Was it fate???

I was nervous about getting up on time. Even though the registration for next years Lake Placid Ironman was at 9 am, I didn't want to oversleep. I set my wake up call with the hotel and even set a couple of alarms on my iPhone. It turns out I didn't need either. I had a very restless sleep and was looking at the clock every couple of hours. I also couldn't stop sweating, even with the air conditioning on all night. I finally got up at 6:30 am and decided I was going to do a ride, which would give me enough time to finish, shower and be in line by 9 am.

I took the course map and as I rode past the start area I noticed a huge line up of people. It was as if they had camped there all night. I couldn't believe it, it was 6:45 am and there must have been at least 1000 people in line. I asked and was told this was the line for next years entry. I immediately turned my bike around and headed back to my hotel to change and hurry back to stand in line. Twenty minutes later I was in line and now the line had even grown larger. As I was standing in the first line I was talking to someone and found out that I was in the wrong line. The line I was in was for volunteers from yesterday's race that are signing up for next years Ironman, they get priority over the non volunteers. The guy told me where the line for the non volunteers was and off I went.

In the right line, I met a few people and strangely they were all from Toronto, except for a 240 lb overweight doctor from Florida who does two Ironman's a year and has 3 kids. If you looked at him you would never think he does Ironman races, maybe bowling, but not the Ironman. It just shows that people of all shape and sizes can do triathlons. Two of the other people were married and had just opened up a Running Free Store in New Market, Henrietta and George. And another guy in his mid-thirtys was doing his first ever Ironman after quitting smoking 18 months ago and deciding to get back into shape. It's amazing how much you get to know other people when your standing in line with them for over 4 hours. That's what it took, exactly 4 hours and 18 minutes of standing in line to get registered.

I got back to my hotel just before noon, the check out was 11 am and hurried to get packed. The maid was doing the room next store and mine was next, I got out just in the nick of time. I drove just past the race start, which is the Lake Placid Olympic Oval, parked my truck, took out my bike and decided to ride part of the bike course. At first I was going fast and then, all of a sudden, it felt like I had a flat tire or my brake was rubbing because I was going so slow. I stopped and looked, but there was no problem. At that point I remember a guy in line telling me he rode the course yesterday and he too thought he had a flat tire because he was going so slow due to the hills. As I continued on my ride I wondered if I would have signed up if I knew this bike course was going to be so challenging. It is up and down and the hills are not easy or short.

One of the downhills must have went on for at least 3 miles. I was flying and got up to 74 kph. The hill just wouldn't stop. I can't ever recall riding down a hill that long. John Barclay would never do Lake Placid, it would scare him to death. As I was riding down, I started spinning and I think I even did a spin backwards, I'm not certain, then my chain seized on me and I couldn't pedal. I was going fast and was still on the slope and had to brake hard to stop to find out the problem. Luckily I had this type of problem last year with my Quintana Roo and I was used to the sensation of my chain seizing, so I didn't panic. When I stopped I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked worse than I've ever seen it. It was almost twisted like it was in a ball. I had no idea how it got to that shape. It looked like some one took one of the links out and tied it up and then reattached the link. It was a brain teaser, how did it get in that shape without being taken apart?

Literally 20 seconds after this happened. I looked up and a car stopped 50 yards in front of me and a guy got out and asked me if I need help. Normally I just say no and fix whatever the problem is. This time I said yes. I asked him if he had any experience and he said something like "not much". He came over and looked at it and I got the sense he too was a little surprised. He gingerly took the chain off the sprockets and was able to figure out how to unravel the chain. But it still wasn't running through the derailleur properly, so he asked me to bring my bike closer to his car. He thought it might need an adjustment and it was safer to be behind his car. As I got to the car, his wife or girl friend got out and said high and she told me "he should be able to fix it, he's a bike mechanic". I couldn't believe it. Of all the people who pull over when I have a major problem it's a bike mechanic.

As he looked at it closer he realized it wasn't the derailleur but the chain was twisted. I could see it, it was serious. All I could think of was having to get a ride 22 km back to my truck and not being able to get in my ride. As I was just ready to figure out plan B to get back, he pulled out this big tool box and pulled out a tool I'd never seen before. It was a chain straightener. On the side of the highway he was able to straighten my chain and get my bike back working, all in a matter of maybe 3 minutes. Afterwards we had a nice conversation. They were from Boston and he had to drop out of yesterday's Ironman due to a bad back, due to a poor bike fitting that puts stress on his lower back, and they love Canadians. What caught my attention about them was that they didn't seem to have a lot of money. The car was old and rusty, but boy did they have positive energy about them. They were just a great people and a natural couple.

I managed to finish my ride and on the way back it wasn't easy. I had to climb that long 3 mile hill and had to do it into a head wind to boot. I just kept thinking that next years Ironman is not going to be close to a personal best and my strategy should be just to finish it without dying. Once I got back to the truck I put a blanket around me and changed at the side of the rode. As I started driving away, it started to rain lightly. I couldn't believe my fortune for the day. Had I not got up early and rode by the line up, I may not have got in. Had I not found out I was in the wrong line, I may not have got in. And had I not had a mechanic driving behind me, I would most definitely been hitch hiking back to my truck and wouldn't have finished my training ride. Everything seemed to work out.

On the ride home I was a little tired and started dozing off. It was a little scary, so I pulled into a parking lot to fall asleep for a while. It only ended up being for 5 minutes but that made all the difference in the world. It took me 6 hours to get home and for the last hour the sun went down and I was starting to feel tired. I guess driving 6 hours yesterday, running 2 hours, waiting in line 4 hours plus, biking 2 hours and driving back 6 hours all in a 36 hour period finally caught up to me. When I got home, I didn't even want to unpack, but I did, then I went right to bed.

Mod Bike - 1:58:16 / 52.52 km / 26.6 kph