IMSG RR#2
Using Infinit 1.5 hrs per bottle. 2 on bike, 2 will be frozen for SN on race day. Gives me 7 hours of bike time, assuming water only for first and last 30 minutes. Also practiced using Bonk Breaker bar and Power Bar chews during bike today. Went down fine. Good alternative if I get sick of Inifinit or am out longer than 7 hours, which I am currently expecting will happen. Profile Design 24 oz every hour. Race day will fill this every 10 miles, planning for a dry day and using more water. WIll also use Nuun in water every other fill.
Purchased the RacerMate video of IMSG course. Figured this would give me a passing familiarity with the hills on the course. Started off on CT. Of course this makes keeping VI low easier, so I am not paying attention to it on that portion. By 4 hours I was only just across the climb and plateau, starting long down hill. Completed first loop by 4:30. A bit disheartening, but then again, there is no coasting on CT and I couldn't get it to spin out (run out of gears and coast). At this point, the temps had warmed, so I completed ride outside. Good thing!!! I had not ridden TT bike outside since August! I had trouble controlling bike in aero position. At 1.3 miles, on a small incline, a car was approaching from behind. I freaked slightly, lost focus, rode into soft duff on side of road, and fell over. I just prayed the vehicle had planned for a wide berth and wouldn't hit me in the head. Calmed down and focused on controlling the bike. But if my attention or sight line wandered, then I found myself riding off the road. Gotta work on this. Remainder of ride was relatively uneventful. On a gorgeous day like that, dozens of cyclists were out. Cars were mostly polite.
Front breaks were rubbing and then sticky after I fixed rub, so tried not to use them, or manually reopened if I did use. Aero drop is too steep, will have spacer added. Bike was tuned a month ago, but was skipping gears today, need that adjusted. On CT, rear brake rubbed, don't know if that mattered, but no problem outside.
Forced myself to do a true transition- dump bike, pee, and go. (I don't pee on myself in RR).
Leaving my house is all downhill, as will be the start of the race run. Really focused on pace. I could have gone faster in the relatively cooler temps of MA, but race day in UT should be HOT, so I wanted to be prepared to run really slow.Went fine. Drank Ironman Perform which I will take on race course. Probably use back up bottle as they ran out of Perform at IMWI.
Oh- RR swim was in pool. Boring, lost focus, 2 minutes slower than normal.
Comments
Sorry to hear about your wreck. It sounds like you are okay both physically and mentally. Way to power through that experience! Great job getting the workout complete. It also sounds like you learned a lot about you bike setup and fit.
Glad you are ok! Definitely time to get bike into shop ASAP so they can correct braking issue and tune it up and make sure it is ready to go! Good luck!!
Agree with it all. Except reaching comfort level quickly. I need to drop off bike for pick up next Saturday. Going to take some easy spins in evening to get comfortable.
On the plus side, bike shop quickly changed spacers around so that I won't have so much neck pain. Brakes and gears can be done later.
Just make sure you get lots of riding with the changes prior to race. Nothing new on race day right? Are you racing IMSG?