Zzckkkzzckk … That doesn’t sound good at all. What’s wrong with the gears? Even the chain is failing… Costa Teguise, Lanzarote, one day before the start of the GranGuanche Audax Gravel. Christian, MisterBike, tries to calm me down on the phone and gives me step-by-step instructions on how to correctly tighten the gear and adjust the gears. Half a turn forwards, if not a full turn in the other direction. I ride further and further away from the hotel, without a helmet, in my everyday clothes. All the turns are unnecessary. In my agitation I have no idea how far I have turned and where. Conclusion: it’s worse than before. Call again? Brixen is an hour ahead, so Christian has long since finished. Puzzled, I look around. Salvation is a Tribike bike shop! The gears were fixed in no time… Thank you very much! I want to pay… ‚No, absolutely not. With this shirt, let it be an honour for the employee …‘. I lower my gaze to me, to the inscription on my ‚Atlas Mountain Race‘ T-shirt!
But this was not the first disaster on my journey, this time without a teammate, my reliable hubby, Hermann.
Munich, car park, M-Park & Fly
Parking stress. My Bikebox won’t fit in the shuttle bus… Did I measure wrong? I’m not good at technical things, but reading the tape measure shouldn’t be that difficult… There’s a solution for a small extra charge. And then… I let go of the stress, my smartphone has disappeared… I search through all the bags, look between the car seats… Meanwhile the shuttle bus is waiting… The boss, Fatih, tries to calm me down, calls my mobile phone… But of little use, because it is set on silent. The minutes seem to pass, the other passengers look pitying, annoyed…? I empty all my carefully packed hand luggage onto the ground. There it is…!
Finally at the airport, the motorbike is checked for explosives…. The owner probably looks suspicious …, no, routine check. On the way to the security check … the realisation hits me like a shot …. My ATM and credit cards are in the wallet („sneer“ hidden) in the car…. Luckily for me, I had left my car keys at M-Park. Short phone call, I’m mega embarrassed, what are they going to think, probably „Still this old bag, must be a confused brainless…!“.
But the person in charge of the car park, Fatih, immediately agrees to look for my wallet and bring it to me with the next group of guests… Really nice!
I hope there will now be no more mishaps and accidents … Here I still did not suspect that even the assembly of my mountain bike before the start would be a challenge … Zzckkkzzckkk … My gears did not look good at all …