A Game of Chess on the Bike

When the weather forecast said there will be winds up to 65km/h yesterday, I did take notice but didn't realize how brutal it was until I got onto the bike.

Inside the apartment I could see the wind was bad but I didn't think it will be that bad. I decided to change my front 808 to the Zipp 404 and boy was I glad.

My plan was to bike the Ironman route in the opposite direction, turn at 45 minutes and come back doing the last section of the bike route coming into town. It was not even 5 minutes when I realized that this won't happen today.

I was playing chess on my bike, concentrating every second of the ride. There was no second of which I could think of other stuff or just relax on the bike. The wind was throwing me all over the road. My only purpose was to keep the bike on the road.

Not even a thought to scroll through my bike's computer and check the different data, I couldn't even take my hands of the handle bar to drink some water. When I reached 30 minutes I had enough and became more scared the further I biked along the coast line.

Hope I don't look like this puppet next to the road comes Sunday. If he looks like this wonder how this Coffee shop's Coffee taste?

I decided to turn around and head back home as it was not worth while destroying all the work I've put into this race for one bike session. Heading back was actually more scary as I had this 50km/h + wind blowing from behind. I was doing 40km/h + without pedalling hard. Then suddenly a cross wind will wake me up and shake me around.

DJ after registration for Ironkidz.

After my bike ride I went to register and as always Thursday is not that busy and registration was quick. Friday is the busy day at registration. I met my friend Rob at the expo and we chatted for a while. http://www.robbyricc.blogspot.com/



He is looking really strong and fresh for the race. I even saw an article in the Ironman race book whereby they ask him for some race advise.

Done with registration I drove the detour of the Ironman bike course that we will cycle due to road works. I guess the race organizers don't have another choice but it is not great. You will have to handle 6 turns and 5 speed bumps within 1 kilometer.

If you want some free water bottles go and stand next to the road at the detour, I can see a lot of bottles flying! With the detour only 3km after the start/finish line and with the next water point only another 10km away, there will be a lot of thirsty Triathletes at the 1st water point.

Some groceries shopping for the week.

With the cold weather, the family felt like Pizza, can't blame them. I had to be very careful not to eat to much but I managed. The picture right at the top was taken at the Pizza shop, with our War look!!

They forecast sunny, hot conditions for Sunday, forecasting 30c maximum with the wind coming from the NW at 30km/h. Think at age group level you won't see fast bike times if they are right about the wind speed and direction.

DJ having some fun in the apartment. She erected the little tent she will be using on Sunday to hide from the sun and was watching TV from inside the tent. O' and please note the boots with the pajama pants, Some days?

For those interested you can follow me on http://www.ironman.com/ Click on the Ironman South Africa track an athlete icon on top of the page. Then just type in my surname or my race number 1304 to follow. South African can sms my race number 1304 to the following number 39408 and you will get 8 sms throughout the day tracking my progress. It will only cost R15 and the proceeds are going to Ironman for the Kidz. It is a welfare organisation for underprivileged kids.

Someone asked what time will it be in the US when I race. I think if my calculations are correct we start at 7am Sunday morning South African time. It will then be 7pm Saturday in Hawaii, 10pm in Los Angeles and 1am Sunday morning in New York.

Hereby a short video clip as we left Ironman registration of how strong the wind was blowing.