112 Mile Bike
As you leave the transition area we had to ride thru about 50 yard of barricades to get to the road. Ashley has told me to run past the bike mount line to avoid a crowd of people getting on their bikes. So I walked my bike about 20 yds past the other racers and got on my bike. My plan for the day was to take things calm and steady and not rush anything. So I didn't see the need to be running everywhere during transition. With a 112 miles, my strategy was to pace myself for the 1st half of the bike and see how I felt for the 2nd half of the bike. I have talked with several Ironman finishers and they all said to not blow up on the bike. So I was going to keep my heart rate between 130-140 bpm (zone 2) and make sure I could finish the bike. Let face it, I am 6'3" and weigh 240lbs and it takes a lot of energy to keep moving.
The first ten miles or so we were riding along the beach. As soon as I got out onto the road I noticed that my bike computer was not working properly. My cadence was working but my speed and mileage were not registering (cadence is the measure of how fast you are peddling the bike. I was targeting a cadence of 80-85). I decided to stop and try to see if I could fix the computer. I figured my sensor had moved and I could fix it. So I stopped and within 2 minutes had it working again. I had planned most of my nutrition and hydration plan based on time and mileage and I needed to know how far I had traveled. So I was glad to get everything working.
As I started the ride the wind was not that bad. After about ten miles we changed direction and the wind was now coming from the right. This first part of the bike was in total sun with no shade at all. There were also miles of rolling hills. They were really what you would call false flats. The road looks flat but it is really going slightly up hill. One of the things about flat road courses is that you really never get a chance to rest. If you have some hills on a course you get a chance every once in a while to coast and rest your legs. There was very little opportunity to rest especially on the first half of the course.
At about 20 miles we made a right turn. At the turn there was a race official yelling "get ready for the headwind". Did I mention that the bike ride was windy. Now this is just my observation, and other racers may have a different opinion, but I thought the wind was tough. My average speed was dropping and the wind would not let up. Because everyone was slowing down there were big packs of riders riding together. Drafting on the bike is not allowed in most triathlons, but I will tell you there were many people drafting. Whether this was intentional or not, I don't know, but people were riding 5-10 in a row. I did not want to draft. I am not racing against anyone but myself and whatever time advantage I may get is just not worth it to me. There were race official giving out time penalties for drafting and there were plenty of people serving penalties.
There were aid stations about every 10 miles on the bike course. At about 50 miles the bike special needs area was set up. This is the area where we could get our special needs bag that we had dropped of earlier in the morning. There are special needs bags on the bike and run. This is a bag you could fill with whatever you might think you will need for the rest of the bike or run. I had put 2 PB&J sandwiches, 3 bottles of Gatorade G2 and an extra tube and CO2 cartridge (in case I had a flat tire. I also had 2 tubes on the bike with me). I ate one of the sandwiches replaced the bottles and was off.
Once we left the special needs area we made a right turn and the wind died down a bit. To be honest with you the next twenty or so miles are just a blur. I was just down on the aerobars grinding away on the pedals. There is really nothing to look at and the bikes had spread out so I was by myself for most of this leg.
When I hit mile 70 I was pretty happy. Then I did the math in my head and realized I still had 42 miles to go. It was also at this point that we hit some really rough roads. There were large cracks in the road every 10 yards or so and there were water bottles and bike parts all over the road. I had to keep standing up on the large cracks because I was worried I might get a flat tire. This was also this point when my shoulders, neck and the bottom of my feet began to hurt. I had experienced the neck pain before on my longer rides. I knew it was from staying in the aero position straining my neck to look forward. But I had not experienced the foot pain before. It was like the bottoms of both of my feet were going numb. I made the decision that I would have to stop at the next aid station, unclip from the bike and take off my bike shoes.
At this point we had to make a right turn for a 4.5 mile ride out to a turn around. This section was tough. The road again turned really rough and my feet were hurting more. We also turned right into a head wind again. My speed dropped to 12-13 mph for the next 4 miles. This is when the mental part of the race really started. Ashley had told my there would come a point were I would have to mentally tough it out. This was it for me. I still had almost 40 miles to go and I was starting to hurt. I made the turn around and the aid station was right there. I stopped and got off the bike and just took a few minutes to collect myself and move my feet around with my shoes off. Stopping really helped so I decided I would do the same thing at all the remaining aid stations. I was watching my elapsed race time and I knew I was on pace to finish the bike in 6 to 7 hours, so a few lost minutes at each rest area would be OK.
Now the best thing about that turn around point is that I now had the wind at my back. We were now entering a stretch of road I had read about. From about mile 75 to mile 90 the wind was at my back and the road was finally smooth and going a bit downhill. I was able to use my weight to my advantage and post some much faster speeds. I think my top speed during this stretch was about 34 mph.
At the 90 mile mark we hit our last aid station. It was at this point I had my "pay it forward" moment of the race. When I stopped at this station there was a fellow racer on the side of the road standing next to his bike. His wheel was off and he had a flat tire. He had a set of Zipp 808 deep dish wheels (I have the same wheels and they require a tire tube with an extra long stem) and his spare tube had a tear at the valve stem. He said he had been waiting for about an hour for race support to come and help him. He asked me if I had tube with a long valve stem that he could have. I had two extra tubes on the bike with me and I thought that my chances of getting two flats in the next 22 miles were pretty small so I gave him the tube, told him to have a good finish and I was off. We were both out there trying to finish and I would hope someone would help me if I needed it.
For the next 10 miles the road was the smoothest of the race as it had just been repaved a couple of days before. Again the mental toughness had to kick in. My feet were really hurting me now, my cycling computer was going crazy and I was getting tired. As crazy as it sounds I actually yawned a couple times during that stretch. At about 100 miles we made a left turn back onto the main road heading back to the beach. We had a straight ride up and over a bridge back into Panama City Beach. When I crossed over the bridge a guy riding next to me said "we are at the home stretch now". So we only had about 10 miles to go.
I had no idea how hard those last ten miles would be. We turned left to head back to transition and again turned right into the wind. This time though the wind was coming right off the water. For me, grinding out the last 10 miles was brutal. My neck, shoulders and feet were hurting me and I just wanted to get off the bike and start running. My speed was dropping again down to 12-13 mph. It was this point I just put my head down, got into the aero position and did not get up until I had made it to transition. I just kept pedaling and I finally made it. It was a tough ride but I had made it. I checked my time and I knew I had made it in under 7 hours. I had kept my heart rate in check and came off the bike with an average heart rate of 134.
T2
Another difference between a regular triathlon and an Ironman race is coming into T2. As soon as you are off your bike there is someone there to take your bike from you and then another person hands you your bike to run bag. So I grabbed my bag and went into the changing area. My feet were still sore and I wanted to change my socks. I also had some water, took some salt pills and put on my running shoes. I took a few minutes just to rest and collect myself again. I knew at this point unless something bad happened I would finish. I had almost 8 hours to finish the race and figured if I just ran my regular training pace for the marathon I might even break 14 1/2 hours. What I did not know was that something I had not even thought about would almost ruin the day.
So my total time on the bike was 6:57:32 and my total race time at this point was about 9 hours.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment