Redman 140.6 Bike Race Report

So back to T1 first. No one really told me much about the changing tent and what to expect. So after grabbing my bag and heading to the tent, I walk into see a much of naked guys changing and two old dudes helping them out. Yeah, was kind of weird. Anyways, I found a spot in the corner and dried off and got my biking clothes on, then I bagged everything up in the bag and realized they had bins for us to put those bags in the first place! Lesson learned on that one. I really felt like I was taking my time in T1, but it always seems I was in and out pretty fast. I did not rush, but I also was in no hurry.

T1 Time:  8:49

I grabbed my bike and walked her to the mount/dismount line and then off we went. Ready for 112 miles of bliss. I remember thinking "I am riding in an Ironman!!!" Great feeling! The first part of the bike was around Hefner Lake and it went by pretty fast. The next segment of the course was through some really heavy traffic, but Redman did a great job blocking off lanes and having plenty of police watching out for us (although I did hear about several people wrecking by hitting cones!?)  There was enough going on to keep me looking around and interested in the first portion of the bike that it went by pretty fast. The aid stations were every 10 miles or so, so there was plenty of water/Gatorade, which was great because all I had was my aero bottle. I forgot my other bottle back at the hotel. I was able to stick to my nutrition plan pretty well and never really felt hungry!

The roads at Redman were no joke because they were pretty rough. So rough that in some parts I could not get into aero position for fear of losing control of my bike. The back side of the ride, the last 12 miles before the turnaround seemed like it never ended. Most of the time I do like out and backs on rides, but at least I now knew what to expect. As I got back to the lake, the lady there was yelling out for special needs bags were just ahead, so I stopped and ate something. In hindsight, I should have kept going back to the turnaround and hit my special needs bag at he start of my second lap instead of at the end of my first lap, again a rookie mistake.

BIKE LAP 1: 3:20:53

The second lap was something I was not looking forward too. I took forever to get around the lake this time. At least I knew what was coming up so it did make it a little easier mentally, but I was still dreading it. I felt fairly strong on the bike, but just like in the swim, I was trying to manage the bike and not blow up. Knowing what I knew of the route, I am made sure I was in aero on the smoother parts of the road as much as possible. The second lap was much better than the first it felt like, just because I knew the route now and knew what to expect.

Coming back into the dismount line, I was soo happy to get off my bike!!! My butt was killing me! I was also thrilled to have zero bike issues! No flats, no nothing. Stella did awesome!!!  I knew I was 26 miles away from becoming an Ironman and I really a surge of motivation!

BIKE LAP 2: 3:36:02

TOTAL BIKE TIME: 6:56:55      Average: 16.1 MPH

I was totally thrilled to be under 7 hours for the bike because I projected my ride to be closer to 7:30! Manu people have asked me what I did on the bike for 7 hours? What did I think of? well, here is a short list of what I thought of:

• I wondered what Emily and Jake were doing in OKC
• I wondered about Jared an Jesse were doing at Grannies house
• I wondered how many people were tracking me
• I thought about all the comments I have gotten on my blog posts the last few posts
• I counted how many people were coming back toward me, that had already made the turnaround. I stopped counting at 100.
• I prayed. A lot. I prayed for a lot of people by name, just as their name popped into my head. Some of the names were people I know and some were people I have met from the triathlon world.
• I sang songs.
• I had some very short conversations with other racers. I found that a lot of people were only doing the aqua bike as a warm-up for IM Florida.
• I wrote out blog posts, which I can't remember.

So I had a lot going through my head. I also had some killer ideas that all of mankind would benefit from, but I can't remember a single one. Stay tuned for pictures and the run report. Also as a bonus feature, my bride is going to add a blog piece as her view and thoughts as I ran!