Week 26: Vineman Bike Course

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About half of my team is racing Ironman Louisville and the other half is racing Vineman in Sonoma. There are a couple of advantages to racing Vineman and one of them is that the course is close enough for us to train on. On Saturday, our coach set up a 60 mile ride on the Vineman bike course (which is actually a double loop). So the athletes that will be racing on August 1st had the opportunity to get a sneak peak. Here is the course description

"The bike course is a mix of terrain, and travels through the Russian River, Dry Creek, Alexander Valley, and Chalk Hill grape growing regions. With slightly less than 4000 feet of climbing for the entire bike course athletes find the course to be challenging but not overwhelming."

In other words, it's an absolutely gorgeous bike ride. The rolling hills were manageable. In fact, the ride almost felt flat compared to a lot of the rides that we've been doing. I was able to really test out my legs and push my speed a little. I surprised myself when I caught up to a group of teammates that are typically much faster than me. I think they were surprised to see me too. My Garmin battery died, but Mike D said we were averaging 17.5 mph. That's so fast for me!

Condition: Riding with the big kids!