I think I was the only person there to do it on a tri bike so I felt a bit out of place.  The weather was glorious.  The 131k  route well marked.  Most of the route was good to ride with quite a few hills.  Some of the steep downhills through narrow tree-lined, pot-holed, gravel-littered roads were a bit scary and so I would prefer a bit of a route change for next year. 

The plan was to ride without power (I’ve “lost” the bike computer) and go quite a bit harder than ironman pace.  I did.  I averaged 31 kph for the first two hours.  Then I slowed a bit.  Then at 75k I ran out of water and the second aid station turned out to be at 110k.  A long ride in the heat.  Because I was going faster at the start I ate less than I wanted.  Actually, that’s not true.  Because I brought powerbars with me I ate less than I wanted to.  Those things are horrid on a hot day, especially without water.  So, I think I slowed because of the early pace, the lack of a powermeter to tell me I was slowing and the thirst/energy food.

I came home in 4 hours 52.  1 minute from “gold” standard.  I spent 3 minutes at the second aid station drinking and less than one minute massaging my left quad up one of the hills.  But I did not draft anyone because of the tri bike.  I did have two “shadows” who drafted me for the first 70k (and which helped me go too fast to start with).