After being covered in sunscreen by the volunteers, I headed out on the 112 mile bike course and I was feeling good. The air was warm, the first 10 miles were flat and everything was feeling good. We headed out of Louisville into what was some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen.
At about mile 14 or 15 we began to see riders coming back the other direction on the road we were on before starting a long decent between two rock cliffs on each side of us. There ended up being a series of 3 sets of long (.5 - .75 mile each) ups and downs before we turned around and went back through them again.
It was about this time that I figured the "rolling" hills I had heard about were more than just "rolling" - they were going to be long and they were going to be hard.
We started our first "loop" of the middle of the bike course as the sun began to pound down on us. The first loop seemed to be never ending. It was just hill after hill after hill. The biggest thing was that none of the downhills seemed to "feed-into" any of the uphills. At every aid-station I dumped a bottle of water over my head before drinking some of it.
Finally the first loop ended and not long after I reached mile 65 where my "special needs" bag was. I loaded back up on gels and energy drink and headed out to complete the second lap. By this time I couldn't look at another piece of bar and the thought of having any more gel was almost unthinkable.
I managed to choked down my gel every hour and drank my fluids like I knew I needed to.
The temperature continued to climb as the ride went on. The medical vans and ambulances seemed to be more and more of a common sight as the ride went on and on. I wondered how many of us would finish the day.
Finally I reached mile 90 and it was time to head back towards downtown Louisville. My time was good in spite of my pace slowing down. The last 10 miles or so of any long ride are ALWAYS the longest. It was at this point I really began to feel like crap and even thought my overall time was good I began to wonder how I'd feel when I started the run.
At about mile 105 or so a cyclist came flying past me and all I could think of was: "Wow...who the hell can have THAT much "kick" at this point in the ride on such a hot and humid day?" As I looked down at his leg where they mark your age I was further humbled to read "62" on his calf. I began to think to myself that I was pretty impressed, until about a half mile later I saw the same guy laid out on the road side with two EMTs working on him. Then I was thankful I still had the sense not to push it quite that hard. (or so I thought?)
I came back into the transition area and was happy to see I was in earlier than last year, despite the heat and humidity. As I got off my bike it hit me that maybe I went a little too hard and the lack of nutrition on the course was catching up to me.
When I took my first step off my bike I was a little "wobbly" which in and of itself was not that out of the ordinary. Your legs and hips tend to get stiff from doing one motion (in this case biking) for more than 6 and a half hours straight. But it was the rainbow spectrum of colors that I saw in my peripheral vision that told me something wasn't quite right with me.
Two different times the volunteers asked if I was okay but I didn't want to get taken out of the race or held up with a medical exam (like Jodee did last year) and thought if I could get to the changing tent, take a seat and get some water, that I'd feel better.
I was right and after a healthy 14:00 minute transition, along with 3 big cups of water, I was headed out to the run. All in all, this bike course was harder and much more grueling than Madison last year.
Final bike time: 6 hours 35 minutes 30 seconds - more than 10 minutes faster than last year.
In the end, both Jodee and I finished the 2010 IronMan Louisville...and that was our main goal.
