TCRno8 day 9: scratch

So that crash I had on day 3 where a motorbike hit me – turns out the bike was *not* okay. The frame had been creaking a bit from day 4 onwards, but I thought it was just the headset bearings not quite seated properly. It had been getting worse today, and as I stated the descent from the first summit of the Transalpina, the bike started wobbling in a very unsettling way. I stopped the bike and discovered an open crack running almost the full circumference of the downtube. I was extremely lucky to notice it when I did, as one more switchback would have caused the frame to fold in half beneath me. Luckily, the checkpoint manager for the nearby CP4 happens to be one Miranda Bradshaw, so I am calling on her esteemed services to evacuate me from the beautiful mountain top on which I'm stranded 😎 I'm sad not to have finished the race, but at the same time am happy with my performance and feel I've gained a lifetime of experience in unsupported racing. I have many strategy and equipment tweaks I'm now dying to try out 🙂 Blog entries incoming.