BT Forum

I'm doing Bath County - it's my favorite race.  It's usually wetsuit legal, but there was one year (forget which one) where it got really hot early in the year and I believe it wasn't wetsuit legal.

I love this venue. Beautiful swim, closed roads for the bike, good food afterwards.  For me, the hardest part of the race is the beginning of the run, where there's a pretty decent hill.

Have you done Bath County before? If you haven't, I think you will really like this race.

I have not but about half a dozen friends of mine have and swear by it, especailly the food.

Several of them have told me about the hill and the one guy said that the best part of staring going up hill is that we end by going down hill.

I am really looking forward to thisi I and doing Glen Allen the month before and love that one.

I've done Bath 3 times.  I'd say it's moderately hilly, but comparisons are tough.  I think the best description comes right from the write up on the set up events site:

"The bike course is managed by the National Forest Service and it is closed to vehicular traffic. A rolling out and back course, athletes will find a few small hills early and late in the course but in the middle miles it is mostly flat. Road surfaces are good to excellent and there are no turns other than the turn around point.

The run course is also closed to vehicular traffic and is a bit more hilly than the bike. Again, the worst of the hills come in the first and last half miles, but the view from atop the small hills looking out onto Lake Moomaw and the mountain ranges that bank its shores make the pain well worth it."

It's a beautiful venue and I'm sure those of you doing it for the first time will really enjoy it.

Are the roads paved or should i use my old road bike?

The roads are paved and in good shape. 

Great, Good to hear thnak you 

Looks like great weather for the race on Sat:

http://www.weather.com/weather/weekend/Gathright+Dam-Lake+Moomaw+VA+VALGATHDA:13:US

Does anyone know what the water temperature is?

Thanks.

Here's the latest info from SetUp:

WATER TEMPERATURE

This will be posted at packet pick up Friday night.  This event has been above and below 78F in the past, pack your wetsuit and we'll let you know if you can use it race day. 

Sounds like no wetsuits ...

"The water temperature of Lake Moomaw as of 3 PM on Thursday is 82 degrees F.   

Yeah I got the e-mail yesterday.

Can you still wear them even if you know you will not podium?

Here's what is on the SetUp site:

http://setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&filename=wetsuitrules.html

If it's 82, you can wear one but not be eligible for awards.

Thank you, I am BOP so it will NEVER be an issue.

Congrats on your 2nd place AG finish!!

Thanks, I really appreaciate that.  

My one small criticism of the race was towards the end of the swim - for a few minutes, I was breathing some pretty nasty boat fumes.  Other than that, it was a great race.