China. part one - getting there.

It was a Friday when i got the 100% confirmation i would be going to China with the Irish Pezula Racing team, only a week to get flights, visas and the likes all sorted before the race would start.

There was not much i could do as i had to wait for information from the team to apply for my Chinese visa, i soon realised they were in the same situation and as it was the weekend we would lose 2 days plus the 7 hour time differece. We were waiting on certian information from the Chinese cycling federation that would help with the visa application. In the meantime Linds booked me a flight on Wednesday afternoon from Amsterdam hoping i would have my visa in time to pick up on the way, it took some planning. The team were able to apply for their visas in Dublin on the Monday but i would have to wait until Tuesday when i had all the right paperwork. So i drove the 3 hours to Den Haag in peak hour traffic that morning. It was pissing rain as i walked around looking for the embassy not realising i walked passed it as i was sheltering under my umbrella. So i sat in there for about 2 hours slightly damp waiting for my number to be called. I had all my correct paper work [you must supply flight, hotel and invitation details with phone numbers and addresses] so the process was done in 5 minutes, then i drove all the way home with the only thing left to do was pack. That may be easier said then done. For a mechanic its the tools that are the hard thing to take as they have a bit of wieght in them, and when i was only allowed 20kg and 5kg carry on, the packing would be light. As i was traveling on my own i could only take the essential tools rather than spreading some out into the bike bags.
Linds had taken the day off work to drive me up to Amsterdam, but we had to stop off to pick up my visa, there was no problems so it was in and out. After checking in and a lengthy goodbye, Linds headed home and I had almost a 3 hour wait for my flight only to hear it was delayed an hour because of a severe thunder storm over Heathrow airport. Finally at Heathrow i had to find my way from terminal 4 to terminal 3, which takes some walking and a train ride. Before checking in for Beijing I thought it was a good time to call Cam and see how they were travelling as they were due in from Dublin some time after me and as the flights were booked as a group [which the Qinghai Lake tour organisation provides] i thought i would wait. But the news was'nt good. All flights at Dublin were grounded as the airports control tower radar was down, nothing coming in or out all day. We quickly decided i had to go on alone and the team would have to arrange a flight the next day, and then try to change the flights to Beijing again. The original plan was we would all be in Xinging by Wednesday, but as we had to wait for visas we could not fly out of London until Wednesday. So the flights were changed once already and would take some convincing to the organisers to change them again and make it possible for the team to miss the prologue and start stage two all in last place. But for me, i had to fly on alone and wait until i landed in Beijing to see the outcome. So after sitting in the terminal for about 4 hours, i jumped on the plane and headed to the unknown.

I arrived in Beijing on Thursday [slept all the way too] around 1pm China time where i met Kevin, the tours flight organiser. He was surprised just to see me and me alone. I explained to him the situation at Dublin and he was quickly onto the organisation to sort it all out. I was not sure what was going to happen, maybe i would have to turn around and go back and the team would miss the tour. After a few minutes we got the go ahead to miss stage one and the team could fly on, but Kevin first had to rearrange their flights at Heathrow for them to do that. So i made a call to Cam in which i ended up speaking to Morgan Fox. They were just about to catch a flight out of Dublin but did not know what would happen with flights once at Heathrow, so i said "my mate Kevin here as it all sorted". I told Morgan the race organisers would allow the team to miss stage one and Kevin would arrange new flights so they could make it to Xinging late Friday. With that he was pleased. So i left Kevin to do what he does best and i went on to Xinging, i was the only non Chinese on the whole plane too.

I arrived in Xinging where i met... no-one, not good. I looked around and found nobody so i decided to sit and wait, taking note of a siutable sleeping place if i needed it. Within a couple of minutes i saw a girl walk in holding a sign that read Chinese but at the bottom said 'PZR-IRL'. I quickly jumped up "hello, i think your looking for me" i said. Her english name was Donna and she was very applogetic that she was late and that i had to wait. Donna knew i would be on my own as she was updated of the situation during my flight there, she then updated me on the situation on what was organised for the race and what still had to be done. Luckily i did this race last year and the routine was the same, so i knew what had to be done and what i needed for the race. Donna had done a fantastic job at getting as much ready as possible, so after a good nights sleep on those rock hard hotel beds we had all day Friday to sort things out. While teams were getting ready for the mornings prologue, Donna and i headed out to get a few things i needed. The rest of the day was quiet, i spent it laying out my tools ready to put the bikes together and catching up with the likes of Rhys at Marco Polo and the FRF guys before going to pick up the team from the airport. Working with a new team was going to be interesting, i knew no-one except Cam and had met Derek on our Houfalize training ride, i was'nt sure what to expect but atleast i knew what i had to do to get the job done. Cam and i had a slight upper hand as we were the only two that had done the race before.

That evening after dinner Donna and I headed to the airport along with our driver Dong, to pick up the guys . They came in looking very excited to be in China but very tired from the hassels of getting there. Once back at the hotel we threw the bags in the room and i got to work putting together the bikes while everyone else went and had a bite to eat. I had some help to build up the bikes and got almost everything done before we were kicked out of the bike room at midnight, the rest would have to wait til morning and with a 10am start it was going to be an early one.