The state campground in Raybrook is very nice IMHO. Pretty quiet and price is right. Lots of stuff to do as long as you are into the outdoors...not much besides that. I lived in Saranac Lake for 3.5 years, nice small towns, not too much in the way of restaurant choices, but very pretty area. Make sure to do some sky watching if you get a chance. Very dark skies in that part of the northeast (darkest area in the US northeast) so it makes for good stargazing. The race was really good when I did it back in early 2000's. Not sure if it is any different now. Good luck!

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I believe my local reality has been violated.
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Happiness = Results / (Expectations)^2

There is a KOA nearby as well. I can't imagine under what circumstances they would ever cancel the swim (maybe thunder but that makes sense). Other than that, it won't be cancelled. Great race. Great little town.

Its my favorite race/course

swim would never be cancelled. Very small lake (like 1k long by 400m wide type small) and its one of the easiest swims on the circuit as it will be calm and there is a cable beneath the water you can swim on top of and really don't have to ever sight. Rolling start makes it quite easy to just stay on the cable the entire swim if you self seed properly.

Tough bike and run but fair VERY fair race. kills a lot of drafting.

Great area.

Very unlikely but not impossible for the swim to be canceled. I raced it in 2014 and the swim was cut after an hour and 30 minutes for lighting. My whole age group (18-24) had finished the swim so our time for awards was for the full ironman, other groups had their time taken as just 1 lap of the swim. On the website my swim time is still in there as 35 minutes

Lake placid is an amazing race overall and the town itself is great. The bike really isn't that bad if you pace yourself. None of the hills are so steep that you have to decrease cadence or push more power than planned. I'd highly recommend having at least a heart rate monitor if not a power meter to keep you from going to hard the first time through the uphill stretch. If you don't know, the course is almost 20mi downhill, 20mi flat, 20mi uphill x2.

2 loop swim, 2 loop bike and 2 loop run correct?

My favorite place ever. In fact I am there right now in my cabin just off the bike course.

There is a KOA in Wilmington that is perfect for camping for the race. It's a 20-ish minute drive to town from there. The area is all about outdoorsy stuff. Plan to do some hiking, which is the main summer activity to do in the area that has nothing to do with triathlon.

The swim was shortened in 2014 due to a thunderstorm that blew in unexpectedly during the swim and they pulled people out, but then had everyone continue (and counted only first lap swim times). Otherwise there is a very LOW probability of a cancelled swim. The swim is in a perfectly calm and clean lake, so unless some truly bizarre weather comes around (hey it can snow in the summer here, it happens sometimes), you will get a swim.

Yep

The KOA is just off the bike course near Whiteface, so if with family it would be very tough to get back and forth during the race,

They did shorten the swim about 5 years due to lighting. It was complete chaos as they were pulling people of the lake (some swimmers were already finished and they allowed others swimmers to finish if they were past a certain point in the lake) and having them exit anywhere that they could. IM had no idea what to do with the swimmers that did not finish and their times. Major Fubar

In the same boat as the OP and wondering what the best airport to fly into is?

We stayed at the North Pole Resorts in Wilmington right off 86. Pulled a large camper into the 100 acre woods. Nice area, peaceful and seemed to be a lot of other racers in the campground at the same time. The family traveled along and liked it as well. I think it is about 20 miles outside of Lake Placid but the drive really wasn't that bad. My Wife was able to drive me into the start of the race, watch the swim and then watch me head out on the bike. From there she went back to the campground to get the kids going. They sat on the hillside at the campground waiting on me to go by on the 1st lap and then headed into Lake Placid.

No good flight in but Burlington is a nice drive and good food for before flight out.

The bike is rough and this year was the most dangerous I've ever done. I nearly got pushed into traffic as people aren't competent road bikers with the rolling hills and big downhills.

I come out around the hour on the swim so no traffic on lap 1, but 78km on the big descent. Lap two, 62km because of traffic.

On the half of the second lap I was holding through rollers and got pushed outward by a pack on lap one, didn't even look before passing.

Other than that, amazing race! Highly recommended