They ran us around to get our bike bags and then into the changing tent. This was a lot different than T1 in Florida. In Florida, we were in a hotel room and it was well-lit with a lot more space. Here it was crowded and dark but it worked OK.
As I entered the tent, a volunteer rushed and asked if I needed help. I said "sure" as I started grabbing stuff out of my bag. She was a step ahead of me and was helping me get my wet bra and tri shorts off (not easy to do when you're in a hurry!).
I quickly put on my bike shorts and long bra that I would wear in the run, with sleeveless bike jersey over it, so that at T2, all I had to do would be take off the jersey. Because it was cool, I put on bike sleeves too. I had had a system of getting ready but the volunteer's kind efforts threw me off a little - in hindsight, I wish I had told her to help someone else (as much as I appreciated her help - it was great but I think better by myself).
I grabbed my gu flask and powerbar to stick in my back packet and quickly downed a bottle of Boost (love that stuff!). Since the forecast called for 50% chance of rain, I rolled up my bike jacket and put it in my back pocket too - just in case. Helmet, sunglasses, and shoes were on.. and I swiped some sunscreen on my face as I flew out of the tent - woo hoo, I was on my way to my favorite part of the race!
It felt great to get on the bike, partly because I knew it would warm me up. I was still pretty chilled from the swim but not cold enough to put on a jacket. I felt giddy with excitement as I rounded the corner of the bike chute that dumped us out onto Rio Salado. On the way, I saw Kurt and heard him yelling for me, which really made me happy.
Ahhhh...finally riding my bike. It just felt so good to be out of the water and onto the next segment of the race. The tailwind really made us all fly as we headed out of town towardd the mountains.
One thing that is nice about IMAZ, compared to IMFL, is the 3-loop bike course allows you to see the pros. I saw Chrissie Wellington twice and that was really exciting. She passed us all like we were standing still! First you'd see the motocycles go by and then her - it was a nice distraction!
The bike course consists of 1 loop that is about 38 miles long (I can't remember the exact distance) and we did it three times. There are pros and cons of this type of bike course but the nice thing is you know what to expect for the last part of the bike segment when you're tired. Also, if you want to see anyone that you know, you have that opportunity. The down side is that it's a little boring - one thing that was nice was IMFL's bike course is that it was new scenery most of the way.
The big surprise of the day was the wind. We had a horrible headwind coming back into town, causing my speed to go from 18-20'ish on the way out (occasionally up to 23 mph) down to 14 mph! Everyone was tucked in tight to aero position on the way back to save as much energy as possible.
And there was crosswind too! It just blew and blew and blew, making it hard sometimes to keep your bike going in a straight line. I pedaled the almost the entire way with very little coasting, even when we had a tailwind, because we were going up hill then. Very hard bike! I was hoping to do the bike in 6:20 or 6:30 at the very longest but didn't quite make it.
I stopped twice to pee (couldn't bring myself to...you know...what the guys do...) and once for my special needs bag. At that point, I ate a bagel sandwich, drank a Boost, and took a swig of gu. Before stopping, I had a few Twizzlers and half of a Power bar. I never felt hungry or over-fed. I drank 3/4 of a Powerbar Perform bottle handed to me by a volunteer (guzzled it, in fact) and ate a package of gel blasts too. Can't remember what else.
Overall, the bike went well. I'm glad I didn't flat or have any mechanical difficulties. Like the swim, toward the end it seemed to take forever and I was really ready to stop. Almost 7 hrs on a bike is a long time!
Total bike time: 6:48:02 (damn wind!)
To be continued!
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