Screaming Fast Descent!

There are three infamous hills on the Ironman Lake Placid bike course: Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Papa Bear. They are mostly notorious for the climbs. I don't care so much about climbs. I know they will be difficult, my legs will burn, there will most likely be swearing. But...what's the worst that will happen? I will run out of low gears, my pedaling will slow to a standstill, and I will tip over going about 4 mph. Not ideal, but the biggest bruise in this scenario will likely be my ego.

I knew this bike course was one of the more challenging Ironman bike courses when I signed up. I've seen it, driven on parts of it, but there is one section of that course that causes me endless anxiety: the six-mile steep descent into a town called Keene. I've been reading lots of race reports and the one phrase I keep seeing over and over is: "Screaming fast descent!" Six miles! All downhill! And steep! Some veteran racers call it fun, exhilarating, a great way to make up some speed after all of those climbs! I, however, am a wuss on the downhills. The steepest descent I've done was at the Timberman 70.3. I let myself hit 34 mph before I hit the brakes. And I can imagine the speeds on the IMLP course could potentially get much, much faster.

On my 2-hour trainer ride last weekend I put on a Tour de France documentary to get myself inspired. One of the riders interviewed talked about riding down the mountains of France at hair-raising speeds and he basically said they just can't think about it. They all know that going down those hills at such high speeds, on 2 skinny racing tires navigating hairpin turns is complete insanity: a popped tire, a slippery road, or whatever other calamity that could arise would be disastrous if not fatal. But they  don't allow themselves to think about it until it's done. Given that I'm not an elite Tour de France cyclist, I don't think that's a good solution for me.

Granted, the hills of Lake Placid don't compare to L'Alpe d'Huez, but they may as well be given my experience with these kinds of hills. So, what to do? Just like anything else: practice, practice, practice. As soon as it's outdoor riding weather again, Deanne and I will find the biggest hills we can in these parts and go up! And....DOWN. Also, we'll be making our way up to Lake Placid in the spring and I will get to actually ride...gulp...those screaming six miles into Keene.

Also we're lucky enough to have two Ironwoman friends who are Lake Placid veterans. They managed to get through the bike unscathed, and they will be the lucky recipients of tons of questions from us over the next few months, and maybe some 3am phone calls when I wake up in a cold sweat panicking (No! I won't do that to you! I promise!!).