IM Canada Registration Trip Part 2

So on Saturday morning, the plan was to meet up with Miranda (http://miranda-alldritt.blogspot.com/ ) and a couple of her friends to ride the bike course. She had done a couple of Ironmans before including Canada so knew the course. It was a brisk morning probably low 50s but only high clouds so it was going to get warm. I brought 4 bottles of cytomax, a ton of powergel and some clif blocks. I was going to try this stuff to get a handle on my nutrition needs as I've always bonked on every marathon I've done. There were 4 of us to start, Miranda on a nice P2 blue Cervelo with SRAM power meter, Colin on a Argon road frame and 1 other guy who was nursing a sore knee so dropped off early. I'm horrible with names and he was gone before I could really commit his name to memory. Oops..

The course is quite fast to start with as it's a gradual downhill. I kept thinking to myself we're gonna have to go back up sometime. We had a slight tail cross wind on the way out.

I'm so glad I didn't try to ride the course by myself or I would've been lost for sure. There was this little jog on this atrocious rode with a nice sized hill in it to really get your legs warmed up. Luckily the rest of the first 45 miles was flat/slightly downhill with numerous sections on brand new smooth pavement.

We hit the start of Richter pass and I was expecting the worst. It was a piece of cake. Well it wasn't so easy but it wasn't super hard. The main thing was there were basically 4 ups with down hills in between so you got some rest. The ups were basically 6% so you could spin nicely in a 25 which I will use come race day. We got to the top, regrouped and were flying down the back side. It was nice and fast although the wind had started to pick up a little. We finished the down and that's where the "rollers" started. That's what Colin and Miranda called them. I call them killer little hills. They were basically 4% grades for about 3 minutes of climbing each. These really sapped my legs and come race day I have to real careful here not to blow my entire race.

We made it past the last roller and then the massive head wind kicked in. It was at least 20mph right in our face. This lasted through the little out and back section and up til our 2nd stop of the day for nutrition. The out and back section with the head wind is right about 70 miles and really a mental hurdle to overcome. Again, it was nice to experience once without being totally shocked into submission come race day.

We started our slow climb up Yellow Lake Pass and the road changed enough direction that we had a nice tailwind. This climb is tougher than Richter not just because it comes at mile 90 or so but it's a little steeper and there really aren't complete rest sections.

We all made it to the top and regrouped for the what was easily the fastest descent I've ever been on. It makes the descent at Mt. Bachelor seem short. This is a nice spot to really be able to refresh the legs and make up time from the earlier part of the ride. It takes you to about 15 miles left to go which is basically flat with some little rollers as you head back into Penticton.

We finished the ride and I wasn't completely trashed although there were 3 of us trading pulls with various spots of rest. I think I could've done it on my own with a little more training in my legs. Of course the key is to be able to get off the bike and hit the marathon course at a fast pace to make up for my slow swim and medium bike. We'll see...