Adventure Racing World Championship Portugal 2009
A Big Fly on the Wall
James Thurlow / 23.11.2009
About a month ago a short fella with a big grin winged me an email on the off chance that I would support his team in the World Champs in Portugal. It sounded a nice idea, but with a busy schedule of events to manage and two little 7 month old Thurlows these opportunities often get short shrift. However I put the idea to my wife Lisa who promptly replied with "If I'd been asked, I'd go" which was the seal of approval I needed.
The plan was for Lisa and the kids to drop me off at Heathrow enroute to her parents - so it was an early start from Cumbria but we made it in good time, where I met the lads (Tom, Warren and Nick) lolloping around the departure lounge. The ladies (Nicola Wiseman & Nicola Macleod) had set off earlier in the week on a ferry across to Spain with 5 bikes and a whole lot of kit in a very small car.
We arrived in Lisbon along with a few other teams. Warren announced that the weather forecast for the next few days was good but that it would deteriorate later in the week. After he said that it proceeded to chuck down with rain. The team liked the thought of bad weather as it would play on their strength in navigation.
We got the bus to Cascais where we found our two apartments and later that evening the ladies arrived with the car. There followed a quick unload of the kit - boy its amazing the ladies and all the kit fitted into a little saloon car. Unfortunately Warren's bike took a battering and now had a bent gear hanger (the bit that holds the sticky-out bit on the back of the bike) - so it was bent back with a bit of wincing. The following day was filled with shopping/registration and picking up the hire van - all with their own adventures - with the evening culminating in an event briefing at one of the local hotels.
O.K. this is where the secrets come out ... these guys are chilled. There was still much to organise but they took their time and only interrupted each other when it was something worth discussing. The priority was to get to bed early before the prologue. I've seen it on a few events with competitors way down the field before they have even crossed the start line because they are faffing the night before.
SleepMonsters
