Ironman 2008

Ironman exhausted me today. I went on a 30+ mile ride with Ming earlier in the week (to the U of MN, across Minneapolis, and back to Eagan) and I wasn't nearly this tired. It wasn't my knees (per the whole falling up the stairs incident) - I think it was just a combination of a hard ride and temperatures that were still 32 degrees in the sunshine when I started at 8:30 a.m, ice still crusting the tops of puddles in the sun. By the time I was done a little after noon, it was still only 41 degrees. At least it didn't look like yesterday morning. There's something seriously wrong with the weather in this state. Why the hell weather man is a position being downsized is beyond me.

I've learned to park at the bottom of the first hill near the registration area, that way I have a hill climb and descent to determine how much clothing is the appropriate clothing. After coming down, I ditched my pull over, a hat, and thinsulate underwear in the car, dropping about 4 pounds of clothing. I was a sweaty mess by the time I was done, so removing a few layers probably saved me the pleasure of my own personal, portable sweat lodge.



This is a creek in Lakeville that offered a scenic rest. Right before this there was a little connecting trail and a woman pulled up next to me and said, "On your left!" I replied, "There are posts ahead." She tilted her head, glared at me, and growled, "On...your...left." I shrugged, unwilling to move because...there were posts ahead - horizontal ones. Literally two seconds after the exchange there was the squeal of breaks accompanied by "Whoa! Whoaaaa! Whoaaaaaaaaa!"


Some Ironpeople out for a ride.


These were funny. Chopper-style bikes. This was at the second rest stop where I met Jim from my old group at work, and waited for The Boss to catch up so I could take a picture of him and his daughter on the ride. I was worried I'd be waiting a while because there was a huge hill on Interlachen Blvd. I was panting by the time I crested it, and I don't pant much from biking - I discourage it by always getting a bike with a third ring. But they showed up, and did the whole ride. Boss said the little bit as you turn onto 212 in Farmington was worse than the hill because it was so open to the wind. I'd warned him about that - it's always pretty rough, even without much wind.


A set of choppers. They made pretty good time. Better than the unicyclists, because I didn't even see them this year. But they might have been on the 60 mile ride - that's where I saw them last year.