To my surprise, a bunch of folks showed up this morning. Kristi, Kristen, Mark, Angela, Jerry, Brett, Caty and even Will showed up! We met up at the parking lot just west of Sun Devil stadium and started the ride just after 8AM.
Each loop of the bike course is around 37 miles. Going out is usually against the wind and slightly uphill with the uphill getting steeper over the final 3 miles. Will took off; Jerry, Mark and I were in the second group with the rest following behind us. Going out, I averaged around 14 MPH and coming back, I averaged around 18MPH. This is exactly the average I will need to finish the ride in 7 hours. If I do this, each loop will average around 2 hours and 20 minutes! Compared to the pros, this is super slow, but for me it is decent speed!
On our way out, we slowed down in the middle of the ride because there was an accident with a bunch of cops. We saw a white sheet with a dead body under it (may his or her soul rest in peace). I asked the officer if it was a bicyclist. It wasn’t. It was a pedestrian. The road was closed and we had to take a small detour on our way back. All in all, we ended up doing just a bit more than 37 miles in just a bit less than two-and-a-half hours.
As I write this, I can’t help thinking that this time next week (if all goes well), I will be in the middle of my marathon run right at this time. While I haven’t created a race plan yet, the race will be in its 11th hour right now, which means I will be about 2 hours into my marathon. Maybe I’ll be finishing up my first loop and starting the second loop. After 11 hours of intense swimming, biking and running, I will have around thirteen miles left before I will become an Ironman.
Insha’Allah (Arabic/Urdu/Hindi for “god willing”).
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| My bib number is 2805 for IMAZ |
I found out that my bib number for the race will be 2805. I am not really superstitious, but I do like it when there is a 5 or 7 in my bib number.