The Road to the Ironman – Jim Ristow you are an Ironman! – Bike

I apologize for the delay. I had a bike recap all written out last night, but when I reread it it was just a bunch of rambling. Hmm, imagine that Jim Ristow rambling.

OK the swim done, check

OK T1 done, check ( I know it was 14 minutes, I will work on those transition for next time)

On to the bike…

112 miles, the first 14 miles is straight out of Madison, one killer hill and a whole bunch of rolling hills. Here everyone was worried about drafting. What is drafting? According to the rules a rider must be 7 meters (4 bike lengths) behind the next rider. Plus if you pass the pass must be done in 20 seconds and the slower rider must drop back. You know there were too many people out there to worry about that, so we all drafted, but when the race officials came around it was amazing how we all spread apart. If you get caught drafting there are time penalties you must serve in a penalty tent.

For me my biggest concern was cramps that developed around mile 12. Nothing huge but enough to make one worry. My plan was simple, if one leg had a cramp I would peddle mostly with the other until said legs cramp went away. Genius, right? Before you say it I never had both legs cramp up at the same time.

After the 14 mile shoot out of town I came to the meat of the ride, the 42 mile loop. Now the real fun begins and keep in mind when I say I MEAN HILLS and the HILLS must be done twice! The loop starts and end in Verona and it takes the riders out to Mt. Horeb, WI and Crossing Plains, WI if you are scoring at home.

Before I go on let me explain the Jim Ristow suck-o-meter. See I developed the suck-o-meter to help pass the time on these long rides. At home I have one 6 and two 4’s to practice on. 10 being the worst and 1 being Illinois.

The course takes us out of Verona and wakes you up a bit with a series of 7’s, which means I can hold about a 10 mph up the hill and reach 35 mph + down. I think the road is called Valley and a recent coating of small pebbles and tar make this road a bit harder than it should be. After Valley Rd. we hit the first county highway. You might think GOOD and smoother road, not so much but taking this road and connecting with HWY92 (again if you are scoring at home) takes us to Mt Horeb. Up to this point there are a series of 4’s, 5’s and 6’s until we reach the first 8. Just outside of Mt. Horeb (aka Mt. Horrible, my name for the hill). They place a water stop at the top so the highlight is there are people cheering up that stupid thing.

Side note - A wise decision. A month ago I decided to get a new rear cassette. What is a rear cassette you might say? Well the rear cassette are the gears on the back wheel. I purchased one that has more teeth on the easiest gear to help make the hills a bit easier to climb. BEST $80 I spent, it did help.

Riding through Mt. Horeb I am getting ready for the next series of challenges (again what I mean by challenges I mean hills, BIG HILLS) The road is called Whitte Rd and that is followed up by Garfoot Rd. Both are country roads and Whitte Rd. like Valley Rd had a recent pebble/tar fix up job and these babies are 8’s and 9’s going up between 5 and 10 mph and down 40+ mph and there are a lot of them. I really like the one on Garfoot that swoops you down like a roller-coaster. I will have my brakes fully on and I still gain speed.

After those hills comes my favorite part of the loop because it follows a river plain so that means flat and this Illinois boy loves flat. Soon I was coming to Crossing Plains (Are you still scoring?) Crossing Plains is great because this mean you are more than half way done with the loop, but there is bad news ahead, the worst of all the hills are ahead.

As I exited Crossing Plains, I noticed a bunch a sheriff’s passing me and my first thought was oh no some crashed. But that wasn’t the reason, these sheriffs were clearing the way for the pro’s. Yep I was about to be lapped as the pros passed me, I though how could they be almost done with their second lap and I am still on my first? It is amazing to watch someone do something so hard, but make it look easy.

They turned onto Stagecoach Rd (by far the bumpiest road on the course) and they were gone. Getting through Stagecoach without a blown tire is amazing, but now the real serious work is about to begin.

The 10’s is what I call them. There are 3 hills all different but all equally bad in my book -

1. A long 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile steady climb, with a few slight turns. Not the highest but the longest.
2. If you haven’t rode the course this one will sneak up on you and make you cry, the steepest of the group.
3. After a huge descent (+40 mph) this is a combo of #1 and #2

What makes these hills different during the race versus training on them are the crowds. This will be the closest I will ever get to being in the Tour de’ France. The crowds line the road and at times there is only enough room for a bike or two to get through. If you pay attention you see some mighty interesting people, noises and signs up these hills.

Highlights:

• Sign – Make this hill your bitch, caught my eye
• Noise – The world cup soccer horns
• People – Guys in thongs, Elvis, Santa and those she devils

As a final push up hill #3 there were two ladies holding up signs stating

• Sign #1 – Ironmen are sexy!
• Sign #2 – Ironwomen are even sexier!

After hill #3 there are a couple of downhills though a forest and soon you realize loop #1 is almost done. Riding back into Verona, this little town really embraces the Ironman. There is a town festival that we ride right through.

Onto loop #2. I don’t have to describe the course again, it doesn’t change. The only difference is the riders are more spread out, the crowds get smaller because they off chasing their Ironman who are heading out on the marathon. So I had more time to think. The cramps still happened but I kept on eating and drinking. Near the end I the second loop I did see my brother and family cheering me on, which gave me a boost as I finished the loop.

Back on the 14 mile out part of the course (now the in part, if you didn’t catch that) there is only ONE KILLER HILL left (yes at this point I would call it a 10). Most of the time I kept my bike monitor on the time I was on the bike, now reading close to 7 hours. I flipped it over to watch the mileage turn to 100 miles. In most circles riding 100 miles is considered a marathon on the bike. Flipping back to time I knew I had 12 miles left and I simply peddled. I kept on singing “Bicycles” from Queen in my head. I started to noticed how beautiful of day it really was. I lucked out!

As you approach the finish of the bike one item came to mind, I HAD TO RIDE UP THAT STUPID HELIX! ARGHHHHH! Well I dropped the bike into the easiest gear riding up with about a half dozen riders and it wasn’t as bad as the hills out on the course. I came to the dismount line and to my surprise my brother-in-law caught me. I eased myself my bike and got a mass cramp in my left hamstring. 7 hours and 10 minutes.

As I shuffled off to T2, Kim and the rest of my family were screaming, waving and smiles ear to ear.

T2 – one word slow. I got my bag, shuffled into the changing room and plopped down in the nearest chair. A great volunteer came up and said let’s get you going! I looked up, raised my hand and gave him a finger (NO not that one, the pointy one) and said give me a minute. I slowly changed out of my bike stuff and into my running stuff. It was time for the 26.2 cool down. I shuffled out of the changing room and once again the family was there cheering me on. I came to some massage tables and noticed Christy a friend from the iamtri website I belong too and got a good couple minute shoulder massage. Thanks Christy!

T2 time 20 minutes! I know…

FINAL TOTALS:

Running Miles: 826.2

Number of Hours: 130:25

New shoes: 265.00 miles (for my record keeping)

Newest New shoes: 49.7 miles

Biking Miles: 1,955.00

Number of Hours: 116:05

Swimming Miles: 81.95 miles or 144,232 yards

Number of Hours: 36:00

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 5,579 lengths or 2,790 laps

Weightlifting hours: 26:00

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 321 hours and 50 minutes