Last week was a confidence-boosting workout week. Thursday night, I did 2 hours (with a break after an hour) on the bike trainer, then 45 minutes Friday morning before work. Had planned on a long ride Saturday, but had no idea where I was going to go. Then Nebo Ridge (a local bike shop) sent a newsletter with info about a nice ride down in Brownstown, the Round Barn ride. Very casual, no pressure, pick your distance of 32, 67, or 81 miles. I didn't get down there until 9am and didn't want to be out past the SAG support time of 2pm, so I did the 67 miles. The route was very well indicated with marks on the street, which is a good thing since the map was so fuzzy/indistinct as to be merely a guidepost. Other than two outrageous hills of 1 mile each (which I walked up), it was a very pleasant course.
All of the interesting stops were within the first 30 miles. There were two round barns, a general store, and a just-renovated covered bridge, noted to be the longest in North America. At each stop were very friendly locals who were eager to share the landmark's story, and all of whom probably thought we were crazy for taking the bike instead of the car. Each had blessedly cold water, bananas, and other assorted snacks. It was very nice and relaxing.
The last SAG (water stop) was at 38 miles, though, so that last 30 got pretty tough. All of us were talking about that as we came in. It got REALLY hot here this past weekend, with temps in the high 90's.
To add to the fun, as I was blasting down one of the outrageous hills at 34-35mph (only because that's how outrageous the hill was, not due to any particular skill on my part), I hit a crappy patch job that bounced the bike around and my car key worked itself up and out of my bento box. I heard it ping very resonantely as it bounced god knows where. I stopped (as quickly as is safely possible on a bike going 30+ mph) and walked a ways back looking for it. It was hopeless. I'm sure it's in the weeds by the side of the road somewhere. Thankfully the cell phone stayed put, and a friend had planned on driving down after work anyway (she was working some overtime), so I called her and asked her to please bring my other car key.
I managed to ration my water and tolerate the heat for the last 30 miles. The last 20 I thought, "thank goodness I don't have to run after this," and was quite happy to pull up back at the school where it all started. Of course, I was so tired that I had trouble unclipping one foot and went over like the guy in the shopping cart on Laugh-In. Nothing hurt but got a colorful bruise on the hip. Oh well.
Hung around in the shade for another hour and a half waiting for my car key to arrive. After many meaningful thank you's, we went down to Jeffersonville, which is literally right across the river from Louisville, and picked up the packet for Sunday's tri. Found a hotel within walking distance of the race start, then went into Louisville to use our Groupon for the Maker's Mark restaurant. Had a fabulous salad/steak/bottle of wine, then passed out. At the hotel, not at the restaurant. I know wine and steak isn't a commonly-recommended pre-race meal, but didn't care and it didn't seem to affect me the next day.
Sunday morning's 5am alarm came much too early. I drug myself of bed, ate breakfast, and walked over to the race site. This race was interesting. They had shuttle busses take us across the river to the Ironman swim start, and we swam across the Ohio back to Indiana. It was different. I'm still ridiculously slow but it felt pretty good. I ended up not doing the full bike course due to some volunteer/racer confusion. I completely spaced that it was a two-loop course, and when I came back from the first loop, the volunteers weren't really paying attention. They yelled to someone in front of me, but I couldn't hear what they said. I asked where to go, was told to "go right here", but when I started turning right they yelled at me "no no no go this way". One asked if I had reached the turnaround point. Well yeah, that's how I got back here, and he pointed me towards the finish. Oh well. The run was my usual slog but felt ok. Even if I'd done the full bike course I still would have had a great finish time, and I felt good during the race. Not nearly as tired as I feared I might be after Saturday's hot and long ride.
Had a couple of free beers and half a buffalo burger, then went to see a friend who lives nearby. Napped about an hour, woke up ravenously hungry, ate the rest of the burger and socialized a while. We ate a light dinner later, then I drove back home.
As with any new experience, I learned a few things.
- Zip the car key securely into the tool bag hanging under the bike seat.
- Eat more on the bike. Saturday, all I had was a couple of gels and a couple of bananas (and lots of water). The protein/carb drink that I carried with me helped, but I didn't eat nearly enough food. The oatmeal breakfast wore off long before the ride was done.
- Pay more attention to the race course BEFORE the race!
