Kerr Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon - Aquabike

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I had my first race back on Sunday (6/1). Kerr Lake aquabike: 1500 m swim and 40 km (24.8 mile) bike.
The week before the race, I tapered back on my training. I didn’t think this would be a big deal since my overall training volume has been fairly light, but I had extra energy all week. I don’t like tapering.
Tuesday before the race, Daren (my triathlon coach) and I practiced entering and exiting the water, donning a leg, and hopping on the bike. It’s a good thing we practiced this a bit because it turns out I needed more practice at speed-leg-putting-onning. Don’t worry, I practiced this more in my apartment in the following days. Climbing quickly out of the shower and hopping over to my leg to see how fast I could put it on then getting on the trainer to see if it was comfortable only reminded me that triathlon is a ridiculous sport.
By the time Saturday rolled around, I felt relaxed and ready to go. Packed up my stuff, checked and double checked my gear lists, and cashed in early.
As is typical for me on race day, I woke up exceedingly early and ready to rock. Ate breakfast (extra-strong coffee and pancakes) and was en route to Kerr Lake with Daren by 5 a.m.
When we first got to the race site, I was nervous…like hands shaking nervous, which is not typical for me at all. I settled down pretty quickly, got body marked, set up my bike and set up my leg stuff outside the T.A. so I wouldn’t mess up other athletes. Coach and I checked out swim entrance and exit and figured out the plan.
Pretty much the whole tri club rolled up at 30 mins before start (thanks guys, that was sneaky). Nicole gave me a Mr. Wuf golf club head cover for my legs. Now when I go to races, Mr. Wuf can guard my transition spot while I’m busy swimming.
Start time. I was in the fourth wave (I thought they stuck in me in with the old people, but it was just because I was aquabiking). Daren and Nicole helped me into the water, and Daren only fell a little bit. I floated contentedly by my fellow aquabikers for a couple of minutes and went off with the gun. The swim was uneventful. I have a little problem veering left (I’m serious), but sighting went well on the whole. Saw Daren waiting in the water to get me out, and swam up smiling. Swim time: ~29 mins.
There’s speculation that I was smiling because the swim was rough and I was happy to be done, or that I was smiling because I was in the act of stomping on the face of every prognosis that had been delivered to my family in the last year. Really, I think I was just smiling because it was 300 m uphill to the transition area, and I didn’t have to walk one step of it. Good job Daren and Nicole.
I sat in my plush chair outside the TA, dried off, put on a shoe, put on a leg, walked to my bike, walked to the mount line, hopped on and was off. T1:~8 minutes.
Lots of people passed me in my first 10 minutes on the bike, but after that it thinned out. Recall, however, that I started in the last possible wave. If these people were passing me 10 minutes into my bike ride,after an 8 minute transition, it meant they sucked at swimming. Usually when people passed me, I would say good job or whatever and they would say the same.One man didn't say anything back. He was either hard of hearing (a legit excuse, but doubtful) or he was just sore because I was ahead of him in the first place. That made me chuckle.
The bike was lonely on the whole because I was usually the only person within seeing distance. It’s fairly common for me to sing aloud on the bike when I'm by myself, so, yeah, I'm just riding along and singing (“Shake it.” Metro Station. Very catchy.) and eating Gu's and drinking water. Just when I would start getting frustrated at going so slow, being sure that I was now in dead last place, someone would pass me I wasn't put down when they passed me, though, because it meant that I hadn't been in last place after all. Fist pump.
The last 3 miles were a gradual decent back to lake level, so the finish came up faster than expected. I finished and didn’t get courtesy clapped. Phew.