Tour of the Battenkill Women's Category 3/4 Race - 4-18-09
Tour of the Battenkill – Cambridge, NY – April 18, 2009
NEBC Category ¾ Women’s Race Report
Shannon Madison – 9th
Michelle Harrison – 20th
Julie Lockhart – 52nd
Katherine Snell – DNF (flat)
Shannon Madison
I guess I have one person to blame… I mean THANK, yeah definitely thank!… for getting me to sign up for this race. A day after registration opened, Jay emailed me to say that the Women’s ¾ field for Battenkill was already almost half full. I was en route to my parent’s place for Christmas at the time, so with a few spare minutes in the airport I decided to figure out just exactly what this race was all about. One glance at the website and I was convinced that it would be awesome. I signed up on the spot. Thanks Jay!
Fast forward a little less than 4 months and it’s race day. Overcast, low 50s, and a chance of rain later in the afternoon. Not ideal, but pretty good racing conditions if you ask me. I warmed up with my teammates Katherine and Michele. We had decided that we’d try to stick together for as long as we could, working together whenever possible.
All 4 NEBC women lined up on the front line in the staging area, our goal being to go toward the front for the neutral start. Turns out the first thing we did was make a 90deg left hand turn… and we were on the right hand side, therefore having the most distance to get to the front. I don’t really think that the start had any affect on the race outcome though, but it was a good lesson to learn about lining up and starting: know what’s going to happen after they say “GO”.
The first part of the race on 313 was really slow and no matter where I moved, I kept getting stuck behind a girl who could not ride in a straight line. Good riddance to the squirrel and the slow pace as soon as we turned left towards the covered bridge. The acceleration after the bridge was great and I think unexpected for some. As we got to the first climb, the pace wasn’t yet super intense and the pack was still large. I was cruising near both Michele and Katherine when all of the sudden the fork sensor for my cyclometer starting hitting my spokes. Oh great, now what?!? I slowed and maintained a safe distance from the field for a bit while I somehow managed to flick it just right so that it fixed itself. But now I had dropped back by around 15 people and Juniper Swamp was coming up… Looking back, I think that this little situation is just what I needed. It certainly got my adrenaline going again and made me focus even more on what I was trying to accomplish. I quickly made up the spots I’d lost and somehow narrowly avoided a girl who fell right over after she was in the wrong gear at the base of Juniper Swamp and couldn’t make her pedals turn anymore. I kept a decent pace up to the top of Juniper Swamp, but of course the field had gotten strung out a bit. I charged ahead to catch the obvious leaders and felt comfortable riding at their pace for quite awhile.
In the lead group, there were never any “breaks”… it was more a race of attrition. The size went from ~25 to ~20 to ~15 and finally to 11. We rode with 11 gals for quite a long time. Everyone was aware of the gap we were creating on those that were chasing and we decided that we needed to organize a pace line to maintain and hopefully increase the gap. We rode this way on the paved, flat-ish sections and then doubled it up on the dirt stuff in order to avoid getting strung out on the climbs. Unfortunately, on one of the fast dirt decents, two from our group flatted. I’m not sure how far back the wheel van was, but I was thankful that it wasn’t me who had to wait.
Not long after this, we approached Meeting House Rd. Oof. This is where I got shelled, along with one other girl. It was so frustrating just watching the others ride away from me so easily! Lesson learned: eat when others eat! Drink when others drink! If your stomach is starting to rumble, it’s too late. I got some food right after getting back onto a smooth surface and not more than 10 minutes later I felt like I could push hard again. Stinks to learn that one the hard way, but there will be many more races to put that knowledge to good use.
The last 10 miles or so were pretty lonely. I would occasionally pass a straggler from one of the other fields, but it was mostly me TTing the best way I knew how… head down, legs burning. Finally saw the turnoff for Stage Rd and knew that I was close! One last dirt climb and I was home free. On the climb, I got passed by a 3 or 4 of the Men’s 45+ leaders. They were going pretty fast, but at least it gave me something to try to catch for the last 5 miles into town. It felt really great to finish and I was REALLY happy with my 9th place finish! I will definitely be back at the Tour of the Battenkill next year!
On a side note, I just wanted to let everyone know how WELL this race was run. The support from the communities and the huge number of volunteers was excellent. I had the opportunity to chat with Deiter Drake, the race director, afterwards. What a super nice guy! He made my 9th place finish in the women’s category ¾ race sound like the best thing in the world!
Michele Harrison
Battenkill was an amazing race for me – grueling but an absolute blast. The combination of dirt, asphalt and hills was intense and exhilarating. I lined up near the front and stayed on the outside which would work to my advantage. My mantra, infused by Cathy, was you’re strong enough to stay with the lead group… As we hit the first dirt section and then the first climb, I used the outside lane to stay with lead group as they accelerated. I wasn’t as lucky on the second climb – Juniper Swamp – as the lead group every so slowly slipped away. I was delighted to see Shannon hang on and my goal immediately changed.
We had a great chase group of 8 gals that was well organized and we trailed the lead group by about 30 seconds. Fortunately no one was quite strong enough to pull us up and our intensity wained on Ferguson Road as we had a spectacular crash in our group on the dirt. Two riders went down hard but were able to recover and reattach to the group. We picked up a couple more stragglers from the lead group going into Greenwich and a couple of annoying juniors who would sit in our pace line but not pull through. On Mountain Road they were downright dangerous as they fishtailed in our pace line. I pulled into a different line to avoid them and this along with not properly refueling would be my undoing. I started to struggle on the Meeting House Road climb and lost focus when the nicely mannered 60+ group rode through. Dropped. Argh! But I wasn’t alone. I rode a couple of miles with another gal until she urged me on as she struggled. It was TT mode for the last 10 miles of the race. Not sure how far back from the chase group I finished, but it was a great 50 miles…. I will be back next year as well.
Julie Lockhart
My goals were to finish the race with a target time of under 4 hours and to climb strong on all of the hills. I was semi successful in that I maintained pace for way under my goal time for the first 40 miles, I was really excited to pass a couple of women on Juniper Hill, I was even passing some of the men on that climb (I think that race recon really helped me here) ... of course the men (maybe not all) passed me again later, but it felt good. Feed zones were interesting and I was dismayed to see Katherine on foot. I enjoyed riding with people, and passed a couple of men and got loads of encouragement from team mates and others through out the race. The second Covered Bridge marking that last big climbs came as a surprise, but the conditions of all the dirt portions were very good, even the crushed stone which was not only ride-able, but ride-able with speed. It was exhilarating to finish. A really great race, and I look forward to being further into my training for 2010. I highly recommend the experience.
Lessons Learned:
1.Line up on the side of the staging which is on the inside, so I can stay nearest the front the longest.
2.At the Left hand turn off of on to Eagleville RD I should have hammered to stay in the middle of the pack (if not the front), the mellow pace thus far lulled me into thinking there would be no early hard efforts. So, when the field sprinted at the hard right out of the covered bridge I was caught in the wrong gear/wrong mindset.
3.Chasing back on really hurts, and it was impossible for me to close the gap sufficiently to benefit.
4.There is actually ‘too much’ fluid consumption, I had to stop and … I drank 5 whole bottles. I did not sweat sufficiently to ‘use’ the fluid. That probably added 15 to 20 minutes to my time.
- BUT: I did Sprint the finish!!! Yahoo!
Katherine Snell
Great race for the part of it I was able to do. I flatted at mile 40 or so going into Greenwich, replaced the tube with my spare and then had it explode on me and gave up with a great deal of frustration and exasperation. I had a few offers of spare tubes but at that point had given up a considerable amount of time it what had been a respectable position as I figured based on my average speed at that point with 2/3 of the total mileage done that I would have finished in the top 30.
Nonetheless I learned a bunch and had some good experiences during the race that I can share. I had one simple strategy – be near the front for the decisive climb on Juniper Swamp Rd as to not get dropped on the climb. Related to this strategy was to try and hit the bridge and the first dirt section near the front as well so that I would be in good position on the first difficult climb on Perry Hill Rd. I lined up with Julie, Shannon and Michele near the front but on the right side going into a left turn at the start. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake as those who lined up on the left side got the advantage of being on the front. After the neutral start, the pace continued to be very mellow up Rt. 313 controlled by a large CVC contingent on the front. Unfortunately due to our start position and the slow pace, I was effectively boxed in the middle of the pack, unable to move near the front and so I maintained a mid-pack position as we accelerated after the turn onto Eagleville Rd. After a hard right and a few rollers we turned onto the first dirt section. Then it was back onto the pavement and the climb on Perry Hill Rd. This climb is almost as steep as the infamed Juniper Swamp climb albeit on pavement. A few riders keeled over and crashed as the field slowed down on the climb. Unfortunately my legs were not as fresh as they had been the previous Sunday when I pre-rode the course and my climbing speed was considerably slower. So as usual, I was spit out the back on the climb and chased the lead group with Shannon and Michele back through the downhill and through the dirt on Juniper Swamp Rd. I reached them just as we hit the climb with basically no time to recover and crawled up the hill. By the time I crested, the leaders were pretty far down the road.
I formed a chase group and at one point, we were within a minute of the lead group. The pace picked up on the next climb and again I dropped off and valiantly tried to chase the group past the feed in Sushan. At this point, I was starting to feel a little tired and in need of some recovery so I slowed down a little and tried to get some gel out of my flask (you really need to dilute that stuff if it’s in a flask). We reformed another little group heading out of Salem and again I lost them during the Joe Bean climb. I think I’m going to have to learn patience on the flats and let the group do more pulling so that I can survive the climbs better. It’s tough though when you’re chasing and the others in the group are not working as hard as you to keep up the pace. After Joe Bean, I hit Ferguson full blast. My gel flask was jettisoned from the bike when I hit a pothole but I was staying up on a scary fast dirt descent with a motorcycle who was following the race. We were doing over 35 mph. A couple of gals were off on the side of the road with flats and I remember thinking how that would happen to me because I had my brand spanking new Vittoria Paves. After Ferguson I was solo TTing on Rt. 29 and was passed by the lead groups of the Cat 5 45+ and M60+ fields. On the last bit of climb into Greenwich, I heard an unwelcome hissing sound as one of the groups went by me. I rode for another couple of minutes before my tires became squishy enough that I realized that it was my wheel that had flatted. I stopped, pulled the wheel off and put the new tube back in within a few minutes. It seems it always takes longer when the pressure is on. I then filled the tire with CO2 and was about to put it back on the bike when it exploded along with my hopes of finishing the race in decent position. I called my friend who was waiting for me in the feed zone and after a while, she swung by in the car and picked me up. While I was waiting, a group of ¾ women that eventually finished in the 30s passed by about 20 minutes after I flatted. There were kind offers of help but I figured I was done at that point. We arrived back in town just in time to see Shannon finish in 9th place and Michele at 20th. Excellent work ladies! Anyways I have a room booked at the Cambridge Hotel for next year and am already looking forward to Tour of the Battenkill 2010!___