The bike unpacked well and I managed to get 7.5 hrs sleep which is good for me.
Covered 1 lap plus of the bike course today. I went out at about 8:30am. Close to the time I'll be riding.
It was a bit cloudy so it was only 84. Still muggy though. And lots of bugs. Started raining this afternoon... monsoon like, with thunder and lightning.
I "think" this is a 24mph course for me so I hope to pull 60-62 minutes. I use a Polar 725x on the bike and just pop it on sometime after transition when it's convenient. I don't look at overall time or actual speed. It displays average speed which although not accurate in real time over the entire course, helps me gauge where I am and gives me a point of focus if things start to hurt.
There's a lot of hits on the blog today according to the stats. I am assuming USAT linked to it after I submitted it, but it may be someone else. Regardless, for anyone reading this that can't ride the bike course before the event here's what I'll be doing. (Keep in mind I'm not a coach and not terribly experienced, and this is just how I'll approach it.)

Most of Jack Warner Parkway is gradual incline or decline depending on your direction. There are three descent hills when heading East and approaching 297 and the 41st St turn around. All three are relatively short, the bulk of each less than a mile. I plan on working these pretty hard on both laps as there's some downhill after each. Nothing unusual.
The 41st St turn around is interesting because it's at the top of the hill and although there's a slight 150yr downward slope approaching the turnaround cone, you head back uphill for that 150 yards with no momentum. I plan on going easy off of the turn on the first lap as this could suck up some fuel and the downhill just after is very fast.
The uphill on 297 was a little more challenging. Lot's of wind as a good majority of it is coming across the river. I rode on Hed3's today and they were catching quite a bit. The bridge is tilted and the East side it slightly higher that the West. I plan on staying closer to center if possible in hopes of using the bridge to block some crosswind.
The West end of JW Parkway is fairly flat and I did a practice run today at 26-28mph with little effort heading West and 23-25 heading back. (I actually did 1 and 1/2 laps today.)
As usual I'll start out somewhat fast but smooth enough to recover from the swim and fall into my rythm and try to get faster through the ride.
I put in a 30 min run today but from the hotel in the rain. I'll look at the run course tomorrow.
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