Transition 1:
I ran to the transition tent. I can't remember how I got my transition bags, (they were handed to me or I just took them) but I had them and was in the tent. I took off my wetsuit and other swim gear and I changed into bike shorts and put the rest of my bike stuff on. The opening on the changing tent was big enough to drive a truck through and there were all manner of spectators from outside casually checking out the action inside. Since I was racing and modesty was of no concern of mine at that point, I stripped out of my wetsuit down to my birthday suit and changed into bike shorts and a sleeveless bike shirt. I ran out of the tent, grabbed my bike and ran to the transition exit. I jumped on my bike and rode away.

Transition 1 Time: 5:09

The Bike:
To my relief, my tire was full of air. The excellent bike I had at the ½ IM race on this course 6 weeks earlier was a blessing and a curse. The good thing is that the time I did at that race boosted my confidence for the IM, but that was also the bad thing. It seems that time had boosted my confidence a little too much. I'm gonna say it, "I went out way too hard on the bike." This initial over enthusiasm caused a negative domino effect for all my nutrition and hydration plans on the bike and run.

I had a heart rate monitor on and had my zones set. Did I listen? Of course I didn't. The bike started out great. I consistently was over my zone by 5 to 10 beats. Go ahead and say it now… idiot. I drank plenty of fluid. In fact, I drank too much fluid. I drank so much fluid that I could not even think of eating the 4 energy bars I had brought with me. For the entire race I had 4 large water bottles (2 in special needs bag) of Metabol II energy drink. They are about 500 calories each. I did manage to drink 3 of these. But man I was full.

I rode easy through the hills, not pushing things too much. As I got to about mile 30, I realized that I was not eating and a little voice that said, "this is not part of the plan" just was not loud enough. I put my head down and rode saying something very insightful like, "you'll be OK," "you'll figure it out." Aside from these discussions with myself, the ride was mostly uneventful.

At every race I always make it a point to thank the volunteers and race workers. At this race I got it in me to thank all policeman at each intersection. I just feel like they take a lot of grief from some drivers who feel they are being inconvenienced by the hold up. As I yelled thanks, some of the riders around me thought I was talking to them and said, "Your welcome". I did not bother clarifying and just smiled at them.

I did pee while riding down a hill at about mile 30. If you have ever tried to pee on the bike while you are riding you'll know how hard this is. Due to the difficulty, it is a great sense of accomplishment once you have done it, until you realized what you actual did… and where it all went. Carnac bike shoes are like sponges. Unless I plan on contending for the Hawaii championships, I don't think I will be doing that again. I ended up, more appropriately, stopping about 4 more times to relieve myself.
At mile 35 a kid on a BMX bike rode in the other direction counting out loud the position of each person in the race. I was 59. At that point I really did not care because there was a long day ahead.

At about mile 50 the voices telling me that I might want to eat some solid food, "you know, the stuff you trained with all year long." But, they still were not loud enough, and my stomach was too full of liquid to consider accepting anything.

I drank the 2 water bottles of Metabol II and decided that what I needed to do was just to get the other 2 bottles at the special needs station and drink them. I was hoping that this would be enough. At the special needs station around mile 65 I ran into 2 Johns. My friend John, who is a photographer, happened to be there to capture my entrance and exit into the port-o-john with his oversize format camera. I can't wait to see those race photos. I took my 2 bottles in the bags, put the bagel in my mouth and stuck the pretzel rods in my jersey. It took me 15+ miles to eat that sesame bagel and I ended up drinking only 1 more bottle of Metabol II.

At about mile 80 I really started to slow down. This had happened many times before in training and I knew exactly what it was; I was running out of calories. Up to that point, including all the hills at the start I was averaging 20.4 mph. I now was battling to keep the speedometer above 19 mph. To make matters worse, the wind started to blow quite hard knocking me back to 15-18 mph.

At about mile 85 an IM experienced training acquaintance slowly started to pass me. I told him my situation and he offered part of his energy bar called a Beta bar for me. I went for it, despite the fact that I still had 3 Cliff bars in my bag. I took it and ate half of it. It perked me up a little and I rode on as still more riders passed me.