IMLP Bike

Go here for my pre-race and swim race report

BIKE - 7:02:20

So I hopped on my beautiful pink camo Roo and joined the other bikers out on the course.  I felt good.  My legs felt good.  I let all the speedy bikers, mostly dudes, pass me on by and I just kept spinning my legs.  You have to climb out of the town for about 10 miles so I took it easy and just spun up the hills.  The bike course was crowded and when we got to the screaming 10K descent to Keene, a TON, and I mean a TON, of slower swimmers but faster biker dudes FLEW by me!  Now, I'm not scared of the descent like some people, but with all the men passing me I took it easy and stayed to the right switching in and out of my aerobars.  I got  up to 38 mph, which isn't that fast considering some can get close to 50!

After the descent, I enjoyed the scenery and the rolling flats of 9N. The sun was shining and the sky was blue.  I kept up on my nutrition eating my peanut butter & pretzel bars, gu chomps, Perform drink and water.  I felt awesome and my legs felt even better.

The out and back was pretty uneventful and when I made the right hand turn on route 86 I knew there was a lot of climbing to get through in order to get back to town.  Again, I let people pass me on the hills and just spun up in my easiest or 2nd easiest gear.  There were lots of people out cheering on 86.  My favorite and maybe the strangest one was a farmer cheering us on with his two goats... yes, goats!! I yelled to him, "I like your goats!"  he replied, "Me too!!" Heh

As I went past Whiteface mountain along the 10 mile stretch of false flats I felt so strong.  This particular part of the course always defeated me mentally in training, but not today.  I conquered that part and just simply felt great.  I looked at my Garmin and noticed I was WAY ahead of my predicted time schedule of 3:30 per loop.  At that pace I was probably going to finish the first loop in about 3:10.  But of course, something has to go wrong on Ironman day, right?  Well, right before climbing three hills called the three bears, I heard a BAM!  My rear tube exploded!!  Oh sh&t!!!!

I hopped off Roo and started to get down to business in changing my flat.  I carried 2 spare tubes and 2 CO2 cartridges with me so I was ready.  I was super proud of myself, I changed that flat in just 9 minutes!  I hopped back on Roo and went on my merry way to climb the bears.

Even though my flat set me back a bit I was really happy with the way I handled it.  Climbing the last Papa Bear hill, it's like you're riding in the Tour De France.  People lined the street, cheering, singing, dressed up as dancing bananas and just make you feel like a rock star.  It was awesome!

Heading back into town I decided to skip my special needs as I saw there were a lot of people that stopped and I didn't want to lose any more time.  The only thing I had packed was an extra tube and CO2 but I thought for sure my flat troubles were over.  Yeah, big mistake.

As I rode through town I knew where my cheering squad was and when I went zooming by I caught them by surprise!  I was still about 10 minutes ahead of schedule even with a flat.  I tried to tell them I got a flat but they were cheering so loud I didn't think they heard me.  Again, I felt like a rock star!!

I headed out on my second loop and I felt good again.  BUT, disaster struck for a second time.  As I was descending the hill out of town by the ski jumps I heard thump, thump, thump, thump.... oh Sh&t... my rear wheel is flat AGAIN!!  ARGH!  I stopped at the intersection of River Road and debated with a volunteer on what to do.  I thought maybe I messed up filling the first flat with the CO2 and knowing I only had 1 tube/1 CO2 left should I change the flat again?  Or just fill it up with the remaining CO2 to see if it was user error to begin with?  I chose option B.  Let me spare you the suspense.  Option B was not the right answer!  As soon as I filled it up I heard the dreaded hissing noise!  F&CK!  Now, I had a serious flat and no CO2 to fill it up with!

I decided to take a gamble and try to ride it out to the next aid station which was supposedly a mile away.  I hopped on Roo and rode as fast I could up the hills out of town until I could no longer ride on my flat tire.  I stopped, got off my bike and I still couldn't see the aid station in sight.  Ok, then. I guess I'm walking my bike. I walked my bike about a half mile or more to the aid station.  Riders were passing by thinking I was walking my bike up the hills but I set them straight.... SECOND flat people.  I need bike assistance.  Argh....

I finally saw the aid station and a volunteer met me.  I told him what was going on and he walked me to where a pump was.  I started changing my tire when the bike mechanic stopped by.  He took over and changed my flat in no time.  He gave me an extra tube and CO2 and sent me on my merry way.  I thanked him profusely and happily got on my bike.


I literally rode for about 15 seconds when I heard BAM!!!!  My friggin' tube popped AGAIN!  The bam was so loud the bike mechanic heard and I promptly burst into tears saying the F word over and over again.  He told me it would be ok and he took off my rear wheel and replaced it with a new one!!! Huh??  Yes, the bike service was so great that they travelled the bike course with extra wheels in case of this very scenario.  Again, I thanked him like my life depended on it.  And again, I got on Roo and pedaled off.  This time there were no loud BAMS or THUMPS or HISSING noises for the rest of my bike ride.

I can understand getting one flat during a race, but THREE??? During my first Ironman???  I was seriously being tested.  Despite the tears, I got through it with the help of the on course volunteers.  So what's a girl to do when the entire race field has passed you by during 30 minutes of flats?  Ride like hell!!

I bombed down the 10K descent with more aggression since there were less riders around.  I put Roo in the big ring and pushed on the flats.  I rode with a chip on my shoulder.  Looking back, and maybe even during, I knew this was a dumb idea.  Why try to make up time when I have a marathon to run afterwards??  But I wanted to nail the bike course and punish it for the 3 flats it gave my Roo.  Punish it I did.  And I LOVED every second of it.  I was passing people all over the place, all the slower riders I should have been way ahead of were now just little blimps of my bike radar.  Catching them and passing them one by one.  It was awesome.

When I got to Whiteface Mountain, I still felt great.  I knew not to blow up my HR and I kept it well below 150 the entire ride.  So as I was climbing one of the false flats I caught up to two girls that passed me while I was walking my bike.  They were shocked I caught up to them.   I was too!  I told them my story and then passed them again :)

The bears came and went and before I knew it was I riding back into town.  I was wondering if my family & friends were getting worried since my second loop took so much longer than my first.  I passed my cheering squad with a fist pump and felt great!

Despite 3 flats I finished 112 miles in just over 7 hours which was in my estimated long range for race day.  I was happy about that but I couldn't help but think what I could have done without the flats.  I bet I would have come in around 630/635.

But there was no time to be disappointed.  I had a marathon to run and a finish line to cross!

T2 - 4:40

I dismounted my bike and the first thing that came out of my mouth was "Man, my ass hurts!!"  The dude next to me agreed!  I handed off my bike to a volunteer, grabbed my run transition bag and ran into the changing tent.  A very helpful volunteer helped me get myself together.  I got more sunscreen applied and I had to pee very badly.  During my ride, I could not pee on my bike!  I tried and tried but it wouldn't happen so I stopped once on the first loop pre-flats and went in the porta potty.  Before I headed out on the run I stopped again to empty my bladder.

Now, it was off to run 26.2 miles!!  Stay tuned for the Run Race Report!