we can try to do a team dinner?

we can host a dinner at the place we are staying; 5 miles from starting line

Guys, I've been fighting a very resilient virus for the last week & a half that has totally wiped me out & screwed up my training. I went out today for the first time in over a week. Lungs felt blahhh, but legs felt better than I expected (not sure I expected much). I was playing around with the idea of not doing Battenkill earlier in the week, just because I am still sick/weak & am not too sure I would even survive, but today I decided that I WILL go up and ride it. Whatever happens happens, not expecting anything. I'm just looking forward to the general experience & suffering.

My brother decided to be awesome and come up with me tomorrow night. I have not reserved a room for Friday night anywhere yet though (because I was not sure what I would be doing until now), so I'm curious where everybody is staying? Any suggestions of where I can look for an available bed in the area (outside of what the Battenkill site is promoting)?

Also, if we're up there by then, my bro and I would be down for the team dinner.

I stayed last year in Troy at the hilton garden inn . It was the best secret stay ever - only racer there, easy drive up the day before, maybe 45 minutes of back roads to Cambridge the morning of the race.

This year I got a place in Clifton Park (right off of exit 9 from the I87 Northway) . My plan is to drive up 4pm Friday, check in for the night, and then drive the 50 min or so to Cambridge around 8am Saturday.

Ros,

Great to hear it! You just never know - better to show up & enjoy the spectacle from the inside

Bkillaz - please text/email sms me your contact info if you think i don't have it:

917-817-1362

jules dot roazen at gmail dot com

We'll host dinner tomorrow for those who eat the night before the race at:

324 Binninger Road, Shushan, NY

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=324+Binninger+Road,+Shushan,+NY&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.287373,82.001953&oq=324+binninger&t=v&hnear=324+Binninger+Rd,+Shushan,+Washington,+New+York+12873&z=16

Posted By: JoshuaCI stayed last year in Troy at the hilton garden inn . It was the best secret stay ever - only racer there, easy drive up the day before, maybe 45 minutes of back roads to Cambridge the morning of the race.

This year I got a place in Clifton Park (right off of exit 9 from the I87 Northway) . My plan is to drive up 4pm Friday, check in for the night, and then drive the 50 min or so to Cambridge around 8am Saturday.

Thanks for the suggestion! I just booked at Comfort Suites @ Clifton Park as well! Only place I found that still was available.

Posted By: mugwump
The race is not hilly with lots of long climbs on steep or even medium grades. It's lots of shallow climbing, with a few steep sections here and there.

Really? That sounds easy, my kind of climbing. Maybe I should go! haha.

Hey guys,

Stoked to race with you all Saturday. We have a strong team. Just got back from a trip to Orlando with the family. I'd like to say this was part of my tapering for Battenkill, but stading in line for Harry potter rides in 85 degree weather wasn't helping my legs in any real way.

My form is good, but not great. I was flying in early March before I got hammered at work and the kids and I took turns being sick. I'm feeling good again and as long as I ride smart I will be able to support the team and take my shot in a break.

Harry and I are staying in schuylerville - about 30 min from Cambridge. I am open to meeting up for dinner or otherwise.

We plan on doing some course recon around 4pm

Patrick

our Place is (incredibly) about 100 Meters from the covered bridge...

can't wait for team dinner!
I printed 2 of these out.

and 2 of those. the bottom number that's cut off is 58

wouldn't hurt to tape the route to the stem or something...popular complaint I've heard is that Dieter doesn't have enough corner marshals...and if you go off course, following an errant pace car even, you'll just get the standard "riders are responsible for knowing the course."

Guys, unfortunately it's the perfect shit-storm and I will NOT be coming up tonight after all. As it turns out I still have a serious fever, now my brother (who was supposed to drive me up) is taken ill, as well as my girlfriend, who is laid out with 101-degrees. I can't buy a break this week. Looks like Battenkill was not meant to be for me this year Arrrgggghhh. Super bummed & frustrated.

Hope you guys have a great time & get some results! Weather looks like it will be epic up there tomorrow.

Unlucky Ros that sucks! Will they transfer your ticket to next year?

Posted By: ashleyBUnlucky Ros that sucks! Will they transfer your ticket to next year?

Good question. Anyone know if they do that?

Best of luck guys for tomorrow from the frog with broken bones. Recovery on my condition is slow but steady!

Good luck gents. Remember, communicate, observe, initiate, react, communicate appropriately. I look forward to reading tales of great unyielding carnage!

Good news and bad news.

Jules got second in a field sprint to take third in the cat 4 field. Ryan led out the sprint and came in around 12th. The team worked well together. I saw Aly, dave, Jeff C, John and Norm all working to keep the team safe and up front.

Bad luck for Jeff white whose shift level self-destructed 5 minutes before the start. He spent something like 45 miles chasing the field on a mavic spare bike until he flatted.

I was in the lead group at mile 29 when my handlebars got caught with another rider and we both went down. My face knee and shoulder got bruised up and it hurts to lift my right arm, but I think I'll be okay.

Worst news was that JP was in the hospital with broken ribs.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Oh, yeah cause we love it.

There are many more stories out there.

I have pics and video from the cat 4 finish. I'll post them after I get home.

Patrick

Yikes. Hope JP is okay. Patrick, you too. Congrats to Jules and the cat 4 killers.

Norm, Joe and I are on our way to see JP now at the hospital. If anyone has his cell# would you please text it to me? 310-702-5481

Someone please call JP's wife Beth with an update if possible. All she knows is that JP is in a hospital in Bennington, VT and that maybe Jules and his wife are on the scene with him.

Her home number is 212-316-1582

They left me a message but I'm getting poor reception just called her back. He's beat up but ok and in good spirits. On his way home tonight w john m

Guys: cell/Internet out here is worse than a 3rd world country. John is driving JP home tonight.

Last I heard Harry got second in his field, a close sprint where third was way off the back.

Great race; hard as hell. Full report will come soon enough.

I called the hospital and talked to JP's doctor, then relayed info to Beth. All is okay, I'll check on Mr. Chest tube in the next couple of days to make sure he doesn't give himself a tension pneumothorax or something delightful. On the flip side, I could probably beat him up alpine finally. harhar.

Harry must be delirious with joy. That's a fantastic result. Can't wait to hear the story. Anyone know how our 3s did?

BTK12 race report:

I had a fine warmup despite being unable to fully relieve myself, but that's life. Went back to the car with Jeff Condon and Alyosha to exchange our warm-up stuff for race nutrition and such, and began to roll over to the starting line with about 5:00 to the whistle.

As I was rolling up to the line, I went to click my (SRAM Force) shifter into an easier gear for the start. Funny thing, it clicked weird and actually shifted into a harder gear. Strange, hope it doesn't misshift like that during the race. Went to try again, and the shifter basically snapped off.

I said something to the effect of "my fucking shifter just broke!" to Jeff, and waved him toward the line as I turned around and bee lined to the Mavic tent. I rolled my hood back as I rode up to the tent to show the mechanic.

He took one look and said, "new bike."

"54," I said.

He ran behind the van and I expected him to come back with a yellow bike. But instead he came back with a yellow bike with no wheels. Meantime another guy measured the distance from saddle to BB and took my pedals off. The first guy put the new bike on a stand and began monkeying around in the back of the van for wheels while the other guy did the pedals and measured out the seat post on a quick release. At long last, the guy came out of the van with wheels, and they put them on. A quick rear derailleur check and they sent me off.

It should've just been pedals and a saddle raise, but they gave me a CAAD 9 to race for free, so I'm probably just being a dick for saying that.

I sprinted to the line, saw a bunch of guys lined up, and rode up to (I think) Dieter.

"Cat 4 white?"

"Gone three and a half minutes. Go NOW."

So without a second thought, I went. (Afterward, Alyosha and Jeff asked whether I asked to line up with the next 4 field, but my mind wasn't operating in that mode at the time, so no, I just chased.)

Shortly after getting out on the road, the oddities of the unfamiliar bike began to make themselves apparent. Most troubling was the blatant tire-pressure issue. I bounced around unless I was really smooth with the pedals. I would guess about 60 psi up front and also soft in back -- couldn't have been 80.

Lots of things were going through my mind in these first 10 miles on the highway, most of which are completely predictable:

Who rides their bars all rolled forward like this? Get lower, retard, and elbows and knees in. What're my watts -- fuck, no PowerTap; Coach won't like that. My foot hurts. I wonder if I'll see them around this next bend. Damn. Should I turn around? Man, this bike is yellow. Will I catch (no)? And what then?

Made the left turn off the highway and the flag person said a minute and a half. Went through the covered bridge. Hit the first dirt section and poured it on, since I could pick my line and maybe get some more time back. Made another turn at some point and the flag lady said one minute. I knew at this point that the first steep hill was coming and that I needed to catch before that if I was to do so at all.

Got to the hill and went by the first straggler. He was all, "they're 20 seconds ahead, get 'em, killer! (Actual quote.)" I was all, "It's over, dude," and he was all, "It's only beginning. (Actual quote.)" Whatever, dude, you're slow and crazy.

Hammered the descent and as I was approaching a hairpin left onto a dirt section I caught glimpse of some riders and the wheel car, which seemed awfully far up. I bargained that a solo rider has an advantage on a fast dirt section, and poured some more on.

Passed a couple more stragglers and hit the Juniper climb with a rabbit halfway up it. I wrestled my way to the top in my brutally inappropriate 39-23 gear but couldn't grind up to him. Still, after I got over the top I saw him and the wheel car take a hard right in the distance ahead, and it was just enough to keep hope alive to make contact. Made the right a bit behind them, but I was a mess. Sweat-streamed shades, aching back from staying absurdly low (was looking for every watt), my foot hurt, etc.

I lost some focus and I hit a hole on the dirt road. Predictably, my 35 psi front tube instantly pinch flatted, and that was that.

Rode the next couple miles of dirt with a flat front and waited at the next flagged turn for a wheel car. Got a wheel and made my way to the finish via a shortcut. On a yellow Mavic bike. With a random front wheel from an unknown field. And the Mavic wheel in some other field's car. One can imagine the logistical game of Twister awaiting me back in Cambridge.

Watched many Kissenas finish, congratulated them all, celebrated the hard-fought and well-earned results of Jules and Ryan (and later Harry!) and absorbed the bad news from Patrick and even worse from JP.

But I did get to ride the yellow bike. That's something, right?

For those keeping track, I pretty much just locked in the Highest Report to Race Ratio Award for this year.

14apr2012 - Battenkill
JP mend well&fully! &you too 'animal' PartickG!...

just back in BK. report tomorrow.
...good result thanks to ALL with advice/encouragement, ride-up, pre-ride&drive(patrickG); dinner&cake, return ride &dinner(JoshuaC).
-h

Peoples,
Thanks for all the help and well-wishes. I can't reply to you all who wrote directly as my machine appeared to have gotten a virus late last night and e.mail sent from 10pm to now ended up getting erased.

I got a ton of help from the Kissenas up at hte race. The Roazens, who were the first people I spoke with--when I called Lisa from the medical tent, she didn't seem to miss a beat and even knew where the nearest hospital was, Jules who arranged moving the car, Joe, Norm, and Ryan who hung out at the hospital and waited with me, and John, who drove me home. I had been mentally prepared to drive the car from John's place in Brooklyn back to the garage by me, but thankfully, he objected and drove me back.

Four ribs broken. three broke in line and should heal easily. the fourth is not lined up and will take a bit longer. The fourth one is also the one that probably lead to my left lung partially collapsing. Right now I have a tube stuck in me to make sure my lung stays inflated and am hoping ot get some nice, strong prescription meds so getting out of bed doesn't hurt so much.

I thought this was going to be a good race for me. Looking at the results, I think top ten was attainable with my fitness. And the finish time was pretty much my finish time for hte previous two editions. I was following Marc's advice and trying to chill out for as long as possible.

At about mile 45 for us, we went downhill on pavement, made a left turn and went up a stair-stepper dirt climb that turned to pavement at the top. While I had forgotten about this hill and had just eaten a Clif rope, I was still climbing comfortably. hit a plateau a little behind where I wanted to be in the group and was in the big ring descending and curving left. At this point, it seemed that Sergio Atocha of Champ-Sys started to fade off his line, as in he was going straighter than he shold have been. He bumped into the guy on his left and they won't went down. I tried to sit still, but then felt I needed to make an evasive maneuver. Don't know if I hit them or not but I went down and rolled. I think my bike landed on top of me. Think I was going 25 or so but I'll need to do the upload to confirm.

I sat up as the pack was finishing going by. Saw that there were four guys who looked really bad. I checked on them. While they weren't getting up, they said they were ok, so I pulled apart two bikes, went over to my own, spun the wheels, got the chain back on the small ring and rode away. Partway up the next hill my chain was skipping because the derailleur hanger was bent. The hill was big enough that I needed the 23 or 25, so climbing it was out of the question. TWo guys came by and offered me a ride back ot hte finish. I took it.

By the time I got to the medical tent at the finish, I was starting to hurt. 10EMTs and an ER doc was there. THey pushed the hospital option and asked if I had someone to call. Thanks to the emergency info Jules had provided to the race, I found Lisa and my odysessy began.

I got great support all the way around. Big hug. Thanks.

So, the best news is that JP is banged up but okay. Here's a pic to prove it (taken and posted with his permission). He's a tough mother.

My race report:

First time doing Battenkill. Plan was to protect Jules, me, and Dave V who would do as little as possible until the second feed zone at mi 48, at which time we would try to shred the race if it hadn't been already.

John M. to follow wheels and try to survive to the end.

Whitey, Patrick, Jeff C., Aly, and Norm to be active, cover breaks.

You've heard by now what happened to Whitey. We missed him.

The first 2/3 of the race was sort of uneventful. The expected attrition happened in the expected places. I do think we made some mistakes we can learn from. Our guys were aggressive and selfless and attacked when Jules (our elected road captain) asked them to. But every time I looked out from my nice protected spot in the top 20 or so, there was a lone Kissena up the road just dangling in front of the peloton.

The problem with the solo moves was we were neither putting someone up the road with a chance to succeed, nor were we hurting the bunch - the peloton would just ride tempo and let our lone soloist die a slow death in the wind. So we were just wasting strong legs. We needed to do a better job coordinating with Hudson, Siggi's, Sids, all those local guys we know to actually try to take some guys with us. With some teams represented (A) our guys are in something that has potential; and (B) the bunch is forced to work with out protected guys sitting comfortably on.

That's not to say its all our fault that no one would respond or bridge. I tried to talk to those teams - "why don't you guys send somebody up to that?" "Do you guys want to send someone up the road with us?" But that was met with the usual "nah, too early." I guess its like a park race where every Cat 4 thinks he can win the sprint if he just does jack shit for the whole race; these guys all thought that if they just sat in until the deciding hills maybe they could make it over. Which of course, most didn't. I dunno, if I was a guy not confident about my ability on the hills I'd want to impact the race early on - not cut my losses to avoid pain or finish 5 minutes behind instead of 10. Anyway....

That aside…I had a lot of fun, though I had some misadventures.

I threw my chain on a descent at mile 20 trying to shift prior to the turn at the bottom and couldn't get it back on. I had to stop and chase back solo. I got across as fast as I could and set about recovering. Next 20 miles not much going on except the expected attrition.

At mile 40 there were maybe 20-25 of us left when we hit a long flat dirt stretch, and I had a lot of trouble with the big rocks and loose gravel. I was surprised by this as the dirt had to that point been basically a non-issue other than having to climb seated more than I would prefer. Several guys were fishtailing and sliding off the road. I stayed on but I did get gapped a couple of times and had to get back on and it hurt.

So 12-15 of us get over the last big hill. Other than the group being larger that we'd hoped, we had what we wanted. All our protected guys (Jules, Dave, and I were still there) and we had an added bonus: John M, amazingly, had made the selection. I think this was my favorite part of the day. Dude turned himself inside out and he was the biggest guy in the selection, for sure. It was inspiring to see. So now we had our sprinter with us. At that point, I figured he was our man. I told he and Jules as much "John is winning this race, that's it!"