3 Days Til the Ironman

Posted by on July 21, 2011 in Training

On Monday night, my plan was to pack all of my clothes and disassemble my bike so that it could be easily packed into the bike case.  The former took far longer than I anticipated since again, I was packing for both the Ironman and my honeymoon… and the two had very little overlap in terms of clothing.  The bike disassembly component wound up not happening at all because I couldn’t get my pedals off, and having them off is critical to the bike fitting into the box.  So, I made the quick decision to take the bike to work with me the next morning, leave the office a bit early, head to the bike shop for help, then head home to pack the bike before meeting up with my chaffeur, Dad.  The plan worked just about perfectly, and Dad got me to the airport with plenty of time to exhale.

One particular positive note about all of this was the check-in with Singapore Airlines.  Upon seeing the bike box, the person behind the counter asked me what was inside.  Borrowing an approach that one of my teammates had used earlier this year, I explained that it was carbon fiber equipment that I was using for aerodynamic testing.  I kid you not!  He said, “Oh, okay,” and proceeded to check it on through without the expected surcharge.  Once on the plane, I found that my seat was the last seat in the section which gave me a bit more reclining room, and that the center seat was empty.  Sweet!  Oh, and the flight attendants were so nice and constantly served food.  What a smooth operation.  I was asleep before we even pushed off from the gate, and in my efforts to try to keep it together until we lifted off, I wound up being THAT guy with the violent head bobs.  I think that I may have bruised my chest with how hard my chin hit it at one point!

Once in Frankfurt, I retrieved my bike box and suitcase easily and then the fun began.  Uncharacteristically, I hadn’t planned my transportation to the hotel nor even remembered which hotel it was.  I knew it was a Holiday Inn, but as I later learned, there are five Holiday Inn locations in the Frankfurt area.  After much back-and-forth with various airport information booth people, I decided against a bus or train option and went for a taxi… and guessed that my hotel was the one downtown.  Once I got there, I tried to check in only to learn later on that they didn’t have me in their system.  I asked if they could figure out which Holiday Inn I did reserve and was met with an exhale of frustration and inconvenience.  Eventually, we got it figured out, caught another taxi, and settled into my room.  It’s simple and efficient (this IS Germany after all!).  The rest of the day was spent figuring out how to get on-line, how to get my blackberry to work, and resting.  Dinner followed with my friends/teammates, then a very chill night back in the hotel room with CNN on TV (the only english-speaking channel I could find).

This morning (Thursday here), we met up at the Intercontinental Hotel, which is the race-designated hotel where most of my friends are staying, then headed over to the Ironman race area just a mile or so away.  As I later learned, the Ironman race organizers had put together a group ride at an easy pace for athletes to essentially tour the bike course.  While people showed up and things got organized, a few of us made friends with other athletes, and of all people, I wound up getting interviewed by German TV.  They asked fairly generic questions, like is this my first Ironman, was it my first time in Frankfurt, was I ready, etc.  All of my answers were positive and good, but I’m guessing that I should have been controversial and that being so cheery will send my footage to the cutting room floor!

There were about 60 or so riders from a variety of countries, and we got to see parts of Frankfurt that were beautiful.  The pace was super easy; we had a lead car and a mini armada of a dozen motorcycles who would ride ahead and stop traffic from side roads to enable us to ride safely.  Really cool operation.  The roads were super smooth and without potholes or even any bumps, and we couldn’t help but compare them to route 9W in NJ, the Central Park drive, etc.  Yes, the Germans had impressed us simply by having nice roads!  At one point, we climbed “Heartbreak Hill” (either that or “The Beast”; we weren’t sure), affectionately named because it’s steep, but it didn’t seem that much harder than anything else we’ve done this season both in the NYC area and up at Lake Placid… so we got up and over and enjoyed many fast sections.  We also made it through the cobblestone section which was, in nearly every way, uncomfortable.  It was bumpy (duh) and jarring.  The only manageable strategy will be to engage a hard (= slow) gear and balance as best as I can with slow revolutions.  Then, the rains came.  At one point, it downpoured heavily and many of us struggled with poor braking performance.  It was dangerous.  Oh, did I mention cold and windy?  Really, that section of weather was awful and we are praying that it doesn’t repeat on race day.  We wound up doing about a third of the total Ironman bike distance (like 36 miles or so) and I feel plenty good and strong.

I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and thankfully, the ride organizer in the lead car decided to abbreviate the ride and just head back to Frankfurt.  We were in farm country at that point, a good 20k/12.4 miles from the city, but we managed to cover that distance quickly.  My oldest friend in the world, Jeff, happened to be in Germany during this trip, so we managed to coordinate lunch in the afternoon and that was such a huge pleasure for me.  I love seeing an old friend in a random place.  One time, I was in a cafe next to the entrance to the Louvre in Paris and looked over to see my good friend Manny having a bite to eat at another table.  How random is that?!  Anyway, with Jeff, it was good timing, not random happenstance, that brought us together but nonetheless, it was good.

So, I’m now relaxing in the hotel room, totally disinterested in venturing out.  We have some kind of run thing tonight that is billed as a team running event where each member of a trio runs 5k.  I’ll go and be a team player, but I’m so sleepy now and would rather just chill out and do nothing.  My spirits remain really positive and I’m at peace with everything.  We’ll see what tonight brings.  More to come, so stay tuned.

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