up for Sunday's Bank of Bermuda Team Triathlon.

And yesterday, the Island cyclist was full of apologies after leaving team-mates Craig Ferguson and Sheldon Thompson high and dry in the middle of the race.

"If there's anything I could do to make it up to them, I would,'' said Looby.

Looby, Ferguson and Thompson represented one of the strongest groups heading into the 22-mile relay event. And when the surprising Ferguson emerged from the one-mile swim in Hamilton Harbour in third place, only seconds behind pre-race favourite Ronald Cowen, the team's chances improved considerably.

But as Cowen tagged his cyclist, Dana Henry, Ferguson searched in vain for Looby, who, it turns out, was at home tending to a damaged bicycle.

Looby said he was trying to put a larger sprocket on his bike to take advantage of the short, technical course through the streets of Hamilton and ended up breaking it. "It wasn't even rideable,'' he explained.

By 8.15 a.m. -- 15 minutes after the swim's scheduled start -- Looby said he realised it was hopeless and wandered down to the race to see Thompson and Ferguson "I couldn't even give them an explanation,'' said Looby, who also apologised to his sponsor, Wheels Cycles. "I was feeling so sorry about what happened.

They have every right to be upset.'' "Craig did a great job in the swim and I know Sheldon was looking forward to racing against Kavin (Smith) and Jay (Donawa).'' Ferguson was clearly disappointed at not getting a chance to match his older brother Trevor's win two years ago in the team triathlon but said yesterday he was "over it.'' Ferguson will be attending university in Canada next year and likely won't have another chance at the event for at least four years.

"I'm sure he must've had a good reason otherwise he would have been there,'' the 17-year-old Saltus Secondary School said of Looby. He said he was planning on meeting with cyclist in person this week to resolve the issue.

Ferguson was a late addition to the team and had never met Looby until the day before the race.

"He was really psyched up about it,'' he recalled. "He kept saying that that if I could just stay within a minute of Ronald, he could give us a one or two-minute lead on the bike. Then when he didn't show up, I figured something was wrong.'' Looby, who won last week's Bermuda Bicycle Association time trial, said he could've produced a time of between 36 and 37 minutes for the 15-mile (closer to 16, competitors maintained afterward) course. The best split was 40:42, turned in by Jeff Payne.

"I know I could've given (my team) three minutes,'' Looby said.

That being the case, Thompson, a strong runner in his own right, would have probably forced the eventual winner, Smith, to clock between 30 and 31 minutes for the 10-kilometres to make it close. He ran 32:40 on Sunday.

Damion Wilson won the May 24 Heritage Classic cycling race, not Dana Henry as reported yesterday.