LOOK AT ME, ignoring this blog. For shame! I apologize. I don't know what that is worth, because I will probably ignore it again until Tour of America's Dairyland once this race is behind me. But, at least I am honest. That is something!
Thus far, I have an excellent feeling. Tulsa Tough! The event had reached my ears many times. The city...well, not so much. Here we go:
THURSDAY
3:00: I departed for the airport on Thursday afternoon after a nice spin with my mother, Charlotte, and Kevin. Charlotte wanted to go to Target to make me replace all of the sports bras I had stolen from her sequentially in recent months. What can I say? She doesn't do sports!!! I NEED THEM!! My mother said this is not an excuse, and that was that. Then, Kevin requested that we hit up the bank to see if they had a Rutherford B. Hayes presidential dollar to add to his collection. He is an interesting little man.
4:00: My mother and siblings deposited me at the airport and we exchanged our fond farewelleries. "Goodbye,"I said, "I shall come back with my bicycle, or on it." They did not get my 300 reference. The festivities began with the American Airlines clerk politely demanding that I pay $175.00 to check my bike on the plane. When I began to sob and scream, "WHY!!!! WHY!!!!" she explained that I had to pay to check a bag, and that I had to pay for the bicycle inside the bag. And so, $175.
"Please miss," I said, "I am poor." Somehow this worked, and they charged me only $150. (ONLY.)
4:30: I made it through security quickly, though I did receive an extremely "friendly" pat down from one of the TSA ladies. "Woah now," I told her, "If you want to touch my butt, you need to buy me dinner first!" She chuckled the pained laugh of a woman hearing the oldest joke on the earth and told me I could go.
6:00 Our flight should have been boarding at this point. Unfortunately, though, South Florida is a hellish pit of disaster, and weather had delayed our flight. I worked on my novel and drank copious amounts of water.
10:00: We landed in Tulsa, and each and every person aboard the plane suddenly became some sort of track star. Men, women, and children bounded off the late-arriving plane with springy determination, running, their suitcases pinging along behind, with a haphazard fury toward the tram to the next gate. I walked, lazily--lizards do not run.
12:00 AM: I arrived finally in Tulsa, feeling a need of slumbers quite profoundly. A nice italian man gave me a Taxi ride to my final destination, all the while blaring Pitbull's "Holiday Inn." Very appropriate, as that was my destination. We arrived, and I settled into my lizard lair with much satisfaction
FRIDAY
9:25: I awoke with a start, realizing the time. "BREAKFAST," I cried, flinging the sheets away. I ran, with all the enthusiasm of those air travelers and then some!
10:00: I assembled my bicycle, and noticed with much distress that my Look Keo Blade pedal was cracked. Upon further inspection, it seemed slightly....unsafe. I scuffed at the cracked piece with my thumb, and it fell off. Oops.
11:00: I departed the Holiday Inn to go meet up with Amy and Laura for a quick spin around town. A lovely bike path deposited me directly in downtown, and I found the drivers of Tulsa to be a friendly, forgiving folk. The day was improving! I arrived at their hotel (another Holiday inn, if you can believe it), and went to the elevator.
"That's a CUUUUTE bike suit!" a friendly hotel employee told me.
"Well, thanks," I replied.
Amy came to collect me from the downstairs area and we went to their room. Laura fixed all of the things I had put together incorrectly on my bike (read: under-torqued), and I met Amy's mom! Giggity!
We rode an hour, and in that hour, I managed to be run over by a pedestrian and fall onto the ground in a heap of pink. Bike paths, I say. They are not designed for bikes.
NOW: we race at 7:00, so currently, I am lounging like the exemplary professional that I am. More later!
Love, Lizard
No comments:
Post a Comment