Shifting winds and flat roads

Bike 2:42:32

A quick and successful transition took me out onto the bike course.  The first half-mile was on bumpy roads as we made our way to a coastal road where the main part of the bike would take place.  As I started up the road, I felt something hit my bike.  I check my water bottles and GU and found everything to be in order.  About five miles down the road I thought I would be a good idea to eat the Powerbar I stuffed in my jersey while frantically putting on my wetsuit.  Come to find out that the object that hit my bike at the start was my Powerbar being launched and left for the bird on the side of the road.  Better start early with the gels and hope I have enough to get through the ride.  The road top was newly paved and was perfect to ride on... the downside was the massive side/head wind, for which I had to cautiously navigate my bike.  I battled the wind for 28 miles and successfully made it to the turn around.  The sites were pretty cool as we had ocean on both sides of us and all the houses were built way up on stilts incase of flooding.  Right before the turn around we rode on a bridge for about a mile, this was a neat part of the ride.  I was super excited at the turn around knowing that I was going to have a strong tail wind for the next 28 miles.  To my AMAZEMENT there was still a slight head wind on the way back... this phenomenon always amazes me!  I didn’t feel very comfortable on the bike on this return section and ended up sitting up a lot coming in.  I need to get refitted on my bike and take better notes where things are suppose to be.  This way when I assemble my bike next week, everything is in order and fitting right.  I put in a less than stellar performance on the bike with a time of just over 2:42.  As soon as I jumped off my bike headed into T2, I knew I was gonna be in trouble for the run.  I remember thinking to myself,  “Brace yourself for a 2 hour run.  It’s ok, no one is expecting you to go fast, just get through it and finish with your head up.”