Tour of the Battenkill 2010

In preparation for this weekends UCI Pro Tour of the Battenkill, I’m posting my recap of the Team TOMS Shoes experience in last weekend’s Pro/Am Battenkill race.

**Well we did it, survived I mean. No crashes, no injuries. And here’s how it all went down.

The six of us (Matt Bartlett, Tim Chiang, Greg Capelle, Ryan Dudek, Ellis Kim and myself) arrived at the hotel in Shaftsbury, VT on Friday night around 11 p.m. For the most I think we were all filled with equal parts anxiousness and excitement. But we tried to get some sleep. Ellis snored.

We woke up at 7 a.m.  Saturday and the butterflies were definitely fluttering. I had done quite a bit of talking to my local friends who have raced Battenkill in years past. The one thing everyone talked was the final climb before the finish, Stage Road. It’s all dirt and over 2 miles long. This was what I was most worried about. The race is long, 62 miles for Category 5 and I knew that if I was to have any chance at the podium I would need to maintain good position at the front of the pack through the final climb. But nothing at Battenkill works out as planned.

We had six riders representing Team TOMS Shoes in the Cat 5 field together. We were the largest team in our field and we knew that would be one of our biggest advantages. The biggest wild card was just how steep the climbs were going to be and how well would our legs hold up throughout the lengthy race? For many of us it would be the longest race we had ever done.

We donned our TOMS kits, loaded up with gels and water bottles and tried to prepare ourselves for the wind and cold. Forecast at the start; 42 degrees, cloudy, wind 15-20 mph. We proceeded to registration at the school in Cambridge and tried to continue eating but it was hard. We used the bathroom many many times and pinned our numbers on each other in the locker room of the school. We then went on a quick warm up ride together and headed to the start line.

We lined up and talked strategy one last time. Our primary goal was to stay organized at the front of the pack because we knew riders would start falling off the back early on and the pack would likely split. The dirt roads were numerous and the pot holes just as plentiful. Luckily everything was dry. It was a cold and windy start, the sun eventually broke through and remained but the wind was persistent and all over the place. In my small well-formed group we rotated in a tight pace line and echelon when crosswinds arose.

The first two climbs were absolutely brutal. I was totally caught off guard. I knew where the climbs were located on the course but I was not prepared for the grade of each. Our speed was in the single digits, climbing out of the saddle struggling to produce RPMs. As we predicted the pack split early on with about 20 riders out in front and the rest scattered behind with no organization. Matt and Greg were able to work together and maintain good position in the lead pack for the remainder of the race with Greg finishing 9th and Matt 12th. I found myself alone in the middle, exactly where I didn’t want to be. Tim was off behind me and Ellis alone in front. Ryan was also somewhere on his own. Unfortunately Ryan and Tim had to bow out. Ellis fought through the stomach sickness he had been battling and impressively finished the race solo.

During a relatively flat and rolling section of the course I spent about an hour bridging a gap on my own to reach a group of four riders. I recovered in the sanctuary of my new friends’ slipstream and for the remainder of the race we worked together very well and made up a lot of the time we had lost. At around mile 55 we hit Stage Road, our last major challenge before the finish at 62. It was a long stair stepper climb with unfortunate casualties forced to walk their bikes all along the way. When I finally reached the peak I was filled with relief and pride because I knew I had done it. The finish was just a few rolling hills away, with pavement all the way.

At the finish Team TOMS gathered to reflect on the brutal race and discuss where the hell we were going to eat.

View an extended gallery on Flickr.