Kona Eve

To say that I'm nervous and excited is a bit of an understatement.

I arrived in Kona on wednesday afternoon. The dense air, the heat, the wind; everything that I was expecting was a reality.

Thursday was a little swim in Kailua Bay, the site of the big race. Clear water, coral, parrot fish, and cruise ships were a little different from my last Ironman in Tempe Town lake. The oxygen difference between Denver and here is extremely noticeable while swimming; this should make for a pretty quick swim.

Today was a little ride on the Queen K and a little transition run to follow. the Queen K is the major highway that runs up the coast of Kona, therefore it's an amazingly busy road. the shoulder is nice and big, filled with plenty of glass and debris to avoid. The Queen K is nice and rolling throughout the ride, the wind picks up as you head further north. The forecast is causing for 8-10mph here in town, with winds at 18-22mph at Hawi; the bike turnaround. The gusts of 28mph will be coming head on as I climb the hill up to Hawi; it should be interesting.

Just a few hours ago I headed down to the race site to drop off my bike. Bike checkin along with registration was extrememly smooth and organized. On the way to bike checkin I ran into Scott Montgomery, the head of Scott USA (I ride a Scott Plasma). We chatted a little bit, as I met him before while working at Bicycle Haus, and turned around to see who Luisa was chatting to and it was Gérard Vroomen, the founder of Cervelo. Here were two of the heads of the most dominate triathlon bike manufactures chatting with us about their bikes. They then went on to argue, in a fun manner, about who's bike was faster and how both Luisa and I should switch to the other brand because their bike is faster; it was pretty cool.

A little hawaiian lady guided me to the spot for my bike and answered all of my questions about the traffic flow within the transition area. I racked my bike, cleaned off my tyres, racked my bike and run gear bags, and headed back to the condo. The process was very painless and got me very excited for the day tomorrow.

It's really hard not to be nervous about the race, but the excitement surpasses the nervousness. Tomorrow will be a great day, follow my experience here.