I had just had the exact kind of swim I had hoped to have. Now time to do the same thing on the bike! I had a few goals for my bike ride:
- Nail my nutrition.
- Do not over bike.
Pretty simple! I knew that the key to setting myself up for a good, solid run would be those two factors. After all, there is no such thing as a great bike followed by a poor run. A great bike involves setting yourself up for a great run. In previous races I’ve totally futzed the nutrition on the bike and it was time to get it right. I had detailed out everything I wanted to eat and when which would get me about 60 grams of carbs per hour. I had two Picky Bars to eat in the first two hours of the bike, topped up with a gel at 45 and 90 minutes. My watch was set to beep every 15 minutes reminding me to eat my pieces of Picky Bars and to take swigs of grape nuun. After two hours I thought that would be the right time to stop eating solid foods so I moved to taking in a gel every 30 minutes for the rest of the bike, taking my last gel in the last few minutes before hitting T2.
image via Jordan Bryden
Normally when I get out on the bike I spend a lot of energy trying to pass people and move on up. This time I just stayed in my own zone, letting people go and passing when the time was right. It was a little crowded in the first part of the race so I made sure I was keeping out of people’s draft zones. All of the people around me were really great and were riding clean.
The course had some long, steady uphills and the downhills were pretty gradual. Not many opportunities for free speed! As I continued on the out and back I started to see my teammates heading towards me. With so many teammates out on the course it was so great to see them out there.
image via Jordan Bryden
Another great thing about this new course was that it was a lot easier for our support team to see us and cheer us on. We would go past T2 three times on the bike. I got huge cheers from Neil and Angie when I passed them!
The good thing about this double out and back course was that at least we knew what to expect on the second lap. I looked down at my watch at the halfway point and if I could even split the bike I’d come in at 3:20.
image via Jordan Bryden
I kept up with my plan on the second lap, biking within my means, smiling and waving at teammates and following my nutrition plan. All of the volunteers and aid stations on the bike course were so awesome, friendly and encouraging. I even got comments from some of the volunteers on how smiley I was on the bike!! I wound up coming in at 3:19:25 on my 90K ride…talk about a nice even split! I ate everything I meant to on the bike as well. Goals were met!
And sure, last year was a gross, wet day on the bike at Great White North, but this year the course was a bit tougher (in my opinion) but I still beat last year’s bike time by seven minutes!
Bike (90 km): 3:19:25
T2: 2:18
image via Ken Anderson
Next up we wrap up this crazy long race report with my run story!
Yay, way to nail the goals for the BIKE. Awesome job.
Way to nail the bike goals!
great bike photos and good job at sticking to your plan! glad everything went well in the swim and bike phases of the race 🙂