Kona Day 1
After a very long day travelling (we had to keep going back over the same time!) we arrived in Kona in the pitch dark and were told that my bike was still in San Francisco…So we drove to the hotel and after buying some water went straight to sleep…Woke up at 5am which I was quite pleased with and to my immense delight found that the lobby supplied tea and coffee between 5am and 7am. My prime objective today was to get my bike back. It is surprising how incomplete you feel without your bike!The day got hot very quickly and by 8am the heat was already quite intense. I walked down to the sea swim start and there were hundreds of extremely fit and healthy triathletes getting into the ocean.I opted for a recovery pool swim at the Kona Aquatic Centre which is a free(as far as I could tell) 50m outdoor pool laned off. It was good to get in the water and move after being squashed up in planes the previous day. Had a good swim then went to find lunch,but not before we went to Wal Mart to purchase a mountain bike for Jimmy( more later).After lunch I chased United Airlines to find out where my bike was. Fortunately she was at Kona airport so we drove up to pick her up. Once back the bike got put together and off Jimmy and I went to do my first bike session of the week…me on my race Pinarello and Jimmy on his newly purchased Mongoose mountain bike! We got onto the IM course which is basically all the way up one side of the island on a dual carriageway then back again. It is undulating and very exposed. I suspect that on a windy day it will be very very hard work. Wind wasn’t too bad as we set off and I can say that this ride was probably the only one I shall ever beat Jimmy on! He said afterwards he had had a tough old workout! I was pleased with my session and pleased to have got out onto the bike course.tomorrow the Expo opens so will be looking at any new kit out there!
