The deciding factor between the Smoketown Crit and the Quad County Metric Century was mileage.  I would be “gone” for the same amount of time but the Quad County offered me about 90 miles of riding.  Sunny and a promised high of 78 meant this would be a great day for an endurance ride!  Rob and Joe H. rode up (with Dave & Bruce) after meeting up at Bikesport in Trappe.  Bill C. met up with us as well.  I rode from home and it was bit chilly; so what warms you up?  Hill repeats on the way via Eichele and Henning of course.  We all got registered and hit the road.

There were about (8) of us cruising along Deep Creek Road at the start but the first few hills separated the group a bit.  We veered a little off course at the beginning so we could ride up the old, “beat-up” section of Deep Creek – which is an awesome road but hard to navigate on a charity ride.  Bill, Bruce, Dave, Joe, Rob and I stayed together until we got to the “Intensive Climbing Unit”.  The “ICU” is an extra route you can ride that adds about 12 miles of which 8 miles are virtually all hills.  I separated from the other guys on the ICU to see how fast I could navigate the course.  Other than hitting a bird and getting guts strung all over the bike and my kit…..it went fairly well.  There were some long, gradual grades and a couple kickers maxing out at 21% grade on Wetzel.  After a short rest and removing all the Starling entrails from my bike I jumped back into the ride with Bruce, Dave, Joe and Rob.

The rest of the ride was filled with hills, rollers and flats but nothing too steep.  There was some wind to contend with but overall we kept a reasonable pace.  We had one navigational error (poor marking I am sure was blamed) and a short stop for cramp relief but all-in-all an uneventful ride.  I covered 88.3 miles, gained 5888 ft. of elevation and averaged 17.2 mph.  Great, conversational-pace, ride with friends through awesome scenery in superb weather – plenty of season left to race.    

 Glenn

Joe Haney and Jamie Orr raced this Crit/Circuit in New Jersey

Joe’s Notes

The flier mentioned excellent road surface on a one mile loop with two 90 degree turns on a twisty back section and a slight Great Valley-ish uphill finish. The road surface description is debatable – good tarmac but a couple of manhole covers in the middle of corners and some uneven or holes sections. It was in the mid to low 50′s, slightly windy and sunny. Overall a nice day to race.

Jamie and I lined up as the tail of the Masters Men crossed the finish line. Jamie was in the second row and I was in the third row to his left. It was a field of 75 cat4/5 men. As the race official announced Go! we stepped on the gas only to have my momentum stopped as the rider in front of me struggled to clip in. In mere seconds I was literally in dead last place. Let me tell you the view of the race from the back is not warm and fuzzy. I found myself 100 feet off the back but was able to pull myself back to the top of the field by end of the first lap – thank goodness for a wholesome breakfast and a holy crap shot of adrenaline.

In lap 4 or 5 a group of maybe 3 broke away from the main field while in the back twisty section. They remained a steady 30 to 40 seconds ahead of us as updates were announced on the course. Jamie and I took our turns pulling the group without blowing up, however the group didn’t narrow the time gap until the last lap. On the 21st lap we were in the front of the pack when it sounded like a pedal hitting the curb as perhaps an ambitious rider attempted to pass on the left. As usual, the 2nd half of the last lap was furious with Jamie finishing in the top 20 and I was several places back. Strava says our fastest lap was 2:21 @ 26.2 mph.

Lessons include: do more intervals; how to handle a breakaway.
Things done well: Communication between us and working together.

Although our results didn’t meet expectations, Sunnybrook Racing showed our pride compared to other teams with many more racers. See you at the next race.

Ahh Crush the Commonwealth… still the most agony and enjoyment I’ve ever had in any one ride. The race is ~400 miles across Pennsylvania where it swaps start/finish locations between Philly and Pittsburgh. This year we started at The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and ended at the Point in Pittsburgh. There’s no pre-reg, no race fees, no support, no prizes, no nothing. The route isn’t too confusing. You start with a neutral roll out through Philadelphia, jump onto the SRT, take that into Valley Forge, pick up bike route S until the abandoned turnpike, get back on bike route S in Breezewood, get onto the Great Allegheny Passageway (GAP), try not to die of boredom on the trail, then try to make it to Pittsburgh without getting lost.

I hadn’t thought too much about CTC this year until a week and a half before when a friend brought up the idea of doing the ride. We talked about it a while at the bar that night and decided to cruise it this year and have some fun doing so. From then on I was scrambling to get my ‘touring’ bike together. I put a few spacers under the stem, put the Carradice bag on, and even swapped out the road pedals to mtb pedals for the first time. As we got closer to Friday the weather was calling for some terrible weather and we started to double think our plans. Riding in cold is one thing, but mixing in rain/snow is a whole different ball game. I could tell there was a chance he wasn’t going to be making the journey as he had a ton of stuff on his plate and was getting ready for a cross country bike trip in the next couple weeks. I was already mentally preparing for a solo ride but was hoping for the best.

Years past I tapered my daily bike commute to work in order to keep fresh legs. This year I wasn’t even positive I was doing CTC so I rode all week in order to make sure everything was dialed in. Wednesday night came and we were still on the fence and agreed to decide at the last possible moment, i.e. Thursday night. After seeing that the forecast still called for rain, I borrowed a pair of rain pants from a friend (thanks Ted!) Thursday after work and that sealed the deal that I was in. Later that night I got the text that I was expecting, my buddy wasn’t going to make the ride. I grabbed my iPod shuffle and threw it in the bag before trying to go to sleep. After tossing and turning for a while I got to sleep around midnight.

I woke up a bit after 4:00am Friday morning and hurried to finish packing up my stuff. I can never eat breakfast in the morning so I drank a bit of greens powder, threw the lights on, clipped in, and cruised down to the Liberty Bell. I was amazed at how many people were at the start already. Didn’t anyone see the brutal headwinds predicted for Friday? or read the sub-freezing forecast for the next day with chances for rain/snow?? or the general suckiness that this ride can become???! I’m only kidding as it was great to see so many new and old faces out there. I think there were 25 starters this year! We all talked and BSed a bit before it was time to head out.

One thing I’ve learned for this ride is to get with the pack at the very beginning that you want to ride with. The only way to know what group would suit you well is to talk with people, figure out what kind of pace their thinking, what kind of stops during the day they’d like to do, and how far they’d like to make it before resting or pushing on. Obviously things rarely play out like you expect, but its good to have a rough idea.

We rolled out around 5:15am and followed Max through the city, past city hall, down the parkway, around the art museum, and onto Kelly Drive. We cruised the newly improved Manyunk tow path (which is smooth even for skinny tires) and onto the SRT. After the second fork at Conshohocken the flag was waved and people took off. The Tressler brothers sprinted ahead and a second later there was one chaser. Myself and 6 or 7 others ramped the speed up a bit but nothing too wild and continued on our way loosing sight of the other three within minutes. I liked seeing the brothers there that morning and once they took off, I knew there would be no chance of catching them. Any small bit of pressure to try and ‘win’ was off our shoulders. We could relax, get into a good rhythm and grind out the miles.

We cruised out in Valley Forge together taking turns at the front. The head winds had started early and weren’t supposed to die down at all that day. The longer the group could stay together, the better we could fight against the 15-20mph constant headwind. At times it didn’t feel that bad, but other times you would realize you were pushing your small ring on the flats… always a bad sign. As the number of miles grew, the people in our group dwindled.

Our first stop was the Sheetz in Morgantown for a quick bottle refill. Making good time is highly dependent on how quick you can get in and out of these stops. After 10 minutes or so we were back on the road. We saw a few people from the original group trickling in as we were leaving but pushed on with hopes of making good time.

The stretch to the Lancaster area was brutal. It’s very scenic with rolling hills but also very open with no trees or buildings to block the winds. Even with the head/crosswinds we were keeping a reasonable pace (a bit under 16mph), but we were all worried that the extra energy used during these miles would come back to haunt us later in the day. We made another quick stop before York to refill bottles and regroup a bit. The next question was to stop at Roburrito’s in York (~100mi) or to hit the Sheetz. I might have pressured to group a bit into a shorter stop at the Sheetz as I had goals to get to the abandoned turnpike with some sort of light.

Hard to tell but you can get a sense of the wind if you look at the clothes on the clothesline.

Guess its almost October.

After the stop in York, we continued on with the next stop being Chambersburg (~150mi). At some point during this section there was a road detour. We decided to take detour which took us over some sweeping hills and west one to route 30 for a bit, then back north and onto the route. At this point out group of 4 dwindled to a group of 3 with the extra hills. Paul who had been looking strong until then, started to burn out. The headwinds stayed constant and the temperature was holding in the mid to upper 50′s. I had on long tights, an under amour baselayer, and full finger gloves on the entire time.

I think we got to the Sheetz around 4pm and hit quite a bit of traffic coming through Chambersburg. As we rolled in we met up with Matt who went off the front with the brothers at the very beginning. After grabbing a naked juice, couple drinks, and filling up the other bottle with tap water, I went outside to enjoy a Laura Bar from my bag with everyone. Paul who had dropped from our group during the last stretch told us he was going to hang around for the next group so Joe, Gavin, Matt, and myself went on our way.

‘Free range’ veal…

I think we all were in pretty good spirits around this point as we made it out to Cowan’s Gap. At some point Joe had fallen behind but not too far as the three of us took in the scenery. The climb up is actually pretty nice. It’s long but gradual with no steep kickers in between. We saw a slew of boy scouts going to camp at the top as we made our way down the decent to burnt cabins. It was getting closer to dusk at this point but I really wanted to make quick work of these miles to get to the abandoned turnpike in some sort of daylight. The stretch from Chambersburg to Breezewood is a rough one. By that point you already have 150+ miles in your legs, there’s a good amount of climbing, and the last 10 miles of turnpike can be painfully slow, dark, and cold.

We made it to the abandoned turnpike during twilight. We stopped to take some photos/videos before turning our lights on and getting ready to navigate the labyrinth of usable pieces of pavement for the next hour. We talked and enjoyed the new scenery but we had been out for a couple hours and the tunnels were cold. The three of us were ready to get to Breezewood, relax a bit, warm up and get some dinner.

We finally hit the end and debated whether or not to ride down the dirt incline on the outskirts of Breezewood. I took the front and gingerly walked down the path in order to keep us from breaking any collarbones. We rolled under the turnpike, down the hill, and to the Sheetz. By the time we got there it was fully dark and I was freezing! My goal was to stay away from Sheetz food as it only leads to heartburn for me but the tempature overcame me and I found myself clicking through the touch screen menu just to see what they had. Ahaah, Burritos?!! I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad idea but I needed something warm and a bean and rice burrito sounded great. I also got a hot tea to warm myself up and took my food back to the table ready to gobble it down. When I got there I saw Gavin with a pint of ice cream he was shoveling down… ice cream? It was freezing out, I mean it was almost 32F out and something cold sounded good to you??! I was amazed but I should also point out that he had been riding in shorts with no knee covers or tights and I believe fingerless gloves until that point. On the other end of the spectrum was me holding onto my hot tea for dear life. He said it had something to do with his euro heritage, I summed it up that he was a tougher man than I.

After spending a while in Sheetz eating, recovering, charging our phones/Garmins, and wondering where Joe was we started to get things together to roll out. We checked the weather one last time, temps under freezing, chance of rain, with the only plus that the winds were dying down. I put on everything I had, tights, under amour long sleeve, SS jersey, rain paints, rain jacket, ear warmers, and cycling cap and was ready to hit the night. I also grabbed some Advil and Tums and shoveled both down. Both my knees were killing me since around 60miles in as I expected they would and I was anticipated the heartburn. This was my first time using any pain medicine and I have to say I liked it! Right as we were heading out Joe came through the door. We talked a bit then went on our way, I think it was about 12am or so but I forgot to click start on my Garmin until I realized later.

Warming up at first wasn’t a tough task as are cores were still warm from Sheetz especially with the climbing throughout the route. We made it pretty quickly to Bedford with good morale. I pointed out a couple places and we cruised through. At some point Matt asked about the Sheetz/Hotels in Bedford. I guess he thought we were going to stop or they were along the route. We sat and talked a while about if he wanted to go back or push through. It did not seem like he wanted to make the next push to Somerset but backtracking also didn’t sound enticing. He ended up pushing forward with Gavin and me through the 40+ hilly miles to Somerset.

Morale was getting low as was the temperature. My nose had been running non-stop for the last 100 or so miles and was annoying me to no end. Matt was in the pain cave and ever hill (which there were plenty of) were taking their toll. My knees hurt severely but the legs themselves felt pretty good. The majority of the climbs I would stand and crank to use the quads as much as I could so that the knees took less abuse. This approach worked well but had me waiting at the top of climbs, sweating a bit, then cooling down just in time for the next fast decent. As the hours went on the miles to Somerset seemed to barely wind down. It felt like we would pass signs that would say 19 miles to Somerset then half an hour later, 17miles to Somerset… It was getting bad.

On one of the steeper climbs Gavin dropped a chain and went down. The mental and physical fatigue mixed with the darkness and the lack of ability to know where up is really takes its toll. He seemed alright and we trudged forward through the mountains. My lights were going low but I was in no mood to change the batteries in the cold. I did a bit of squinting during the fast downhills and turned them to low during the climbs. As we came up to the last climb I let them know we were almost there and Gavin and I pushed forward looking for the oasis over the mountains known as Sheetz!

We finally made it there ~4am and took shelter on the floor while waiting for our food to be made. Matt made it there shortly after and looked exhausted. I think we all ate for a bit and he went on to find a hotel for the night. Gavin and I decided the best idea would be to push through the night with the forecast of rain later in the day. We stayed at Sheetz for an hour or two, I’m not really sure but the manager seemed to hate us. She didn’t hate every one, as she seemed very pleasant to her regulars. It is interesting riding through the night. You first encounter the people coming from the bars that will honk or open the throttle on their diesel track past you to surround you in a thick black cloud but then around 4 the drunkard turn to hunters/fishermen getting ready for their daily excursion. After trying to get warmed up and get mentally ready for the task at hand we geared up and got ready to fight the sub freezing temps around 5:30am that morning. Again I put every article of clothing on I had as I knew it would be rough until the sun came out.

Not even sure what this would mean?

It’s about 10 miles to Rockwall from Somerset where you pick up the GAP trail. Now the GAP sounds fun after you’ve been climbing endless hills/mountains but I knew better. I didn’t let Gavin know but I hate the GAP. Its so monotonous and boring, plus it had been snowing up there the week before so I was positive the trail would be soaked, and it was. The first part of the trail seems to stay wet and is more of a dirt constancy which slogs your speed down dramatically. When the trail turns to crushed limestone it does a better job of draining the water but you can still feel the speed sucked from under you.

Around this time the sun started to rise which tends to heighten moral as well as warm things up. I think mentally we were in some other place so as the sun came up we stopped and took off layers. I was down to my tights and long sleeve base layer with just a short sleeve jersey for a while. After 20 minutes or so I realized I was freezing and looked at my Garmin that said it was still in the low 30’s… What the hell were we doing shedding layers??! We stopped and proceeded to put all the layers back on and determined that we were stupid.

The goal was to cruise on the limestone path at a comfortable speed and get done whenever we did. We had no time goals, no expectations, we just wanted to finish. At some point on the trail we saw rustling to the right of us and saw a black bear trample out of the woods and run (luckily) the opposite way down the trail then bust a hard left. We both stood there shocked. It was too cold to even try to get the camera out of my jersey pocket in time, but it was one of the highlights of our day. Not sure if I’ve ever seen a bear in the wild before… After doing some bell ringing and whistling we proceeded down the trail. I think I told Gavin to turn on his borrowed GoPro incase I got mauled.

We hit Ohiopyle and instead of stopping to fill up or get food we continued. By this time both of us could barely hold anything down food or drink wise. I felt like I was on the verge of throwing up all the time for some reason. Not a good sign when you still have 80miles to ride.

We kept a constant pedal going with random pee and layer stops throughout the woods. We talked about stopping in Connelsville or one of the other small towns but never did. The thought of food was terrible and taking more time to finish didn’t see like an enjoyable option. At this point the left knee felt alright but the front of right knee was collecting fluid and hurt to the touch. My butt had been hurting for a while but I realized at some point my bibs were sticking to me, ie open sores. Every bump hurt, ever pedal was worse than the last but we were on the last leg of the trip and there was nothing to do but finish.

Gavin and I made small talk most of the trail sitting next to each other trying not to die of boredom. Talk of beer, bikes, our Mediterranean and vegan diets, beer, travel, work, and more beer kept us out of our own heads for a while. I seriously couldn’t imagine tackling that entire stretch by myself. Thank god Gavin was a super nice guy, great to talk to, interesting, and could tolerate my nonsense, random noises, and general tomfoolery for the entire trip.

Eventually we made it to the end of the trail but not before almost going insane. We hadn’t eaten in probably 4 hours, barely had anything to drink, and to be honest we didn’t care. We were both running on E and a bit sheer will power. We made our way off the gravel and onto some old trail that ran on the side of the train tracks. This helped us bypass the majority of downtown McKeesport. We quickly jumped back on the main road in McKeesport right before the T just to jump back off on the new and nicely paved pedestrian trail that would lead us into Homestead. The asphalt was freshly laid and the bridges were steep, but the surrounds looked a bit ratty. We made it into Homestead and got overzealous and rode across the first bridge we came to, The Homestead Grays Bridge. Instead of being smart and just going back, we took this route and continued. At this point it started sleeting on us and I was cursing Pittsburgh. I always get lost in Pittsburgh, I hate it, seriously. Of course we hit relentless steep climb after steep climb going this route before we made it to Second Ave in Hazelwood.

After hitting Greenfiled Ave we checked our maps to figure out how to get on the Jail Trail and that was it. I put my head down, forearms on the flats, and took a pull. It was nice seeing other people out and about but we had no time to dillydally. We wanted to be at the Point and be done already. As we got off the trail and onto the road, we could see it. We were there. We cruised in to the park and saw Gavin’s family and friends waiting. We talked for a couple minutes then remembered we needed to call Eric the organizer. I left him what I thought was a legible message, it wasn’t. We got in at 2:30pm that day with a total time 33:15.

After saying our goodbyes I called my buddy and asked if I could come grab his keys and work and sleep on his floor till he was off. After grabbing his keys I headed off to Polish Hill (yep hills…) which took me up climbs that I wouldn’t want to do on a good day. The knee was shot, the butt was in pain, and I could start to feel the achilles starting to act up. I eventually made it to his house where it took me forever just to get a shower going. I couldn’t think or do anything right.

The girlfriend called and I had to tell her I could only talk after a long shower was complete. I lurked through his cabinets, put some pasta on and tried to talk on the phone for a bit. I found some peanut butter, garlic powder, salt, and Redhot and threw it on top of the pasta. It was great to have a warm meal. At some point I checked the blog to check how people were doing. After reading a couple post I noticed the Tressler brothers had dropped out… I wasn’t expecting that at all. I gave Gavin a call to tell him the news but he was sleeping. I was happy about our accomplishment and passed out a few minutes later.

Later that night I wanted to hang out but I was worthless. We cruised to a pizza place so I could get dinner/lunch for the next day; some veggie wings and cheesesteak. It was good. We hung out for a while; I clicked on the alarm clock for 6:00am and went to bed around midnight. I’ve never slept so good on a floor as I did that night. Thanks Bill for letting me crash at your place and use up all your hot water!

I rode the couple miles down to Amtrak where I got a ticket and got the bike ready for the giant box. All you have to do is turn your bars, take off your pedals, and if you have a longer stem you might have to turn your bars down. After getting the bike boxed, I saw Max walking in. We got everything ready and headed for the train. Amtrak is SO much nicer than Greyhound especially if you’re on the tall side. We both had a row to ourselves and talked about the ride before taking a nap.

There is a quick stop in Harrisburg were we jumped off to find a bite to eat. We stumbled upon a bar where there were some more than interesting folks and I grabbed a Budweiser 40 for the ride home. We talked, drank, and shot the shit a bit before Max got off in Exton. I cruised to 30th Street Station then jumped on the MFL back to my apartment. It was a good weekend but I was exhausted. I was excited to sleep in my bed again as it felt like I had been away for forever. The thought of ‘never will I do this again’ are still ringing in my head but like years past, in a couple of weeks you’ll only remember the highlights of the journey.

Garmin Data via Strava:

Part 1 Philly to York
Part 2 York to Breezewood
Part 3 Chambersburg to Breezewood
Part 4 Bedford to Somerset (I forgot to start the Garmin in Breezewood)
Part 5 Somerset to Pittsburgh

As many of you know, the Sunnybrook ladies had an off weekend, so to speak, from racing. We utilized that time by hiring a professional coach, Kim Geist. We met at 8:15 on a beautiful Sunday morning at the location of last week’s Lower Providence crit where she analyzed and spoke about the race. We unloaded our trainers, hopped aboard and started a 33-minute pre-race warmup. After that, we had our own little crit race comprised of 9 laps, sprinting every third lap. Of course we had a plethora of questions that started even before the trainers came out and continued throughout the session until it was time to go. Kim gave us techniques to utilize before and during the race, everything from how to properly warmup before an event, cornering safely and efficiently, attacking, working together as a team to tire the other racers, and so much more.

We are looking forward to working with Kim again in the near future. She offers many programs to benefit everyone from the recreational cyclist to the competitive cyclist. Check out her website at www.kimgeistcoaching.com. Not only did she come out on an early Sunday morning to accommodate our schedules, she came out on a rather special day for her… her birthday! I know the three of us walked away from the session feeling more confident with the knowledge we had acquired to become better, safer riders, it’s just up to us to practice and execute.

Maria, Kimi and Ida decided to take a chance and race the Lower Providence Crit this weekend even with all the anticipated rain on its way:

“We didn’t know what to expect riding over 20 miles an hour around corners on wet roads. We arrived to the start early to watch the men’s cat 5 race hoping to see some of our teammates racing, but with the Girls With Gears event sponsored by one of our very own Bike Sport, it was a tough choice between the two of racing or helping SAG our sponsors event. Knowing that our Cat 5 boys had the sag covered, we decided to represent for our team in the race. The rain held out till the start of our race and luckily the heavily rain didn’t come till the end but it rained enough to keep the roads we making cornering a little nerve racking. It was a 30 minute race with 12 laps.  We would have liked it to have been longer, but were glad to be done before the heavy rain came through. We all finished well with myself (Maria) in 5th, Ida in 6th, and Kimi in 8th out of 12 very strong willed riders. It was awesome hearing our team mates Ben, Brad and Glenn cheering us on by the side lines! Oh and we can’t forget how adorable Michelle looked cuddled under the umbrella with all our team gear on.

Thanks Guys for coming out on a rainy day to show your support.

Kimi, Ida and myself are so lucky to have you as there teammates!

You guys rock!!”

-Maria

Tour of the Battenkill 2012

It is proclaimed as “America’s Toughest 1-Day Race”.  Tour of the Battenkill is a road race of over 62 miles through the Battenkill Valley in New York.  Over 2,500 racers arrive in Cambridge, NY (where the race starts & finishes); ready to cover 3,800’ of elevation gain and traverse (10) dirt road sections.  The town of Cambridge was small, really small; a tiny little downtown stretch with a coffee shop, bookstore, hotel (more like a bed and breakfast size), and a few other establishments.  It was very New England.  The (3) rookies to Battenkill signed up because of Dave’s superb marketing – simply stated “I have never suffered so much in a race.  I sat & cried like a baby on the curb when I was done last year”.

Wyatt chauffeured a friend to Cambridge on Friday morning, Dave and I arrived around dinner time and Geoff came in late Friday night.  Dave, Gavin, Meg, Shan, Wyatt and I ate at Outback and discussed triathlon training, the ease of completing front/back flips and how much prime rib Dave should order.  We also discussed goals for the next day.  Dave wanted to do better than last year and not cry, Wyatt wanted to finish and average 15 mph and I was just trying to figure out how to be competitive without flatting or getting scratches on my bike.  It was off to bed once we were relieved Geoff had arrived on time.

Dave and I (cat. 4’s) were in one field departing at 10:50 while Geoff and Wyatt (cat. 5’s) were in another field departing at 11:50.  Meg and Shannon had come along to serve in the feed zones, to drive Dave and I home and lend moral support.  The announcer had a lot to say but it all revolved around the yellow line rule and no littering.  Soon it was time for the neutral start (the 1^st mile) and then the fun began……  

The first few miles were non-descript:  flat and we were rolling around the mid-20s’.  About 7 ½ miles in we tackled the 1^st real climb on Juniper Swamp Road.  The first part of the climb is 3 ½ miles long and gradually gets steeper followed by a ¾ mile flat section and finally a ¼ mile kicker.  The next 30 miles are spent getting you to the lowest point in elevation on the route to the base of Wrights Road.  We took a hard left onto Wrights Road which is the beginning of 5 miles of dirt climbs – along the way turning into Meeting House Road.  The final climb starts 55 ½ miles into the race and lasted 1 ½ miles up Stage Road.  The final 1 mile descent leads you into the relatively flat 6 mile finishing stretch.  The (10) dirt sections were either smooth hard-pack or really loose gravel.  In many valley sections the fine gravel was 3 to 4 inches deep with 2” rocks thrown in.  I would love to have ridden the course in a non-race atmosphere as well because the scenery was incredible!  

Glenn – Category 4 (Pink) – finished 19^th Place in 2 hours 58 minutes:

I stayed in the lead pack all day both sitting in and taking pulls.  At times I thought the pace was too easy but I did appreciate the break.  Not knowing the course I wanted no part in orchestrating a break – too many variables.  The main pack stayed together longer than I thought it would.  The hills were not as steep as I thought they would be and no attacks materialized on them.  Generally I was impressed with the skill of the other riders – not too much yo-yoing, everyone clearly announced big holes, oncoming cars, all corners and slowing of pace.  We did have a rider #277 (you know who you are) who violated the yellow line rule (too many times to count) to advance & continually littered.  After his GU wrapper bounced off the riders’ face beside me I had enough so I rode up and addressed it….I urged him to just quit….he gave me the finger – he got dropped about 4 miles later for good.  On Wrights Road a rider broke and about 11 of us reacted quickly.  Descending into a gravel valley the rider in front of me had his front wheel wash out and he went down.  I avoided the crash but several of us had to stop.  Once we got back rolling and up to speed we had lost about 300 yards of ground.  We did not regroup well enough to chase them down.  We were overtaking all the dropped riders from the fields before us and there were riders everywhere on this stretch of road in different levels of suffering.  Not seeing the leaders on the horizon I changed my focus to finish under 3 hours which seemed like a respectable finishing time.  I soloed for about 8 miles and then joined another rider for a couple miles till the finish.  This race is no joke.  I did not flat, I have no visible scratches and I was definitely competitive – mission accomplished.

David-Category 4 (pink) – won field sprint for 82^nd place in 3:30.32    

Coming into this year’s Tour of Battenkill, I only had 2 goals in mind.  Beat my time from last year, and not cry like a baby as Glenn highlighted above.  So when Meg asked how long I thought it would take, I told her 3 hours and 30 minutes if everything goes well.  The start went as planned, I tried to stay on Glenn’s back wheel, or close enough behind him.  I also yelled at the rider Glenn mentioned as he passed me outside the yellow line.  I was feeling ok as we made our way through the covered bridge and onto the first section of gravel.  I lost Glenn’s wheel in the jostling, so I just tried to keep visual contact.  Just before the start of the first small climb, I missed my water bottle cage, so now I was down to one bottle.  Our plan was for Meg , Shan, and Gav to meet us at the 2^nd feed zone, but we weren’t sure they would make it, so I was a little worried.  I hit the climb mid pack and drifted back as we climbed.  I caught a nice wheel that took me over the top, and I then proceeded to draft him to the next climb, which was unpaved.  I didn’t put quite make it back to my previous position in the pack, so when the climb started, I didn’t have as much leeway.  I was in a group of about 10 guys, and I thought we were keeping a decent pace, but when I looked ahead, I saw a gap had formed, and there was no way I was going to close it.  I went over the top and latched on to a rider from Cheshire Velo.  We chased together for a while, but alas, my race was over.  It was just the two of us, so we tried to keep a nice steady pace, and not waste too much more energy.  A big lift for happened at the first feed zone, when I saw our trio of soigneurs cheering me on.  I was able to grab a bottle from Meg, which I was extremely thankful for.  We ended up getting caught at about mile 31 by the 4 race that started behind us, and as they passed, we joined a group of about 8 pink 4’s that were tailing them.  We then picked up some of their peloton, so we had a nice group of about 20 riders.  We all stayed together until the last section of climbs were some moved ahead, and some dropped back, and I found myself with the same guy from Cheshire Velo, who had pulled me over a climb 2 hours earlier.  We then continued on until I lost him on the last climb of the day.  I rode onto the last stretch of pavement by myself, and turned to see a group of 3 guys coming up behind me.  I jumped on them, and basically rode their wheels into the finish.  My time? 3 hours and 30 minutes.  And, I didn’t cry at the finish.  I felt like it, but I didn’t.  So I accomplished both of the goals that I set for myself.  But, I think my race was defined by my teammates:  hearing from Glenn about how much fun he had on the course, watching like a proud father as Geoff raced through the finish line in 4^th place, and seeing Wyatt finish with a damn good time, and not killing me for recommending the race to him! 

Geoff – Category 5 (Blue) – finished 4^th Place in 3 hours flat:

Battenkill had been on my mind a lot this winter.  Hearing it referenced on rides, usually at the bottom of hills I was about to burn myself out on, I began to get the feeling that it was no joke.  The distinction of being the toughest one day race in the country might not be just a label reserved for the pro course.  The first five miles of the race were fairly uneventful, until the first hill when it became apparent who was going to remain in the lead group that had formed.  There were seven of us who, within the next 3 miles formed a sizable gap ahead of the peloton.  Gradually, the gap widened and we all fell into a rhythm, trading off lead positions in a loose pace line.  All egos seemed to be in check, and there was a communal spirit in the air as water bottles were traded between riders who were running low, and sunglasses became coated in dots of snot from several sources.  A far cry from the sustained intensity of a crit, this road race was about watching and waiting.  This notion came into sharp focus as our seven approached the feed zone at the base of the final ascent on mile 55.  Banking on the delay of riders harvesting bottles packets from their support crews, the eventual second place finisher took off up the hill in a dead sprint, bypassing any food or water.  Through the chaos of cheers and dropped bottles, he had gotten the drop on us.  Two more riders sprinted past me, and I knew the waiting was over.  In pursuit of the leader, the three of us sprinted up and down a seemingly endless series of dirt hills, each having claimed several victims who were all yanking on dusty tires by the side of the road.  After finally regrouping, the three of us set out to catch the leader; having done so after a four mile chase; our new group of four hit the final ascent.  This was my downfall as I focused on my cadence, breathing, and what I could only estimate my heart rate to be.  It was not the time for that.  It was the time to hold onto the wheel of someone from the lead group for dear life.  I lost a hundred feet, then a hundred more before the descent.  I had kept myself from blowing up, but I had also just lost any hope of remaining in contention for the win.  The lead group eventually gained thirty seconds on me as they crossed the line.  Battenkill was about the variables.  Will my tires go flat?  Will I stay upright through my 40 mph fishtail through mire of dust?  Will 4oz. of water get me through the last three miles?  Questions which cannot be answered were what made or broke the race.  Luck became just as valuable to the outcome of the race as any other piece of equipment might have been. 

Wyatt – Category 5 (Blue) – finished 38^th Place in 4 hours 8 minutes:

They say you learn the most about a person when times are tough. Well, I learned a lot about me at the 2012 Tour of Battenkill.  I was one of over 1,000 CAT 5 riders, and in one of three 35 and under CAT 5 groups.  Each group had about 50 riders, spaced ten minutes apart, with a winner being awarded in each group. At the start, we were told it was a neutral start for the first 1km.  I nestled into the back of the pack with Geoff and watched nervously as one of the riders squirreled around.  I wanted no part of his locale once the dirt hit.  The first ten miles were uneventful, but a little quick, averaging 21.5 mph.  That was fine for me so I could get the legs loosened up.  The first movement of consequence was the infamous covered bridge, followed by a climb.  Nobody did anything stupid leading up to the bridge and we all made it through safely.  Once the climb hit, the pack split apart, very clearly between the climbers and non-climbers.  It goes without explanation where I was. There were 5 of us then that rode in fairly close proximity to each other for a good 30 miles.  I felt pretty good, and didn’t think the climbs were as difficult as anticipated.  The early dirt sections were mostly compact, so the first half of the race went swimmingly.  And then, the cramping began.  At about mile 31; my quads started cramping.  There was a stiff head wind for much of the course so far, the roads were rough, and the dirt bumpy.  Most sections were smooth dirty, but there were some sandy spots.  A few were pretty bad with sand so deep you buried your tire.  I was left alone for much of the race, fighting the wind by myself.  I guess it took its toll.  Between miles 30 and 40 there was an awful lot of wondering whether or not I could finish this ride.  To make matters worse, I was having mechanical trouble as my rear gearing kept jumping around on me while on climbs.  Mentally, I was turning.  As mile 40 approached, I decided to talk myself through this thing, one small milestone at a time. I’d allow myself to get off the bike and stretch, but only on flat sections – no walking any climbs.  So, at mile 40 I hopped off, stretched, and continued.  I felt much better, until after another 10 miles the cramping returned and I repeated the stretching.  This was how I was able to finish the race: stretch every ten miles, get rid of the cramps, and muster on. I didn’t have any feed zone support, and I was out of fluids, but thankfully at mile 47 there was a neutral water guy who I happily took a bottle from.  BONUS:  I got to toss one of my empty bottles to the side of the road. I felt very pro.  Throughout the race I was able to work with passing riders on flat stretches without too much trouble at all, taking turns in the wind.  I’d lose them on the next climb, but it was fun to work with some other guys.  After the last serious climb of the day I partnered up with 4 other fairly fast guys and we worked together in a rotating pace line until 1km to go.  At this point I took my pull, pulled off, and the guy behind me sprinted ahead.  Dick.  Left alone, again, I limped to the finish line while my quads cramped intermittently.  Finishing usually feels amazing, with the crowd and banners and all that jazz, but this time I was just glad to be done.  I laid my head down on my handlebars and simply tried not to vomit.  It was great to see my teammates at the finish; they all finished without any crashes or flats and did really well.  I didn’t place high at all but I showed up and I finished which was more than others could say.  I’m glad that I attempted it, even happier that I finished, but I wouldn’t say that it was enjoyable.  But, it’s something I can say that I accomplished, and I will always be able to hang my hat on that.

This year’s course was “L” shaped with (6) 90-degree corners and all flat.  Most of the corners were pretty dirty, a few had manholes and one of them had a good size road repair in the middle of the turn.  Enemy number 1 was the wind – it was supposed to be 66 degrees but the constant, cold 20 m.p.h. winds explained all the shoe covers, arm warmers and full-fingered gloves.  A headwind was present & brutal on the whole course except the final straightaway.  Normally this tailwind would be a welcome break but was almost unnoticeable.

In the Men’s Cat. 5 race we had Geoff and Rob in the field.  This was both riders 1st traditional crit race.  Geoff was in the lead pack the whole race while Rob was in the chase group.  Rob tried to pull the chase group back to the leaders – once getting within 30 yards – but had no real assistance in the effort.  Geoff pulled a few times but for the most part sat in 2nd wheel and let others do the work as “Father Eric” had instructed.  The final corner of the last lap was the scene of some carnage.  We could see bikes & bodies flying but could not tell who it was – hoping Geoff was not a casualty.  Some rider had shot up through the center of the pack and took the inside track to the corner – despite everyone else cornering properly.  In the process he took out a bunch of riders and someone caught Geoff’s back wheel.  The wheel was trashed but somehow he stayed upright and took 6th place.  Rob finished strong in 12th position.

In the Men’s Cat. 4 race it was just Dave and I.  The same old excuse for some others on the team….you know…Eric was “sick” and Jamie was “racing internationally”.  After a few practice laps we realized one thing – it was really windy and there was wind in every direction.  I began to understand the windburn look on all my teammates faces from previous races.  It turned out to be unwise but Dave and I lined up towards the back of 80+ riders.  Bell rang and we were off.  A lead group of 20 riders formed almost immediately and pushed really hard.  Most of the field did not understand how to properly corner so it was hard to move up in the pack.  Dave struggled to catch onto our chase group and did not quite make it.  Most of the race passed with 6 or 7 riders trying to catch the lead pack.  We caught them once but could not hold on since there was only 2 of us doing the work and we were gassed.  In the end; the lead pack had just 6 riders, there were 4 cast-offs in the final lap and our chase group of about 12.  Most of the field had been pulled leaving 35 riders in the field (only 22 were placed).  I came in 20th – should have done better in the chase group sprint but it is amazing how much energy people have when 2 riders pull the field around all day.  Dave was a victim of the “thinning of the herd”.  The break from the start held all race and they won – well done.  Lesson learned:  don’t line up 60 riders back in the pack again.

The “3 Musketeers” can write their own recap but the women’s team did great.  Maria placed 5th, Kimmy 10th and Ida got 11threspectively.  They spent the whole race in the lead pack of the Cat. 4 women’s field.

Today’s rant:  Prior to our race I saw the women’s, “beginner” racing clinic going on in the parking lot.  I saw the experienced rider teaching them to start your turn in the corner wide, then collapse on the apex and then finish wide.  After 20 or 30 corners in the Cat. 4 men’s race I was wishing for the same kernels of knowledge to have been given to my field.  There was only 1 corner that actually required braking yet all day we smelled brakes and sprinted out of corners.

Thank you to Emma, Eric, Lauren, Meg and Shannon for coming to cheer us on and take lots of pictures!

Quote of the day:  by Dave – “Ben only races on the website”

Flickr Album:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29638606@N04/sets/72157629763018635/