Kelowna Apple- Part 2

After the race we headed off to the hotel to shower and change, and then back to the course. I was hoping for a top 5 at this race, but it didn't happen. 6th in my age group. I made the goal of top 5 however, based on last year's results, which I would have made. This year had a strong M20 field.

I relaxed with my buddies in the beer gardens for a bit, and then it was time to head home. My buddy Steve was driving, and the rest of us started to fall into a nice relaxing sleep for the long ride home. About an hour in to the ride, Steve woke me up to tell me something is wrong with the car. I saw that a few warning lights were on, but I wasn't too worried, that is until Steve pointed out that the engine temperature gauge was in the "engine is about to explode" range.

We pulled over in the middle of nowhere and popped the hood. The engine was smoking pretty bad. One of the tubes that connects the radiator to the coolant pump had come off, spewing coolant everywhere. We knew we were going to have to get a tow. Luckily we hitched a ride with a guy heading to Merritt, as a tow truck can only take two guys. The tow into Merritt (26km away) was $200.00! Ouch. Being guys, we assumed that when we got to Merritt we could do a little repair on the blown tube and be off to Vancouver in an hour.

Yeah, that didn't happen.

Us working on the car

Steve providing the music for our troubles

Looking stoked to be in Merritt

The coolant tube was but a small symptom of a much larger problem. We slowly began to figure out that the engine blew something that created a massive oil leak. In a matter of minutes the car was running on NO oil. Like none. This created so much heat that the coolant couldn't take the pressure and blew, creating even more heat. We had to wait until the next day to get the final verdict from the mechanic in Merritt, but we were pretty sure the engine was toast.

Let me tell you, Merritt on a Sunday night is not that fun. Me and the boys made the best of it, getting some Captain Morgans and yucking it up, but we knew tomorrow was going to be a long day. To add to all of this, two of us had no battery for our cell phones, and another had somehow lost his altogether.

I got up early the next day to talk to the mechanic who informed me the car was toast. He was sure that the incredible overheating had melted the inside of the engine, causing it to warp. You could hear the starter motor turning, but there was just no compression in the pistons. AWESOME. This was my mom's car which I decided to take instead of mine so that we wouldn't break down and be stranded. Ironic.

It was hard to leave such a nice car there, but we had to get home. I couldn't stay another night in Merritt, and it would likely take a lot longer than that to figure out what to do with the car. So we ditched it and took a Greyhound bus to Vancouver.

The long walk home

I took apart my bike as best I could and had two bags on my back, my wheels in one hand, and my bike in the other. It was rough. Two minutes before leaving on the bus, the driver informs me that he won't take my bike because it's not in a box. WTF? So we asked for some old boxes out back and just started taping them around my bike. We somehow got like 4 old crappy old boxes over my bike, and just taped two half boxes around my wheels. So butch.

After 5 long hours we made it to Vancouver. Then the hard part began. We had to take public transit from downtown to the ferry. Two bags, wheels, and my bike on the skytrain and bus. OMG. I will post pictures of it I promise. I don't know how my bike made it without any mishaps. After the second bus we had a little time so I put the bike back together and put it on the bike rack outside, which was a little nicer.

We finally get to the ferry and walk on. I bring my bike upstairs because I had no lock for it and hell, I just didn't want to leave it anywhere. Of course the cheif steward has a big problem with this, but my buddies pull the "he is a big triathlete guy that just came back from national championships and his car broke down" story, so the guy lets us keep the bike upstairs.

10.5 hours after leaving Merritt, we are back in Victoria. All of the travelling has basically ruined my legs (little or no stretching plus a greyhound equals pain).

I have to laugh because I was thinking to myself "I never want to travel again," except I am leaving for Australia in like 7 days for 3 months! I'm gonna bike out to the Sidney TT tonight just to loosen up the legs.