{"id":567,"date":"2011-03-27T21:07:20","date_gmt":"2011-03-27T11:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timberkel.com\/?p=567"},"modified":"2014-08-12T02:31:08","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T16:31:08","slug":"a-bike-crash-a-sandstorm-and-a-marriage-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timberkel.com\/a-bike-crash-a-sandstorm-and-a-marriage-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bike Crash, A Sandstorm, And A Marriage Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a crazy few weeks it\u2019s been. Let me start with some very exciting news. I\u2019m getting married! The lucky girl is Belinda Coates, and we\u2019re planning on getting married on the Gold Coast early next year. It all happened after an incident on my bike during the big week training for the Abu Dhabi Triathlon<\/a>.\u00a0[singlepic id=104 w=320 h=240 float=right]<\/p>\n

Everything went according to the plan (at least for the most part), including the big 1000km bike week. On Sunday I needed to pull together 130km on the bike to finish out the 1,000km for the week.<\/p>\n

I had no idea what was in store for me. As I was finishing off the big week, a car came from out of nowhere and hit my bike, literally breaking it in half. It all happened in the flash of a moment, and although I\u2019m totally fine and completely uninjured, it\u2019s hard to piece everything together. All I can say is that I\u2019m extremely lucky my bike was the only casualty.<\/p>\n

So Belinda picked me up and took me back home, broken bike in tow. I was still determined to get my goal for the week, so the second I got back, I hopped on my road bike and finished the ride. In spite of it all, I got my biggest week ever. 1,000kms on the bike! Oh, and this other little thing happened too. I proposed to Belinda. I figure a girl who\u2019s there for me after a bike crash is a good find and definitely worth hanging onto.<\/p>\n

Abu Dhabi was on the horizon, and although I came into the race feeling more prepared than ever, it didn\u2019t go as planned. High winds, hot temperatures and the boys driving the bike very hard got the better of me.<\/p>\n

I biked pretty hard through the first hour and a half, but then I started cramping. My nutrition was running out, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I\u2019d hit the wall. I basically bonked about 150km into the bike. Matty White was right alongside me, we got off the bike 20min down and I was in a very bad way. We both decided to start the run to see how we flet but I only got to 5k in the run and pull the pin. The temperatures and exhaustion had run their course.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m definitely disappointed, I\u2019m not ashamed. Only 16 of the 41 competitors managed to brave the temperatures and winds to the finish line, and the average finish time was one hour slower than last year\u2019s race. It was a challenging day, and my hat goes off to those who finished.<\/p>\n

Right now, I\u2019m back in Oz enjoying the much more reasonable weather. I\u2019ll be training in Lennox head with the crew for the next few weeks before the Port Macquarie and Busselton 70.3 races.<\/p>\n

As always, I\u2019ll keep you posted on the results.<\/p>\n

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