In case you missed Parts One, Two or Three or the Ironman Arizona Race Recap:
Click HERE for Part One: The Road to Temp
Click HERE for Part Two: Countdown to Race Day
Click HERE for Part Three: The Swim (and Race Morning)
When I first started the bike leg—out of Tempe Beach Park and through the urban areas of Tempe —my only thoughts were of how happy I was
to be out of the frigid lake and how happy I was to have arm warmers. My teeth
chattered for the first 15-20 minutes of the ride and the bite of LaraBar I’d
taken as I exited transition sat like a wet lump in my mouth. I was unable to
either chew or swallow it so I eventually spit it out. I focused on drinking
Infinit instead as “calorie load, calorie load” was the next thought to enter
my frozen brain once it began to thaw. (The bike leg is all about managing calorie
intake to see you through not only the ride, but the long run ahead.)
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| Me in my arm warmers, heading out of town |
Then, as we were finally hitting the outskirts of town, a
horrible thing happened. A pack of us had just rounded a corner when some guy came
flying up from behind and either lost control of his bike or clipped the tire
of a rider in front of him. It was a devastating crash. The guy's water bottles
were thrown to the left, the bike clattered to the ground, spun around or
flipped a few times, and the cyclist was ejected to the right, bouncing cross
the road like a stone skipped across the surface of the pond. He ended up just
off the shoulder of the road, lying on his side, his arm—the one I could see in
a brief backward glimpse--bloodied. I’m pretty sure that guy was done for the day, and
I’d be surprised if he walked away without a broken bone or two.
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| Random bike crash pic |
Unless you are actually involved in the crash, it is hard to
stop and lend assistance as stopping or pulling across several lanes of
cyclists, all going 20+ mph, can easily lead to a secondary crash. As it was,
every triathlete in the vicinity was swerving to avoid running over the
cyclist, his bike or the ejected water bottles rolling across the road.
This all happened right in front of me--I believe my heart actually stopped for a beat, started only again by the surge of
adrenaline and fear pumping through my body. I, too, swerved mightily to avoid
being swept up in the wreckage. And once the pack of us moved on from the near miss and was able to breathe again, a guy in front of me but behind the cyclist
that went down (perhaps even the guy who’s back tire had been clipped?), turned and said. “What the hell just happened?”
It was very scary. And it happens so fast—in the blink of an
eye. I saw roaming medics headed toward the scene so I knew my
fellow triathlete was being quickly tended to, but I thought of him often
throughout the day. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be so aggressive. Early on
in the ride, when the bikes are thick and cyclists are shaking off the swim and
tending to nutritional needs, patience is the name of the game.
The IMAZ bike course was not nearly as scenic as I’d
expected—or as the pictures of the race lead you to believe. The three loop
course is 2/3 urban and 1/3 red rocks and cacti. So for each loop of
approximately 37 miles, only 12 miles offered much to look at.
Arizona bike course as advertised:
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| All red rock and cacti |
Arizona bike course in reality:
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| Cars. Lots of cars. |
As advertised, the course was pretty flat, with a gradual
uphill heading out of town and a gradual descent heading back. Of course, as
luck would have it, winds were a bit higher than hoped for—creeping into the
low teens—and were mostly in my face or off my left shoulder on the downhill. But the temperature was great: sunny, mid-70s, with low (but higher than average for Arizona) humidity.
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| Cyclist heading into the uphill and downhill segments of the ride |
I flew through the first loop, my pace ranging from a low of
17.1 on the outbound and a high of 23.6 (my highest of the entire ride at the
27.8 mile mark) on the return, for an average of 19.8 mph. The
down side to this was the fact that my left IT Band began to give me trouble as
early as the 20-mile mark and was stiff and painful off & on throughout the rest
of the ride. When it initially flared, with still more than 90 miles to go, I
fretted over whether I’d even be able to finish the ride. I did, but I
knew this would mean bad things to come in the run.
Heading back into town, the crowds, music and announcers
provided a welcome boost to lift the spirits and, knowing what was to expect of
the course for the remainder of the ride, I began to settle in to an average
pace of 18.24. I wasn't able to take advantage of the downhill segment on the 2nd
& 3rd loops as well as I could on the first because I had to use
the momentum to be able to “let if fly on the fly,” if you know what I mean. No
way I was losing time waiting in line for the port-o-pot! I know this may gross
some people out, but it truly is the nature of the beast in long-distance
triathlon racing, especially if you are aiming to be competitive, set a PR, or
meet a certain time goal.
The other thing, lack of scenery aside, that I did not care
for on the IMAZ bike course was that it always felt crowded. At IM Cozumel—in
addition to the gorgeous ocean views and phenomenal crowd support—the course
was a loop instead of an out-and-back, so everyone was riding in the same
direction at all times and there was always plenty of wide-open spaces.
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| Ironman Cozumel bike course |
At IMAZ, we had one whole side of the divided highway to
ourselves (cars traveled on the other side, for the most part), but there were
bikes headed in two directions on the same stretch of pavement. So while you
were always traveling with a pack going the same way, there was also always
another pack of riders coming at you. It made passing more difficult and a
little too close for comfort in some cases. I saw, more than once, some of the more aggressive riders nearly collide head on as both were attempting to pass to the
left of slower riders on their sides of the road.
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| Crowded IMAZ bike course |
I want to pause here to give a shout out to the volunteers
at the Bike Special Needs stop. This is the point about half way through the
ride when you ditch any used/unused or unwanted items on your bike and
exchange them for all new items, such as full bottles of Infinit and a new
stash of gels, power bars, dried fruit or whatever else you’re eating. Extra
body lube & sunscreen can be obtained and extra layers, such as arm
warmers, can be discarded. The two women who helped me were fab-u-lous—the kinds
of volunteers who anticipate your needs before you even give voice to them.
They had me out of there—restocked and ready to go—in record time. Bike Special
Needs volunteers—You Rocked!!
My third loop, at an average pace of 18.0, was my slowest of
all, but not by much. The worst of it was seeing two more cyclists go down, though in a much less spectacular fashion. From what I could tell,
people were getting tired. It was the section with the greatest incline. A
woman began to slow her pace or maybe weaved a little, and the older man behind
her who wasn’t looking—he had his head down and also appeared to be struggling—ran into her back tire. He cursed and they both went down, (seemingly in slow
motion--especially as compared to the other guy!), but still hard enough to leave
them both bloodied and sporting a little road rash. Fortunately, unlike the
first guy, they were both probably in good enough shape to carry on.
I love my bike, but usually after 100+ miles, I’m more than
ready to be finished. In Cozumel , I was
actually looking forward to the marathon—I was happy to do anything as long as it meant getting off the bike!
Conversely, at IMAZ, I felt like a million bucks as I
finished the ride—relieved as always that I’d made it through without mishap;
no collisions, no flat tires—and happy to report that nothing hurt. Not my neck, shoulders, butt,
legs or anything that is usually in agony by then. It's that moment when you feel certain that all the training, all the time in the saddle, paid off! I finished the ride in
6:02:37—a bike PR for me—with an average pace of 18.53 and in the top 31% of
all women.
Back at Tempe
Beach Park,
Bike Stats:
Time: 6:02:37 Pace:
18.53
52nd/142 Division (Top 36%)
232/747 All women (Top 31%)
1331/2704 Overall (Top 49%)
PS--Here's two great pics of Tri Dad rockin' the bike ride
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| Tri Dad on the bike |
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| Tri Dad on a scenic part of the ride |
Up Next: IMAZ Part Five: The Run
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