I want to send a huge thank you to Rev3 Triathlon organization. I originally signed up for the Half Rev triathlon, prior to all the injuries of the past year (sometimes it sucks to have to plan your race calendar so far in advance). Once I realized the run was not going to happen, I sent am email requesting to switch to the Half AquaBike instead. Lisa Q emailed me back and worked with me to successfully transfer my registration. I have not experienced a race organization so willing to work with you on something like this, and it was much appreciated. Sure, I could have gone ahead with the Half Rev and simply stopped after the bike (circa Rev3 Cedar Point a few years back), but there is something to be said for completing the event that you set out to do.
What's an AquaBike? It's a triathlon without the run. In other words, it's perfect (provided you hate running as much as I do and/or are injured, which I am also). Still, at the half distance we are looking at a 1.2 mile swim followed by a 56 mile bike, which as most will tell you, is not a walk in the park. As I had only done 3-4 long bike rides this year, maxing out at 35 miles, I was unsure if this was reasonable. The weekend before the race, on a day when the rest of the team was doing a brick (maxing out on 3 hour rides), I decided to trek up to Frederick to do the 50 mile route the team had done the week before, just to see if the half AquaBike distance is in the cards for me. It is not.
A big thanks to my mom who drove the course the night before to preview it for me (I'd sent her the route so someone would know where I was given this was a solo ride), and met me that morning with fresh strawberries [and provided my post-ride lunch, pasta salad and strawberry shortcake.. YUM!]. The first 17.5 miles were not terrible, though I was nervous about how tired my legs were after the hills in that first part. The next 17 miles were a bit tougher - and I was chased down by a huge dog that got as close as my ankles, but luckily ran away when I started yelling "NO!" [worked better on the random dog than my own!], but also got to cross over 3 covered bridges and it was really pretty scenery.
The cue sheet didn't have a planned rest stop around mile 35, but I sat for awhile and snacked on my starburst, apple pie bites and dried apricots before setting off for the last third of the ride. Luckily, the hills were minimized on that final section [and I saw the coolest long black snake!], but I had to stop again at mile 45 as my legs were just completely out of energy. They were even doing this weird concave thing with my muscles... complete exhaustion.
I walked around and tried to stretch.. only 5 more miles, I can do this! I *have* to do this, cause the bike ain't gonna ride itself back :-) In what seemed like forever, I made it back to the jeep for my 50 mile selfie!
I am proud of myself for doing this ride, but realized that as exhausted as my body was, it just doesn't seem realistic to attempt 56 next weekend. I've done this distance before, but I haven't been on my bike for over 2 full years! It's foolish to think I can pick up with the same mileage I had when I stopped a couple years ago.
I'm realizing I need to spend this summer re-building my bike base, working on conquering those hills [I've heard Luray is hilly!] and gaining some speed. Not sure how hopeful I was, I sent a note to the race director asking to change my registration yet again. Once again, Lisa Q from Rev3 pleasantly worked with me and transferred my event to the Olympic AquaBike (1500m swim, 25mi bike). I am so grateful for this change and now feeling really good about this event! Rev3 has a reputation of being a fantastic organization that really works *with* their athletes rather than just a huge corporation running a business, but this has been my first personal encounter of such superb customer service. I will most certainly race Rev3 events in the future!
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