went on a bus tour.... and had lunch!! The pictures say it all!!
Team Evo! (well some of us... others had left already sadly!)
Kit!
Helen, Kit, Jo - Monday lunchtime sunshine!! Love holidays!
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