Day 51: Scoping the Course

The video above is a clip of the Gold Coast Esplanade, which many cyclists ride to add on miles or as a recovery. It basically takes you through all the beach towns along the Goldie. Well, to all of you who said the IM OZ bike course will suit me, either you don't know my strength on the bike or you're just trying to make me feel better. I'm a little goat meaning I like to climb. There are no climbs on this bike course, it is all rolling. I am unfortunate when it comes to rolling, it has to do with the momentum thing I talked about a couple of blogs ago. I have no mass and can't spin, thus I don't carry my speed through and over the rollers. So come Sunday, my mate Peter (aka the Austrian Pain Train), will be carrying his speed over all the rollers and I'll be trying to do some crisis management. I rode one loop (60K) of the bike course today and it's rough. You're either going up or going down, but not for long in either case. And the road itself is rough, lots of potholes, rough asphalt, and uneven surfaces. The run is very similar to the bike, you're either going up or going down. The good news is that it's not flat, because pancake flat is worse than rolling. The swim is in a protected bay so the water is flat and calm, good for the weak swimmers, not so good for us strong swimmers. The two times I've swam in my Zoot wetsuit this week, the arms have felt very constricting, and well, over 2.4 miles, that could get tiring. Whoa, this entry sounds negative, I think you're experiencing my raw emotion of shock right now. I'm scared of this course. But I'll get over it come race day. The good news? I feel good! I felt strong on the ride and maybe rode a bit too hard. And the run felt great too. In fact, every run this week has felt great. And I drove up to Port Mac solo and didn't kill myself or anyone else. It took some getting used to, doing everything in reverse. Sitting on the right side is so new, I have no sense of room on the left side of the car, and I almost took out this guy standing on the side of the road. He was pissed. The hardest adjustment was the turn signal, I kept turning on the windshield wipers when I wanted to turn. The roundabouts were a bit tricky especially when there are multiple lanes in the roundabout. Oh, and I was constantly doing math to figure out my speed. Two funny observations today. First, it's been four years since my last ironman. The scene has changed a lot. Looking at all the competitors today, unlike four years ago, I now have the crappiest bike, no race wheels, and no aero helmet. When we got back to our hotel from dinner tonight, there was a huge busload of senior citizens unloading into our hotel to PARTAY! Upon entering the lobby, Peter said, "You can smell the old people." And yes, I tried to take a picture.