Posted By: normanzoto rip a hard left on to Eagleville Rd. I was a bike length or two back of Rich (who was right on Patrick's wheel) and still accelerating hard... I thought we had another 100m to the turn... but, it wasn't so.

hahahaa, what a moment! we're cruising along, chatting a little bit, and decide to move up. all of a sudden, grehan's yelling "now is the time!!", and gasses it along the rt. shoulder of 313. that marshall came up on us just a liiiiitle faster than expected and several folks shared an intimate moment with the shoulder of eagleville rd. there. good stuff. real glad everyone stayed cool and didn't freak out.

Congrats to Josh, Andrew, Josh and Joel for a strong ride last weekend! Was great to see other Cat 5 Kissena's lining up - you all started 2 hours before me, so I was there cheering you on. I was the only guy in blue and orange in my race (Cat 5 35+). I can't wait to go back as a 4, as well. Only 2 races to go until my upgrade! Will be nice to have a few teammates in the mix next time around.

fist off, what a beautiful day for a race...i had been preparing myself for 40 degrees and raining...similar story to everyone else...i lost the pack on juniper and burned too much trying to catch them...i would like to give a shout out to andrew for helping me out and taking some extremely strong pulls at the front...
at the end of the day, i just didn't have the legs to keep up the pace and road out the second half of the race by myself in the pain cave...
it was great to see everyone and congrats on the strong showing....

I will do my race report the same way Joe did

Short story: Battenkill is not a good first race after 2 seasons of not racing and do not use a 23-11 cassette

Long story: I tried to stay at the front top 20 for most of the beginning of the race making sure to just be protected from the wind. The climbing stared and the more we went up the smaller the main bunch. We got to the longest climb the infamous “Joe bean”, I tried to stay with joe but I just didn’t have the legs. I went as hard as I could and ended vomiting a bit at the top from the effort.

A small group of 8 got together in the downhill, only about 3 of us was making pulls. But we managed to chase down what was left of the main bunch, about 8 other guys. We were about 16 in total with all from different teams except Hudson who had 2. By that time Joe was gone flying in the break. Since the break had 2 Hudson’s and one kissena, neither the other Hudson guys nor myself wanted to pull the chasing group, making sure the break would stay away.

The problem was that no one else wanted to pull; so at times I would go at the front for a bit just to make sure we were moving. I thought about attaching the group but I knew I didn’t have the legs. We kept rolling steady until meeting house road, where a Hudson and a Sids (finished 3rd) guy started to really hammer things. After that climb it was only the 3 of us left from that group. Right when we hit the pavement 15kms from the finish I somehow managed to get cramps on both hamstrings at the same time. I believe that has to be some kind of record. I couldn’t pedal, so I would spin for a bit, then pedal 5 times then spin. At that point I knew my race was over. I was on survivor mode just trying to get to the finish. People would pass me, I would jump on their wheels until I would get the cramps again and would have to let them go. I did that all the way to the finish. At one point I was being passed by the people who where drop from brown field and I had passed miles back.

So many people passed me that I was really surprised I got 11th.

All in all it is a pretty cool ride. Nice job to Joe and the crew.

That would have been ugly if we all went into the ditch on that turn.

I had been getting nervous because there were several Kissenas having a "coffee clutch" in the back of the field. It dawned on me that you didn't know that it was not going to be as easy to move up once we turned onto Eagleville road. With Hudson and Sids massed at the front I didn't want us to hit Juniper Swamp at the back. Jumping back up to the front I didn't realize how quickly the turn was coming up and hope I didn't put you too much at risk.

BTW I've got to give a big thank you to Norm who pulled me back up across the rollers when I was cracking. I think you pulled me back to the bottom of Joe Bean hill? My memory of the sequence of events is blurry - at one point we crested a hill (rt 62 perhaps?) and I turned around at the bottom of the descent and realized you were not on my wheel - did you have the speed wobble issue again? I think I burned my matchbook around then. Would have been smarter of me to find a group to work with.

Patrick

Thanks Joe, looking forward to racing with you guys shortly, although the way things are going, I'm guessing you won't be in the 4s much longer. And, a huge congrats to you on a great race on Sunday!!! Strong work.

Josh, great to hear you ended up strong all the way to finish way to take it to the other dude. I don't know how many started but our group was close to the full 50 at the start line. I'm sure there were many mechanicals along the way and few may have just given up..

Aaron, thanks for the shout out, was just trying to bridge up to some other riders and maybe form something of a chase group and not have to ride the rest of the race with just one or two others. Unfortunately, everyone we caught was from another field and all the effort was wasted. The rider from RI that was with us had a mechanical on the gravel just past Joe Bean Rd. so it was pretty much a solo effort from then on and those early efforts really took their toll. Congrats on a strong race yourself and sorry I couldn't join you for that beer, had to get back home. Settled for choco milk instead...

David, thanks for cheering us on and congrats on Sunday, you guys should get some sort of medal for going the extra miles. Maybe they'll add them on for next years edition!!!

Who's racing this wknd??

Yep... I was going to move-up left as we passed the twin grain silos, but I got distracted and missed seeing them, so I went with you guys.

You're welcome for the pull. I think we got back up to a large group just prior to Joe Bean. Prior to that, the descent where I dropped back --you went into that pretty fast, I tried to follow at the same clip but it felt too hot for me so I lightly touched the brakes to shave a little speed then leaned lower than my comfort zone, but doing so got me tracking well along the curve and carried me through steadily. Also, I was still catching my breath, so took a minute or so to catch-up to you.

Except for the crappy speed/lean correction, I felt very stable and sure through the whole course, which was a relief to me given my history.

At Joe Bean, I took the hill fast cause I could see David G. 50-100 ft ahead... I thought if I can get to David's group, I can help him. I should have burned it harder though, because once over the hill, that group was moving fast. I was trading pulls with a strong guy for about 2 miles, then he dropped back to pick-up his teammate (I should have dropped back at the same time to join forces you and Rich and Tito). I felt so good, I just kept going hard... then I was alone... for almost the entire 2nd half of the race.

Lots of lessons...

Meetinghouse Road photos....

Joe M.:
http://www.ksjphoto.com/Sports/Tour-of-the-Battenkill-2011/16397871_y4Jhh#1247533215_u9fxs

David G (i think?) on Meetinghouse Road:
http://www.ksjphoto.com/Sports/Tour-of-the-Battenkill-2011/16397871_y4Jhh#1247544177_x5Wz9

Another Kissena:
http://www.ksjphoto.com/Sports/Tour-of-the-Battenkill-2011/16397871_y4Jhh#1247557785_higbG

Patrick?
http://www.ksjphoto.com/Sports/Tour-of-the-Battenkill-2011/16397871_y4Jhh#1247564752_bh3Ln

Another Kissena:
http://www.ksjphoto.com/Sports/Tour-of-the-Battenkill-2011/16397871_y4Jhh#1247566236_wCYHu

One more:
http://www.ksjphoto.com/Sports/Tour-of-the-Battenkill-2011/16397871_y4Jhh#1247568499_BuURi

nice photos! joe's got the complete concentration game face on.

Extra applause for David G. for racing this race in speedy fashion with an 11-23 cassette. 15-18% punch climb, again and again and again, not easy with that gearing.

I know everyone has their own gear preferences, but for me, racing and training here in this here region, I pretty much always have at least a 25 cog and for the climbing heavy races, I slap on the dinner plate, my 27.

Sounds like great fun and obviously, congrats to Joe. And David. 11th for your first race in 2 years is damn fine! Wish I coulda been there. Big ups on what seems like some pretty good teamwork too.

Posted By: rhenningnice photos! joe's got the complete concentration game face on.

Thats my "please legs just a little more don't die face"

Posted By: josephmuellerThis one is Rich:

Oh that's cute...sharing an unflattering moment w/ the man with the hammer.


This one's Jeff White methinks:

http://www.ksjphoto.com/Sports/Tour-of-the-Battenkill-2011/16397871_y4Jhh#1247568499_BuURi

Rich,

You're leaving those guys in your dust. Literally.

Battenkillers,
Interesting article on Cycling Tips: Battenkill from race winner Brett Tivers’ POV.
http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/04/tour-of-battenkill-americas-queen-of-the-classics/

Go Kiwi's!

Battenkill sag wagon video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcSdS-tix6s&feature=uploademail

Its already time to think about next years Battenkill.

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=14431 - Registration opens Wed Dec 21st, at 7pm.

Races have moved over to Saturday from Sunday, so it looks like taking Friday off to get up there and get settled may be necessary or at least desired for some folks.

Sunday, March 25 Spring Preview Ride

Friday, April 13 Pro/Am Registration Expo

Saturday, April 14 Tour of the Battenkill Pro/Am, Expo

Sunday, April 15 Bike Marathon , Tour of the Battenkill Professional Men's Race, Expo

Is it $100 yet?

One of the hardest races all year, I'm still hurting from last year. OUch

Can't wait. Not looking forward to the months of indoor training, starvation diet and inevitable fifty posts about tire selection...

1st and last tire selection post: if it's dry, use your preferred race tire (I used 22mm tubular slicks this year and handling was a cinch), if it's wet... I'd run 25s at slightly lower pressures... damn... that's not a very confident recommendation, I guess we need a few more posts...

Anyhow, it'll be marvelous to race this again!

23 conti's took good care of me last year.

never done it. wanna do it. wanna kill it.

Is Greg Donovan still with Kissena?

@ Ryan if you can ride it as angry as Stage 3 TOC you'll murder it...

Posted By: Christian Refakis@ Ryan if you can ride it as angry as Stage 3 TOC you'll murder it...

yes but not racing lately.

Not sure how that misquote occurred, but thanks for the reply perlberg

I hear Greg Donovan and WDC have double-secret retreats in the woods, where they go squirrel hunting and take turns playing Dick Cheney. They dress in Kissena clothing that has been spoiled in muddy cyclocross races and not washed since. Toughens them up or B-Kill.