The next big thing: Gold Coast Half Ironman

The Gold Coast Half Marathon was a real eye opener for me. I could still run, I could definately still swim, now all I needed was to ride. On my first riding experience I went out with my training partner Bryce, borrowing a bike off him and riding kit. It was all so new to me, he was going to show me the ropes.

Riding on the road the first time was a little bit confronting. I guess you just have to have a lot of faith in the drivers on the road being aware of your position, but also have faith in your ability to control the bike and keep yourself out of harms way. We were to do a 3 lap course of around 12km, first lap together while I learnt the basics, a few pointers from Bryce, and then the next two by ourselves as obviously I didnt have the legs to keep up with Bryce.

After the first lap Bryce took off. It was such a different experience to swimming, all legs basically, and the speed was very daunting, I was on the breaks down every hill swearing I would never be brave enough to go "crazy" speeds of 50kms an hour. The first half of the course was basically all up hill, then a down hill stretch back to the starting point. By the time I reached the top to begin the down hill run it was raining and dark. My first road ride and it was raining and dark, great. I took it easy making sure to let cars go by with a lot of room and to go slow around corners so I didnt fall off.

It was around 5:45 or so as I took a sharp right turn and began a slight descent down a long stretch of road. I had only just started to pick up speed when I saw cars stopped on the road with lights flashing. As I went by, I saw Bryce on the ground, he had been hit. I didn't know what to think, or what to do. I jumped off my bike and ran over to see what the damage was. A quick assessment made it apparent he had damaged his shoulder and knee. It didnt seem like anything major, but you never know could have been internal injuries. I rang Dean quickly letting him know to the best of my knowledge what happened. A car had done a U-Turn into him not seeing him and sent him flying across into the curb. I waited until the ambulance came to take him away.

My first ride, my training partner got hit by a car. Made me realise firsthand how important road safety is when it comes to riding. I played the scene over in my head for a few days, not very helpful to my confidence about getting out onto the road again so for the next two weeks I mainly did wind trainer work.

It was pretty important that I get a bike asap. For the two weeks of wind trainer work I had to borrowed a bike before finally taking the plunge and getting my own. A Scott Speedster R4, Tiagra gears, full alloy. Ebay special, $700 including perfectly fitting cleats and a race computer. I didnt know anything about bikes, I couldnt believe how light it was, so to me, that meant good.

It wasnt long before I had the full cycling kit and was ready to ride on the road more and train properly. The goal was the Gold Coast Ironman - October 4th.