Ironman Florida- The Bike

The transition area was pretty empty by the time I moved through it and there were a few people in front of me on the road which I easily overtook. I felt good being on the bike.

I had made some definite plans, first that I would not drink much or eat anything the first five miles. I had heard from friends that the first few moments on the IM bike course were crucial to maintaining a good stomach. If you drink too much water after already drinking much in the swim event it could cause cramping. Putting food in your stomach first thing on the bike after being horizontal and swimming could also invite gastro issues. My tongue however felt swollen from all the salt so I swished and spit a few ounces of water to clear the taste out and restore some balance.

The Ironman Florida bike course is a single loop course with the first and last 12 miles leading from and to the host hotel. There is very few spectators along this course which is too bad because there is plenty of room for cars to pull over and cheer their athlete on. However its really hard to plan for that when the majority of the hotels people are staying at are next to the expo which is barricaded so no one can leave.

The wind was right into my face as I rolled along the beach front parkway. I was averaging maybe 16 mph which at this point was not a concern since I was just warming up. I was spinning in a high cadence and figured the wind would lessen as I moved further inland.

The wind did not lessen as I moved inland but I continued to pass people at a good clip, mostly women. I don't say this to belittle women, more to apportion my long swim time to its proper place in the race. As I got to the bridge which represented miles 12 and 100 I moved over it effortlessly and passed several more people. Now I was passing several men.

The wind did not give up at all and I began cursing the air at my 16.5 mph speed. My HR was in the mid 140's (zone 2) and my cadence was between 85-95. For the sake of brevity I will just say I continued the same relative speed, HR and cadence for the first 50 miles of the IM course.

Along some of these long stretch's of good road, I would converse with cyclists as I passed them or they occassionally passed me. There was a half dozen of us during the first part of this course that continually leap frogged each other as we charged a patch of road or slowed down to put in some calories. It was not as tedious as I expected.

I was contantly entertained. I could only do so much for my speed, the wind was hard to move through and I knew the course would eventually put us into a tailwind, so I just tried to stay smooth. I played a game reeling in people in front of me which kept me highly motivated.

I passed a team mate from AzTriClub at mile 21 and Ellie was there too. So we talked for a moment before I continued on. I asked my team mate what her swim time was and she said 1:30-ish, so I felt good that I had made up almost 20 minutes on the bike so quickly. At a porta-let around mile 32, I asked a couple guys their swim times and they said in the 1:20's.

The special needs bags were at mile 49 but I didn't think I needed anything so I blew by it. Just past it was a right turn and finally out of the wind. There was a gas station on the corner and some cyclists had actually stopped there to talk to family that was on the course. It looked like their support teams had gotten them food from inside or coffee but I could have cared less.

My speed immediately jumped to 22 mph and I was hauling ass. By mile 70 I was feeling good but this is were the race really started for me. I can only guess that I was exereting to much effort because I started to get nauseous and eventually pulled over to dry heave. For the rest of the bike (42 miles) I leaned over the handle bars or quickly pulled over every 5 or so miles to dry heave three or four times and then take off again.

I should side note here that I am very susceptible to dehydration. I went into a coma after getting heat stroke several years ago. Since then my body can go into heat exhaustion and dehydration very quickly. I can only guess that the weather in Florida leading up to and during the race had made my body primed for problems and like my heat injuries in the past, I don't see them coming. So when I mention that I am throwing up or dry heaving during the rest of Ironman, my stomach and GI were great. I was only evacuating a few ounces of fluid per episode and I attribute all the episodes to exertion. In the run segment I will talk about how I overcame it.

There were several miles of rural road. At one point while going through some woods there was a series of gunshots and shotgun blasts. Interesting noises to hear in an Ironman and I confess I picked up my pace.

About a mile after crossing the bridge again at mile 100 I came across a woman flagging down cyclists yelling she had bike problems. I had thinking if I could have helped that swimmer out of the water and for some reason this womans distress was a sign to realign my warped karma. So I stopped. She didn't know how to change the flat she had on her front tire. So I took ten minutes and helped her out. She must have been there for a while because she was so grateful. While not moving forward for that period of time I think it actually helped me stretch my legs out and was a good thing for me. Mentally I know I performed a selfless act in the middle of the biggest event I have ever competed in and hoped "Loving your neighbor" would pay back ten-fold over the next few hours.

With only 11 miles to go, I really felt good. I repassed several people that I passed earlier in the race gone by me while on the side of the road. I started to high cadence through the hotel areas to get my legs ready for the run. For where I was on the course, I considered my good fortune. I felt reasonably well. I had certainly felt worse after shorter rides, let alone a tough ocean swim before it. I felt really blessed to be where I was doing what I was doing.

I saw Mistress, Mighty Mo and our friend Michelle at the bike return and ran over to see them for a moment. I then grabbed my special needs bag and ran to the nearest garbage to dry heave again.
I passed 213 people on the bike. My legs felt good. My back felt good. I made quick work of changing into my running gear and another quick trip to the the porta-john. I knew I had some obstacles in front of me, specifically 26.2 miles of them. What would the weather do when the sun went down? Would the wind pick up like it had the last two nights? Would the temperature plumment? Could I get my body back under my control and stop vomiting?

I thought about all those questions and more as I ran out of T2 and down the road that inexorably led to a finishers shoot and the title of Ironman...