So, I came out of the water with a big smile on my face. As I said, it was a "that's finally over" smile, not a "wow, what a great swim!" smile.
It was also a "now I get to ride my bike" smile.
I am first and foremost a cyclist and was very much looking forward to getting on the bike. Although I would have to wait a bit longer than I had planned.
I got into transition- no wait, let me back up a little. I was walking up the helix (that curly-cue drive way that leads up to the parking in the Monona Terrace) when I got body checked by some guy sprinting up the helix- "Get out of the way!" is what I heard as he sprinted towards transition - "F--k You" is what he heard in return. Another local team did an experiment- walking the helix once and running it once- they compared heart-rates and times with each try. If I remember right, the difference in time was somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds depending on how briskly you walked. And it definitely was not worth the spike in the heart-rate for that 15-30 seconds.
So, on to transition. I grabbed my transition bag and headed into the men's changing area. The plan was to drink and Ensure, put on shoes and socks, grab my helmet and sunglasses and get out of transition.
The problem was, I couldn't get my transition bag open. I handed it to a volunteer and said "I tied as simple of a knot as I know how" and he thought I was done and started to take the bag away from me. I explained that I couldn't get into it, so he untied it for me and then was super helpful. "Here's how we do it.." he said, as he dumped everything on the ground- let me grab what I needed and then he packed everything up and sent me on my way.
Next stop- sunscreen. At Ironman, the volunteers do EVERYTHING for you. Everything except race. Yes, there was a volunteer to slather sunscreen on me. I reminded her to get the "tramp stamp" to which she replied- "oh, looks like you forgot last time." Yes- I have a very attractive tan/burn line on the small of my back.
On to the bike. The ride starts by going down the helix opposite from the one we just ran up. This is a no passing zone, so you can really take it easy in the helix. From there, out on to John Nolan and down around the coliseum and finally out of Madison, heading towards Verona. The main goal on the first lap of the bike course was to ride smart. Not too fast. If I feel good, I'll speed things up on the second lap.
I passed my friend (and training partner's sister) Angie coming out of Verona and probably confused her when I passed her again about 5 miles later. I had to stop for a bathroom break. The Ironman Perform sports drink wasn't sitting well, so there were several bathroom breaks in my future.
Other than the Ironman Perform problem, I felt good on the bike and rode exactly as planned for the first loop. The second loop started with a stop at the special needs bags (and another bathroom break, of course) where I had a bottle of chocolate milk and a bagel with peanut butter waiting for me. I downed that stuff and took off on lap two.
Lap two, pretty much the same as lap 1.- truly nothing to report here, just a nice smooth ride, with a few pottie stops. The only cramping came really late in the ride and I was able to back off just a little and it went away.
I didn't quite hit my goal on the bike. I was hoping to go 6 hours or under, I went 6:19, but I was still looking good for my overall finish at that point, so I was happy.
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