Half Ironman Bike Course

WARNING! .... Long, boring account of my little bike ride today. I need all the details to be documented to look back at next year when I might have to finish any business that doesn't get finished this year.

This was my third riding of the bike course. It didn't get any easier!

My plan was to set out early and get home for a late(ish) family breakfast but Jo had the idea of meeting me at a halfway point after the ride and having breakfast out. Seemed like a great plan to me. It meant that I didn't have to rush as much to get back. It's also a good precedant for any Ironman training bike rides that I might or might not be preparing to do in the new year. If I set out early I could get 6hrs in and meet the family for breakfast somewhere. Cool


I know it's a bit sad but I was excited/nervous about the ride and I just couldn't sleep last night. Finally fell asleep sometime after midnight after tossing and turning from about 10pm. Not good. I had set the alarm for 4am but I woke up about 10 minutes before it and felt wide awake. Reminded myself that it's not the night before but the night before the night before that matters ... probably.

Had honey on toast - this will be my pre-race breakfast. Took care of all the necessaries and I was out the door by 4:30am. I had made up a 1000ml bottle with 1.5 x the stated strength energy drink and I had 2 water bottles. One would have to go in my back pocket.

I took both helmets today (unlike yesterday when I forgot to take either) and decided to give the aero helmet a try over the full course. It would be early and hopefully not many people would see me.

Loaded bike in the ute and I was off. Got to the Lake start in about 50 mins. It was then that I realised just how dark NZ can be. I knew that the clocks had gone forward and it would be sort of dark but I presumed that as it neared 6am there would be a bit of light. No chance. I waited in the ute until 6 but it was still pitch black. I had lights so I decided to set off.

It was interesting. Luckily I know the route fairly well as I could only see the foot or so in front of my front wheel. There's a long uphill straight from the start so my speed was a snail's pace but then I hit the downhill. Scared the life out of me. Luckily the route goes towards town and there were actually some street lights. I didn't get the most out of the downhill though.

I decided to ride by HR and I made a conscious effort to keep it below 135 (apart from the climbs when I kept it below 140). I found it easier and less frustrating to ride like this because even when my speed was quite low (small uphills and false flats) the HR still said that I was 'working'. I need to do more work though to get this threshold up and be able to last the distance at maybe low 140s.

The ride out to the halfway point went really well. I felt strong all the way and managed to get the most out of the hills once the sun came up and I could see where I was going. I actually rode down one of the big hill in the aero position and hit 77km/hr. Scary stuff but I'm getting more and more used to it. The descents of Reid Rd have certainly given me some more confidence.

I managed to drink the over strength energy drink and might even go for a double strength mix next ride. That (along with a bit of solid food) should give me all the calories I need for the ride. I tried an energy bar (banana, chocolate and coconut mix) during this ride and loved it. Really good taste and moist enough to eat and get down while riding. I'm thinking that I will do without gels on the ride. Probably just keep them for the run.

I hit the halfway point in 1 hour 29 minutes. WOW! I was on for a 3hr finish. Was this a reaffirmation of my training, of my improved fitness, of the effects of all those Reid Rd climbs or maybe the aero helmet had made all the difference ... or maybe ..... yep! .... as I turned the gust of wind almost knocked me backwards. Sh!t !!! I had been blown to the halfway point by a massive tailwind!

So now it was a battle to get home. At one point I felt a bit 'bonkish' but with a few gulps of the energy drink and a couple of bites of the bar I felt fine and ready to go again. I'm sure the ride back is more uphill though, especially to the Hell's Gate climb. I know you are going to feel more fatigued on the way back but I'm sure there are uphills punctuated with a few downhills as apposed to the lovely downhills on the way out punctuated by a few uphills that you can generally 'power' up and over. Mapmyrun doesn't confirm this though so the fatigue theory is probably more accurate.

The Hell's Gate climb on the way back is definitely the b@s@rdest hill of all the b@st@rd hills of the course. Again, it may be because it's on the way back but I struggled with this hill today. I was always going to get to the top and I could have kept seated and kept my HR below 140 but I just got bored and decided to climb out of the saddle for the last two thirds of the climb. It gave my other leg muscles a bit of a rest and my HR only hit 147 so no harm done. Will probably do this in the race when everyone starts to go past me as I sit there spinning away.

The ride from the top of that hill all the way to the main road is mainly downhill and it was a great relief. I managed to get some speed up but looking at the clock it was obvious that this ride back was going to be slow. I didn't want this road to end though as I knew the main road was coming up and I find it very boring. It's flatish and seems to go on forever. The aero position didn't feel comfortable during this part of the ride either. I think I need to adjust the saddle down a bit ... or maybe even put my old saddle on. I never felt 'uncomfortable' on that one in the aero position. My @r$e has moulded to the saddle in the upright position but not the aero. I'll give it a bit longer.

Although I wanted the main road bit to end I knew that the next part was the uphill climb to the finish. I actually managed to remember to turn left before the roundabout and followed the back roads onto the final uphill. I took that bit really easy and eat and drank a bit to fuel up for the climb. In the race I'll use this part to get some fuel in for the start of the run. Might take a gel at this point. Haven't decided yet.

The final uphill was not too bad. Definitely not as steep as Hell's climb but about twice as long. It was during this part that another cyclist went past me. We were both going slow but he inched past. We said a quick 'Hi' and then he did a double take and stared at my helmet. If I had had any breath to spare I would have told him the story that I won it in a comp and I was just trying it out. I didn't though and he must have thought 'w@nker!' ... or he might have been really jealous of my lovely shiny new helmet. He reached the top and turned and went past me going downhill. I kept my head down.

On the subject of the aero helmet ... It made my head unbelievably hot ... and this was on a day where the temp was about 14 degress and it was early morning with total cloud cover. Gawd knows what it would be like on a hot summer's day. I do want to wear it but I will try it out when the warmer weather comes. If I get ridiculously hot I will not wear it. If I do wear it I have decided that if I see a camera pointed at me during the ride I will strike the Captain America/Superman pose with a clenched fist out in front. Might be interesting at 77km/hr on a downhill.

The final part of the ride is totally downhill to transition. That's going to be a relief on the day. A short relief before the horror of the run.

The time today was 3 hours 27 minutes (and change). Not good enough! :)haha It's the first time that I have covered the whole course. I turned too early on the previous two rides and didn't take the back roads near the finish. I felt good when I finished and felt that I could have run. Can probably push a bit more on the ride on the day and with a bit of legal drafting and motivation to keep up with a pace line maybe I could get 3:20. Still 10 weeks to go so it's not over yet. Still plenty of time to put some 'speed' on. I'm also putting my trust in the taper. Got to be worth 5 mins on the bike surely :)

I put the bike in the ute, did a few stretches and then walked out into the lake to cover my legs. Felt really good. The lake was totally calm and there was not another person about, just a few cars with empty bike racks. So peaceful. I could have stayed there longer but I had a breakfast date. Quick change of clothes and I drove to town to meet the others. We had a great breakfast (pancakes) and bought some plants in the shop next door. More planting to do tomorrow. Too tired today ... although I did end up 'upgrading' the kid's tree house this afternoon. A dad's work is never done!

Ride with the Kids

Best bike ride EVER! ... this is my favourite stretch of road in our local area. It has great views of the Mount and if we had money this is where we'd live.


I used to ride this a lot when an hour ride was my long ride of the week but I haven't been down here at all this training period.


Today's ride though was with the rids along the cycle(?) path and it was GREAT! So good now that Laura can go for 'long' rides . I used my old bike just to give it a day out. I think it enjoyed it as much as me!


Jo walked along with us so as you can imagine it was a very leisurely pace. We stopped at a cafe, had lunch and then went back to the park to play basketball.


All very tired now. Tomorrow is my long ride of the week so I need an early night.

The Run Course

I checked out the Half Ironman run course again last night. This time I took it really slow. I think my calf 'going' last time was because I went too fast on the downhills in an attempt to make up for the crazy stupid steep uphills. This time I just plodded along at about a 11 minute mile pace.

The start of the run is a steep uphill off road climb around the lake. Even with my plodding pace my HR hit the high 140s on some of the steeper 'step' parts. It really is a b*st@rd start to the run ... only problem is, it doesn't get much easier. I suppose there's a few bits of flat here and there but not much. Great views though so that almost makes up for it.

The run after the lake bit is just a rolleroaster run up and down hills which seem much steeper on the return leg. I still managed to miss one part of the run but on my return to the car with both calfs intact I decided to complete the 2nd loop of the basetrack (as in the race). This gave me about 17K. Time was just over 2hrs but this did include getting lost a bit on the first loop, having a pit-stop and swapping water bottles at the car before the 2nd loop. Not worried about the pace. It was all about testing the legs on a long run. Glad to say they passed their test.

I'm doing the Phedip Half Marathon next weekend so I should be OK for that on a flatter route.