Did this race 2 years in a row. IMO, it's a well run race. 1st year water was freezing cold. This year was low 60s. Quite comfortable with a full suit. The temps can be quite warm. This year it rained throughout my entire race. I think it was in the 60s or low 70s. Good rice and beans post race, I heard burger was quite good...

Thanks for the response....the cool water sounds good to me.

Solid race. Well run, and a fairly quick course for central VA. I enjoyed it and will likely do it again.

Fun race. Nice wetsuit swim. Great rolling bike course, as you saw. Rained like hell during the bike this year. I plan on doing it again in 2007.

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John Behme
Charlotte, NC

I did it last year and it was a well run race with a beautiful course.

My only concern/complaint was that the end of the bike route and run route shared the road with the cars entering and exiting the park. This is unavoidable as there appears to be only one entrance/exit to the park. But I could see the potential for an accident with cars, cyclists and runners all on one two lane road.

With that one execption, I'd highly recommend Kinetic.

I'm doing the Kinetic Half in a couple of weeks but won't have a chance to go down and ride the bike course. Anything you guys can say in way of description other than "rolling"? any significant hills? long uphill/downhill grades?

and the run course: sounds flat. mostly on pavement? any on dirt?

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"At every endurance event, there comes a time when you'll say, 'What the fuck am I doing here?' And then you'll say, 'This is what I do.'"
--John Spas

The run course has some gentle uphills and downhills, all on pavement. Short steep uphill coming out of transition.

The bike course has a couple of short steep uphills and downhills, but the rest of the course is either gently uphill or gently downhill. Very few pure flat areas. Most, if not all, of the course is big ring-able. I won't say it's perfectly flat--it's not. But it's as flat as you can find in this area, and the course is pretty fast. Bike splits in the 2:15 range are not unheard of, which means it's not *that* hilly.

I did the sprint last year, but will be doing the Half this year and I definitely recommend the race.

Here is a map and profile of the bike course (may take a few seconds to load).
http://www.routeslip.com/routes/28402

I might have cut the corners a tiny bit when mapping it out because I think the course is supposed to be 55 miles rather than 54.1. Total climbing is roughly 3000 feet, so it's not exactly flat but there are no hills longer than about 150 feet of climbing.

The course crosses over the lake a total of 8 times (4 per lap). Each time you will go downhill, cross a bridge and then back up the hill, which is why the profile looks so jagged.

hey, thanks for the feedback, guys. see you on race day!

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"At every endurance event, there comes a time when you'll say, 'What the fuck am I doing here?' And then you'll say, 'This is what I do.'"
--John Spas

Temps can vary wildly - we have been in anything from 80's to freeze warnings this week. As other's have said, the locals would consider this a flat course. Even I have ridden it in big ring only - and cycling is my worst event comparatively. The other thing I would watch for is the bike transition if it is raining. You exit up a grass/clay slope before the mount area. If you have any rain - that turns intop a greasy clay slurry, aggravated by people running over it. It can foul your cleats pretty easily. Saw a few disasters last year at the sprint beacuse of it. Mind you the sprint was probably worse since the half was the day before and the whole area was really torn up.

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Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements

I saw that my old post had garnered new interest, so I decided to respond! I will be racing the half and am looking forward to it! Thanks for all of your comments.

Does anyone have any contact information for the race director or race organizers? I tore a hamstring about a month ago, and I can still bike and swim, but can't run at all. I've been requesting a switch to the aquabike category for two weeks, but have not received a reply.

At this point I'm not sure whether I should show up and hope they'll let me switch at check-in, or simply not show up and save the trip expenses. I'd really like to race if I can, but I'm already out at least 50% of the entry fee if I don't race, and I don't want to pay for gas, hotel, etc. in addition to everything else. I submitted an application for a refund on April 6th, after not receiving any reply about the category switch, but have not heard anything about the 50% refund either. I'm not complaining, because I know that race directors are extremely busy, but I'm just trying to find out one person I can contact to figure out whether I should make the trip.