Hey everyone. Anyone ever done an aquabike? It looks like ITU San Diego will have one this year and I haven’t come across one yet. What are people’s thoughts? It seems like an attractive way to have an OD swim/bike but to save a 10k. Obviously ITU SD is an expensive race. Thoughts in general?
I did the Vineman Aquabike a couple of years ago and had a blast. I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been - or should have been - but, I was able to fake it because I didn’t have to run/walk for 26.2 miles after the bike.
It’s the reason why I’m considering seeing a transition area again! I was so done with multisport and never thought I’d race gain, but the long course Aqua Bike events are very tempting…hope there are more popping up!
I’ve never done an Olympic distance one, but I have done a bunch of 70.3 (I guess it is more like 57.2 since no half mary) aquavelo races. Most of the other people doing them are injured in one way or another. At Eagleman Aquavelo a couple years back while we were waiting to start in the water someone yelled out, “How many people have back problems?” and a ton of hands went up, “Knee problems?”, another huge set of hands, and so on. I’m in the back problem group.
Hey everyone. Anyone ever done an aquabike? It looks like ITU San Diego will have one this year and I haven’t come across one yet. What are people’s thoughts? It seems like an attractive way to have an OD swim/bike but to save a 10k. Obviously ITU SD is an expensive race. Thoughts in general?
I had to stop running last year due to knee problems and finished off the season with two Aquabike races. Both of them were Oly distance and it was pretty fun. I would like to do a long course Aquabike but the closest one to me is Redman in OK city as far as I know. I’ll keep my eyes open for more as they seem to be popping up more often.
Didn’t ST poster Dave Luscan win the Aquabike championsip last year?
trav
you can do the aquabike at all the Rev3 races. including the full at Cedar Point.
Tim
Hey Tim, yeah I know about Rev3 but being in Louisiana the Redman Aquabike is still the closest AFIK.
trav
yikes… yeah, Louisiana makes that a bit of a challenge.
i didn’t see that.
I will say, I did my first (and only) auqabike at Cedar Point this year due to a calf injury. I really enjoyed not having to run 26.2miles after a long day. Really puts it into perspective of just how long a full distance tri really is.
Tim
It is a bit further than you want to go but there is a long course Aquabike in Nova Scotia. It is part of the Epic course, so a 3.8 km swim and a 180 km bike ride.
I am registered for a half distance aqua bike in ocala in March through the HITS series. It will be my first but since i am running a 13.1 2 weeks before i figured that would be the best situation for me to avoid injury. I’m excited to see how fast i can go when i just hammer the swim and bike.
We have an Aquabike here combined with a half iron tri. If anyone is looking for a half iron distance aquabike event set in a tropical islandn paradise, check out www.mercurymantri.com
Awesome. Thanks everyone for the comments. Seems there is some reasonable interest in them, which was aluded to on USAT website. I didn’t know if it was something like, “yeah we have them, but only two people select that option and they ride training wheels”. Thanks for the perspectives, got to mull on it some more.
We have an Aquabike here combined with a half iron tri. If anyone is looking for a half iron distance aquabike event set in a tropical islandn paradise, check out www.mercurymantri.com
Very Nice May look into this
Check out www.trifind.com for AB events in and around your aera, they are becoming more popular. I know a few RD’s in Central IN that regularly have both the sprint and OLY distance as part of their regular race events. I know last year the Mideast Region had a lot of both sprint and OLY in a number of the surrounding states and there were 5 listed at the 70.3 or 57.2 distance. I do know USAT held the first AB National Championship last summer on the east coast (VI I think) and it was the sprint distance. That is now being changed I believe, the results of a survey conducted, and the favored AB distance is being moved to the 70.3 or 57.2. I do know the Mid-Atlantic Region already hosts a Regional Championship at the long distance.
Kevin S.
Yeah I did my first aquabike this year as a 70.3 distance, mostly because I wanted to time trial on the bike and see what happened. It was a lot of fun (besides getting lost on the bike course) and it was a great relief not to have to run afterwards. They aren’t just for injured people, but are actually a good training tool and something to shoot for if you are in fact injured. I recommend them, though I find it annoying that they are the same price as a full tri in most places.
I did a Rev3 AquaBike this season due to a torn hamstring. I was off the run for three months and cleared the week before the Rev3 Oly… but knew a 10K out of the box was out of the question, so was able to switch it to AquaBike. In addition to winning, it was super fun that I didn’t have to run because on that day, it was PISSING rain and a bit chilly. So once I got off the bike, I had a personal celebration in transition for not having to slog thru a rain, cold run. I’m considering doing another Rev3 AquaBike at half distance for next season, because I think it’d be fun to see how hard I could push without having to worry about saving legs for the run. But… the bigger goal for me this season is a better run after coming off last season’s injury and that aside, needing to improve my really mediocre run anyway.
k
I completed a 70.3 as Aquabike. My only disappointment was not having a ‘finish line’ to pass through. I simply rode into transition grabbed my stuff and left. I did not get the actual thrill of the finish line, medal, food, etc.
This was 6 years ago so maybe they have their own finish area but it certainly did not have the same feel as a regular finish line. As we were leaving I did see all of the runners on the course and felt a bit saw about not running - not the full experience but still a nice workout.
Mideast Region is holding an AB championship this year too! June 30th, Epic Races, in conjunction with Regional tri championship. Look for it!
At the event I did, there was a duathlon, tri and aquabike. The aquabike was definetely an afterthought as the top 5 all got the same prize: a canopener and a 10 dollar gift certificate for a pair of running shoes. I was the overall winner and we were all in stitches. We all gave away our gift certificates to people who actually run. BTW, the winners of the tri and duathlon each won 200 dollar prizes.
I’ve done 2 and enjoyed them immensely. the first one was planned I was well trained and a dropped water bottle in the last 15 miles from a really good time (95 degree heat). The second one I was undertrained but had a great time, it was a rev 3 event. On a terrible weather day, it was really nice not to run.