Walking the tightrope

It's going to go right down to the wire.

The Loctite 9461 bicycle repair glue is due to be collected at 4pm this afternoon and applied by 8pm tonight. The datasheet informs me that a full cure is not achieved for 3 days at 22 degrees Celsius, i.e. Friday evening at 8pm.

Saying "bicycle repair glue" implies my current mechanical failure is little more than a puncture, which couldn't be further from the truth. What I'm really investing my Ironman dream in is tiny smear of some liquid substance applied over a 2.0cm cylindrical joint being tensily strong enough to support my body weight over all the various road vibrations, pedalling pressures and pothole impacts that will be encountered over the col de l'Ecre. And it's something that no professional bicycle repair outfit will even consider attempting. I also have to hope that all the banging with the rubber mallet to ease the tube off the lug hasn't hastened the fatigue of the other bonds. The whole thing sounds like utter madness to me. But madness is but a small step away from genius. I just hope that the Loctite boys weren't hungover when they made this batch.

I am faced with a dramatic choice for Saturday's Triathlon - put my faith entirely in 9461 or transfer all the components to The Editor's pre Team Banana frame. Leaving this decision until Friday night could mean a sleepless night of bicycle building.

Mental note to self - investigate the tensile strength of duct tape, which might be called upon to hold my bike together during the race.

Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).