Beat Your Heat - The Bike

Flying Penguin

When I loaded my bike before the race my plan was to fill my speed-fill bottle with a mix of Gatorade and water, carry another bottle on my cages behind the saddle with the same mix and have a third bottle with my heavy goop mix of Perpeteum in the cage down by the crank.  After dumping my bike pulling it from the rack my rear bottle fell out, I remembered that there were stations every 10 miles on the bike loop, so I decided to ditch the bottle behind me and stick with the one speed-fill and my Perpetuem. 

The start to the bike was two lanes of smooth sailing.  There were a number of turns from street to street as the course led out of town.  I sat up on the horns for most of the weaving out of town before dropping down in the aero once we reached the first section of highway.  I was comfortable and settled in pretty well.  Prior to race day I had spent some time comparing the elevation chart for IMWI to IMTX.  The two really had very little in common other than the distance.  IMTX offered a relatively flat course with a number of longer rollers, nothing that looked like a true climb, but a steady stream of ups and downs for most of the ride. 
  

As I was leaving town on the highway and got my first taste of some of the smaller rollers I found myself exchanging position back and forth with a competitor named Ricky.  He had his race belt and number spun backwards so as we flip and flopped I just started talking to him by name.  I said “we’ll figure this out sometime” simply referring to the fact that we exchanged spots at every up and then subsequent downhill.  He was wearing a tri kit from OutRival Racing, who are the official coach and training group of IMTX.  We began chatting as I solicited some advice from him regarding the bike course as I assumed he’d been there many times.  He said the rollers would continue throughout, once we turned to head back we’d be right in to the wind and to try and save some for the last 20 or 30 miles because it was another fast section of the course.  In our chatter Ricky mentioned how he forgot to load his electrolyte pills, so I offered him some of my salt tabs.  I handed him my bottle, he grabbed some and said that was plenty to get him to his special needs bag.  I figured a little good race karma couldn’t hurt.  Ricky and I rode together for the first 20 miles of the race, our back and forth never really stopped.

The first 30 miles went by and was a breeze.  My goal was to just spin free, not push too hard and be smart on the hills.  When I’d get to one of the long gradual inclines I’d stay in the aero until I had shifted down to the lowest gear on the rear cassette.  At that time I’d get up on the horns and do my normal hill routine, pulling up on the crank, the rest of the way up while staying in the big ring.  I was able to stick with this strategy the entire ride.  It was around mile 30 that my curiosity really went wild . . . race morning I tipped the scale right at about 140, probably one of the lighter guys out there.  If I think of how gravity works, my advantage would be had on the longer uphill climbs and then on the downs the heavier riders would fly on by.  Somehow the exact opposite was happening.  I was getting passed going up the hill by riders in the aero cranking away then at the crest of the hill the riders would sit up and coast and roll for a while before pedaling back at it.  On the way up I’d get to my low gear, hit the top and start slamming through the gears in the aero as I passed rider after rider.  Regardless of what they were doing, I felt good with my strategy.  I remembered my first ride on the IMWI loop when I rode it with a multi-Ironman veteran; he said “If you’re doing something different than everyone else, you’re probably doing something right.” 

Up to this point I was regularly taking sips of my Perpetuem and dropping a salt tab every so often while washing both down with my Gatorade/water mix.  During the swim my Ironman Global Trainer lost it’s GPS signal and it never managed to hook back up the rest of the day.  So for the ride I relied on feel.  I had a couple mantras that I visited the entire ride: Let the penguin fly, spin free and princesses never give up.  To me, letting the penguin fly was my reminder to ride and feel the bike (I call my bike the flying penguin by the way), if I was picking up speed and spinning too fast, shift and keep maximizing the push I was feeling from the bike.  It also reminded me to shift gears, be picky about what gear I was in and not work the legs too hard.  Spinning free is really an extension of letting the penguin fly.  A few weeks before IMTX my son and daughter (6 and 4) had their triathlon (swim bike run as they call it).  At their age they allow for parents to be out on the course helping them along.  I was following and encouraging Emmie and during the bike portion there were a couple inclines.  On those up hills I heard Emmie saying something I couldn’t quite make out, then as the climb extended and she worked harder she began speaking louder.  “Princesses never give up” is what she said as she powered her way up the hill.  I guess it stuck with me.  It provided me a great reminder, a smile and boost of energy at each hill. 

Princesses never give up!

The IMTX loop was really a road to nowhere-ville.  Riding through the national forest offered some good shade and plenty of trees, but after that it was pretty rural.  By the time I reached the half-way point the trees were more or less nonexistent, the hot air would blow off some of the bare land and most importantly the road quality deteriorated as I pedaled in to major head winds.  I passed the special needs bag area as I hadn’t packed one, I felt good mentally and physically.  At each aid station I would rotate pouring Ironman Perform and water in to my speed-fill.  I slowed quite a bit at each aid station because I had two goals: 1 – get hydration in my speed-fill bottle and 2 – get water and spray it all over my body.  The wind was such during the bike that I never felt like I was sweating but I could tell it was getting hot.  The first couple aid stations I’d just concentrate my water spray on my head, neck and chest.  As I continued through the ride I started making sure I got my arms.  This was where wearing my arm sleeves came in handy; I’d get them soaked and having the water retained in those sleeves helped keep me cool as the wind would blow.  This, obviously, was a very temporary relief but a relief none-the-less. 

As the miles built I became more and more impatient with how long it took to go 10 miles between water stations.  Near each station was the appropriate mile marker of a ten mile increment.  I’m not sure I saw a mile 80 or if I had reached a new level of impatience but by the time mile 90 came I was cranky.  My legs felt good but I knew I had some major chaffing happening down below.  I had a hard time getting comfy on my seat and it became more and more difficult to stay in the aero position.  I spent much of the last 20 miles sitting up.  I was moving along but had certainly fallen off my pace from earlier.  The combination of heat, head wind, chaffing and rough road had maximized my discomfort. 

Photo by Bill Baumeyer

The ride in to town did offer nicer roads, I’m not sure about Ricky’s assessment of the last 30 miles but my opinion was influenced by the fact that miles 95-105 were heavily lined with vehicles stuck in traffic due to the race.  Riding next to heavy exhaust on the shoulder wasn’t my favorite.  As I entered The Woodlands the course winded through neighborhoods where crowds had gathered.  Other than volunteers at the aid stations this was really the first group of spectators I saw since leaving town on the bike almost 6 hours prior.  It was nice to know the ride was coming to an end.  With around 5 or so miles left I had my last sip of Perpetuem, I took a sip and went to put the bottle back in the cage and missed.  A competitor next to me said “eh, you didn’t need that anymore anyway.”  I agreed.  I came in on the last couple roads I went out on, the last block of the bike is lined with fences with Ironman tarps hanging creating a chute.  I dismounted at the line and for the first time since I left that same spot, I wasn’t clipped in.  I had never ridden that long without stopping.  I pushed the penguin in to transition and handed the bike to a volunteer as I shuffled through the bike staging area to get to the walk way where my run bag was sitting.  After grabbing my bag I stopped at a port-o-potty.  I’ll just say about 4 oz and blaze orange – enough said. 

I walked in to the transition tent and was a little shocked at what I saw. . .

Bike Splits:

Mile 0 to 30 pace: 19.95 mph

Mile 30 - 56 pace: 17.88 mph

Mile 56 – 112 pace: 17.36 mph

Total time: 6:11:00

Total pace: 18.11 mph

T2: 7:31

Temperature at bike start: 78.4 degrees

Temperature at bike end:  91 degrees, heat index:  96.6 degrees