Here are some course maps and extra garbage....
Good news: Forecast is that the heatwave is ending. Saturday should be *freezing* at high 80s which still suck but much better than the 99 degrees we have right now.
Bad news: There is a 60 percent chance of a thuderstorm Saturday. Either the roads will be all wet or worse. I'm worried that the whole ride will be in a thuderstorm. I need this ride as a benchmark. Thunderstorm not what I need.
Friday night went for a quick swim. Nothing heavy - nothing hard. I wanted my legs to be as fresh as possible. Had a good swim. Something between 1,200 - 1,500. Did about 800 with flip turns which is a lot for me. Flip turns not only look cool, they actually help you continue without stopping, give you a little boost at the wall since you are not stopping and also strengthen your lungs since you are holding your breath. Anyway, finished and quickly drove to my in-laws to pick up the kids pool bags. They forgot them there and they needed them for Saturday. Got home early enough that Lee was still awake. My goal was to go to sleep early so that I will get a lot of sleep but as always I got distracted. Went to sleep around 1 am but I told the kids not to wake me up before 7am. Woke up at 7:30 and went down to have breakfast. Woke up multiple times tho because of the kids. Jeremy needed his light turned on etc.
Saturday was an abbreviated YMCA day. Jessie swam at 10 while Lee to Jeremy to the Library. He only selected 20 books. Should last him hopefully a whole week. Ten went home for an early lunch while I took Jeremy back to the Y so he can swim. Lee took J2 to Ekatarina's birthday party at APEC while I waited for Jeremy to get ready. As soon as he got ready, we quickly went home to get an umbrella. The sky was dark and ominous. From there to APEC. Had a good time at the party. Ate some food. Tried not to go crazy with food. During the drive there, it started raining. Let it all come down already.
Went to sleep by 10 pm since wake up was at 2am. Got up at 2am and started getting ready. Since my Mother is away, we now have a 2nd car which is the coolest thing. Helped us with getting to the party and even better for Sunday. Walked the dog at the usual time of 4:30 and continued to get ready. My goal was to leave by 5:30. At 5:30, I started loading the car and ended up leaving between 5:40 and 5:45. It's approximately a 40 minute drive and the tour starts at 7am. I wanted to leave at 5:30, get there early, swipe a cue sheet and go. Leaving later than the plan did not make me happy but such is life.
The drive there wasn't that easy. The sun was in my face and the windshield was not clear. Had trouble seeing and I was tired. Wanted to sleep badly.
Directions: Northern State (E) -> 42 N -> Bear left at the fork -> straight for 3.5 miles -> right turn at Pulaski Road and st. for 1 mile.
I get on the Northern State and I realize I am speeding and there is no reason for it. I slow down to 55 as I get to the section where the troopers like to hide, right after crossing into Nassau County. I think of how there are always troopers there when suddenly I see a cloud storm. A trooper with a radar driving a dodge muscle car peeled out to chase after a Mercedes sports car. Obviously caught him.
Drove on wishing to be able to see better and to not fall asleep. I didn't know the exit number but I knew it was after exit 35 so that made my life easier. I get off at exit 42, bear left at the fork and saw the next thing was drive for 3.5 miles to Pulaski Road. The odometer was XXXXX58 and in my stuper I calculated that 58 + 3.5 is 63.3. You see, I reversed the digits around and added 5.3 to 58. OOPS. As I drove on , I get to 61.3 and realize my math is wrong and that the next street looks familiar. Yup - Pulaski Road. Lucky me...Made the right turn and drove for another mile to the BAE systems.
Pulled in by 6:30 and there is already a line to the cue sheets and to check in. I decided the porta-potty is a better place to go and it was. I truly believe there are 3 reasons to get to a race early:
Get in line and it's annoying when a person who is signing up last minute at race site is done before you, who pre-regged, even starts checking in. Once they started it was pretty quick. Too bad they didn't have the wrist bracelets. Apparently the guy was a no-show. Got all my stuff ready when the bracelet guy showed up. Quickly got mine, I was first, and headed out. Left at 6:50 instead of 7. I was the only one who left. It's an informal thing and there is no clock so you leave when you want.
Last year, in the first few miles I crashed. This time I was weary. Very weary. I did not want to repeat that mistake. Got to that downhill with the bear left at the bottom and made it through only to have my water bottle get ejected. Behind my seat, I have room for 2 bottles and in this tour I had to go back for a bottle about 3 or 4 times. Very annoying and will have to deal with it. No one should ride with a hand constantly pushing the bottle back. More on that later.
Didn't see too many people at this point. Some people passed me and I passed others until we got to fish hatcheries. People defintly passed me there. I was suprised that we didn't go down snake this time. We did last year. I guess they do change the course every so often even if it's little changes.
Skipped the first few rest stations. What's the point? My target was a long ride and to do my best. Others treated it as an event and hung out or as a Time Trial (TT) and they would hammer from rest stop to rest stop. These people would pass me to the rest stop. I would continue on and they would hang. Then they would pass me again and so forth.
One thing I noticed doing these organized bike ride events is that it is obvious that there are groups of people or teams of people responsible for marking the road. In some sections, there are a lot of road markings. Other sections, you wonder if you are lost. I was on a long stretch and starting to worry when I went over a bridge that said "Welcome to Bayville". I didn't remember the bridge from last year but I did remember being in Bayville. Still, I would have loved to see a "GC". Took a look at the cue sheet. Knew where I need to be but couldn't find a street name. Jeez...Asked a runner and no clue what he said. That's it...Pulled in to a gas station. Started asking a guy filling up his car when I see a cyclist go by. Yelled to him you doing the tour? He yelled YES! I thanked the dude filling his car up and rode off. Caught the biker. Older guy, about 50 years old. He wasn't sure if he was gonna do the 75 or the 100. In 2 weeks, he's doing a 3 day event. For the first 2 days, it's 100+ on each day. The last day was something between 40 and 60 miles. I asked him if he would recover from this by then and he said no problem. Crazy people out there.
Rode together until he decided to chase a group of people. I had to let him go. I can't chase. Oh well. Never saw him after that. I don't know if he did the 75 or the 100 but does it matter?
Seacliff still sucked. Crazy hill(s). Around that time, lost track of time, I got passed by a group of strong riders. Fast riders. Tried to join them but up a hill? Nope. There was a guy, Sam maybe, who was on their coat tail. Cool for him. Back to him later.
Got to Shore road leading to Beacon Hill. Absolutly hate Shore road. Hated it during the L.I. Gold Coast triathlon, during the Gold Coast Century last year, during Mansion Ride and now. It's always windy (against you) and I never seem to get anywhere. This of course leads to Beacon Hill which is another monster.
I wish I could remember things in sequence but it was a long time and well things aren't going to be in order.
Some of the time I saw Mansion Ride symbols and I recognized landmarks, streets and places. Some of the mansions too.
At one point, I get passed by a Ferrarri. It was my 3rd during the tour so I didn't think too much of it. Some of these neighborhoods are very richie. Anyway, right after the Ferrarri, there was a Viper and another and another and well there were about 12 vipers in a row. Something doesn't smell right. I get to the Helen Keller museum, which we stopped at during Mansion Ride and there is a sign there for a car show. OK - things make sense now.
Before I got to the Gerry Park rest stop (mile 50 and 75), my 50th mile rest stop, I get to a road that has a parking lane on either side and 1 driving lane in each direction. As I get there, I spy an Ambulance, lot of glass and 3 police cars. Everyone is busy. Traffic is a disaster. The cars in my direction have to go in to the opposite lane to bypass the action while cars from the other side are also trying to drive through. The 3rd police car had just gotten there and the cop jumped out to direct the disaster. As I get there, I quickly slipped in between all the cars and got out of there. Now Andre said not to stop until 75 but I was running low on liquid. I decided to go in and do a quick refill and a very fast stop. That's when I heard the following news...A biker doing the tour was involved in that accident. He was the guy being loaded onto the Ambulance. Guess someone opened their drivers side door which is a big no-no and the rider either crashed into the door or the window. Any which way, that sucks. Also, there was an 11 year old doing the tour who is lost. If anyone sees him they should either escort him back here or call the SAG wagon. What the hell is an 11 year old doing the tour and lost? Anyway, I hope the cyclist is ok.
At mile 50, I averaged about 14.8. Very suprising for me. Makes me re-think some stuff here. Maybe I should go harder when I ride...
On another road, I am riding down a hill. I have a full green light and obviously right of way. Meanwhile what do I see? I see a little old woman getting to the light from the right. Instead of going through (she has a red), she takes the yield right way. Cool - she can bypass the light but still gotta yield, right? I don't know if she didn't see me or didn't care. She just went on her merry way. I had to swerve onto the lane for incoming traffic. Luckily there was no one there but what the hell? I started screaming at her as I pass her. Anyway, I continue riding and get to the next light, in order to make a right turn. Meanwhile, she drives on and when she gets near me, she starts screaming my way at me. I yell back - she yells back. Finally I give up and give her the finger and ride on. Haven't done that one in a while but I lost it. Still, better that I left because I was ready to toss a bottle at her. Almost ran me over and instead of saying sorry or admitting fault, she's got the Cajones to yell at me...Wonderful.
At one point, I see a firetruck, full lights and all, and firefighters hosing some grass. I don't know if there was something there or whether the grass needed to be watered. I was tempted to yell to them my address. My grass needs water too. This was next to the rest stop from Mansion - the one where they took my picture.
Between 75 and 83, I made a friend who came to ride from Brooklyn. He was doing the 55. Talked a little. Lost him in the Wheatly loop. Haven't done that one in a while and I got my butt kicked there. Lot of what people call false hills. I don't know what false hills are - I call them hills. Passed 2 guys (father/son maybe) with triple rings in front. Felt good to do that. At one point they passed me and I hated it. Passed them again and told them it's these hills that I wish that I had triple rings too (sometimes). Anyway, left them and continued on. Passed the Mansion Ride start/stop place and continued on. Right before Stillwell, my friend caught up with me. Talked a little. Told him, I usually ride up stillwell and it's only during this tour that I ride it down. Anyway, down Stilwell and a right on the 108. I stopped to refuel again at the rest stop while he continued on. He only had a few miles to go. I had to go up Avery.
I should mention at this point, the weather. It was in the 90's and it wasn't too bad except that after the 50 mile rest stop, I stopped for small stops at all the rest stops to refill bottles. My water bottles and Gatorade was hot. Dumped them and replenished with cold stuff.
That's when I ran into the guy who was chasing the big group. He wasn't part of them but hanging on to them and somehow lost them. I think they did the 55 and only about 6 or 7 did the 75 because I saw a smaller group later. Anyway, we both left toward Avery. Avery still sucked. But now, to the very scenic horse country roads. Love that 10 mile section and I have been doing that part for a while. It's very scenic and hilly. Also, Sweet Hollow road is a long incline. Something like 1.5+ mile long and is not a downright hill. It's just this long incline. You're riding and riding and the road goes on forever and I feel like I am not getting anywhere and certainly not fast. Lost time there but I was able to make up time on the flats and down. Also, I knew which ups to push knowing they are small.
Got through that and I am at mile 93. Almost home. Riding and who comes up from behind me? The dude that was hanging on to the group. He got lost. He went down Avery as opposed to the right of Avery. OOPS. Asked him if he did Avery twice and he said nope. Rode back to the rest station and they told him how to rejoin. He followed the 75 mile section and re-joined me. Rode together for a while. Left me, I caught him. Then we did that again. There were 2 roads that we dared not cross while red. Way to dangerous. Strange to cross Pulaski instead of turn on to it. He wanted to turn on it and I said no. We follow the signs. Before we knew it, we were in the parking lot. Well, during our talk, I (hopefully) convinced him to always ride with a helmet. It's just stupid not too. He said I convinced him. Hopefully, he won't one day find me and tell me that I was right. Think about that one for a while.
Anyway, got to car, locked up bike on a pole, strapped on the Garmin and went running. Ran 3/4 of a mile with a pee break in between. Didn't wanna run a lot. Just enough to push the legs. Stomach felt weird but it was full of liquids. During the IM, I will defintly stop at a porta-pottie before the run. The question is for how long. Gotta feel comfortable, ya know?
The stats:
2009: Watch(8:20) - PC(7:14) - AVG(14.1)
2010: Watch(7:17) - PC(6:55) - AVG(14.3)
Is it pretty? Nope! Was there improvment? Yup! Better AVG which led to a better ride time. More importantly, less time procrastinating.
Here are the time constraints for the IM:
The time constraints are as follows:
Event Time constraint
Swim 2:20
Bike 10:30 from start. Must finish by 5:30 pm.
So, since a 7am start, assuming you need all the time in the world and just
make
the cutoffs, here is your day:
7am start
-> Swim must be finished by 9:20
-> Bike must be finished by 5:30
-> Run must be finished by 12:00
The bike time alloted is 8 hours assuming you used 10 minutes for T1. That's a
14 MPH average time. The 14 I can make if everything works out. I am also
counting on banking time from the swim. I would love to be able to do more than
14 MPH. Hell, 15 would be awesome and tight as well but I don't see it
happening. You never know tho. I suprised myself at Patriots so who knows but I
can NOT count on it.
In finish: Instead of the free ice cream, I got a Froze-fruit. It was great. Loaded car and drove home. Got home earlier that I said which was cool. My crew helped me unload and we sat on the floor in the front porch and talked. The dog licking the salt off me. Kids went to play on the laptop or watch tv. Lee was laying there on the floor just resting and I decided it was a good idea. Fell asleep for ten minutes. I don't think she slept but I did. Took a quick bath, walked the dog and BBQ-ed. Ate very well that night.
Swim on Monday helped recovery. Ran Tuesday night - felt good.