The 113mi Ride

Well it's officially taper time! I've completed the toughest part of training: the 20mi run and the 110mi bike. I made it 113 just to say I've ridden the distance. It's only a few more miles, but the mental difference is huge!

Ready to go!

I started at about 9:30am, and the weather was perfect. Patches of sun, but mostly cloudy and cool. On Friday night as I was getting ready, I had a minor panic attack when I suddenly realized that my Infinit had not been shipped yet and I was TOTALLY OUT. Fortunately, my awesome husband saved me by letting me use the rest of his from his Ironman! Not exactly the same, but better than any other option readily available...

He had JUST the right number of scoops left.

So that was my first challenge. The second challenge was that I had sprained my finger at work (long story, but basically I was holding a student's hand to assist her to walk and she squeezed it just a little too hard). That was on Wednesday. I had to wear a splint so I wouldn't bend the sprained knuckle:

Well, this is awkward.

So yeah, that was a bit inconvenient, but it really didn't bother me that much, thankfully. It only hurt a little when I went over major bumps. Or the 10 bumps in the Taco Bell parking lot when I went to get water at mile 42. That was a bit painful. But I was still able to have a solid grip on my bike! That's pretty important...

My route was 3 loops thru Santiago Canyon, with about 6500 feet of climbing (according to my GPS - 4800 according to mapmyrun.com but I like 6500 better). I always do more climbing in training than I expect in the race, so that the flat will be fast!

I managed to maintain an 18.0mph average for the ride. Not too bad! If the conditions are right on race day, 17+ should be no problem. Notice I say "should." Anything can happen in an Ironman...

1,674 ft - piece of cake ;)

After the ride, I had the aero bars trimmed. I sometimes bump my knees when I stand up. Don't want to hurt my knees before I have to run a marathon! I also bought some new arm rest pads, because the ones I was using were a different brand than the aero bars and they didn't quite fit properly.

Saving a few grams of weight can't hurt...

Overall, I'm feeling very confident about the bike. I feel strong, but I know there will be times during the race that I won't feel so great. No matter what, I say bring it on - it's not an Ironman if it's not tough!