I've been hearing how this bike course is very hilly, very techincal, and VERY tough. I was so nervous to find out for myself. My opinion of the course after riding 126 miles of it last Sunday: it's totally doable and I LOVE the course! I know now that I AM ready for the big day.
Our first stop on the trip down Friday was Devil's Lake to get in a 2.4 mile swim. What a super gorgeous lake! I can't wait to swim there again. I have now found my 2nd favorite lake, aside from Lake Superior. :)
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to start our ride. Our plan was to do 3 loops of the 'loop' section of the course. The IM bike course heads out from Madison about 16 miles to Verona, then from there it goes on a 40 mile loop. After completing 2 loops you make your way back into Madison and that completes the 112 mile bike course. The loop is the most technical part of the course and where you encounter most of the hills. For this reason we wanted to get most of our miles in on the loop. We figured doing 3 loops was also going to give us a mental advantage. On race day as we're getting tired heading out onto loop 2, we can think "I have done 3 of these loops, I can easily do 2!"
The course is challenging, but it has so much variety that you never get bored and you never get sore from being in the same position on the bike for too long. I felt really good after 126 miles. We went for a 30 minute run after the bike as well and surprisingly that also felt good. It was a very successful day.
I did get out my camera as we were going up some of the big hills. Trying to climb and take pictures is a feat in itself!
On Sunday we got in a 2 hour recovery run before packing up to head back home. That felt pretty good besides that it was in the 80's with about 97% humidity. That's a little too hot for me. We realized how lucky we were that Saturday was nice weather and there was even some cloud cover so we didn't get 8.5 hours straight of blazing sun.
Until we meet again Ironman Wisconsin bike course... in 38 days!!
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