- Before the race, it's a good idea to check your bike to see if any of your children inadvertently sabotaged the toe clips.
- When you only train for the bike, you feel pretty good during the bike leg.
- People with nice bikes pass me. People with mountain bikes get passed by me.
- Gels are sickeningly sweat unless you drink a lot of water, which is why it is required by law to do so.
- The volunteers don't like it when you are threatening to crash into them.
Long Form:
The course was ~15 miles out and back on a set of highways.
The bike started nicely. I pushed my bike to the guy who signified where I could start riding. My first foot went easily into its toe clip.
However, my left foot just wouldn't go in. I looked down and the loop was pulled tight into a tiny circle. Johann had been playing with my bike a little the day before and I suspect that he pulled the toe clip strap. That's what I get for not inspecting my bike properly.
I pulled over, opened up that toe clip and I was back on my way.
The bike leg felt good. I've been mostly training for the bike (doing spin classes thinking that the cardio would help all events), so that was to be expected. It was hard to reserve energy for the run. I tried to stay above 15 mph (although on some of the hills I dipped down). I wound up averaging around 17 mph, so I feel pretty good about that.
It was a nice day for a ride. There was a slight head wind on the way out but it wasn't too bad. The road was a lot hillier than I had imagined it but that made it easier to pass the people that I was catching. The cyclists really bunched up on the hills.
I passed a fair number of people and was passed by a fair number of people. Interestingly, most of the people I passed had worse bikes than mine (and a lot of them were mountain bikes). The people who passed me all had much nicer bikes than I (which made me feel better about being passed). While that is an interesting correlation, I don't think it was the bikes that was making the difference. I think that it is a self selecting group. People who are into biking get better bikes.
I knew that Mrk was ahead of me somewhere because I didn't pass him in the swim and his bike was gone from the transition. After about a mile on the bike I started looking for him coming back from the turnaround. The last time I saw him, he was wearing a black shirt. I hadn't noticed what his bike helmet looked like, so I was looking at every black shirted male that was coming toward me trying to determine if it was Mrk.
Finally, a guy in a red shirt yelled at me. It was Mrk. Apparently, he had a different shirt for the bike than he was wearing before the race. It was nice to see him out on the course. It made the thing less lonely.
My bike isn't the greatest. I believe that it was built in the 80's. It makes some noises when I pedal it. Combining those noises with the knowledge that I haven't had to change the inner tubes since I got it a year ago and I started to worry about whether it was going to make it. I was especially concerned going up hills where I was putting a lot of pressure on the pedals. But it held together and eventually I forgot about my worries.
The bike was on public highways and they didn't shut down traffic. There were a number of cars on the road. I felt a little bad for them. They were stuck in this never ending stream of bikes.
The cars really weren't a problem for me until I got to the turn around. A pickup and a sedan had passed me but didn't pass the guy ahead of me. When they got to the turnaround, they didn't seem to be sure how to get through (there was a cop car in one lane and they were probably on the lookout for bikes). As they slowed down, I thought about passing them on the right but I didn't want to cut them off (and get run over) during the turnaround. So, I hit my brakes a little and went slowly behind them.
That slowdown lost me a bit of time but it wasn't too bad. I was back up to speed in not too long. The people I was creeping up on were a little farther ahead but I caught them eventually and the riders that passed me were going to pass me anyway.
When someone passes you or you pass someone else, you have 15 seconds to get out of their draft zone (defined as 3 bike lengths behind them). During those 15 seconds, you can draft all you want. So I tried it a few times, both when passing and when being passed. Maybe I don't understand drafting but I couldn't feel a difference. It didn't work for me in the swim and it didn't work for me in the bike. I also didn't really like being so close to someone else's bottom. It felt creepy.
On the way back, I used the sweat rag to wipe my brow. I was glad that it actually came in handy. It was warm enough that I was starting to wish that I wasn't wearing the shorts over my track shorts. I think the next race, I may just wear the track shorts. Hopefully, I will be in better shape by then and won't look as funny.
I had my gel with about 3-5 miles left on the bike. Before race-day, I had a couple of them so it wasn't as big of a shock as it could have been. Gels are like eating cake decorating gel. They are really sugary and thick. That's why it's the law to drink water with them.
And drink water, I did. I successfully finished my water bottle by the end of the bike. I was happy about that and it probably saved me during the run.
The last mile or so of the bike leg was in the park where the triathlon was based. That portion is shared by the runners. I was feeling pretty good, so I yelled some encouragement ("Good Job") to some of the runners
As I approached the transition, there was a volunteer hollering that we needed to dismount by the time we got to him. I was cool with that. I slipped my right foot out and brought it over so I was coasting. I was going slow enough that I could stop the bike by hopping off.
Unfortunately, my other foot was stuck (darn that left foot). I hit the brakes and swerved off to the left. The volunteer was a little freaked by that. I think he thought I was going to crash (I wasn't sure that wouldn't either). If there had been someone coming up behind me on the left, I probably would have. But, I brought it to a stop and extracted my foot. I quickly pushed the bike into the transition.
Final Thoughts:
The bike was a lot of fun. Probably the most fun leg of the tri. Passing and being passed was interesting and I felt strong doing it. I was very relieved that I had made it passed the point where mechanical failure could ruin the race.
mwz
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