The road to Verona was uphill and I was feeling good. I remembered the advice of Mike my coach, ride the first hour really easy. That worked out well because the the first hour got me to Verona, then there were two challenging loops ahead of me. Most of the bike course is a blur, but I do remember there were lots of hills. On the first half of the loop, the hills were not very steep or very long. I downshifted at every hill and watched my power numbers and didn't let them get much over 140 watts. As I crested the hill, I tried to shift and keep my power even to get more speed going down. I did a pretty good job of that, the end result being that everyone passed me going up hill and I repassed them going down.
I got to Mt. Horeb around 2 hours riding time and it was the perfect spot to stop and pee. A lot of Ironman athletes don't take the time to stop and pee during the bike section, but I had decided long ago that I wasn't winning this race and it wasn't worth it to pee on my bike. And stopping to pee proved very easy. The aid station was on a uphill section so we weren't going very fast anyway. A volunteer held my bike while I went into the port-a-potty. The whole deal couldn't have taken more than 90 seconds. And the fact that I had to go 2 hours into the bike was great, it meant I was keeping up with my hydration (the last time I peed being somewhere on the back section of the second loop of the swim. Yes, I have no qualms about peeing while swimming). I also took this time to switch my timing chip band from my left ankle to my right. For some reason, I start getting a weird pain in my ankle and foot during long course triathlons, but after switching the band to my right, I didn't notice it again for the rest of the race.
The second half of the loop is where the course got more challenging. There were some great downhills, but they weren't straight. I saw one ambulance loading up a cyclist on one of the downhill curves. And then there were 2 big climbs that were steeper and longer than anything in the first half. On both of these hills I switched to my granny gear, something I reserve for Olde Stage and the top of Flagstaff back home. My power was still at 170 watts at this gear. These hills are great though because a lot of spectators line the roads and cheer all day long. I saw some great signs on these hill, my favorites being, "Holy Shit, you are doing an Ironman!" and "HTFU."
Each loop was 40 miles long, beginning and ending in Verona. Verona puts on a little festival for the race and there are lots of spectators. I was so happy to see Jeremy, my Dad, Alex and Adam cheering for me at the start of the second loop.
Also, the second time through Verona we could pick up our special needs bag. I had to stop for mine because I put my second set of Infinite bottles in it. This had been a source of stress for me some weeks before the race - how was I to carry 6 servings of Infinite on my bike that has room for 3 water bottles? On my training rides I put the powder in Ziploc baggies and mixed with water at gas stations, but that was not a good way to handle it during the race. My coach suggested making 2 triple strength bottles and mixing a 3rd of the bottle with water in my aerobottle. I didn't like that suggestion because I knew the course was hilly and I preferred to be sitting up drinking when I was going up the hills and that's hard to do with an aerobottle. At the race expo I asked the guys at the Infinite tent what they would suggest and they gave me the idea to put the bottles in my special needs bag. I put the empty bottles in the bag, poured one bottle in my aerobottle and put the other two in my cages. Voila, 6 bottles of nutrition, each mixed at the exact right concentrate. I also put some Pringles and a Snickers bar in the my special needs bag. The Snickers bar wasn't doing anything for me, but I took a handful of Pringles with my extra bottles.
Naturally, the second loop was harder to get through than the first. I hit Special Needs at 3:27, so I knew I was looking at a 7:00 bike split. While I had hoped to be closer to 6:30, I felt like I was riding a strong bike without cooking it and I did have a marathon to get through. Still, 7:00 is a long time to be out there riding by yourself. I started thinking of things to say (or, hopefully not say) to all the people I passed, or who passed me. Ironman Wisconsin sold cow printed jerseys at the expo and I did moo at the few people I passed wearing these. They did not moo back. Then there were the same people that would pass me going up hill and I would pass going downhill and I would say, "Hi again, John." I peed again at the Mt. Horeb aid station. That was somewhere around 4:30 hours so again, I was keeping up with my hydration. I did have to wait in a small line of maybe 3 people so this stop might have taken up to 3 minutes. Still worth it.
Somewhere around mile 70 my lower back started hurting. It hurt to stay in an aero position and it hurt to sit up. I shifted a lot between the two for a change, but it never really stopped hurting. I was so happy to see Verona for the last time of the day, but for feeling like the ride out to Verona was all uphill, it was weird to feel like the ride back was still uphill. On one left hand turn I over did the corner and ended up on the dirt shoulder. I didn't panic and I got back on the road ok but it was a good wake up call that I was getting tired and my reflexes weren't what they were 6 hours ago.
I don't really remember getting back to Monona Terrace, other than I had no idea where we were other than somewhere within city limits but not downtown. And then we could finally see downtown and the capital. I saw my family again right outside Monona Terrace and the boys were joined by Becky, Laura and Ariel.
I loved my signs that my sisters made!
Overall, I think I had a decent bike. I could have ridden harder, but who knows how I could have run then? As Endurance Nation says, there is no such thing as a good bike split and bad run split. There's the bike you *could* do and the bike you *should* do. But I could have been a bit more consistent. My first 40 miles average was 16.5 mph, the next 43 at 16 mph and the last 29 miles at 15.8 mph. My total bike time was 6:56:35 for a total average of 16.13 mph.
T2: Riding back up the parking lot helix was a lot more fun and faster than shuffling up it after the swim. I was able to hand my bike off to a volunteer who re-racked it for me, then there was someone waiting with my transition bag to help me in the changing room. I did a complete wardrobe change - bike clothes off, running clothes on. I even changed my sports bra and socks and made sure to put body glide on again in all the relevant places. And lastly, I took the 3 Advil I had waiting for me in the bag. Outside, I went through the sunscreen gauntlet again too. I really didn't feel like this transition was any faster than the first, it must have been that I biked the helix instead of shuffling. Total time - 6:19.
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