Saturday, April 19, saw high temperatures one-degree off the all-time record (82°) in Salem, NY. Three members of QuadCycles made the trip for the early-season epic, the Tour of the Battenkill (née Battenkill-Roubaix).
Eric Silva and I did the category 3 race, which started at 11:30 a.m. Toby Phillpotts did the Masters 30+, which started 10 minutes later.
The Category 3 field was nearly full with 96 starters. While Eric and I knew that we probably were not going to place very highly, we were looking forward to the race, which had a reputation for being difficult, rewarding, and one-of-a-kind.
All three of those ended up being true. The most difficult parts of the race were the three main un-pavé (a.k.a. dirt road) sections, as not only were they unpaved, but the majority of the climbs, and certainly the steepest climbs, were all during these sections.
The group stayed together, and the race was not too difficult until the first of the off-road sections, on Juniper Swamp Road, about 10 miles in. The final climb of that section, before a long, fast descent, was .35 miles with an average grade of 9.4%. The majority of the dirt section was well-packed, but the last 100 meters or so was quite loose, and many people ended up needing to dismount and run to the top. I was one of these unlucky folks, and even though I managed a decent cyclocross-style remount, the group was well down the descent by the time I crested.
Thus began the middle section of my race, the group chase. A group of about 6 riders, including myself, Eric, and Jeremy Dunn of Cambridge Bicycle, collected at the bottom of the descent and began a smooth, rotating, paceline for the next 10 miles or so. We caught a few riders who joined us, and by the end we had about 10 people working together trying to chase back on to the group. It wasn’t meant to be, though as we didn’t catch them before the next set of unpaved climbs, which in turn shattered our group.
During the second or third climb of 5 in this middle un-pavé our group had dwindled to 6, and Eric and I were lagging behind the lead 4. After cresting this climb, we tucked in for the fast, negative-5%-grade descent. Just before descent ended, I heard a BANG, and looked behind me to find Eric had gotten a flat. Luckily, we had just passed the second of two support vans for our race, so he was able to get a wheel change without waiting for too long. I pressed on, unsure of how long the wheel swap would take, and still hoping the group would re-coalesce after the dirt section ended.
It didn’t. Or, at least, I wasn’t a part of it. In fact, for the rest of the race I never was able to work with another Cat. 3, and only saw another 3 or 4 people from my race. The 13 miles to the next dirt section were relatively uneventful. I passed several riders in other races, and ran out of water around mile 42. Luckily, this was just before a neutral feed zone (thank you, Greenwich!), where I was able to get a bottle of water to tide me over ‘til the end.
Just before the final dirt section, on Ferguson Road, I was caught by the Masters 30+ field. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, but for two things. Firstly, and frustratingly, there were a few Cat. 3 riders mixed in with the group. Although before every road race, competitors are warned not to work with other groups, it seems that inevitably a few people mix in with subsequent fields when they’ve been dropped. “What’s the big deal? I’m so far back,” they’re probably thinking. Well, it’s a little annoying to have worked for 10 miles by yourself, only to have people you dropped an hour ago ride by on the coattails of another group. You’re not helping them, but they’re certainly helping you.
The second thing was that it meant I was entering the section shortly after the field and their follow cars. The third dirt section was much dustier (mostly unpacked, and between ¼- and ½-inch of loose dirt) than the previous two sections. In fact, visibility at the beginning of the section less than 25 meters there was so much dust. A couple of people passed me on this section; the loose dirt proved to me more challenging for me than it was for them.
On the published course profile, the last climb, about half of which is dirt, looks steep and, well, mountainous. In reality, it’s a long, steady, shallow climb, about 3% for 2.5 miles;the first 1.75 miles is dirt. After the crest is a long, fast descent, and then it’s mostly flat and about 4 miles to the finish. I had one Cat. 3 pass me on this stretch, the last of only four to do so legitimately after our chase group shattered around mile 30.
I was quite pleased to cross the finish line at 2:46:11, in 63rd place. I knew Battenkill-Roubaix was not my race from the beginning. However, I’m glad to have done it and gotten to see a
Congratulations to Toby and Eric for finishing, too, 20th and 76th in their respective races.
Results on BikeReg.com
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