Mark Taylor said:

Not exactly related, but registration opened tonight for " hell of hunter don" a great great ride , which I have done every year , except last because it got rescheduled due to weather , 80 Miles , 30% gravel in beautiful farmland New Jersey 
makes for great prep for batenkill
would love some KISSENA company

JamesShaw said:

@Scott Kuhlke I'd also be tempted to get in on this.

Scott Kuhlke said:

Riley, Max and I were talking on Saturday morning of making it to the Battenkill.  With David and Eddie down as well, that makes 5.  

We probably have a critical mass to get a house via airbnb in Saratoga Springs, Albany or Troy, for a 2 night stay (something is going on in Saratoga Springs that weekend that is raising the prices pretty high, so maybe Albany is the economical choice).  With 5 of us, it could work out to $100 - 125 per person for both nights, plus a rental car or two.  With entry fee ($110), food, gas and beer, probably looking at $300 - $350 for the weekend.

We can leave early Friday afternoon, race on Saturday, then if we have enough left in us, do a ride in the area on Sunday, then head back to the city.  If we stay in Albany, those that want to head back early can take the train back to the city.

If this is sounding alright, I'll dig in deeper ....

It might be worthwhile to see what @Jeffrey White is doing for this race, since he's also registered. Jeff, would you be interested in joining in on the group housing/travel?

RileyHoonan said:

Registered. Any insight on training for a longer race like this?

Great question. Let's default to the wise here: @mugwump , do you have any suggestions for gearing up for Battenkill? I'm guessing that the orchard ride is a possibility for some hills and distance, but what would you suggest? Also, since the new Peaks program is going to start next week, I'll be sure to post on that thread and ask if they can give some options in the training for a longer, hilly race.

What a weekend. That was really very special and something that I’m not going to forget. I’ve read about the race for the last two years so it felt super cool to actually be a part of it.

With my confidence slightly boosted following Bear I wanted more out of this race so the plan was to stay on @MaxThorn 's wheel and stay in the lead group. The first few miles were pretty steady but there was some ropey bike handling going on. I felt my back wheel get rubbed a number of times and saw two guys bump shoulders.

First climb and gravel section was a rude awakening. The gravel was rougher than I was expecting and the climb steeper. Be that as it may I worked hard to make sure I was in touch with the front group the whole time and went over the top just at the back of that group.

The second climb was very similar to the first, holding onto the front group wasn’t exactly easy but I didn’t get dropped (at least I think this is what happened).

By this point the front group had thinned to maybe 40 riders and the flat section was taken very slowly with my heart rate dropping right down to AR levels.

On the next climb things started to hurt more and I was just off the back (10-20m). Fortunately Max was feeling it to and on cresting the hill we worked hard together to join the main group. This happened consistently until the decisive climb of the day.

We were presented with what felt like a wall of gravel in the region of 17% straight up. After this the gap between me and the main group was too just a bit too big to bridge over even working with Max. Feeling super tired on a long descent I rested and then tried to get back on to Max’s wheel some 300m ahead of me. Fortunately he saw me and chose to ease off so I get back on.

At some point a group of 8 or so formed but was frustratingly too disorganised to properly chase back on and annoyingly they dropped me and Max on one of the smaller climbs.

We then worked hard together for the remainder of the race and at one point could see the lead group but we were so tired and unsure we stupidly didn’t put in the big effort to get back on.

Turning onto the last climb I dropped my chain but at this point there was a hefty gap behind us and little chance of making or losing places fortunately. I span hard up the last short hill and then rode as hard as I could on the final stretch to the end coming in 19th only a few minutes after the lead group.

We heard that the lead group dropped to 8 on the final climb and finished in a bunch sprint. It’s crazy that we got so close to being a part of that final group.

All things considered it was an amazing race. I’m pleased with how I rode and very thankful for Max’s support, I think we worked really well together.

Although I couldn’t appreciate it as much as I thought I might be able to, the course was awesome and the hills were very similar to the ones we have at home.  Also, the race organisation was really very good.