weekend from hell!!!

Hi Everyone, Had the weekend from hell on the weekend just gone!!! I'll start from the beginning!! Craig "Crowie" Alexander's wife Neri and his daughter little Lucy picked me up at 8am on thursday morning and took me to the bus station to catch the bus to the airport for my flight to Newfoundland, Canada which is located in the north east part of canada. Its only a 4 1/2 hour flight to London from there so its a long way from oz and even boulder!! Got to the airport checked in and never got charged $100 for my bike which we usually do every time we fly so I thought this is going to be a great trip!! On the plane to Chicago and the traffic control radars weren't working in chicago so we doing loops above the city then we started running out of petrol so the pilot was going to land somewhere else but then we got the ok to land in chicago and I made the harry dash to my next flight but got there to watch the plane pulling away from the gate. So i went to Air Canada to get the next flight which was meant to go to Montreal but the chick said there's a United flight to Halifax which gets me closer to my destination and leaves sooner so i said ripper put me on that. I re check in at United not getting charged again!! then my flight was cancelled so I lined up for 2 hours then the chick said she couldn't get me on any flights to Deer Lake what so ever on the friday and she had to book me for saturday. Over 8hours of travelling the day before my race, not the best preparation!! So they put me in a hotel for the night without my bike and clothes. I wore the same clothes for 3days!! Then the next day I went straight back to the airport and got on an Air canada flight to Montreal then Halifax in business class!!! Then I was on stand by for 2 flights to deer Lake but never got on them. they told me my bike would arrive in Halifax at midnight friday night and would be on the first flight to deer lake on saturday. Because I was on stand by I had to pay for my own hotel in Halifax. Next day fly to Deer Lake and arrive at the hotel in Cornerbrook at about 3pm to see Crowie. Almost 2 full days late!!! No bike had arrived so I was stressing a little. Made about a thousand phone calls and my bike turned up at 9.30pm and we were getting picked up at 6.30am for the race. So not the best prep I've ever had. I swam well leading out the swim in my brand new XTERRA wetsuit then got on the bike Brent the Canadian i was with led the first 5km I did the 2nd 5km then he came back around me then BANG the motorbike comes from no where and says that I was drafting and I get a 4min drafting penalty which is a load of #$&*#$%^!!!! (pardon my french) So i get to stand on the side of the road and watch everyone ride passed for 4mins. I end up getting off the bike in 7th and run up to 5th 20secs behind 4th!! If I didn't get the drafting penalty I think I could have come second or third which would've been awesome considering what my trip was like. The positive thing was I got my slot for the 70.3 world champs in November in Florida and the way I never gave up and got myself back into the money. The trip back was pretty uneventful apart from the customs chick telling me to get my arse back home on nov 11 and to stick up for my rights and get myself more in Australia so I don't have to come and race in her country!! I had to hold my tongue otherwise she could've made my life hell getting back into the USA. Of course my flight from chicago to denver was delayed and I got home at 10pm last night!! A great few days. Awesome that the dragons beat the doggies tho!!

Until next time

Barny/Paul