56 miles complete

I made my longest ever ride this morning of 56 miles. That's the distance of the bike leg for the Half Ironman. All you real cyclists stop laughing...that's a long way for me! I averaged 18mph over a fairly hilly course (2423 ft of total climbing). I think the SC HIM course is a lot more flat, so I'd like to think I can average more like 19-20mph.

Here's my route:








Here's the SC HIM course:







Looks like the worse hills are in the first 12 miles of the HIM course and you get a nice last 6 miles downhill to get your legs ready to run. I was pretty worn out at the end. I hated to think I would have to get off and run 13.1 miles. I have four weeks until the SC HIM and I'll get two more long rides in before then.