Big Cajun/NRG Aquabike - Aquabike

The Aqua bike and relay went with the first wave of women which 29 and under. As our group headed down the ramp I noticed a fog bank coming but didn’t think anything of it. The swim is 600 meters out, 300 meters across, and 600 meters back. No problem, right?
3,2,1 and we are off. Okay, the women’s 20-29 group was freaking nuts! I haven’t had that much contact with a 20 something woman in a long, long time. At one time I might have enjoyed it and I am pretty certain that in some countries I would be married to a couple of those ladies. They were everywhere, going every which direction. At one point I am reaching out for a stroke and a woman swims sidewise into my arm and my arm catches her by the neck and dunks her. I look and I am heading straight for the buoy so it wasn’t my fault but say sorry and take off. I really gunned it at this point to get some clear water. Around the first buoy and try to site on the next one. I barely see it as there is fog rolling it. Next time I try to site on it I can’t see it due to fog so I just sight on the other swimmers. Finally pass buoy #2 and just stay with the group. Finally see buoy #3 and overall my swimming is fairly straight. Hit buoy #3 and make the left turn, can’t see the next buoy and just follow group but you can see that we are swimming towards the sun. At this point the group is thinning out as the faster swimmers get away and the slower swimmers fall behind. Finally come to the turn buoy and a safety boat. Make the turn and this is where the wheels start falling off the train. The people on the boat point the direction we are supposed to go but we can’t see anything and just start swimming. After a few minutes I pull up and the group is spread out everywhere. Several others pull up and I ask the guy next to me “Do you know the way back?”, “Nope”, “anyone know the way?”, “Nope”. Weird feeling to be in the middle of a lake and no clue where shore is. I look up and kind of see where the Sun is and figure swim perpendicular to the Sun and we should hit shore, right? Off I go, I swim for awhile and pull up. Still can’t see anything but I hear women cheering, yelling. I figure that it’s either the swim finish or a Sorority party. At this point, either will do. Keep swimming and finally and see outlines of buildings, I am almost there. Finally see the swim finish and gun it. Finish feeling good, not out of breath, arms not tired. Probably should have pushed harder.
Finished 34:11 or 2:17/100meters (4th out of 8) – Good enough for me, was hoping for 2:11 but I am happy with this. It was a great feeling to come out of the water feeling like you could do it again. Definitely should have pushed harder.


Bring a compass? Swim felt good, bi-lateral breathing worked somewhat but I found I swam off course every time I tried to bi-lat breath and gave up on it. Need to work on that.

as they were helping everyone out of the water (the ramp was very slippery) one guy was reaching over and unzipping folks which helped. Wetsuit down to my hips, swim cap and goggles in arm sleeve. Get to bike, wetsuit off, helmet, sunglasses on. Head out, flying mount (no socks this ride) and up the hill.

Run faster out of the water

Had trouble getting my feet in my shoes, not sure why but got them in and I gunned it. The plan was to burn my legs since I wasn’t running. At first roads were decent. About mile 4 I see Marty, didn’t realize it at first but assumed it was him yelling at me ;>). A couple of miles later I am thinking I will need to pull up a little and take a gel. About that time I see a bunch of bikers stopped at the railroad tracks with a passing train. Oh you have to be kidding me! Sure enough, had to stop while train went by. Took my gel and watched as all those I had passed caught up to me. Nice. Of course those that were waiting longer probably thought the same thing. Oh well, no biggie.
Once train was past the road we all waited for the RR arms to go up, except one lady who was trying to get a jump on us and ended up riding right into one of the arms and tumbling over sideways. She was okay, probably more embarrassed then anything. I take off and fight thru traffic and find an open area and gun it. At this point I am thinking that the roads here were pretty good for Louisiana, I was a bit premature. Eventually come to a turn and the volunteers are yelling “out to the end and back, rough roads!” They weren’t kidding; I was beat to death and fully expected a flat tire or a broken something. Need to learn how to ride these rough roads.
As I was finally nearing the end of the out and back I decide to take another gel but found I had none. The only thing I had were this Honey Stingers package that I had picked up at Sports Authority and stuffed in my bento box thinking I would try them on a training ride. At this point I figured WTH, never had them before but no other choice. Not bad, worked well. Gun it and follow a couple of riders until we hit a line of cars. We zig-zag thru them until near the end when they waved us over to ride in the oncoming traffic lane which they blocked. Down the hill, flying dismount and I was done. Legs didn’t feel fried so I should have gone harder but the roads prevented that somewhat.
Bike Result: Garmin says 1:17:15, 24.52 miles, and averaging 19.0 mph. I started the Garmin late and auto pause was on so it didn’t factor in my train stop. Actual results show 1:19:35, 18.7 mph. 3rd out of 8 in division.

Pack better to have plenty of gels. Get a bike that handles rough roads better or put shock absorbers on my QR. Work on the engine (probably the most important item on the list).

Packed up and grabbed some food


Fog, Train, road, and just not pushing hard enough.


despite the mishaps this was a fun race and will do it again next year. Hopefully I will do the full. I am happy with my times and definitely see some improvements. Will need to ramp up the swim and bike for next year and get my running legs going.