The Road to Kona; Chicago Edition #11

Well, I am in Kona. I flew in yesterday and if anyone is wondering, yes - it is a long flight. I was able to use my United miles to fly me and Jennifer out here, plus a rental car for nothing. Not bad since it will end up costing about $450 to ship my bike here and back home and about $1,000 for 6 nights at the hotel. Anyhow - right now I am feeling pretty good about Saturday. Yes, it is hot and humid, but I think I have a good plan to focus on hydration, nutrition and proper pacing. I am still shooting for around 13 and a 1/2 hours but anything under 17 is fine. Mostly I want to have an enjoyable day and not get injured.


This morning I went for a mile swim to get comfortable with the water and then a short run where I saw a flash go by me that a passerby said was Chris McCormack on his bike. Most likely that is the only time I'll see any of the pros... Tomorrow I will take a quick ride to check my bike setup as well. Speaking of which, if you ever find yourself wanting to bring your bike to Kona, I highly recommend FedEx it to Kona Bike Works. It turns out UPS only insures to $5,000 where FedEx has no limit (you pay $10 for every $1,000 above $2,000) and FedEx is cheaper (at least as of this race). Kona Bike Works received my bike, assembled it, tuned it, stored the bike box, will break down and re-pack my bike and ship it back to Chicago for $300. Not too bad.

I'll try to write daily updates as the week progresses here in Kona. I found out the the race will be covered live on Universal Sports but I assume they will cover the pros :-)