Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Ironman Louisville Day 1

I am happy to report that my bike and I both made it too Kentucky in one piece, at the same time! The kind lady at US Airways chose to ignore that my bike case that was loaded with my Cervelo, wheels, nutrition, and everything else I need was 75 pounds and thus way over weight. I was also slightly concerned that my ear drum was going to pop but I survived thanks to a few Advil and antibiotics.
Once in Kentucky it was quite a sight me trying to squeeze this huge bike case into this tiny PT Cruiser....but I made it work and headed to down town Louisville to my hotel. I just realized that my new phone has a GPS navigation system...big bonus as I had not printed the directions to my new home for the week.

By three o clock I had put my bike together and headed out to find a bike store to pick up some water bottles. I drove down to the waterfront to see where transition will be and then headed out along the bike course to find a good spot to ride. First thing I noticed was that there was no shoulder and it was heading into rush hour traffic. I parked and headed out along side the Ohio River. The water where we shall be swimming was very choppy and the wind was blowing. The route I biked was the bike course from River road and then 42. This scenic route while on the water was not a very scenic ride for me as all I could do was focus on staying on the white line as an inch to the left and I was going to get run over and an inch to the right and I was riding off road....so an intersting ride! My power meter was not working and in my attempt to fix it I hope I did not break it. Another thing on the list of things to do. After a few drops of rain I decided it was time to turn around and called it a day after 1.20 minutes. By the time I got back it was 7pm and time to head out for a 45 minute run. This was alot more enjoyable and besides some achy achilles from racing the hills of Timberman last week. I ran along the river and enjoyed the evening sunset. I drove back along part of the run course which seems to be a route that takes you through town along the streets of downtown Louisville and through the campus of the University.
I am yet to see a grocery store therefore dinner was a choice of a few different fast food stores. McDonalds snack wraps was the way I went!
Tomorrow I shall drive the course and try find a pool to swim in as the swim course is not open until Friday.

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