Going through customs, the officer working there told me about how Mark Renshaw had come through that very same customs check. Cool! After making it through customs, I picked up my luggage (which was all there, thankfully!), bought a train ticket, and made my way over to the Manchester Airport Station to catch the train to downtown.
Here is a picture taken from the outside of the downtown Manchester station after I had departed the train and was figuring out which direction I needed to walk to reach the Hostel.
Upon reaching the Hostel, I checked in, deposited my luggage in the luggage room, and then set out to take care of a few chores: finding lunch, obtaining a UK-carrier compatible SIM card for my mobile phone, and finding the way over to the local Crossfit gym.
After taking care of those chores, I packed some cycling clothes and tools into my backpack and dragged my bike box to catch the bus to the National Cycling Centre. The first session at the track did not go as I had hoped.
I think it is safe to say most folks who have ridden on the velodrome with me would agree that I am an ok track cyclist and generally do not bring death and destruction to everyone in the vicinity. However, I do not possess the skills necessary to either cause or prevent a rider from crashing three spots ahead of me in a paceline. Unfortunately, the crash happened, the two guys between the crasher and I piled up as well, and I was taken out by a loose bike before I knew what happened. 13 hours on an airplane in the previous 24 and eight hours worth of jet-lag probably did not help my reaction time... This was very frustrating; five years of track racing, 8 state championship wins, 2 times CVA rider of the year, 3 trips to US elite nationals, and then my first-ever track crash happens during the warm-down at a beginner rider session in Manchester while I am trying to work my way through the "probationary track accreditation" process. To add injury to insult, a hard/sharp part of someone's bike made a tear in my fork, leaving it unsafe to ride. My session was done. Then, to add further headache to the situation, the person in charge of bike storage space rentals was gone for the day, so I had to take my bike back apart, and then drag the 70-lb bike case back to the bus stop and back to the hostel. What a pain in the neck!
Friday went quite a lot better. After a post-breakfast jet-lag recovery nap, I spent some time browsing the web, looking at maps of Manchester, and putting the Thursday night track disaster behind me. Then I headed out into town and went for a workout at the local Crossfit gym, Crossfit Central Manchester. During the WOD, I put up a new PR for the clean and jerk at 75-kg (about 165-lbs for us Yankees), and then posted some good numbers for a three-round AMRAP workout that featured 100m sprints, wall-balls, burpees, and barbell thrusters. We finished out the day with a 1/2 Tabata round of air squats for a little bonus leg burn.
After the gym, I made my way back to the hostel and made friends with a group of German students who had spent the week here in the UK. After dinner, I joined them for drinks and dancing at a local night club. It ended up being a late night, but with the 8-hour time difference between California and Manchester, I felt like it was only about 7:30pm when we returned to the hostel. Upon returning to my room, I was joined by a group of Australians who were touring around in Europe.
On Saturday, I spent some time looking around for shops that might carry new Forks. I visited a local shop in person, and they had one fork, but it was reserved for a specific bike. They recommended another shop that would be able to help me, so it was back to the Hostel to get on the web/phone and continue fork searching. In the afternoon and evening, I hung out with the German students and then was joined in the Hostel room by a group of 6 Brits who had been thoroughly enjoying the Manchester nightlife.
Sunday saw the departure of the German students, and then in the evening I headed back to the velodrome and picked up a rental bike for another structured training session. This one went much better than the previous session, and my legs started to feel quite good for the first time since departing the airplane on Thursday.
A moment ago I received a call back from another local shop that can obtain a fork for me this week, so I will be take my track bike over there this afternoon. Up, up, and away!
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