Battenkill 2011 race report

After almost not signing up for Battenkill this year, I'm glad I changed my mind. I thought that I might have waited too long, based on how fast registration filled up last year, but when I looked at the pre-reg for the Masters 30+ and saw that 149/150 spots were filled, I figured that the very last slot was for me. So I had to take it.

In 2010, I logged over 500 miles for the month of March, and the first week of April was probably my best cycling condition of the entire year. This year, I barely hit 300 miles for the month of March, and my legs didn't feel like they were at the same level.

However, my main concern was navigating the course and climbs with a field of 150, that is a lot of people for a course with enforced yellow line rules, a covered bridge, and dirt climbs with few good lines. I decided to skip any warm up, and staged myself as far forward as possible, only a few rows back. Fortunately, I managed to save enough room to squeeze in Steve, Greg, Chris, and Jeff. I think that turned out to be a good move, as we could sit relatively chill up through the covered bridge and not worry about fighting our way past 100+ spots. Last year, sitting at the back of the field, the section right after the covered bridge was a really hard chase, with lots of gaps opening up. This year, it was much better up towards the front. Again, what a difference positioning makes.

We kept steadily shedding riders as they got dropped or flatted. I didn't remember the exact location of too many landmarks on the course, except for Meetinghouse Rd at mile 50-52. Last year, I went deep into the red trying to maintain contact, but then had very little left for the last 10 miles. This year, I let a gap open on the second part of Meetinghouse Rd, but didn't panic. After I crested the top, a small chase group came by quickly and I managed to jump on. One guy was doing almost all the work, and I had no legs to contribute. We got up to the lead group which looked like at most 30 riders at this point and reintegrated.



However, the next problem was a long, windy, paved downhill section. I kept letting gaps open, and as long as there were people behind me to come around and close it, I bubbled up to the rear until I finally popped off the back. At this point I knew I wouldn't be able to get back, my legs were done. On Stage Rd, I was joined by another rider and we worked together to roll in to the finish. I couldn't contribute much, but no one else got by.



Finished 25th out of 105 finishers, an improvement from last year, and a result I'm happy with in the Masters field.

The Intensive tubeless tires on the Kysrium Elites worked great. They aren't the fastest rolling tires around, but they're incredibly tough. I rimmed out hard in a pothole on a paved section (some of the paved roads were worse then the dirt) but no problems. I was worried that I might have bent the rim, but the only evidence was a bit of sealant that squirted out of the rim/tire joint. I could ride the bad sections and move up on the shoulders without any worry of flatting. I also was glad that I went with even lower gearing then last year, a 52x36 with a 11x28 is very low at the low end, and I don't think I used the 28, but it was a good option to have available.

Jeff had a great ride and finished 18th. A great weekend of racing. Chris had a good response to the guy complaining and moaning, the weather was perfect, the riding was great, and adds that up to an excellent weekend.