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.
