Ironman 70.3 Florida: The race against Lance - [The bike leg]

The bike leg:

The Florida 70.3 bike course

As promised yesterday I would continue with my race report regarding Sunday's Florida 70.3 triathlon. I wanted to write this blog entry this morning but just did not get around to it. I have split my race report per discipline. In case you missed the swim portion of my race report then please see my previous blog entry.

Setting my bike up the afternoon before the race

After exiting the swim in 29min I headed uphill into the transition zone. It was totally exhausting exiting the swim red-lining and then having to head uphill into transition. I remember getting to my bike and just standing still for 30 seconds trying to control my breathing while putting my cycling gloves on. Luckily I clipped in and fastened my cycling shoes with elastic bands as the transition zone was a long one as nearly 2000 competitors took part.

The bike course started with a couple hills which made it tricky to get my feet into my cycling shoes. I found the transition from the swim to bike fairly challenging and felt out of breath during the first 6min or so of the bike leg. After about 10min I realised that I left my nutrition behind in the transition zone which consisted of two bananas and two gu gels.

Luckily one of my bottles was filled with diluted Ensure which amounts to 350 calories of liquid food. This bottle kept me going for the first hour of the bike. For those of you not familiar with Ensure this is what the bottle looks like (See picture on the left).

I thus had to stop at mile 30 on the bike course to pick up a banana as well as a bottle of lemon gatorade. I also grabbed a gu roctane gel. I felt stronger again after refuelling and could clearly feel the difference after taking the gu gel.

Reviewing my race results and splits on Ironman live I averaged 22.94mph (36.7kph) up to the 38.5 mile mark. It was somewhere at about mile 40 when I heard a loud "clang" sound in my rear wheel. I have heard this noise before but usually it is a softer noise which is the result of a slight space between my cassette and hub of my SRAM S80 rear wheel. I thought that the sound I heard might be problematic but did not realise it at the time. The "clang" sound was the result of a spoke snapping on the drive side of my rear wheel. It is difficult for me to quantify how much time I lost due to the spoke snapping but all that I can say is that when I picked up my bike from transition after the race my rear wheel was so out of alignment that it would stop when I tried to spin it as it rubbed the rear brake pretty hard. All my bike training leading up to Florida 70.3 during the weeks before the race gave me a good indication that I should have been able to nail a 2:25 bike split. I end up biking 2:32 for the 56mile bike course. I really had my sights set on breaking the 2:30 mark so was slightly disappointed. I honestly think that I lost approx 5min due to the rear brake rubbing but could have also lost this time due to taking in my nutrition later and the bike course being slightly tougher than I thought.

Running into transition after the bike leg

Now to compare my bike split to Lance Armstrong's bike split. I always knew Lance is an amazing athlete but only realised how talented he is when I heard that his bike split for the 56mile bike course was 2:01. It really puts things in perspective when one gets the opportunity to race the same course as these professionals within 1-2 hours of them completing the course.

Comparison of Lance Armstrong's bike split to my bike split for the 56 mile/90km bike course

Lance's bike split = 2:01:13 (Average speed 27.72mph)

My bike split = 2:32:25 (Average speed 22.04mph)

It is totally beyond me as to how an athlete can average 27.72mph for 56miles after swimming 1.2 miles. Lance is clearly one of the best cyclists planet earth has ever seen.

I had the 18th fastest bike split out of 175 triathletes in my M30-34 age group which is my best bike split placing to date of the all the M.dot races I have done. In order for me to move closer to my dream of qualifying for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships I will have to bike at least 8-10min faster which is achievable over the next couple of years if not sooner.

Lance Armstrong heading into T2 (Photo copyright: Jana Heath)

Lance Armstrong in T2 getting ready for the run leg. (Photo copyright: Jana Heath)

I would like to say a special thank you to my wife Jana for supporting me throughout Sunday's triathlon as well as the days and weeks leading up to the race. As can be seen from above Jana managed to get a couple of pics of Lance. More pics of Lance out on the run course to be posted tomorrow together with race report of the run course.