We had 4 of us in the 35+ race, Jeremy and Alan being new members of MRC, and Todd P. and myself. After doing some recon the evening before, our plan was to try and ride together and help each other as much as possible overall. The specifics of our goals were to 1. stay with the lead group over Juniper and if we weren't able to make that happen, 2. be sure to stay with the lead chase group and not ride alone (it was a windy-ass day).
The start was relatively uneventful with our field staying pretty much intact until we took a left off of 313 and headed toward the covered bridge. Things started to pick-up there. All 4 of us were in the front bunch and moving along pretty well. As pretty much everyone that's done this race before knows, the first selection (and often times the ONLY selection that counts) hits at the Juniper Swamp Hill climb. For comparison sake, thing West Bare Hill on packed dirt. It's a pretty steep climb. We were about mid-pack heading in - Jeremy took off and tried to stay with the leaders. Todd and I took a more conservative approach. If I nailed it there I really think I would have blown up too soon and my day would have been awful. Juniper Swamp comes really early in the race and the other two big climbs (Joe Bean and Stage Rd) were yet to come. As it turns out that lead group got away strong. Todd and I stayed together up and over the climb. I think we lost Alan at this point, not too sure though (btw I believe this was Alan's first road race ever? NICE CHOICE, man! Phew!).
After a few more miles up, we caught Jeremy who looked pretty whipped. He said the lead group was killing it and he wasn't sure if would have been able to hold on for long. After joining Todd and me, it looked like we had a chase group of about 15 guys or so, and for the most part (as much as Cat 5's can, anyway) we started to work pretty well together. The paceline work that Smudger did last summer definitely made sense....I wish the other dudes in our group knew as I think that if we were more organized as a group we could have gone much faster. C'est la vie.
I believe the next selection point was Joe Bean Rd, which was more of a 4 to 5 ramp climb, and if memory serves, it was paved? I hit the front of the group and tried my best to tick out a steady pace. At only about 25-30 miles in, strength was in our group so I didn't want to do anything stupid though our group did start to fracture here, and I believe we had about 6 guys now, 3 MRC'rs in the group all riding well. My pace may not have been ideal for all 15 or so in the group, but Jeremy and Todd were right there with encouraging words so I stayed at it.
After a lot of windy and rolling terrain, and some sketchy moments bunny-hopping random potholes on the dirt roads that we saw at the last minute, our merry band of 6 continued to work well together. One of the guys in our group knew the course pretty well and was giving us a quality heads-up on what we were looking for. Discussion started on how everyone was still doing as we rolled towards Stage Rd, the last climb (also dirt road). Everyone still looked good. As we got near the top, Jeremy hit the gas a bit and created a gap on the group of about 20 yards. Up on the top, the dirt turns back to pavement and descends sharply. As we all mached it downhill at at about 45 mph, Jeremy's gap grew a bit. Todd rolled up next to me and I gave him a nod. As soon as it flattened out, Jere's gap was about 50 meters. Todd and I both sat up and soft-pedaled a bit. I think we were about 5-6 km out from the finish at that point. Jere continued to TT it home for a solid and super strong 10th place. Todd and I came across 11 and 12.
Everyone stayed rubber side up, no mechanicals and some cramping but nothing too major. All in all, a fantastic time and my first true taste of teamwork on the road. I really enjoyed it and family-calendar willing, I'll be back next year.
Congratulations to the Ladies First team and Anna Barensfeld's a-MAZING season so far. Congrats also to all of the MRC'rs that traveled up for the race. Great times!!
Battenkill - Teamwork actually, uh, works.
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scott_sweeney
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Battenkill - Teamwork actually, uh, works.
Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.
Re: Battenkill - Teamwork actually, uh, works.
That's a great race report! Wow, really happy for you guys. Well done. Especially like to hear about the group working, talking and taking stock together. Rest up......then get yourselves back into a race quick! Keep the mo' and confidence going.
Bruce
Bruce
Re: Battenkill - Teamwork actually, uh, works.
Scott summed it up our race pretty well. I'm actually tired enough that I don't have anything to add. Great race. Impressed that the results were already posted today.
I'm 20PoundSkull at cyclowhat.com.
Re: Battenkill - Teamwork actually, uh, works.
Good stuff guys! Congrats on a strong placing.
“Boards don’t hit back.”
Re: Battenkill - Teamwork actually, uh, works.
Meant to post this a while back on my first cycling race ever.
Overall: I am very happy with my race. First race, no crashes, no flats, rode pretty smooth. I made 1 major tactical error which significantly hurt my finish placing. I was 16th in my wave in 3:13 (Cat 5 under 35s red, story below of why).
Details: Due to a mistake on my end in how I registered, I was in the under 35 Cat 5 group which went off at 9:25 AM. A bummer because I wish I was with Scott & Jeremy & team. We were the second adult group on the course. I didn't even try to change it because I had some family events late afternoon and this allowed me to get back.
It was a chilly and very windy. It was about 40 degrees at my start, and by the finish it warmed up to 48 degrees and had some sun which made it feel warmer. The winds were significant, with generally 10-20 mph winds, with gusts up to 30 mph. The temperature was not a factor in my view, but the winds certainly were.
The dirt roads were pretty smooth, but you want to watch for ruts/pot holes. My fastest speed in the race was 46 mph, and that was on a dirt road. I don't consider the dirt roads a factor as I don't consider myself technical adept, and I had no real problems. I did put on some tires with some groove to them for traction, but I think it actually may have hurt me a bit since I don't think I needed them on the dirt and it probably slowed me down on the pavement. I only saw one wreck in front of me and that was on pavement. The most tricky part was the transitions from dirt to pavement and pavement to dirt because there typically was a lot of slick gravel / sand etc at the edge.
We started off as a group and I felt pretty comfortable in the big pack. I was chatting with a few other guys and the jitters of my first race went away instantly. I was hanging on the group just fine and felt comfortable. I made an "alliance" with this guy named Hugh and we said we would look out for each other as some of the others were in teams/clubs and we were individuals.
We hit the first big hill and I felt awful. I just didn't feel like I was in a groove. My tailbone also hurt from the crash a week ago (it tends to hurt when I get out of my saddle). Still I was with the main pack but started falling back from the lead 1/3 of the pack to probably near the middle of the 2nd 1/3. We crested the main part of the hill and hit another dirt section. Between the hill and being tentative on the dirt section, all of a sudden a gap developed between the rest of us and probably 15-20 riders in the first pack. Being amateurs, we were completely unorganized and started our individual efforts to try to bridge the gap to the lead pack. But it was all in vain, as we were not organized and it seemed like the first pack was organized. So right away, only about 15 miles into the race, I was no longer in the first pack.
I was in the front group of this second pack. Despite my rookie race and skills, I was the actually the guy trying to organize us at the front to try to chase the lead pack. At that point, I still thought that if we got organized, we could catch back up. We were working hard, with probably 5 of us rotating off the lead, and a bunch of other guys just holding on. Eventually, I don't know where, probably 30 miles in, we must have gapped the rest of the pack holding onto us and we were gone. The 5 of us were out on our own between the two packs. We worked together and began picking off stragglers of not only the lead pack, but the Cat 4 guys who started 10 minutes before us (don't ask me why they were going so slowly, Cat 4 is supposed to be better than us). Only 1 guy who we caught was able to stay with us, as we would often pull wide and subconsciously pick up the pace so stragglers could not hang onto us.
At the 42 mile feed station, someone said "6 minutes" so I assume that is how far behind the leader(s) we were. At that point, I felt pretty good. On the 4th set of big hills, I led our group up all the hills (in hindsight, it may have been a mistake). I tried to get others to work it, but clearly I was putting them in some pain and they just could not lead.
We hit the 5th and final set of big hills at about the 56 mile mark. I handled the first hill fine and was leading, but on the second hill I got out of my saddle and it felt like both my legs were about the lock up. I had only felt this feeling twice before, both in running marathons, and both times I had to stop and walk/hobble. I knew I still had a way to go to the finish, so I had to back off. Four other guys of our group passed me but were still only slightly in front of me. I just kept trying to spin as much as could to work out the cramps. I hit the top of the hill, had caught one of them, but the other 3 were in front of me. The other guy looked toast, so I decided to go solo and try to catch the 3 guys in front of me. The three of them were rotating off the lead and I was solo. Although they didn't put much more space on me over the last 3-4 miles, I couldn't catch them either. Although I didn't catch them, my decision to go solo was probably right as the other guys finished 3 minutes behind me, and I finished only 20-30 seconds behind the group in front of me.
I wish I didn't get gapped by the pack early. I also now know that many riders don't really know how to do a paceline, so you can't count on that. Regardless, I am happy with my first race and learned a lot.
A few notes for areas of improvement:
* I didn't get to warm-up. I ended more pressed for time than I thought (last second bike readiness). This might have had an effect on the first hill. Although it is a long race, I should have had some sort of warm-up.
* I definitely need to fuel more. I only had 2 cytomax bottles, so only 240 calories in the whole race. I had a Clif bar but didn't eat it. I also need a least to drink a bottle of water. This likely was a major factor in my cramps, but also I have to factor in that I haven't ridden more than 45 miles at one time this year is also a factor. So the future I will bring gels as eating bars are hard in a race, and I definitely needed more water.
* I might need a gear lower for some of the very steep sections. On the first hill I just couldn't keep my cadence up pedaling even that small a gear.
Overall: I am very happy with my race. First race, no crashes, no flats, rode pretty smooth. I made 1 major tactical error which significantly hurt my finish placing. I was 16th in my wave in 3:13 (Cat 5 under 35s red, story below of why).
Details: Due to a mistake on my end in how I registered, I was in the under 35 Cat 5 group which went off at 9:25 AM. A bummer because I wish I was with Scott & Jeremy & team. We were the second adult group on the course. I didn't even try to change it because I had some family events late afternoon and this allowed me to get back.
It was a chilly and very windy. It was about 40 degrees at my start, and by the finish it warmed up to 48 degrees and had some sun which made it feel warmer. The winds were significant, with generally 10-20 mph winds, with gusts up to 30 mph. The temperature was not a factor in my view, but the winds certainly were.
The dirt roads were pretty smooth, but you want to watch for ruts/pot holes. My fastest speed in the race was 46 mph, and that was on a dirt road. I don't consider the dirt roads a factor as I don't consider myself technical adept, and I had no real problems. I did put on some tires with some groove to them for traction, but I think it actually may have hurt me a bit since I don't think I needed them on the dirt and it probably slowed me down on the pavement. I only saw one wreck in front of me and that was on pavement. The most tricky part was the transitions from dirt to pavement and pavement to dirt because there typically was a lot of slick gravel / sand etc at the edge.
We started off as a group and I felt pretty comfortable in the big pack. I was chatting with a few other guys and the jitters of my first race went away instantly. I was hanging on the group just fine and felt comfortable. I made an "alliance" with this guy named Hugh and we said we would look out for each other as some of the others were in teams/clubs and we were individuals.
We hit the first big hill and I felt awful. I just didn't feel like I was in a groove. My tailbone also hurt from the crash a week ago (it tends to hurt when I get out of my saddle). Still I was with the main pack but started falling back from the lead 1/3 of the pack to probably near the middle of the 2nd 1/3. We crested the main part of the hill and hit another dirt section. Between the hill and being tentative on the dirt section, all of a sudden a gap developed between the rest of us and probably 15-20 riders in the first pack. Being amateurs, we were completely unorganized and started our individual efforts to try to bridge the gap to the lead pack. But it was all in vain, as we were not organized and it seemed like the first pack was organized. So right away, only about 15 miles into the race, I was no longer in the first pack.
I was in the front group of this second pack. Despite my rookie race and skills, I was the actually the guy trying to organize us at the front to try to chase the lead pack. At that point, I still thought that if we got organized, we could catch back up. We were working hard, with probably 5 of us rotating off the lead, and a bunch of other guys just holding on. Eventually, I don't know where, probably 30 miles in, we must have gapped the rest of the pack holding onto us and we were gone. The 5 of us were out on our own between the two packs. We worked together and began picking off stragglers of not only the lead pack, but the Cat 4 guys who started 10 minutes before us (don't ask me why they were going so slowly, Cat 4 is supposed to be better than us). Only 1 guy who we caught was able to stay with us, as we would often pull wide and subconsciously pick up the pace so stragglers could not hang onto us.
At the 42 mile feed station, someone said "6 minutes" so I assume that is how far behind the leader(s) we were. At that point, I felt pretty good. On the 4th set of big hills, I led our group up all the hills (in hindsight, it may have been a mistake). I tried to get others to work it, but clearly I was putting them in some pain and they just could not lead.
We hit the 5th and final set of big hills at about the 56 mile mark. I handled the first hill fine and was leading, but on the second hill I got out of my saddle and it felt like both my legs were about the lock up. I had only felt this feeling twice before, both in running marathons, and both times I had to stop and walk/hobble. I knew I still had a way to go to the finish, so I had to back off. Four other guys of our group passed me but were still only slightly in front of me. I just kept trying to spin as much as could to work out the cramps. I hit the top of the hill, had caught one of them, but the other 3 were in front of me. The other guy looked toast, so I decided to go solo and try to catch the 3 guys in front of me. The three of them were rotating off the lead and I was solo. Although they didn't put much more space on me over the last 3-4 miles, I couldn't catch them either. Although I didn't catch them, my decision to go solo was probably right as the other guys finished 3 minutes behind me, and I finished only 20-30 seconds behind the group in front of me.
I wish I didn't get gapped by the pack early. I also now know that many riders don't really know how to do a paceline, so you can't count on that. Regardless, I am happy with my first race and learned a lot.
A few notes for areas of improvement:
* I didn't get to warm-up. I ended more pressed for time than I thought (last second bike readiness). This might have had an effect on the first hill. Although it is a long race, I should have had some sort of warm-up.
* I definitely need to fuel more. I only had 2 cytomax bottles, so only 240 calories in the whole race. I had a Clif bar but didn't eat it. I also need a least to drink a bottle of water. This likely was a major factor in my cramps, but also I have to factor in that I haven't ridden more than 45 miles at one time this year is also a factor. So the future I will bring gels as eating bars are hard in a race, and I definitely needed more water.
* I might need a gear lower for some of the very steep sections. On the first hill I just couldn't keep my cadence up pedaling even that small a gear.
Re: Battenkill - Teamwork actually, uh, works.
John nice writeup, better late than never.
For those longer road races and mountain bike races, I'm a believe in the Endurolites in helping cramping. At my first Battenkill, last year, I started cramping about halfway in, which meant I couldn't get out of the saddle anymore, but could continue spinning up and over stuff. This year, I took a couple and didn't start cramping until the last hill on Stage road...I probably could have taken some more to help, but forgot because there wasn't a convenient time. Last year at the VT 50, I was able to ride for nearly 9 hours without cramping and I swear it was because of the Enduroites I was religiously taking every hour.
Sounds like a solid race especially for your first race.
For those longer road races and mountain bike races, I'm a believe in the Endurolites in helping cramping. At my first Battenkill, last year, I started cramping about halfway in, which meant I couldn't get out of the saddle anymore, but could continue spinning up and over stuff. This year, I took a couple and didn't start cramping until the last hill on Stage road...I probably could have taken some more to help, but forgot because there wasn't a convenient time. Last year at the VT 50, I was able to ride for nearly 9 hours without cramping and I swear it was because of the Enduroites I was religiously taking every hour.
Sounds like a solid race especially for your first race.
I'm 20PoundSkull at cyclowhat.com.