I was out the door by 3:40AM, and good thing, because we were totally fogged in! You couldn't see more than maybe 20 feet in front of you. It was worse than when I was driving from Albany to Lake Placid in 2007, but at least yesterday I knew the roads. Still, I found myself driving just about the speed limit until the fog finally broke near Rockford. It was cool a few times to see a patch of fog just hanging in the air like I was in a horror movie!
The weather report called for perfect conditions, I thought, for race day. At least they are my perfect conditions...about the same as at Lake Placid this year except a few less clouds and no rain to start the day.
It took me about 2 1/2 hours to get to Madison, which was a personal worst, because of the slow foggy driving and then I stopped twice to pee. I parked at the Alliant Center, which is cool because they ran shuttle buses from there to downtown and back all day long. I had a little time on my hands, since I didn't want to start riding until 6:45, so I moseyed on over to the Clarion Hotel to pee again and wait a few minutes before taking off.
My head is still messed up from ROTPM because I had forgotten the distance to Madison (140 miles not 112), and for some reason I thought I was riding 56 miles yesterday, but it was 70. Thankfully, I had pigged out on Saturday evening. I had bought some treats since Shelley may have been joining me, but she didn't, so I ate this awesome creme brulee tart all by myself and also one of the breakfast pastries! I put 2 bottles of Gatorade on LGL and took off, thinking I had plenty of calories for maybe 3.5 hours of riding.
When I started out, it was still pretty cool, and I wore arm warmers, but wasn't worried as the sun continued to rise and there were no clouds in the sky. It was so peaceful, and it was like I had most of the roads all to myself. I know my way around the IMWI course without maps, and whenever I ride it, I still ride the old course before they changed it. On Byrne Road (no longer on the course), I spotted some sandhill cranes in a field:
It was so cool to notice them. Normally, I only see them flying overhead near home during their spring and fall migrations, so these must be making their way south.When I got to Locust, I noticed this chalk marking on the road and I hoped it made the racers smile as much as it did me:
As I got out onto the loop, I remembered that I would start off with a bang on the climb up Midtown Road, which is a really fun downhill in the race, but it looks kinda like a wall when you go the opposite direction. Still, it's not that long, but I enjoyed standing up and testing out my legs, since it's been awhile (um...IMLP) since I've ridden any serious hills. Then as I got to the next section of Midtown that has nasty climbs in the race, but I got to go downhill, I stopped to take a pic at the crest and then one of the beautiful homes alongside the climb:
Moving right along, I got to Old Sauk Pass, which is another not so fun climb (although short) in the race, but I got to zip down it. Here's the view from the top:
Doesn't look too bad, does it? But it's a windy, steep little bugger.After that, I passed through Cross Plains and then turn onto Garfoot Road, which is a beautiful road, except parts of it suck riding in the reverse direction, but I'd done that in Horribly Hilly earlier in the year. At this point, I began trying to calculate when the pros would be coming through, since I'd wanted to be at Garfoot and Mineral Point when they did, but just before I got to the hot corner on Garfoot (where they put hay bales on race day in anticipation of crashes), a race support vehicle came from the other direction and Graham Fraser was in it and he warned me the pros were coming, so I thought, shit, it is a fast day, and so I waited at the bottom as 1, 2 and then a pack of 10 came by. Here you can see LGL laying down on the side of the road while I snap a pic of one of the earlier riders:
I took some more shots of bikers, but they are kinda boring, so I'm not reprinting them here. I made it to Garfoot and Mineral Point safely, watched a few more fast riders come by, then went on my way, as I wanted to be through Witte Road before the hoardes of age groupers came through, since people tend to ride all over the road on that stretch of the course. It seemed I was the only rider going opposite the race yesterday, so I was getting a lot of looks from the racers, and I yelled at as many as I could to give encouragement. I also ended up yelling at a few packs of drafters. There is just no reason for it on a course like this, but the more people that get jammed into these races, the more prevalent drafting is going to become. Oh well...Riding up Witte Road was fun for me, as it's a roller coaster, but I had to stay really far right as some age groupers were trying to ride down the center of the road. It was a little dicey, but once I made it to County S, I could relax, as I'd be going through Mount Horeb and then roads that would have some traffic on them. I was amazed at some dufus drivers that had to go somewhere during the race. I know there are ample warnings put out, and yet I am always amazed to see people trying to do that. As well, race support and marshalls on motorcycles and in vehicles are going with the race traffic down the center of the road, so it is a little scary on my side of the road, but I managed. I saw a few people I know along Route 92 and County G, and I have to say, those stretches of road are hilly in either direction! There is just not much in the way of flatness on the IMWI course!
At the intersection of PB and Whalen, I stopped for a few minutes to see if I could catch riders coming through on their second loop. I did, and another spectator asked me how I knew so many people. I told him I've done "a few" of these races. He asked me how many, and when I told him he sort of rolled his eyes. His daughter was doing her first Ironman!
At this point, I knew I could make it back to my car ahead of the pros, and so I kept on riding, really enjoying the stick all by my lonesome. There were a few aid stations set up and they would cheer as I rode by, and I waved at them. It was around here that I remembered that I was riding like 70 miles instead of 56, and realized I probably didn't have enough calories with me, but since I only had about 10 miles to go, I was fine.
When I got back to my car, I chugged a bottle of water, put on run shorts, grabbed another bottle of water, Gatorade and some iced coffee, toweled off my face and LGL, and got on the shuttle bus. From the dropoff point, I walked to State Street, which is where you can see runners go by 4 times, and within minutes, someone was calling my name. It was Kim, who I know as a friend of a friend, and we ended up hanging out (and having a couple of beers) for the duration. It was great to meet her and hang out, and here we are enjoying ourselves:
I had a great time spotting people I knew or them spotting me, and I ended up meeting a guy who did Ultraman Canada this year! He recognized me from the pirate gear (he was also drinking beer), and so I spent some time with him to get some tips and get acquainted. Small world!I saw some friends looking great, others not so much, which is typical for an Ironman. Everyone I know finished, one guy earned a Kona slot (but don't think he's going to take it) with a 10:05 (amazing!). There was a lot of post-race talk about how hot it was, and while it was warm, it affects everyone differently--I think I would have had a good race, but I do know that the IMWI course kicks a lot of people's butts on the bike every single year.
I'm very happy for everyone who finished no matter what their time, and I hope they are all recovering! One of these years, I want to go back and do it again, but I can't say when. Man, I wish I was going down to watch IMFL again, but don't think that's going to be happening, so I guess that means I need to start my own training, huh?
Speaking of which, I was able to run well and farther than I'd planned on Saturday. I ended up running in the flats of Greene Valley for about an hour, and then I ran up the stinking hill! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, probably because there's this 1-mile climb I run in training near home several times a week. I just felt good that running up like that didn't feel bad on either my legs or heart, so I'm thinking I'm pretty well recovered from ROTPM, plus I rode pretty well yesterday.
I started back in on extra pushups, chinups (I sucked) and abs work last week, just a tiny bit, and this morning I got out the jump rope for 5', and it wasn't bad. I did chinups this morning, too, and what do you know, they are already getting a little easier! I know how much this stuff will help me in running and general bulletproof-ness, and since I'm not going to be biking much for several months (yes, it makes me sad, but I must give precedence to running), I have plenty of time for it.
This weekend should be interesting as I begin back-to-back long runs with hiking afterwards. I'm sure it will kick my ass, but that's what I need right now. Oh and I've got a wedding to attend on Sunday, and I'm really looking forward to that!
Hope everyone has a great week!
1 comment:
Nice report.
And that GV hill - I did 5 repeats on it Sunday. Up was mainly hiking it, down was running (that too can hurt the next day)
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