Finally, it was time to head to Tempe and get this race going!  The Tempe Chamber of Commerce clearly had something to do with the scheduling of check-in.  Usually, you can show up the day before and check-in and rack your bike.  For some reason, at Ironman Arizona you have to check-in on Friday, then bring your transition bags and bike on Saturday, and finally, show up to race on Sunday.  That schedule forces a Friday, Saturday and Sunday night stay a the local hotels and Airbnb rentals instead of the usual two-night stay.

Google maps offered us two different routes to get to Tempe.  We bypassed the Northern route to avoid the heavy truck traffic on the 10 freeway and rather chose the Southern route on the 8 freeway.  Always the adventurists, we opted for less traffic and a route that included a significant part of the country we had never traveled before.

We were out the door at 6:30am and on our way so we could make it to check-in before they closed at 5:00pm.  Important as there is no check-in on Saturday.  You can only bring your transition bags and rack your bike on Saturday.  So, if you miss getting there before 5:00pm on Friday, you don’t race!

We made it on time with a few hours to spare.  We then headed to our Airbnb and started to lay out my gear in relation to each gear bag.  This is always my anxiety moment making those final decisions on what goes in the bags based on weather and a few other criteria.  My new trick is to go to Goodwill a few days before and get any additional clothing items for my Special Needs Run Bag if it is going to be cold so I have options to get warmer during the run.  I scored at Goodwill this time with some really nice Nike Dry Fit wear for $6 each before my 10% senior discount now that I’m 55!  I also picked up a down coat for $10 to wear in the morning over my wetsuit until just before the swim.  I hate standing in line shivering for a half-hour before getting in the water.  This solves that problem.

After laying out the gear with the gear bags, I got the bike ready.  Strapped the aero feed bag on the crossbar, hanged the tool and cargo bag under the seat, mounted the aero water bottle, and put my Ironman Arizona race stickers on the bike.

The next morning we packed it all up and headed back to downtown Tempe to drop it all off.

I am always amazed that each Ironman event is a little different in relation to flow and how you get your transition gear.  At Coeur d’Alene you simply brought all your stuff in your own duffle on race morning.  Here, it was a two-day process and your bike bag is placed in a separate place than your run bag even though this race is a single transition point just like Coeur d’Alene!  Why the process is completely different, I have no idea.  You would think there would be a little more consistency from race to race.

In this particular instance, the bags were just laid out on the ground in the sequential order of your bib number for both the bike bag and run bag.

Your bike, on the other hand, was about a quarter-mile away racked so you had to hoof it over there after putting your bike shoes on.  It was quite the effort that added significant time to your transition.

Regardless, finally everything was dropped off and we headed to a local Mexican restaurant to cash in on our $25 food voucher.  That was followed by a trip back to our house rental where I crushed the others in a game of Wizard which I hoped was a precursor to a good day on the course the next day.

Bedtime 9:00pm with a target rise at 4:00am.