The 2011 Nautica Bike Leg - My Report

 http://app.strava.com/rides/1658331

Preparing for this event was tough in terms of the evening before the event.  I knew I had a 90+ minute drive (where the closure of Internstate 10 W didn't end up helping this), so I had to factor that time along with getting up to be able to get bike and some last minute items loaded up.  Being the freak that I am, I woke up at 2:50 a.m. and was out the door by 3:30 a.m.  I was meeting with the others on my team at 5:30 a.m.  Fortunately, a large cup of coffee was one of my accompaniments.

I didn't eat my usual pre-ride meal (oatmeal) as well because 1, it was a long drive and 2, I didn't want to stop for one of my mandatory pre-ride routines.   Thus, a protein bar had to do.  I also brought some honey waffles in case I got hungry, but I ended up just having half a bagel during the ceremony.  For 24 miles of effort, it would have to do.  I did have a pre-ride Cytomax, which ended up working out for me as I didn't once reach down for my bottle during the ride.

It was dark when I arrived and I thought I should just walk up to the packet pickup leaving my bike locked up.  However, half way to the registration, I ended up going back and grabbing everything since that's what everyone else was doing.  Yes, it took me being half way to figure that out, but damn it was early.

It was nice to see the other cycling guys there  (Mike Z., Noah, Seon, Vin, David, Eddie and Hiroshi) plus some of the other BRCM attendees.  There was also a lot of other "scenery" there, but I'll leave that up for your imagination.

For the relay, everyone waited in the transition area for their swimmer to finish their leg of the race.  Since mine was an external recruit, I wasn't sure what he looked like but managed to recognize him as he slowed for our aisle.  I was suppose to remove his leg chip timer, but there were other cyclists in the way waiting for their swimmer.  Eventually, he ended up handing me the timer, and I got it on my leg to go.

Not being a triathlete, I wasn't too keen on running to the bike start point and especially in my cycling shoes.  I left the cleat covers on while I ran, but didn't run too hard because...well, because it's not like we were really trying to win this thing.  When I got to the bike mounting area, a couple idiots were having problems getting on their bikes just at the line, so I had to make my way around them just to get started.

Not having warmed up (I didn't know you can bring a trainer until I saw some guys out there), I didn't push too hard as I made my way out of the parking lot.  The dreaded speed bumps were also a speed inhibitor, but I still made my way past several people here.  Then, making our way to the tunnel and makeshift bridge was also a little slow as we had to go on it single file.  After the tunnel though, I just put my head down and took off.

The cool thing about the event was just how many people you end up passing on the course.  Some of the guys on the TT would come back on the downhills, but once it flattened out for a while or pitched up, they pretty much dropped off eventually.  I think one guy ended up passing me once, but I didn't keep track of him and I'm not exactly sure he stayed ahead or if he was swallowed up by some of the gobs of people that were on the course.

I did see a few guys with BRCM jerseys on the course, but none who I recognized. I heard someone yell out and encouraged me to go but I only found out it was Mike Z. going the opposite direction after I got back.

Focusing on the people ahead of me was my mode, and I was always working on reeling everyone I can in.  On the way back, I did try to turn it up a little more to make sure I expended all my energy for the race.  Even then, a few more guys tried to mix it up but met the same fate as the earlier ones.  On one of the hills, one of the guys passed said "go BMC," which helped me want to push even harder on it.

Near the entrance of the parking lot on the way back, I worried a little that one of my legs felt like it may start to cramp but I didn't stop pushing hard and it never did...fortunately.  As we actually went through the p-lot, a lot of the people on it seemed to have checked up but there was still a good distance of racing to go here.  I managed to make my way past them and the speed bumps without incident, but it was definitely not an ideal situation to sprint to the finish.  I had hit 23 mph average just before the finish, but when I stopped my Garmin, it showed 22.9.  As to my official results, however, my average came out to 22.6 where I finished the leg at 1:05:48.

Noah had a better bike time than I did officially, and that's even after getting a flat near the end where he rode through.  His Garmin stopped halfway through the route though, so he won't get to upload to Strava.   You know the saying though:  "It it isn't on Strava...."  Just kidding.  Good job.

The other guys had some good bike times too and credits the training rides we do along with their other weekend riding that's helped them improve.  Doh!  Ha Ha.

The company provided brunch after and it was good.  The best part:  open bar.  It's never too early for Mimosas.  Thanks, Broadcom!