Farmersville RR

Three days later and I'm still trying to make up my mind about what I thought of the Farmersville Road Race.

I signed up for the 4 race hoping for some "rolling hills" and an "uphill" finish. Well, the course turned out to be quite flat and the unphill finish wasn't more then a slight riser in the last 300 meters.



Counter to my usual tendencies, I staged right at the front and decided that I'd work on keeping a good position. Right from the whistle some guy took off and got about a maximum of 45 seconds on the first lap. I took a few pulls at the front and felt pretty comfortable. After we caught him, I drifted towards the rear of the pack.

At one point we were really strung out and gaps started opening up so I put in a big effort to move up, soon we came around with 2 laps to go and I picked up the pace on the finishing stretch to get back to the front. That worked well, but it was hard to stay there, by the time we came back around with 1 to go, I was back at the rear of the group again. I tried moving back up, but everyone else had the same idea and I couldn't get anywhere. The last lap got pretty quick and by the time we hit the final kilometer guys were holding their spots pretty firmly and I couldn't get anywhere. We came around the final turn and sprints opened up with me starting at the back of the group. I rolled through in the very back, to finish 27th out of 51.

I had been secretly hoping for a good result, last year I had several finishes in the top 10-15 of Cat 4 races and I figured that I was much stronger this year. But it was not to be, my legs felt good, but they couldn't get me anywhere. It was really a race of positioning and that showed me that I have much to learn in that area.

That said, fighting for positions on a narrow country road with chicanes, doglegs, and rough gutters just isn't my ideal type of racing.

It's a good thing it was such a beautiful day for riding in Lancaster county.

I sat down by the finish after the race to just relax, soak in the beautiful day, enjoy the peace and quiet, and watch the Cat 5 and 2/3 races go.

I'll be looking for hillier races in the future, something that breaks up the field a little. However, this race makes me think that a Cat 3 upgrade is going to be very difficult this season. Up until recently, that goal had been a major motivation for training hard this season. I'm beginning to think that I'll take a shift in my racing goals for the season, maybe bring in some more running, find some duathlons, and try some adventure races. If the road races go well, and I get some upgrade points, that's great. If not, I'll still be having fun.

Nah, who am I kidding, I really want to get some good result in Cat 4 this season! It's time to do some real training, re-motivate myself, and pick up some races to really focus on.

One of the three ways to get to Cat 3 is earn 20 points in a 12 month period. That's going to take a lot of racing.

Marten

Tour of the Battenkill Race report

Well that was fun.

We drove up Friday early afternoon to beat traffic and get to the hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY at a good time. But before we could leave, we had to have some car issues looked at. I don't think that the mechanic quite knew what he was doing, after a few tactful suggestions, we decided to just move on.



So a little behind schedule which meant that David couldn't get to pre-registration, so he'd have an extra early morning on Saturday. We ate well on the way up, plenty of good food packed! Becca's post marathon cookies were a big hit.



We made it just on time to check in to the hotel and scoot over to meet the rest of the team for dinner.



After that we were all ready to go straight to bed. David had to get up at 6am to get registered and make his start time at 9:25 am. It was freezing in the morning, literally only a few degrees above, but with a vicious wind chill. I tried to sleep in a bit, but I was too wound up with pre-race nerves and was wide awake by 8 am. I barely managed to get my french toast breakfast down, then it was time for final preparations.

The thing with biking is that it has too many accessories and paraphernalia. Layering clothes for the weather, arm warmers, knee warmers, which gloves? bottles, food, drink mixes or water? gells, shots, or bars? Spare wheels, bag of tools, etc etc...

We drove out to Cambridge and I was glad to see that the weather was coming up through the forties and there was even a hint of sun once in a while. Steve called to say that it was frickin' freezing, and the wind chill was brutal. Alright, maybe I'll add a base layer.



Most of us were racing, but Becca and Amy did a fantastic job with support. After we rolled out, they headed out to the second feed zone with all the kids, bottles for everyone. I'm trying to imagine watching those kids, keeping an eye out for the groups of racers coming through, and trying to get the right bottles to the right people. Not an easy task! Plus, they were looking for 4 of us in the Masters 30+, 1 in Women Cat 4 35+, 1 in Women Cat 4, and 1 in the Cat 4 Men.

David was still racing by the time we rolled out, so I didn't get to hear his story until we were finished.

We started with almost 50 degree weather, but the wind was quite chilly. I was actually surprised how slow the first part of the race was, but as soon as we hit the first real climb, we were definitely going. I saw Greg and Jeff still sitting in good position, but on the paved climb between the feed zones, the pack split and the field took the opportunity to try and separate for good. Greg was caught out, but after a hard chase, he got back on. After that we slowed way down for the next several miles.

Becca's bottle hand off was perfect, I heard her yelling and got over to the side of the road just in time to scoop up my bottle.

I hit a max of 48.3 mph down the dirt descent, but most of the dirt sections were pretty smooth and were very rideable with a smooth line.

My moment of "oh crap" came after the climb to Meetinghouse Rd. I looked up and saw two walls of dirt road and the field was really laying down the hammer. I hung on for the first climb, but a small gap opened up on the second part of the climb and I couldn't make up the deficit despite burying myself. I looked up and saw a group of 30-40 descending after the yellow Mavic tent and I knew I was popped off. I jumped into a small group of 3 others who were chasing hard, but I was too cooked to stay in the rotation. I slowed up and got on a larger group that were working pretty well together and rotated through until the final dirt climb. Everything completely split up at that point, but I followed 3 guys up and over the top. For some reason, I decided to try and get around the front guy on a descent and that extra effort put me a little too much into the red, for a little too long, and then I lost contact with them. They rode off and I soloed in the last few miles. The finishing miles were flat, and I felt alright, but my legs had no extra strength left.

So I rolled in 37th out of 84 finishers. Not bad for my first Masters race, so I'm happy with that.

It was a beautiful course, after the first few kilometers I relaxed enough to start looking around and enjoy the race. The route was smooth and it was great fun to come barreling into these towns and have all traffic stopped for the field. Greenwich even had a big cheering section going.

Definitely a fun race, for some reason I let the idea of a Masters race get to me and spent the morning far more nervous then I should have been. The roads were actually in really good condition, the Masters pack was very smooth, and it was just a really well run race.



There is no way to not be in a great mood after a race like that.

What worked:

1. Specialized bottle cages - Nothing is coming loose from those grips
   
2. Continental GP 4000 25mm - Good traction and a good ride, no flats
   
3. 12-27 cassette - Crucial, I could sit and spin while maintaining traction on the dirt climbs while passing guys trying to mash a taller gear and just slipping around
   
4. Bring a spare tube - If you do flat, it's a long way home
   

Jen got second and earned herself a podium spot!

Ah, this is going to be a good season...

Other Battenkill Masters 30+ race reports [1]

Greg's Garmin File.

Battenkill Prep

So Battenkill is less then a week away.

Do I feel ready? I don't think it is ever possible to really feel ready for a race like this, but I've done what I could. I wanted to have at least 500 miles for the month of March, and I logged 510. Much of it was just good base miles, plus some great training like the Monkey Knife Fight, the Derby, some intense intervals with Dave and David, and some fast and hard group rides with the team. I even put in a solid century last Saturday with some hill riding in the morning with Jeff who is super strong.

Now the week before the race is the time to taper, I hope some pep returns to my legs, they've felt quite tired this past week. Today's ride was a relatively easy hour with Dave and David, including some moderate hill efforts to shake out the legs and make sure they don't forget what tougher efforts are like. From now on it will be resting, with a spinning ride or two to keep my legs limber.

I'm expecting the Masters 30+ race to be ridiculously fast, and I'll need to ride smartly in order to hang on as long as possible. I think it will be important to be in a good position for the climbs, and well protected for the fast sections. The descents will probably be the hardest, and I predict that when I pop, it'll be on the way down.

This should be fun.