When American triathlete Blake Wheale arrived in Auckland for this week's World Masters Games 2017, he was missing one very important element to his race - his bike hadn't made the flight.
"I got paged before the flight took off and there was something in my bike box that they wouldn't allow on the plane, maybe a CO2 cartridge," he told The Herald. "I had no choice but to get on the flight without my bike."
But a shout-out to the Auckland triathlon community on Facebook met with so many offers of assistance, he eventually had his pick of mounts for the Olympic-distance 30-34 race.
![Hayden Goldsack, left, and grateful American triathlete Blake Wheale. Photo supplied.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/OAX2DUTWJ4OVMECTXU57WUVYGM.jpg?auth=43c10c9cb4c2ba9296cfc070c27b74d11637b470e6e6b7153835f27878cf9ac6&width=16&height=9&quality=70&smart=true)
"A TT [time trial] bike would be ideal, but at this point, I will settle for anything," begged Wheale.