Louisville IronMan - Race Narrative Part Two - The Bike

The Bike

BIKE

The bike course was slightly downhill at first, and then moved up from the river in steep, undulating hills. Rolling green field, homes, horses, fences, and the occasional stretch of nothing, bordered the course at all times. The first 9-mile loop, down a steep, long hill and back up again the other side, had people whooping and yelling. It was fast, more than 35 mph. It was on the upside of this hill that I had my first mishap; a woman passed me close enough that I could feel the wind off her bike, just as the guy in front of me slowed down, and I had no room to go anywhere but in the ditch. I crashed, falling to the left, and clipped out after I was on the ground. Since we were going up a slight uphill, I just had to stand on my pedals and pray I could get at least one revolution to get me started. It was in the first 2 hours of the race, so it didn’t throw me.

The race passed twice through a small town called La Grange, where they bussed spectators to watch the bikes fly through on two loops. The first loop, around mile 38, was fun and fast. Spectators lined both sides, yelling. They had a bouncy tent there for the children. It was festive. By the second loop, 31 miles later, there were fewer spectators. But they were loud. I heard Julie shout out twice, once each time. The second time I tried to wave and swerved too close to the barricades. I heard a few people say, “Whoa,” thinking I was going to crash into them. But I recovered.

By then, I had forgotten about my crash. But I was puzzling about my left knee. It had begun to throb, and I had been nursing it for about a half hour. By mile 70, it was too painful to push down hard, so I would grit my way through the uphills, trying to sit (and not stand), and then cruise the downhills. I tried not to worry too much about getting passed, which was happening all the time. I just kept my focus on trying to stay above 14 mph. Downhills were about 25-35 mph, but even them people passed me, pumping hard. I just let them go.

I would even get passed twice by the same people who stopped to eat, or go the bathroom. I refilled my water bottles about every hour, I was drinking so much. And at each porta potty, I could see a line, so I just kept going.

By mile 85, we were out of the hills and starting the long, slow, undulation back toward the river. What a relief. I was more than ready for this bike to be over. The nice thing, however, was I got a lot of compliments on my shirt. I had given the kids markers to draw all over the back, whatever they had wanted, so that they could be a part of the race. They drew bugs and flowers and suns and put their names. Many people said, “Nice shirt,” as they passed me. That felt encouraging, and perhaps encouraged them.

By 95, we were flying downhill, no more uphills to suffer through. There was one, long hill at the end before 100 miles, and then it was an easy cruise in. I worried that my knee would bother me on the run, as by now it was nearly a constant pain, no matter if I pedaled uphill or downhill, so I tried to rest it as much as I could.