So what would you do if you needed a psychological boost before your big race. Would you call one of the professional favorites to win this race and ask him to join you for a workout. Then you would ask him to take it easy so that you could feel good about your fitness? Nah! Fat chance of that right? Well read on.
Today I had to ride 3.5 hours today so I headed out and I was actually a little apprehensive. The reason was that when I first came to Kona in 1990 I remember getting passed on training rides by many, but in 93 and 94 once I became a decent rider I was the one doing the passing. So what will it be this year. At about mile 3 of my ride these two guys pulled out of their condo or Hotel a few yards in front of me. They looked like the real deal. Fit and muscular. I pulled up and passed them as they were going easy to get started. They must have been a pair of euros I thought. I was fairly certain that I will see them again. I did not think they will let me go by without any response.
We were riding towards the Queen K but there are a couple of ways to get to the Highway so they took one way and I took another. But once on the Highway they ended up ahead of me. I decided to pick up my pace and caught up and passed them. I did not have to go all out or anything. In fact I was still aerobic. But as I passed them this time I took a closer look and realized one of the guys was Cameron Brown who is one of the favorites to win the whole thing. You have to be kidding. Man, he takes it easy when it is time to take it easy eh? But a few miles later they picked up the pace and passed me. I made a comment to Cameron and he smiled. The other guy riding seemed to be a pupil of sorts. Whatever Cameron did he did. At this point I decided to ride behind them instead of passing them. The weather was getting bad and very rainy. The two guys were riding side by side and their rear wheels were flicking all the water back. So either I stayed far back enough to not get their splash or I stayed real close and in between them to avoid it. I tried both ways. But regardless this was a blast. I felt like a million bucks. We rode like this for about 45 minutes or so. Only on some up-hills my heart rate got up into the upper 140's but other than that I was aerobic and I felt great. I remember thinking. 'I can stay here all day.' What a blast. They were probably thinking of me as a pest, but who cares. Cameron seem real nice and he pointed at rocks and objects on the road so I could avoid them. But his buddy was not very friendly. I asked him how he liked his Power Tap and his response was 'good'. Geez, I hope your response is not for lack of oxygen buddy! But really, this was a blast, I felt great and I felt like a kid playing in the rain. Eventually they turned around and I kept going since I had to go 3.5 hours.
Later on the ride the clouds dissapeared and the blue sky, wind and heat appeared. I rode to the Waikoloa Resort and the weather there was hot. While on the ride I also saw Chris McCormack who people think is another favorite. He was going the other way. Then on the way back I bumped into Dick and Ricky Hoyt. Dick is Ricky's father and he pulls his son along on special bike. Ricky had a condition that prevents him to speak or move normally but his father is a stud and they make a team on all these races. He has finished the Ironman before but has not in a while. Usually he needs the wind to stay away to get to the finish line. A real windy day makes it really hard for him to push his son along.
What a psychological boost to my riding don't you think. Even if Cameron was going really easy it is still good for me.
Earlier in the day I went for a short swim on the course. I bumped into Kai who is a German triathlon web news man. His stuff is very popular in Germany. He asked me if I wanted to swim with him. I said sure. I was not sure how this was going to work. I do not know him that well and he does not know me. So we started and he actually did really well. I swam to the half way mark and he was just 10 or 15 yards back.
Later in the day I ran for 40 minutes and sweated quite a bit. If feels good to sweat that much. In Colorado with the dry air you can stay fairly dry. I have a movie of the Queen K but I am having computer problems. So I will post the movie later. Check back.