Odyssey Half Aquabike, 8 Aug 2026

After failing to complete Grafman half Aquabike in June. I still wanted to try for a half Aquabike qualification for next year, so I signed up for the Odyssey half Aquabike. This time I felt a lot happier about being able to cycle the distance. Since my hip replacement last October I have really struggled with getting my endurance and speed back on the bike so I wasn't sure I could finish fast enough for a qualification.

The week before the race we were visiting friends who we cycle with. After one ride on the Yorkshire hills and knew I needed to let my legs recover so backed out of any more riding.

Returning home Friday evening I got my bike ready and briefly tried out my new Catenary trisuit which had arrived that day. I also put a new front bottle holder on my TT bars. Obviously I know not to try anything new for a race but it would be my last race this year.

On race morning I felt fairly happy about the race and having not ridden for a few days I was looking forward to it. The water temp was 21 so wetsuits were optional. I chose to swim without one as the wetsuit exacerbates my shoulder niggle, plus I enjoy the swim so much more without. 

The swim was fairly uneventful two laps in the river at St Neots, which is weedy but I'm used to that. I climbed up the steps to exit and glanced at my watch. It was better than I had anticipated as I've been quite slow this year. I was happy and smiling, a good transition with no wetsuit to struggle out of.

Out on the bike it was a two laps of 45k, I am pretty familiar with most of the roads so knew where I could ride fast. I knew I hadn't got any endurance so made sure I kept to a sensible power. There was one  proper hill which I really struggled with but after that I was able to ride effectively and catch up those who overtook me on the hill. I completed the first lap at a reasonable pace,  surprising hubby. I struggled more on the 2nd lap and I was dreading the hill. I just kept reminding myself it was all easy after the hill.

The route meant we had to ride past the entrance to transition on the right and ride up the hill to a roundabout and back down to turn in safely.  Hubby was cheering me on as I past and I heard some other cheering on the left but there was too much traffic to look. It was all a bit chaotic as there was an accident and we had to turn into the carpark and had a slightly longer run to transition. I then saw my children and granddaughter had come to support without me knowing. 

I was so happy to finish. It was about 20 min slower than my normal, could be worse as I'm a long way off full fitness. Hopefully fingers crossed I have managed to qualify.

The trisuit was brilliant, no issues at all, I love it. I am now looking forward to a good base of training over the winter and being faster next year.

Julia Dolman