Into the Big Blue Chilly

Two weeks ago the Kansas River Valley Triathlon Club hosted its first open water swim event. It was a very sunny, windy and chilly afternoon. We met at Lake Afton at 2:00 and got into the water about 2:30. It took a while for everyone to get their wetsuits on, with one member of the club discovering that he needed to return his wetsuit for a size larger.

Walking out into the water, I quickly noticed that my wetsuit must have a few holes in it. I got about waist deep and started to feel a chilling sensation oozing around my body. After lots of yelping and hollering I finally settled down and decided to immerse myself in the chilly lake waters. I got about two strokes into my swim and had to pull up short. It took a few more seconds to catch my breath, my breathing was racing out of my chilly chest from the few seconds in the chilly waters.

Before long I was swimming behind the other club members. I didn’t go nearly as fast, nor as far. However, it was still great workout. It will take many practices in the open waters to get used to swimming in the cloudy sediment loaded waters. It’s difficult at first to get your bearings when you can’t see the line at the bottom of the pool.

After finishing the swim we stood around for a while at the shore discussing our plans for the bike ride. I quickly headed up to the open air bathrooms searching for the nearest hot showers. I was shivering uncontrollably from the cold lake waters. My core temperatures had dropped far enough that even the hot shower wasn’t able to restore them to normal. It took about eight miles on the bike ride before I got warm.

The bike ride lasted about 25 miles and covered some great hills. Bike riding in Kansas is always a fantastic event. The open fields, hills, and small towns are like something out of a movie. The bike ride was short and evenly paced. We rode through the small town of Cheney, Kansas and up the big hill outside of Garden Plain, Kansas. It was simply a great time.

I followed it up with a quick mile or two in the Lake Afton park. From there I made the quick drive home for dinner. Elizabeth was working on the front porch with the electric sander. I can see painting the front porch in the near future ha.