I liked it so much I did it three consecutive years with the Double Mussel twice. Beautiful course. Venue is really good for athletes and supporters. Nice lake with a little current assistance in the swim. Gorgeous ride on country roads in farm and lake country. ( one rough segment) Tough run with lots of climbing but great community support with hoses and sprinklers. Awesome post race food by Red Jacket orchards.
Unique medals with recycled bike gears. Locally sourced wine and wooden medals for podium when I last did it. I enjoyed everything about this event. Hope you do too.

I raced Musselman last year after having it on my bucket list for a few years. I thought it was a fantastic overall experience.

This was my first non-IM long course triathlon. I PR'd the swim because there just weren't as many participants as an overcrowded IM race. I really enjoyed the very scenic bike course around the finger lakes (I think you get to see two of them). There were a fair amount of hills, but nothing too crazy. Since there are not a crazy amount of people, the bike was a little more lonely than an IM race, but I never had an issue of not knowing if I was going the right direction.

The run was good/interesting, but a little makeshift I guess. There was a lot of people cheering as you run out through town. You end up running up a flight of stairs through someone's backyard (yes I was on course). You will also run on a rocky road, which is mostly up hill for about a mile around the half way mark. It was NOT gravel, they were rocks. This was an issue for me since I was wearing Vibrams... but most people did not seem to mind. I would say the run course was quite hilly except for the first and last 2-3 miles along the coast of the lake, which had a nice breeze.

The race is very family friendly with a few playgrounds and water feature park and lake right at the finish. The BBQ food at the end was excellent! In general, the whole pre and post race atmosphere exceeded my expectations and I had a great time.

I did it last year, loved it...my favorite race to date. And set a 70.3 PR (since eclipsed). All 3 legs of the race are, or have, something unique about them, even the swim. It starts out into the lake and you swim back to shore and into the canal where boats launch from and exit the water up a boat ramp. Not your basic swim leg.

The bike is nice, a bit rolling with one shortish climb, but it is only one loop which is a plus for me, no double or multiple loops. However, the one part of the race I didn't particularly like is on the bike course. On the way back to transition, with about 10 miles left on the bike, you get onto what is a torn up, bumpy, gravelish road for about 2 miles. I was able to stay in the aerobars, but did slow my speed a bit. It's not terrible, but I'd prefer asphalt (and make sure you have a spare tube).

The run is interesting. It is also a single loop. It starts on the shores of the lake for a couple of miles then you turn into town. You go through a tunnel under the main road and there are 2 guys there playing music, you go across a gravel parking lot and turn uphill. This is when you go up the stairs into someones backyard. Kinda weird, but unique. The run does go up a big gravel hill, but after that it's mostly downhill to the lake shore and the last 2 miles.

They had a nice pasta meal the night before and BBQ chicken after the race, definitely will do it again if I get the chance.

One other thing, if you 're not picky about accommodations, they will rent you a room at the local college. I rented a single for like $40 a night.

I am going to be there. It looks like a good event, and I know a guy who has done it before and he said it was a really nice event.

it is a great race, but my memory of there being a really rough patch of the bike part is what stops me from doing that race again. Maybe they've fixed it. The rough part of the bike is a section that goes through an abandoned military site and I remember dodging broken patches of asphalt and large gravel-sized rocks on the remaining parts of the asphalt. Lots of ejected waterbottles and flats. I don't know why they don't either fix that or move the course around that section.

Thanks, everyone. Appreciate it.

Are there technical descents or dangerous roads? I had a nasty crash recently so really want something tame on the bike handling front...

Also, how much elevation on the bike and run?

Thanks

One "tricky" descent down a hill, there is a sharp right turn at the bottom, if you miss it you will go into the lake. When I did the race there was a cop and volunteers at the bottom warning you to slow down. I wouldn't consider any of the roads dangerous, but the last few miles in the old army depot are bumpy.

My garmin shows a gain of 3300 ft and descent of 3260 on the bike. Didn't record any elevations on the run.

It's a great race, you'll be fine.

I did this race in '09 so things may have changed since then on the bike and run course.

I endo'ed on the bike course about 10k after the transition. I hit a fairly large hole which I didn't see until it was too late. The race organizers did a good job of chalking the holes on the rest of the course, but unfortunately, they missed this one. I continued on.

The run course has several steep but fairly short ascents on the outbound after running along the lakefront path. However, the last 4 miles is virtually downhill or flat. Great support at the race. The community and the sponsors and the race director all do a great job. I have good memories of the race. Good luck!