DoubleMussel 2015

Best. Race. Experience. Ever.

I signed up for the DoubleMussel, a sprint tri on Saturday followed by a half-ironman on Sunday. Musselman is located at the northern end of Lake Geneva, NY, and boasts a flat, beautiful course that follows along two of the lovely Finger Lakes. Here's the reasons why I love it:

• Unbelievably affordable - $185 for two races!
• We could camp nearby, saving even more money and enjoying the beautiful scenery. We did a small hike the next day.
• Great temps in mid July in Upstate New York
• Pleasant lake swim
• Easy, flat bike. I hit what I thought was the beginning of a 5 mile hill around the 30 mile mark, and as I began to huff and puff my way up, someone told me, the hill ends right there. I said, I think this is the beginning of 5 miles, and she said, No, I biked it last weekend, this is the only hill. And she was right!
• Great volunteers manning the roads and intersections
• Basic out and back run for the sprint. More punishing half-marathon for the half-iron that wrapped around Smith & Hobart campus and had two legit hills.
• Finish line - bike gear medal and a reusable Musselman waterbottle already filled. What a great idea!
• Swag
• a silvery tech t-shirt that doesn't specify half-ironman :-/ Slight misses here - the shirt is a little wide
• winter hat for double-musselers is both tiny and wide, making it completely useless.
• a pair of black socks withe Musselman logo. They have a snug cuff around the ankle and aren't very comfortable
• a tree! A replacement for the tree that was the replacement for the tree that I won at last year's half-iron!
• I bought a glow-in-the-dark Nalgene which is awesome
• Race management - Parking was supposed to be free since we paid for a camping pass, but an attendant made us buy a parking pass. After the pre-race meeting, I asked the director about this, and he opened his own wallet to refund us.

Seriously, everything was great about this race, including my times. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! More photos (mostly of me)