Can you say "Aquabike"?

Ok class, let's all get into the way-back machine, buckle up, and get ready to head back to the last '80s. Are you ready? Ok, let's do this.

Back in the mid '80s, I was a committed age group swimmer, having swam since I was 9 years old. I wasn't the fastest swimmer, but I loved the sport and the feeling of accomplishment that I got in the water. For the Christmas of 1985, my parents gave me my first "real" bike: a brand Peugeot PH10LE. As I put on the miles, it became apparent that this interest in road bike racing wasn't fleeting; I loved bike racing. So now I had two passions: swimming and road bike racing.

Of course by this point, the new hot sport was triathlons. You know, swim, bike, and run, and usually crazy distances. As an athlete who was in pretty good shape, I wanted to complete a triathlon. The problem: running. I was never built for running and I found running rather dreary. This isn't to say I look down on runners: the opposite in fact. I admire runners and the things they do. It just wasn't my forte.

City of Fontana Triathlon, January 1988

In order to appease this thirst for participating in a triathlon, I competed a few years in our community triathlon in a relay. I would ride my bike, and a couple of my friends would do the swim and the run. It was a lot of fun, but it wasn't what I really wanted to do. Life continued on, college, jobs, etc., and I stopped the training. I put this desire to do a triathlon on hold, as other interests sparked new goals and dreams.

About ten years ago, I read about a new series of events that USA Triathlon was promoting: aquabike. What is an aquabike race? It is a triathlon, but without the running portion. Yep, it was just swimming and bicycling. My arch-nemesis, running, wasn't part of this equation. This knowledge was just what I was looking for!

Of course, by that point of my life I was probably at the heaviest I have ever been. Bad marriage, low self-esteem, and awful food choices had me in a really bad time in my life. I was too large to ride my road bikes, I hadn't been in a pool for maybe 15 years, and the thought of doing one of these events was just unmentionable.

Shortly after my divorce, I made the commitment to myself to getting healthier. I need to lose weight and I knew that was only going to happen with eating healthier and getting off my duff and moving! I challenged my self by doing Meatless Monday and started swimming at the city aquatics facility. New habits were replacing the bad ones, and slowly things were changing.

October 2012, USMS swim meet
at UCLA Spieker Aquatics Center

Now that I am in a better place in my life, having gained the knowledge (and the habits) to eating healthier and losing 100 lbs since that bleak time period, I feel better than I have in probably 20+ years. As I was doing some clicking around, looking to learn more about what I can do achieve my goals, I discover in late August, tomorrow actually, there is going to be a triathlon in Boulder, CO. What stood out about this triathlon was the fact that they are hosting an aquabike event!!

This event, the Boulder Sunset Triathlon, is offering a range of events, but the aquabike event is what is inspiring me. It's (relatively) close to home, and with the right training in the next year, I think I can complete. This particular Aquabike event consists of a 1500m swim (a little less than one mile) and a 26.4 mile bike leg.

As I sit here, I feel like the 1500m swim isn't going to be a problem. I can do a mile with little issue, but the part that concerns me is the bike. When I was at my most fit, a 26.4 mile bike race wasn't much of a big deal. I just got on the bike and went for it. Today, that is going to need some training to achieve.

So I want to do this aquabike event in 2020. I don't care about who I am competing against, as I will be competing against myself. I want to prove to myself that I can do this. And I will do this. Now I have to plan my training for the next twelve months.

Swimming: no problem. Continue to do my regular sessions in the pool. Swimming year round up here is no big deal.

Bicycling: "Houston, we have a problem." The winters up here in Laramie are quite brutal, and we can go two or three months straight with the temperature never getting above freezing. That includes snow and ice on the roads. This isn't the most conducive environment for bike training. So I am now looking in getting an indoor training set up for my bike.

Equipment: the last area I'm going to have to look at my options is what am I going to wear on race day? I need something that I can swim with, but I can also wear on the bike. It also has to be available in my size. Obviously my swim trunks would be fine in the water, but riding 26.4 miles on a pair of Walmart swim trunks isn't going to work.

This is going to be an interesting journey. Stay tuned and enjoy the trip!

--the UberClydesdale