Battenkill!

Battenkill Road Race Report

BY Matt Doyle

Jason, Alex (Cat 5), and myself piled into Tom's Crafter Saturday morning at 6 am. We headed up to the Battenkill RR course to drive it, register, and do some riding. Here are that stats on the race: 64 miles, 3,000 ft of climbing, 18 miles of dirt roads - many of them on the climbs.

Jason and I were in the Cat 3 "Grey" group. We took off Sunday morning with 126 guys. We rolled out and got into the dirt roads and climbs about 6 miles in. I was running a 39 x 25 gear for the climbs. This is first time I have ever run a gear larger than a 39 x 23 for a race (including Altoona, Nebo, and a slew of other hilly races). Even with the 25, there were times was forced to stand up because I was so bogged down in the saddle trying to get over some of the climbs. Imagine going over Landenburg or Broad Run on a dirt road with some loose gravel / dirt and you get the picture.

Most of the dirt roads were pretty smooth and driven in. There was a new to the race stretch of road that had more fresh gravel on it and it was a little dicey but manageable . Throughout the race, Jason and I tried to stay near the front of the group and maintain our positions on the climbs. We would loose people on the climbs and then they would come back on the down hills and valley roads. By the final climb we were down to about 50 - 60 folks. The last climb of the day was like going over a dirt Greenlawn followed immediately by the 4 kickers on Way Road. I started the climb in 5th position so that I had a place to drift. I think I blew up on 4 different occasions on the final climb. Everyone was going all out and killing it. Over the top of the climb a group of 10 were about 50 feet in front of my group of 10. We all came together on the downhill section heading towards the finish in town. The final 3 km was flat and was punctuated by lots of attacks as people tried to get away. I had decent position heading into the final two turns but got bumped and had to reset a bit. I made up a few spots and ended up 12 for the day. Jason wasn't as lucky and started the final climb further back and had to pick his way through traffic. By the top he was gaped off from my group and was caught in no mans land. He was soloing in when he got swamped by a bunch of guys right before the finish. Jason ended up 38th.

It was quite a day. Epic climbs. 50+ mph descents. And lots of fast gravel roads. Even with the pack easing up and catching their breath a few times, we still averaged 21.5 mph.

Alex did the Cat 5 race (same distance) and pulled off 14th. Pretty sweet for his second race ever.

As for Tom, he did a great job taking care of us and our bikes. He also learned that hanging out a road race is way more boring than hanging out at a cross race.

See you on the road.

Matt