Separately we had a coach tour of the bike course although there was some debate that the last section of the lap was wrong but the bus driver was adamant he was in the right place!!
El Tractoro Prime back in one piece after its trip in a bike case (a big suitcase) :-)
Testing out the aero position after putting bike together and some basic checks.
A view from TyreCam up the road.
The Ironman and mechanic deserved a drink for getting the bike back in working order, we did have quite a few Powerbar drinks throughout the week.
Ironman City
The following are now based at Ironman City which is the east edge of Worther See and the west of Klagenfurt.
Some views of the lake (called Worther See) near the swim start. The water was so clear you could see the fish swimming around, I was not particular keen on this. The benefit of the glacier lake if the goggles leaked it would not be as big an issue as normal open water swimming. The problem for sighting in the swim would be remember which mountain top to aim for!!!
The last 900m of the swim was along a canal. This bridge would not have any room to move on during the swim.
A view from the bridge looking back up the canal to the lake. The canal you could see it was shallow and see the sand and weeds on the bottom but all looked calm now.
View from the bridge to the swim exit which is just in the distance.
The swim exit. The things I learned looking at it was the slope and carpet was quite steep and fairly long. Also to watch out for boats that would be on the left side. In the far corner is a hotel with strange eclipse shaped windows which I already planned to use for sighting the exit, as when swimming I only breath to the right.
The transition area was fairly straightforward. after about 50m form the swim exit you grabbed your cycle bag and got changed in the tent, dropped you bag of exiting the other side and then going to the your bike. Then for T2 your bag is the other side and exit from this side.
My bag was in the first rack in the middle at the far end (only few more) of bottom rung. However would I remember all that in the heat of the race.
My bike in transition, I did not notice that it was on strange paving until reviewing the photos later that night, hopefully that will not be an issue when wearing my cycle shoes!!
I let a lot of air out of tyres due to the heat and the amount of time they are left out. This was about half way down the second out of four rows of bikes, to help even further I noticed there was a pink house the outside of transition nearly level with my row.
The powerbar man or it also looked like a stretched Lego man. This was near the middle point of the run.
These next two photos are of the last 100m of the run.
This is run section at the back of transition and near the swim exit. This section will be run 4 times, twice in each direction.
The finish line and grandstands. This image you will need to keep in your mind when struggling as the end goal and the time is just a by product. For me the nerves started to kick in when waiting to collect registration pack and stuff and at the finish line area.
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