Aquabike event

[Fuller]

I signed up for an Aquabike event next Saturday. It's basically the first two legs of a triathlon, 1/2 mile swim and 20 miles on the bike. The course will be flat, the water pretty calm I hope. I borrowed a TT bike which is taking some adjustment but it should give me 1 or 2 mph advantage.

My goal is to finish the swim in 15 minutes, 3-4 minutes in the transition and 57 minutes on the bike. My last timed competitive event was 36 years ago!

 

[luliski]

I signed up for an Aquabike event next Saturday. It's basically the first two legs of a triathlon, 1/2 mile swim and 20 miles on the bike. The course will be flat, the water pretty calm I hope. I borrowed a TT bike which is taking some adjustment but it should give me 1 or 2 mph advantage.

My goal is to finish the swim in 15 minutes, 3-4 minutes in the transition and 57 minutes on the bike. My last timed competitive event was 36 years ago!

That's great! I've done a few Olympic distance triathlons, and while I love running, I don't love it after riding. I've always thought about doing an Aquabike.

My big improvement from my first tri to my second was in transition times. Comparing everyone's split times I realized that I lost too much time in the transitions on my first one. So it's good you're thinking about transition.

Riding a bike when you're still refreshed from the water is a great feeling too.

I was a little intimidated before my first tri (because I know a few triathletes and they're kind of intense), but everyone was super-friendly and supportive.

Have fun!

 

[Fuller]

Yes, the transitions are important, "free time" if you do it right. The pros have their shoes clipped in to the pedals before they mount the bike. My shoes are too complicated and I can't really reach down to fiddle with them without falling over. For this race I'm just going to carry them to the bike mount line, put them on and go. It will cost me about 15 seconds but I won't screw it up.

If I take well to this endeavor I will have to invest in an aero helmet (20 watt savings), a decent TT bike and new shoes. Sounds like about half my skiing budget for next winter! Why is having fun always so expensive?

 

[luliski]

Why is having fun always so expensive?

Because shopping is fun??

 

[Fuller]

My biggest adjustment in all this is getting used to the aero position on the TT bike and realizing there are muscle groups that I haven't been using. Even though I was doing quite well in the club rides there is nothing like grinding it out for an hour with no let up. I was expecting to average 22-23 mph on the flat course and it was more like 20mph - that's kind of pathetic! Maybe I should have scheduled more than a week and half of training...

 

[luliski]

My biggest adjustment in all this is getting used to the aero position on the TT bike and realizing there are muscle groups that I haven't been using. Even though I was doing quite well in the club rides there is nothing like grinding it out for an hour with no let up. I was expecting to average 22-23 mph on the flat course and it was more like 20mph - that's kind of pathetic! Maybe I should have scheduled more than a week and half of training...

Why not just use your road bike if it's faster for you? Which Aquabike event are you doing?

 

[Eleeski]

Aquabike? I was picturing a bike on floats.

Enjoy the activities and good luck.

Eric

 

[Fuller]

Why not just use your road bike if it's faster for you? Which Aquabike event are you doing?

I did a little better in training this morning and I'm more or less committed to the TT bike now. I think it will be faster so I'm sticking with it.

Here's the event website, not a huge race - they do 3 of then over the summer, mostly locals showing up. https://www.fortdesototriathlon.com/

 

[coskigirl]

My first (out of a total of 2) multi-sport race was a local race called My Way or the Tri Way. You could chose 2 or 3 out of the 3 disciplines then order it in any way you wanted as long as you transitioned from one discipline to another at each transition. I chose to do a bike-swim-bike which in retrospect was really tough. Getting off the bike and being extremely hot then plunging into cold water didn't go very well for me.

http://www.racingunderground.com/mywaytriway/index.html

 

[Fuller]

So I got up at 4:45 on Saturday morning, started with a cup of coffee and threw the last things in the pick up truck and it was off to the Ft Desoto Beach venue. When I arrived it was still dark but the place was buzzing with racers getting their act together; body marking, bike check in, bike warm ups, swim warm ups, it was pretty crazy. I had a bit of nervousness going until I did a swim warm up to make sure all the body parts were still working. That relaxed me a bit and I was ready to go.

They grouped all the 45 year old plus racers in the same swim wave. The Aquabike event that I was doing shared the first two legs of the race with the International distance triathletes. I shared the swim with about 70-80 other folks but came out of the water with the first third of them. The conditions were ideal, I only had one mistake on the return leg when we were looking directly into the rising sun and I lost my target point. So I did a bit of a dog leg but not too bad. My swim time was 14:15 for the half mile. Pretty good for my age but I can do a little bit better.

The transition is mostly made up of the the time it takes to run from the beach to the parking lot where the bikes are. I don't run anywhere, anytime so I lost at least a minute there. I also had some technical difficulties relating to equipment choices. Spending some money will solve that if I chose to do so. Transition time 3:55. At least a minute and a half can be cut out of that.

I ride the bike a lot, but I rarely grind it out uninterrupted for an hour. I do a lot of group riding where you need quick acceleration for a minute or two but then get to sit on someone's wheel to rest. The 20 mile time trial uses a whole different set of muscles and there's no drafting. Plus I was on a borrowed bike that I didn't want to reconstruct so I made the best of it. The body marking protocol include your age written on your left calf so you see how old the people are when you pass them. Nobody passed me and I passed a lot of 50 year olds who looked really ripped but clearly had not trained on the bike. "65 is the new 51" I said to myself more than a few times. My bike time was 57:19 or just under 21 mph. That was OK for my age but curiously enough I think the bike leg has the most potential for cutting time. I know I can shave at least 2 maybe 3 or 4 minutes from that.

14:15 swim
3:55 T1
57:19 bike

Total 1:15:30 30 seconds off my goal. I'm claiming it! And I have the charts and graphs to back it up Ross Perot style!

I placed 2nd in my division and got to stand on the podium. Yay!

 

[luliski]

Congrats! Was the water cold enough for wetsuits or not? Now I want to do an Aquabike!

 

[luliski]

My first (out of a total of 2) multi-sport race was a local race called My Way or the Tri Way. You could chose 2 or 3 out of the 3 disciplines then order it in any way you wanted as long as you transitioned from one discipline to another at each transition. I chose to do a bike-swim-bike which in retrospect was really tough. Getting off the bike and being extremely hot then plunging into cold water didn't go very well for me.

http://www.racingunderground.com/mywaytriway/index.html

I think I would do run-swim-bike, as long as there's no wetsuit involved. Looking at my results from my two tris, my best finishes were in the swim (place-wise); bike and run were pretty close, but I could go harder on the bike without a run coming up, and I could run better not having ridden before. I guess I don't really now how my ride would go after having run and swum, but it's easier to rest on the bike than it is running!

 

[Fuller]

Congrats! Was the water cold enough for wetsuits or not? Now I want to do an Aquabike!

I have to laugh... this is the Gulf of Mexico in July, the water is about 89 degrees and you're sweating when you get out!

Come on down!

 

[Fuller]

So I just finished the 2nd Aquabike event for this summer; same course, same conditions with a better result. On the swim I was 17th out of 168 people (all age groups) that did the 1/2 mile. My swim / bike transition sucked, again. But I redeemed myself on the 20 mile bike by knocking 3.5 minutes off my previous time which put me 32nd out of 168 for the bike.

(Because there are only 15 or so people that do the Aquabike event I have to include the swim and bike times of the other triathletes that do the whole race)

My time was easily enough to win the Aquabike division outright but I only had about 20 minutes of glory because the referee came back, filed his report and added 2 minutes to my bike time for "Position". The rules state you have to ride on the right except to pass and you can only pass on the left. Also you have to be at least 3 bike lengths back from the person on front of you to avoid drafting. I was avoiding the drafting penalty but got nabbed for position in the process.

So I had to settle for 2nd on the podium but my elapsed time was a minute better than the 46 year old kid that "beat" me!

 

[luliski]

Congratulations! Is it the run to the bike that's taking you long in transition? I know you don't have a wetsuit to wrestle with.

 

[Fuller]

Congratulations! Is it the run to the bike that's taking you long in transition? I know you don't have a wetsuit to wrestle with.

Yeah, it must be. It's a pretty long way and I'm pretty stressed from the swim. But the course is local to me and I can arrange a few practice days to get better. My next goal is to maintain or slightly improve my swim time, knock at least a minute out of T1 and knock another 30 seconds off the bike course. That would get me to the top of the podium for the Aquabike event unless a ringer shows up!

 

[luliski]

Yeah, it must be. It's a pretty long way and I'm pretty stressed from the swim. But the course is local to me and I can arrange a few practice days to get better. My next goal is to maintain or slightly improve my swim time, knock at least a minute out of T1 and knock another 30 seconds off the bike course. That would get me to the top of the podium for the Aquabike event unless a ringer shows up!

How much swimming do you do? Do you know if you're staying on course pretty well for the swim?

 

[Fuller]

I do a lot of open water swim practice and sight pretty well. I always resolve to get in the water no matter how crazy the conditions are. I typically swim about 3-4 miles a week.

https://www.youtube.com/user/EffortlessSwimming is a good youtube channel to pick up techniques.

 

[luliski]

I've never seen that site. I will have to look at it more. I'm lucky in that my Masters swim team has professional coaches. We hold an open water race every summer, but we don't do open water practice in open water. We try to do it in the pool, which really doesn't work. My sighting is bad. The triathlon I did (twice) was the Vineman in Monte Rio, CA, and the swim was in the Russian River. Sighting is easy there because you can always see the shore. How many more of these do you have this season?

 

[Fuller]

Aquabike update (thousands of dollars later)

My last race of the series was cancelled due to the red tide conditions here in St Petersburg, they went ahead and ran the Triathlon as a bike/run event but my swim event was 86'd. They did issue a credit that I applied to a race in Miami which happens to be the USAT Nationals and it draws racers from all over the country. It's the first two legs of a 70.3 Ironman event so I have to swim 1.2 miles and bike 56.

I've checked out the results from the previous year's race and my swim time would get me out of the water with the first group, probably within the first 5. I need to do the bike leg at an average of 21.5 miles per hour to finish on the podium for my age group (65-69). I've got about 6 weeks to get my mojo working at top speed and my goal is to win my age group. It's a bit of a long shot but I've convinced myself I can do it. Being the national age group winner is a big motivation for me.

The thousands of dollars will go for my own Trek Speed Concept Tri Bike, professional bike fit, aero helmet, new triathlon shoes, power meter for the bike, travel expenses and the round of drinks I will have to pay for!

Wish me luck!