Tour of the Battenkill 2010

We arrived at our hotel in Cambridge, NY late afternoon on Friday and managed to pre-ride some of the early dirt sections of the course. They were hard packed, a tad moist, and mostly free of loose gravel. Nice.

On Saturday, Jason, Scott, Zak, Derek, and myself lined up for Team Spin at the start of the 96 person Cat 3 Green field, which raced for 100k. The weather was sunny and in the 50's with stiff winds. The course looked like this:


The pace was fast, but inconsistent, for much of the race, with lots of fast on the hills. Then, after the last feed zone with about 20 miles to go, it picked up by a lot and hardly relented.

There were about 40 of the 96 riders left at the base of the last climb with 10K to go. Things went nuts, and Jason crested with the leaders, who took their gap into town. He finished second by a half wheel. Really nice.

I allowed some gaps to form at the steep bottom part, because my legs were in shutdown mode. I then picked people off as the grade lessened, and rode like mad into town with a small group, thinking they paid 20 deep. I won our "sprint," took 20th, and then realized they paid 10 deep. Oh well. I'm pretty sure I could not have ridden any harder/better than I did.

Scott, Zak, and Derek rode well and finished in the field.

Matt B. from Team Spin rode excellent and finished 18th in his Cat 4 race.

Results are here.

Other notable events from the weekend include:

-They had two wheel trucks in our race and asked some people giving wheels before the race whether they thought they would finish with the lead group or get dropped. Their response determined which truck their wheels went in. I think that situation is a gift to a graduate psychology student looking for a paper to write.

-The guy staying in the room above Jason and Matt was rudely barking at his wife before the race about not messing up his post-race recovery drink. I'm pretty sure he was a Cat 5 dude. Way to give cyclists a good name.

-Staying at a hotel about a quarter mile from the start/finish is the way to go.

In the meantime, back at the home front.....I disassembled the kitchen sink pipes on Thursday before leaving and failed to properly re-assemble them, leaving that task for Katie, the self proclaimed mistress of plumbing. I told her to send me photos of the finished product. She did:

I am an embarrassment to red blooded men everywhere.

Then, on the way home, this happened to my right front tire on I-90 about 30 miles east of Syracuse:

Now I'm home. And ready for some races that take less than 45 minutes to drive to.