IM CDA

it's that time of year again for IM CDA. This year though we will be sitting on the side lines cheering on our friends. For anybody that has been around an Ironman event you know how contagous it all is. How the excitement is everywhere. The inspiring stories of obstacles overcome and countless hours spent in preparation just suck you in. You can't help but want to DO something. This week I was able to go over to CDA and ride the bike course with Kevin Purcell a coach from San Diego. We had chatted a few times here in the blogosphere but had never actually met so it was great to get to put a face with the web page. He is up here coaching I think 5 different athletes that are doing the race. He was here to race last year but double flatted and was not able to continue so he wanted to ride the course. So after a little phone tag we were off for a windy 56 mile ride. We headed out towards Higgins Point and I was sort of playing tour guide and at the same time getting to know Kevin. The whole while he is making mental notes to pass on to his athletes. We slightly modified the course to avoid a little of the midday traffic through town. As we headed north on 4th street the sun was shining and we were cruising, then came the hills. Me being me, not to smart, I'm cranking up these hills like I've been training for months, instead of like this going to be first ride farther than 40 miles of the year. For the 1st 35 miles this was no problem. By the time we hit ~ 45 miles I was hurting. It's about this part of the course where there are several miles of relativly flat terrain that is just a grind. This is not my strength. I have not had much success with high cadence steady cranking. This was kind of timely because Kevin had just been talking to Gordo about this very issue. As a matter of fact he just published an article about it on xtri.com. After reading this article it's clear, not that it wasn't before, I have alot of work to do.
As for the race on Sunday I'll be there cheering on my friends and planning on my next IM, Canada 2010.