The End of the Road

I'm getting pretty stoked now...in the final stages of prep for the season. The sponsors logos are on the van, most of the stuff is packed up and I just went today to pick up my freshly painted THE Carbon lid!!! So sweet. Rich did a great job of adding his own flair to the already wicked standard helmet. I love it! I can't wait to ride in it this weekend at the Bike Show (NEC in Birmingham).

We've been putting so much effort into the new van this season that I think my poor Siat Ibiza (nicknamed...."the boat") felt left out. Last night on the way back from a visit with my bro in Manchester my car definately got our attention! Jill and I were happily belting out a bit of Nelly Furtado on the radio when I heard a strange clunking noise. It was one of those noises you just don't turn the radio up and ignore. Just as I pulled off the highway to find a petrol station the car finally gave up, stalled and steam started pouring out from under the hood. We push our little boat up onto the side of the road to assess the problem. Looked like our water pump had quit on us and everything was boiling (literally!!!). We were a solid 30 min. drive from home, but luckily Jill's crazy collection of empty water bottles in the back supplied us with enough plastic to carry the water needed to get us home. 2.5 hours, 20-25L of water, 5 stops on the road side to cool the engine off and about 10 honks from passers by cheering at the steam pouring from under our hood and we were finally home!!! The good news is - my Dad thinks he can fix it. The bad news is - it will have to wait until August when we are back in the UK long enough to look at it again! Always an adventure.
Off to bed. Early morning drive out to the Bike Show. See you there!