Like a migratory bird, I returned to Cambridge, New York last week for the 2014 Tour of the Battenkill. I was joined by Downeast Racing teammates Matt Moon, Hank Pfeifle, Eliot Pitney and Joe Lynch. The weather conditions were calm, but damp with temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Matt and I started the Category 2 race with about 70 other riders from all over the country and Canada for the 85 mile race. The race features some 12 miles of dirt roads, the steep dirt road climbs of Juniper Swamp Road and Herrington Road, fast descents and bucolic upstate New York scenery. My Austro-Daimler Superleicht Carbon Di2 Champagne made it through the race for the second time: lifting a page from the Roger Aspholm Book of Pro Cycling, I ran Zipp 202s with Vittoria Paves (loaded with Stan NoTubes liquid latex to keep away the slow leak monster). I carried and finished three bottles of Hammer Nutrition Sustained Energy and topped it off with some Chocolate Gu. I felt fine the whole way and I think the liquid energy diet helped hold off cramps. Clearly, I was ready for some real food afterwards.
This was the first year of competing in the Category 2 race at this event. Relative to the Masters category (where I really belong), the pace on the climbs is a lot faster and more riders are able to keep up. There are teams too and thus more tactics. I rode conservatively at the back while Matt Moon sat on the front of the group. There were seven flats and two broken bikes according to Vittoria support officials. The dirt roads were soggy in places and many riders lost their balance trying to coast through that kind of surface: the trick is to keep it in a big gear, stay seated and pedal through. I had much practice with this technique the previous weekend around New Gloucester and felt at ease. I saw many riders loose their balance.
We arrived at Herrington Hill Road and this is where the remaining field started to break up. Once this climb was over, the field plunged down a fast descent followed by the climb up Meeting House Hill Road. There was gap that was extended here and before I knew it, the lead group had a break and I was in a groupetto of ten or so tired and bickering riders. Some of us tried to close the gap over the flats, Stage Road and the last ten kilometers, but there was no joy; the lead group remained in sight but out of reach. I finished 21st and although the Shoulda Would Coulda Brothers made a brief appearance, I sent them packing by appreciating the distance and pace of the race, the numerous opportunities there were not to finish the race at all (flats, falling off your bike, taking a wrong turn, etc), and by knowing that all the hours on the trainer (Hour of Power, Rosems, 40 x 20, etc) and all the early wake ups to get to the gym to lift weights and the training camp has paid off. I learned that I really have to ride at the front more (ride like Matt Moon) and not let myself get bullied into the comfortable, but sketchy neighborhood at the back of the peleton; although I can keep up on the hills, it is many times not possible to cover a move on a climb from the pack of the field, even if it is a small field. I obtained some chocolate milk from the Battenkill Creamery for The Girls and Mr. Moon and we began the drive home. It was fine weekend of racing and many thanks to Jeff Dixon and Hank Pfeifle for making the Downeast Racing team happen.
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| I just cleaned this thing! |
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| Matt and Fred give nothing to the Papparazi |
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| Three bottles of Sustained Energy later |
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