Aquabike (swim-bike) races

I've seen several triathlons this summer that offered an aquabike option, including a HIM distance race that I did back in May.  I'm guessing that there are more aquabike events offered as part of triathlons than as stand alone events, at least from my limited exposure.  It was great for me, due to coming off of a hamstring injury and wasn't up to the run.

Amen!  I would love to find more of this type of event.  I do know that the Spirit of Racine Race has an Aqua Bike division its a 1/2 IM

My goal lis to do it in 2009.  I would go for 2008, but my daughter graduates from HS and I learned the hard way this year what having a graduating senior can have an impact on your training.

I live in Nebraska and it's almost impossible to find this type of race -

http://2007.spiritofracinetri.com/

Around here I've only seen aquabike at 3 HIMs nothing shorter which doesn't help folks with running issues get started in tri to have to do HIM as their first event.

In tri magazines I've on occasion seen aquabike in shorter than HIM events, but rarely. 

Kathy - Lobsterman in Maine has an aquabike, and I think there was another one up in the Maine area earlier this year.  Not sure if that counts as close, but they are out there.

I would like to see aquabike included in USAT national rankings - they are doing an aquathlon category this year, so I don't think aquabike will be too far behind.  I'm probably one of those people who eventually won't be able to run due to biomechanical issues, and I am not a fan of relays, so I would love to see this event take off.  And I agree that they should give the event a different price than the full event.

oops

Many of the aquabikes that I see don't have a "finish". Most you just finish the bike and find an official to give back your chip.

I don't think they will be serious until they are treated more like a race with an actual finish line.

[ sarc ]

yes, in fact, let's require every triathlon to have the following options:

Triathlon

Relay Triathlon

Swim Only

Bike Only

Run Only

Swim-Bike Only (with relay option)

Swim-Run Only (with relay option)

Bike-Run Only (with relay option)

all of the above in reverse-order

awards three-deep in every AG in each of the above events, plus 4 clyde and athena groupings

separate finish chutes and finisher medals for all of the above

[ / sarc ]

(Sorry newbie - not picking on you, but I couldn't resist amusing myself!)

I did an aquabike this year, at Musselman HIM (in upstate NY).  I clearly wasn't trained for the run, and wasn't willing to risk the injury or DNF. So I did the aquabike.  It was awesome.

That being said, the finish was a little bit of a letdown...Ride into transition, rack your bike, give up your chip, then go get the snacks before the snack venue is really 'open'. A little disconcerting, but still just fine by me. I'm not injured. And I placed well among 70 athletes doing the aquabike, a bonus.

If you're in Colorado, there's one aquabike option that I found.

http://www.youtriit.com/site3.aspx

I'd do one if you put one on.

A local race organizer here has lots of  SwimCycle options at their races, and at distances from sprint to iron distance (minus the run miles of course).  At the end of the cycle you rack your bike and then run a short distance to cross the finish line (the same finish as all the other racers). So you still get  to run across the line and down the finish chute, complete with the finish line photos.

The web site is www.somersault.ca  , but it's in Ontario so pretty far away from  newbie7455.