Tour of the Battenkill - Cambridge, New York

51 of us lined up at the start at 8:30am, normally there would be close to 150 riders but since this event was upgraded to a UCI 1.2 race many of the Pros were racing on Sunday instead so this left our field a few racers short. This was still the biggest field I've ever raced against and I really wasn't sure what to expect as it was my first Cat 1 race.

We got off to a fairly tame start; I immediate went to the front and hid in the first dozen or so racers. My goal was merely to finish with the main group and not get dropped, I didn't figure I'd be competitive and instead I’d try to get some experience and more used to racing with a decent sized pack while attempting to save as much energy as possible for the dirt sections. Apparently one guy showed up about a minute thirty after the start and gunned it to catch up, I was told this after and I think he immediately proceeded to the front and launched an attack, the first that got away. We caught him at the second feed zone and he was toast.

I was a bit nervous before the start of the race but as soon as things got rolling that sorted itself out and I felt right at home, I think I even felt more comfortable and confident in the dirt sections as I was usually able to move up the field a lot easier and often found myself near the front, not close enough to catch any wind but hopefully close enough that I wouldn’t get caught up in a wreck. I had my bike setup with Giant's P-SLR wheelsystem with Hutchinson tubeless tires; I had the front at 87psi and the rear at 93. I think this was about perfect as the bike handled beautifully on the dirt and gravel sections; I never lost control of felt like I was losing control the entire race which is saying something. I hit over 85KM/Hr on a pave descent and over 70KM/Hr down a dirt descent.

We hit the first dirt section and immediately the attacks started, the pace shot up and we were easily hitting 60km/hr on the dirt. The first dirt section was slightly downhill with an easy left hand bend at the midway point which was the only part I was concerned about but this was also the easiest dirt section going. The dirt sections start out with hard packed dirt and turn into big loose gravel towards the end of the race. I got through the first dirt section without any issues and in the first 1/3 of the pack.

As soon as we hit the pave I think the other 2/3 of the pack completely ignored the "yellow line rule" and quickly made their way to the front of the pack. I quickly found myself at the back of the field and not long after we hit the climb and things opened up. Attacks went up the front as everyone's legs were fresh and mine not feeling so good. ----Thursday evening we had decided to drive till about 5pm, we stopped at a local bike shop and had them mark us a decent 60KM loop. Dad and I got geared up and off we went for a little spin, needless to say the 60km loop was a 100km loop and I spent a good 30K in the pitch black Time Trialing my way as fast as my legs would take me back to the hotel to get the car to go back and pick up Dad. I went pretty deep and knew I might pay for it on Saturday. I think I rode that last bit pretty much on the shoulder of the road as I knew cars wouldn’t be able to see and I'm sure they must have been wondering why we were riding in the pitch black with no lights.--- Even with my legs feeling a bit sluggish I was quickly picking my way through the field up the climb and was quickly noticing I was not nearly suffering as much as some others which was very encouraging.

Here's where things get a bit foggy, a couple guys managed to get off the front I think this happened three times as when I finished the race I thought there was only 3 guys up the road with a 30 second gap. Come to find out after the race there were about a dozen guys off the front, I didn't see where they went or how they got off the front but the dude on the motorcycle escort wasn't making any sense to me, all I heard was 3 and 30 seconds.

Anyways we hit the second dirt section, Juniper Swamp road and it has a 18% grab climb but it was pretty short. Think session hill which hits 12% but on dirt and 4 times as long ...enough to split the group and that’s what it did the first time up the hill, but on the descent the rest of the pack got back on. Things were pretty tame from here; we had to do this embedded loop so after that we headed back to town to start the 60mile loop. Basically we just do the last 20 miles all over again.

I knew things might split again up the second time around Juniper Swamp road with that steep climb so I made sure I was in the first 10 guys around the ugly loose gravel corner leading up to the hill. I managed to just hang on to the tail end of the front group and looked back to see a decent sized gap to the rest of the field. The guys on the front knew this and put the hammer down, but once again, at the end of this dirt section most of the guys who were dropped on the climb managed to get back on and we were all together again.

 We were soon coming to the first feed zone and I had a vest I had to get rid of, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t caught on the left hand side of the road when we hit the feed zone so I rode on the right hand side and soaked up a good amount of wind. The problem was the feed wasn’t for another 10KM so I spent a lot of energy, mistake by me. I guess that’s part of the learning experience. To make matters worse I was at the end of the peloton at the feed zone which had a steep little kicker at the end and the guys on the front thought it would be a good time to attack and a few of us found ourselves 50 meters off the back. 2 guys called it a day and the young guy I was with put his head down and buried himself to get back on the group, I sure would have pulled through but he never once looked back to me for help so I let him do his thing. I kind of felt bad about it but I guess that’s part of bike racing. As soon as I got back on the group I headed for the front and remained there through the next few dirt sections.

Things started getting a bit tougher nearing 90km into the race, my legs were feeling very good but the attacks on the front were coming fast and furious, a group of about 15 guys got off the front with 100 meter gap heading into Cheese Factory road and I felt this might be where I get dropped. I don’t know who was on the front but they were hammering and I was left to bridge a 100 meter gap on the gravel into a head wind. I put my head down and told myself might as  well give it everything you got cause if you get dropped now you’re not getting back on. I closed that gap with 1 rider left on my wheel, we were about ½ through the dirt section, which was completely freshly graded road which felt like you were riding on marbles and the beach at the same time. I took a little breather when I caught the group and as soon as I felt good I attacked down a gravel descent hitting over 70km/hr, I figured it was safer to be on the front as it was loose gravel and some tricky corners, I nailed my line and soon had a gap with 2 other guys of about 10 meters. We each pulled through a few times but the group clawed their way back to us and we came to the pave pretty much all together.

 At this point there were only 3 dirt sections remaining with about 30 km left to race, we hit the second to last dirt section which had a few tough climbs and soon found myself again fighting to hang onto the wheels in front of me, guys were getting dropped and I had to get around them which took more energy and just as we got on top of the climb myself and another guy found ourselves just off the back of about 10 guys and we hammered down this long straight loose gravel descent, I didn’t dare look down to see our speed but think the backside of session hill being completely loose gravel and maybe 1.5 times as long. We managed to get back on just as we started to get on the pave.

The second feed zone was quickly approaching which started another decent climb and as checked to see if I needed another bottle I seen I was ok so I moved up closer to the front remembering what had happened at the first feed and it was a good thing as this is where the field finally split. It was all I could do to hang on the wheels in front and 10 guys got a good sized gap on me up this climb. I once again found myself with one other guy and we worked together to get back to the small group ahead. As we were working hard and closing in on the group the wheel truck thought it would be a good idea to pass us. I don’t think I’ve been so mad during a race, I went from sucking as much oxygen as I could to inhaling dirt. It wasn’t much longer and we found ourselves with small group of 11 guys.

Once we got back on the pave with the final dirt section quickly approaching I took a quick breather and looked behind, couldn’t see anyone else behind us and quickly realized I was going to make it to the end in a respectable placing which I was pretty happy about. But, as I thought there were only 3 guys of the road my placing wasn’t quite as good as I thought it was going to be. Still not bad.

 We hit the final dirt section which is pretty much uphill the entire time, about 3km and gaining 130 meters. I took 3^rd wheel up the climb and stayed there again looking around and realizing I wasn’t in as bad a shape as the rest of the guys I was with. I made it to the top of the climb right where I started, 3^rd wheel. Here is where I should of taken the opportunity to attack as we came out of the dirt but being too cautious wanting to ensure I finished with the group I followed wheels pretty much to the final corner where I was 2^nd wheel and followed some guy straight instead of making the corner and lost 5 positions, my speed and losing another position to cross the line 19^th. I knew the corner was there as we had drove the course the day before, but with a lack of oxygen to the brain sometimes you’re just not thinking clearly.

 I think my winter training is doing its job as I still had lots of life left in my legs, I had some trouble with the accelerations but with my form quickly coming I am only going to get faster and with the hundreds of hours I put on my bike this past winter things are looking good. I know I wanted to play my first race cautious but it’s not the type of racer I am and I’ll be sure to mix it up and lay it out on the line in Killington.

 I’m now looking forward to Wolfville-Roubaix this weekend and sleeping in my own bed!! If I could find a way to do this for a living I’d be all over it, some of the most fun I’ve ever had.

 I’d like to again thank all of my sponsors who have helped make this possible, without them I wouldn’t have been able to make the trip. Coastal Financial Credit Union, Vaughne Assurance, Beltone Hearing, Cassa Business Equipment, Yarmouth KIA, Cook’s Dairy, Derrick Muise Construction, Manser’s bike shop and Giant Bicycles.

 I’d also like to congratulate Dennis Cottreau who rode the same distance and course as the Pro/Cat 1 guys but with near 150 starters to finish 40^th place, awesome job and look forward to getting to train with him when he gets back home this summer.

 A special Thank You to my father for making the trip with me and allowing me to focus on racing and leaving him in charge of everything else, made life very easy.

-          Jeff