Rohto Ironman 70.3 Florida Race - Bike

Rohto Ironman 70.3 Florida Race - Swim

Out of the water and into T1.  Well sort of… I got lost in T1 and it took me a few minutes to determine where I was at. T1 was about 6 minutes for me.  Since it raining so hard during transition setup everything was not laid out nicely.  Everything I needed was in my bag so it took me longer to get to everything.

Hi Mom!!

I ran out of T1 and the length to the bike ride was longer than heck.  I was on the furthest rack from bike out.  It took easily a minute to get to the bike start.  I finally got the start and got yelled at because I tried to get on my bike 1in before the start.  Stupid official, like I have a chance at winner the race.

Over the river and through the woods..

Onto the bike and into the wind.  The wind was kicking hard that day.  The cold front brought the rains in the morning and winds in the afternoon.  The wind was blowing at 10-20 gusts.  I am not a wind rider and it was really hard to push through that wind.  Several riders said it added 20-30 minutes onto their bike times.  I agree because I should have finished the bike ride at around 3 hours flat (which would have made many giveaway guesses of 6 hours almost perfect).  The wind never seemed to be at your back. 

One thing I did not train for was riding at 16 mph and grabbing a water bottle from a volunteer.  That was a little tricky.  The volunteers at the first stop knew what they were doing and took off the tops of the water bottles before handing it to us.  It was hard trying to get the top off the bottle drinking it and throwing it in the designated areas.   When the top was off it was a breeze. 

I got pretty good at the water bottle pickup trick.  On the last stop I had an empty water bottle so I got cool and had the water bottle top in my mouth and the bottle in the cage.  I grabbed a sports drink, took off the top and poured it into the water bottle in the cage.  Tossed the drink, took the top out of my mouth and screwed it onto the water bottle in the cage.  All this while going 18 mph on a bike.  Pretty fun stuff.

Doohh..  Halfway through the ride I remembered I forgot sunscreen at T1.  Oh now.  This white boy is going to be hurting later.

Every time I passed someone on the ride I would try to encourage them or tell them about the beer tent that was at the next rest stop.  Several people laughed and most said thanks because they really needed the encouragement.  Many were having a really hard time with the wind and needed a
“pick me up.”

At about mile 52 I was looking at the retention pond I was about to pass when I spotted a 5-7 ft alligator in the water.  I was raised in FL so alligators are not a big deal to me but when I pointed it out to the guy behind me he screamed like a little girl.  It was funny as heck.  What was the gator going to do, swim out of the water, jump the fence, catch up to the guy doing 20 mph and bite him?! 

Off the bike and into T2.  T2 went well.  I remember the sunscreen and bathed myself in it.  Put on my shoe, running belt, etc.  Sucked down a GU and made my way into the running portion

To be continued…

Cool bike for a disabled ridder