Triathletes Bike

Picking up from yesterday's Triathletes Swim post and the general overview post...

After throwing on a shirt, shoes, shorts and a helmet in transition, I walked my bike out of the transition area and mounted for the 9.3 mile ride.  The route took us around the top half of this beautiful island.  Most of the course was shaded by giant trees covered in hanging moss. It was beautiful and cool.

Right away, I saw one of the awesome signs made by my friends and it made me tear up.  I am so loved.

I began passing people at first, which made me feel good. I also got passed by quite a few people.  There were long stretches, though, without another biker in sight.  Nine miles is a long time to be riding by yourself with no headphones (No headphones is a USAT rule.)  I eventually started singing "Magic" by B.O.B. at the top of my lungs (the last song I heard before leaving my car that morning). Unfortunately I only know two lines, so I began to annoy even myself. Imagine this repeating over and over: "I've got the magic in me. Every time I touch a track it turns to gold. I've got the magic in me."

I also discovered that a course that is "flat and fast" is pretty boring and guarantees steady cycling.  My legs were pumping consistently the whole time. There is no place as flat as the beach here at home, so I had never trained for that. They held up pretty well.

There were cars allowed on the course. I thought that might be a problem since I've done all my training in city parks.  It turned out not to be a big deal. Except for one time where a car was going so slow I ended up passing it.  That was just annoying.  

I expected to bike a 5 minute mile, but I ended up closer to a 4 minute mile, which was surprising.  Almost halfway through, the Olympic distance athletes started coming back around from the opposite direction. They had started long before me, and had to loop the island twice.  These are serious competitors who have fancy bikes and fancy helmets.  I was glad we were moving in opposite directions so they weren't passing me and making me feel bad. 

Somewhere around mile six or seven, I saw my friends again. This was a surprise. I didn't expect them to have time to make it out on the course to see me.  They started screaming my name and all I said back to them was "I can't take my hands off the handlebars!"  (Because I felt like they'd want me to wave at them, but I'm not confident enough in my biking to wave and bike at the same time.*)

I finished the bike portion, re-racked my bicycle in transition, discarded my helmet and added a visor and headed out for a run. Stay tuned tomorrow for the final leg of the journey.

*Yes, I just admitted that to the world.