Battenkilll CAT 4 (white in case anyone cares)

[JeremyC]

First let me say that I’m looking forward to the other MRC race reports. As expected we had a strong contingent in the CAT 3’s which is really cool. Also it was fun to hang out with the Jorge and others at the finish. I’m enjoying my Race Captain position.

So on with the Cat 4 race report. I missed the pre-Battenkill dinner as I was living the hi-life in Manchester VT with the family. I saw a few of the guys before the race, Scott did a hard warmup on the trainer. Stefan had wheel troubles. I did the lamest 10 min warmup of all time, thinking I could get in the groove during the flat part of the race. MRC guys regroup at the start, Carl, Stafan, Jacob, Scott, OGD, and Bill “Ike” Turner. It was all laughs until the start. Richard Fries calls the start and everything went quiet.
Non-eventful through the covered bridge, I’m staying in the top 30 wheels in a big field of 125 guys. Hit the Perry Rd (?) climb and move to the front on the fairly steepish but short climb. I went over the top 2nd wheel but soft pedal to let a few guys take the lead down the descent to Juniper Swamp (listen I’m a nice guy). No one goes crazy and we take the left towards the Juniper climb. Hit the bottom in about 10th place, ride most of it in the saddle conserving the very valuable quads, small gap starts to open and I hit the gas and ride over in about 5th place. Good start but lots of race to go. We roll along but I haven’t seen many MRCers until Jacob rolls up looking very happy. Jacob proceeds to ride in the top 10 for another 30 miles, I’m very impressed. Ike Turner checks in on me, much appreciated. Later, OGD slides up to me and leads me through the Cheesecake Factory. Let me just say there were 2 nasty flat sections that were worse than Paris Roubaix. OGD led me though the first. BUT, the undo-ing of a large portion of the field was Wrights Rd. Luckily or ironically I was at the front finding a safe pass through this disaster. It was a flat secton but ended with a nasty roller up the feed zone. I was really hurting here but hung on through the 2nd feed zone. For the record I drank 4 bottles.

The shit hit the fan shortly after the feed zone, which led to Meetinghouse Rd. The pace was high but I wouldn’t call it “drilling it”. But it was hard enough to shed a few people. I was able to ride from 20th to 5th or so on the first ramp, hit 50mph on the descent, hit the gas again on a tough steep hill across the road and kept my position. I looked back and saw 30 guys, still lots of racing to go. On the run into Stage Rd the pathetic “Kissensa” team, which had 5 guys left, decided to employ some negative tactics and dangerously block by playing bumper cars across the road. I may have let some obscenities fly. We hit Stage Rd and I moved up from 15th to 5th. Keeping the pressure on we caught 1 guy off the front and crested the top, I was in 2nd place (holy sheeeeet). I regressed on the descent, the granny gear finally becoming an issue, but caught back on at the bottom. There were about 14 guys left, but surprisingly we hear from the Moto guy there is 1 rider off the front. News to us, I’m still not sure when that happened. Oh well, tried to keep a good position NOT on the front OR the back. We took the final turn and it was really fast, moved up to 8th and closed a gap, saw the finish overhang and was like “uh oh” (closer than I thought). Opened up my sprint and passed a few guys but couldn’t quite close down the leaders. Still happy with the 5th place finish.
Random thoughts
1. Stefan and Carl are stronger than they think
2. Scott has shitty luck, across the board
3. OGD is a new Dad, but he can still race
4. Bill Turner is fun to drink with (where was he at the beer tent)
5. PJ is a badass, someone in the Cat 3s (John or Chris) need to help him
6. John and Chris are badasses too (sorry no help for you)
7. Where was Smudger (oh he’s drinking in Mexico)
8. Other Cat 4s, expect to be passed over by Jacob (or train harder)
9. Ian and Jorge did what the rest of you should have done, race the best race on the East Coast.

[RFollansbee]

Awesome Jeremy - congrats!

[jraguin]

Our road race team captain Jeremy did us proud with the 5th place finish. No surprise for me since I ride with Jeremy often and he is killing it out there.

My story in the Cat 3s was of good (was in lead pack through 43 miles) and bad (got a little Scottish luck and flatted at 43 miles). Not too much to tell, because the really fun stuff was just about to happen. The lead pack was down to about 45 guys of the starting 150 when I flatted. There were various tough efforts that dropped a lot of the field along the way, surprisingly that Carney-Cassidy dirt uphill section was the big one where we splintered the pack. I felt pretty strong all along and was feeling stronger as we went. On Cheese Factory, the flatter rocky dirt section, I felt great and was flying along as guys around me were struggling, squirreling their rear tire, and even going right off the road into the grass. As for my flat, I don't know what happened, but on the pavement just before the left turn onto Wrights Road, all of a sudden I heard a pop and a "phissshhhhh". The guy behind me said "Bummer dude" and I knew it was me. I waited what turned out to be 14 minutes for a wheel truck, got a wheel and then rode it in. At first I was just soft pedaling, but then I decided I might as well get a workout and put some effort to come in. I was flying by everyone up Meetinghouse and Stage road, so that felt good but is no full consolation for not getting my shot at a top 25 finish or maybe better.

PJ and Chris rode great and I will let them share their stories, and newcomer to MRC Rich Batten was in the mix until the Cassidy section. It was great having teammates in the field even if no team tactics could be employed.

[onegeardoug]

Congrats to Jeremy! Awesome race. After Perry Hill Rd, I settled into around 40-50th for basically the first half of the race. I would like to say that I was watching over Jeremy and Jacob, since I could see them the entire time...but I was really just hanging on the back of the lead group mostly. "Ike" and I were side-by-side over Juniper Swamp, about 20-30m off the back. Caught back on the decent, like many people did. Every hill after that was harder and harder for me, and Bill. My goal was simple, though: Hang onto the lead pack as long as possible, so as to minimize my time riding alone. Around 30 miles, I heard a big crash just behind me on the right. I never saw Bill again. At around 35 miles, the Safford Rd dirt hill hurt me more than it should. I recovered and moved up to lead Jeremy on the Cheese Factory Rd, which was surprisingly a lot of fun for me.

Wrights Rd at mile 45 undid me, though. The pace and the angle both turned upward, and I immediately cramped in both legs. I moved left of the group and watched everyone ride away from me. There were 2 sections of Wrights Rd where the dirt was really loose and rocky, and people were ALL OVER the road, which enabled me to get back on the group, but that was short lived. I tried to manage the cramps in my legs and keep turning the pedals. At the feed zone, I decided that I'd have a lot more fun for the final 15 miles if I emptied my bladder. That was only partially true. I took a neutral bottle and chugged the entire thing. Since I carried 3 and was nearly dry, that meant I drank 4 bottles. The feed zone hill was excrutiating. Twice I had to take my right foot off the pedals and pedal only with my left because my right hamstring was seized up. I started feeling better though, and by the last hill on Meetinghouse, I was big-ringing it and moving at a good clip. I got to Stage Rd and managed up it at a reasonable pace. By the top, I had caught some stragglers from my field and we formed a small group. With about 3Km to go, we caught Jacob and I tried to encourage him to jump on the back of our train. I don't think it worked.

My little finishing foursome was interesting. 3 of us were working and 1 guy wasn't. I thought to myself "If this dickbag is saving it for the sprint, I'm going to so be pissed". 1Km to go, and the Kissena guy attacks and gets away. 300m to go and the guy who didn't work at all for the final 7km attacks to take the sprint for 40th. So, a shout out to Ernesto Paredes from Siggi's NYVelocity: Congrats on 40th. You are a complete DOUCHE NOZZLE!

I got 42nd, about 8 minutes behind the winner. For me...this year...that was a pretty good result.

[pace21]

A lot of firsts for me yesterday: First race of the year, first race at Battenkill, first race as a 3.... should be fun! Oh, and first time I've EVER seen my heart rate at 205

As for the race, pretty uneventful for 48 miles -- some hard efforts on the ramps, but mostly just trying to surf the front to stay in the top 15 -- mostly successfully. Cheese Factory road was so much fun, I was 3rd or 4th wheel, everyone was hammering, stones were flying, wheels were slipping.... SWEET! CX in April.... As Doug and I were chatting after the race, we both would have liked more Cheese Factory and Wrights-like surfaces, it definitely put some roadies in difficulty. On to Wrights Road -- more loose surface and hammering, still in the top 5-10, what was left of the group was mostly together but strung out. We hit the start of Meetinghouse and the carnage began. Still in the top 10, I could see and hear guys giving up the ghost. I felt great the whole climb, the last sharp kicker hurt a lot, but I just glued myself to the wheel in front and dug in. After cresting, descending, and turning right onto the main road to head south, I looked around and it was a group of 20-25 of us and suprisingly (to me anyway) the wheel car was behind us, meaning we had a big enough gap that they considered it to be "the race" -- Yay! Then, of course, everyone sat up. And softpedaled, and lolligagged, etc, etc. When we turned left about 1.5 miles before Stage, we were back up to 40ish guys. Then, Stage Road happened. I felt great for the first half (the steep part), but I dug ever so deep on a sharp kicker to hang on a wheel (with PJ shouting encouragement!!) but I misremembered (like Roger Clemens) and thought it was the last real kicker followed by a slight downhill -- it wasn't. It was followed by 200m of 2% false flat, and that was followed by the kicker I was actually remembering, but too late. The false flat was my unhitching, and it was a lonely ride from there in no man's land. I did catch one guy on the downhill, but then I sat on his wheel, he flicked his arm, I played along, and then never regained his wheel. Oh well.

Strava tells the story in cold hard numbers: 6 seconds behind PJ on "Stage Road" segment (the unhitching), and 32 seconds slower on the run-in from the summit of Stage Rd to the finish (the solo TT). All in all, I'm very satisfied with the day, my goal was top 25 (borrowed from racing Cat 3 'cross), I ended up 21st. Slight miscalculation on Stage Rd, but basically I think I raced smart and gave it everything I had -- no regrets. Maybe next year we'll get lucky and all the dirt sections will be turned loose like Cheese Factory and Wrights

Jeremy says Battenkill is the best race going, I might just agree....

[PJ McQuade]

I just spent an hour writing a killer race report. My login session apparently timed-out and the report is gone. Worst feature about this forum! So my report is now....

Awesome race, fun times, bike racing rules.

[rusto]

I just spent an hour writing a killer race report. My login session apparently timed-out and the report is gone. Worst feature about this forum! So my report is now....

Awesome race, fun times, bike racing rules.

Login sessions do not time out. Nevertheless, I usually compose long posts in a separate text editor, "just in case".

[carlshimer]

Finished 48th of 125 in my first race in the 4's. I struggled on Juniper swamp but was able to catch back up to the peleton. I stayed with peleton until Carney cassidy where I started to fall of the back. Regrouped with a couple of other riders and pacelined to attempt a catch but didn't work.

Hard to know if I could have gone harder after Carney Cassidy - I felt that catching back on was more likely with a group. The paceline I was in fell apart on meeting house and then it was pretty much a TT effort. During the race I thought I was completely off the back but you don't know that the half the field is already behind you I didn't completely shatter my legs and felt much better than last year. I think I did go all in on the early hills but then later more Vo2 / threshold.

In terms of positioning - well that pretty much sucked. I was mid pack (I think) before Juniper and then on the back after Juniper. That hurt going into carney cassidy. I probably could have moved up more after juniper (and should have).

I am pretty happy with my result knowing that my biggest weakness is high power / Vo2 max capability.

The power numbers here are fascinating. My average power was 202W, Chris's was 195W, and Jeremy's was 206W. However, if you look at the power distribution in strava Chris road 8% of the time at > 450W, Jeremy was 9% > 450W, and I was 3% at > 450W. However, according to strava I expended more total power over the race, which makes sense because I didn't have the pack the last half and was paceling and /or time trialing. So I guess this means that if you can put out the very high power you can stay with the pack, recover and be winning / competitive!

[Smudger]

BRiLLIANT result Jeremy. Simple message. Training and talent works.

Chris. Likewise. Stage Rd is like a good kick in the nuts. Now you know for next year.

P j howd

[Smudger]

Hit the wrong button,

PJ. How'd you finish

John sometimes Battenkill just sucks and the paved sections are where I always have flatted.

Scott, don't think I want to find out what happened. Will see if I can find a rabbit foot or something down here

Everyone else seems like you had fun.

Ok time for anothe Cerveza.

[ahamilton]

Jeremy, 5th is an awesome result in that race. And the other reports show how strong MRC is as a team. Nice work by all. Hopefully the bad luck (for those that had it) didn't cause any lasting effects.

[carlshimer]

I'd also like to note that the Cat-4 white appears to be the most competitive of the cat 4 fields.

[swawersik]

Pre-pre race: Not an A race, but I was really excited for this one. Mounted up 700x25 road tires and everything. Then, on Wednesday night, I got a screw in my rear new tire and got caught in a torrential rain/hailstorm. The wet did no favors to my bike, as you'll see below.

Pre-race: stressful. Noticed a funky noise from my PT hub. Took it to neutral service: they diagnosed a blown bearing. Best guess, got water in the hub on Wednesday's rainy ride and it wrecked the bearing(s). Had a spare wheelset, so did a quick change of cassettes (so I had my 12x27) and tires (so I had my 25's). I consequently got in a crappy warm up and was not terribly relaxed at the start line, but I was glad for both the 27 and the tires. On to the race...

Made it over most of Juniper Swamp with the group by gluing myself to Doug's wheel. I got gapped a bit at the top in part because of a guy from the Speedwell team who was bogged down and "paperboying" his way up. I had to burn a match or two to close that gap, but got back on. When I reconnected, I noted that the field had been whittled down by about a third.

During the lull between Salem and Carney Cassidy, I ate, drank, and tried to calm myself down, as I was stressed about the next section. I guess I calmed myself too much, because I entered the Carney Cassidy section too far back in the pack and had to burn energy dodging around blown riders and closing gaps. Ended up coming unglued on the 3rd or fourth sharp kicker.

Got into a group of 10-15 that stuck together through the flats and rollers to Wright's Road. We could see a big cloud of dust ahead and were told we were only 2 mins off the main group, so we were driving hard. I felt good and took some solid turns at the front. Bill Turner, who'd been caught in a crash, was here too. My friend from Speedwell was also here, and kept effing up the roatating paceline, gassing it every time he hit the front and tearing up the rhythm for to group behind. I wanted to have Smudger there to yell at him - my gentle suggestions were not all that effective.

On Wright's several of us (Bill included) started to roll away from the rest. Again, I felt good and was with the front group. Until my chain started skipping unpredictably. I thought there might be something caught in the cassette, so I stopped briefly to check it out. Realized that I had a link that was sticking - I'm assuming the ride in the rain didn't help this (?). From here, had trouble going hard through the second half of Wright's and Meetinghouse, as the skipping prevented steady efforts (and was kind of scary and really irritating).

By the section between Meetinghouse and Stage Rd., the skipping became completely regular. Which was annoying at first, but I didscovered that I could go harder now, because I could anticipate the timing. Went steady up the bottom of Stage, then realized I was catching a guy from my field, so started to turn it on a bit. I'd dropped him by the top of the climb. Put in a solid effort on the final section, pulling back 2-3 more guys from my group. Finished strong, but only 75/109.

Looking at the results, had I not backed off when the skipping started, I'd likely have been in the high 50's, low 60's (judging from where Bill and others in that group finished). Really not that much of a difference, but a little frustrating.

Congratulations to all the MRC riders out there. Some rides were more obviously impressive (Jeremy, PJ, Chris), but everyone represented the team well.

The good: Made it further with the group than I've ever done before. Finished strong.

The bad: Eff'n mechanicals!!! Also, I keep thinking I could have dug a little harder over Carney-Cassidy. I think my climbing phobia has me intimidated by the hills and causing me to freak out a bit (for the science nerds, there's a study involving swimming mice, corticosteroids, GABA, and lactobacillus that's made this clearer to me). As Jeremy demonstrated, my 178 lb. body is not an excuse for lack of climbing skill (Jeremy's 170), so if you hear me bitching that "I can't climb," from now on, please tell me to shut up and pedal harder.

[rusto]

Off topic: Here's a RadioLab episode on swimming mice and bacteria.

[swawersik]

Off topic: Here's a RadioLab episode on swimming mice and bacteria.

Not off topic - I heard that on the way home from NY today, and it's exactly what I was referring to. Nerd.

[rusto]

Off topic: Here's a RadioLab episode on swimming mice and bacteria.

Not off topic - I heard that on the way home from NY today, and it's exactly what I was referring to. Nerd.

Correctly identified.

[Jacob]

I had a great time riding with the team for the first time! This was also my first Tour of the Battenkill and my first Cat 4 race. A lot of firsts.

I was very fresh at the start line, maybe too fresh. Like no warm-up, no day-before ride, only a few hours of training in the last week fresh. I’ve never raced this far before, and I know that endurance is my weakest attribute, so I figured that I would give myself as much reserve as possible. It worked out ok; by the time we went over the Juniper Swamp climb, my legs were awake -- maybe a little nervous feeling, but awake. I got to spend some time seeing Jeremy up close, which was fun. He seemed to be very much at ease and he knew exactly where he wanted to be and what he wanted to accomplish in each section of the course.

My highlight was probably going up the Carney and Cassidy Road climb in second wheel and then watching as the guy in front flatted right at the top. I would have chuckled if I had had a little more oxygen.

I don’t remember too much after that until the Cheese Factory road section where the highlight was watching just how darn jolly Doug Kennedy was as we shot through the hardscrabble at 25 MPH.

Going into Wrights Road I was in a good position – a good position to see Jeremy, who was in an exquisite position going into the left hand turn. Wrights Road itself was crazy – the worst road surface in the course by far. It was also flat to downhill and at a fast pace. My Watts/kg weren’t helping me out at all: I really needed more Watts AND more kg. I worked my way through, picking my lines and churning through the soup, but at the end of the section I was into the red and tailing off the back of the front pack. I buried myself to maintain contact into the second feed zone climb, but I got dropped right where the pavement went up.

Double thigh cramp (another first!) up Meeting House road, 5-man paceline on the pavement, dropped again on Stage road – I was well cooked at that point. A guy with aero wheels blew by me on a descent. Whatever.

Near the finish, Doug came up from behind in a small group and encouraged me to “wind it up” for the finish. Theoretically, this was an excellent idea. I finished by myself, 44th place.

I’m going to need a few 75 mile team beat-downs in June to help me to be able to race properly for the full distance (see above, re: endurance). I’m sure that y’all will oblige.

[irusk]

My previous race report post somehow disappeared. Anyway, here it is again...

I think I picked the wrong race for my road racing debut (or maybe the perfect one). I managed to stay with the front back for the first ten miles or so. Got gapped up the first dirt road climb. Tried to work with some other riders to catch back on, but couldn't get anyone to really cooperate, so I ended up doing the whole back section solo into the headwind.

I probably should have recon'd the course, b/c I was not expected how hard the last 20 miles of the race would be. Struggled over those hills and was cooked. I was about to soft pedal in when a group of other stragglers came through, I got on a wheel, even did a short pull through the 1k flag, but didn't presume to have any business sprinting to the line.

Realized after finishing that I'd only drank two bottles and was extremely dehydrated (apple cider colored pee).

Congrats to Jeremy and all the others that raced!

[rusto]

Crystal Anthony (Ladies First) took second in the Women's Pro 1/2 division. Read her race report.

[BTurner]

Battenkill (Crashed) - 59th
JDay Offroad MC (Gassed but stayed upright) - 8th
Battenkill/JDay Stage Race (Just because nobody is stupid enough to do this) - 1st

[Len_E]

Guys, great racing all around. I wish I was feeling the pain and elation of a day in Cambridge, NY. I hope you're all feeling damn good because just racing this beast of a Classic is the goal. Take it from someone on the sidelines who's been thinking about you all day.
Can't wait for Blue Hills and some serious MRC results.

[PJ McQuade]

I will try this again, this time short and sweet. I raced in the Cat 3/yellow with Chris, John, and Richard. Good to have a full squad out there. My strategy was to sit in and conserve,
knowing that the last 20 miles would be decisive. Didn't make any moves until Carney Cassidy, where I made a push toward the front. Good move - as John noted guys were shelled here. Cheese Factory Rd was epic Ifor sure, a winding dirt road with loose rocks and soft sand made for a wild ride. All I remember is a dust cloud and the sound of small rocks popping against carbon. This sector was long and taxing. John, Chris and myself made it through but John flatted shortly after. Too bad - he looked comfortable. Wrights Rd was a kick in the teeth, particularly with its closeness to Meetinghouse. I entered M' house in a bad place, and got detached from the main group. The apparrant mild tempo Chris mentioned allowed me to claw my way back on with a Bike barn dude. I moved up at the turn onto Stage, threw down whatever I had left and hit the top with a small group. We quickly got organized into a 10-man chase. A small group was maybe 30 sec up the road. We never got there. I set up nicely for the sprint as we hit Main St. taking 3rd on the sprint and 12th on the day. Very pleased.
Chris was impressive as was Cratty, who will soon be joining us in the 3s I'm sure. Battenkill is as good as it gets in terms of the full bike racing experience.

[scott_sweeney]

Mine was simple...I was in the back of the pack, pretty much on Bill's wheel when he went down...soft-pedaled up to make sure he was Ok and back up. Chased as hard as I could to try and get back and then flatted at the top of Meetinghouse (yep, after the dirt road climb and onto the pavement). I do, in fact, have a lousy streak of luck going right now. That whole wheel truck thing isn't efficient....I was on the side of the road for at least 5-7 minutes....nothing came through. Smudger...that Vittoria Pit Stop stuff? Yea, I left that in the car. Who's the douche nozzle now?

No matter though....great to be with the team and a huge congrats to Jeremy. He's super strong and I only wish that I could have been there at the end to help. Clearly my strength isn't the short and steep, but if the race is longer and I can hang around long enough...

PS....the Kissena guys SUCK. My little band of 10-11 merry men trying to Spartacus our way back to the main group after Ike's crash had two of them that sat on the back the whole time and did zero work. I had one dude from Siggi's that helped out though, so can't say anything about them...

[JeremyC]

Random power notes (courtesy of Cort Cramer's analysis)

I spent 34 minutes (20% of the race) not pedaling!!!!
I spent 30 minutes (17.5%) anaerobic, you can guess the places.
I only burned 4 matches (I was saving the rest for the beer tent)
I only spent 11 minutes at VO2 MAX (that category is highly overrated)

[argus]

Congratulations to all the Batten-killers - great results and race reports.