That's why they call it huntin', not killin'

Tour of the Battenkill, April 10, 2011 Women's P1/2 Race Report
I don't watch too much tv these days, but we have the dvr set to record Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on Monday nights. Last night we watched as he went to the Ozarks to sample some of the local wildlife. The 'coon hunt turned out to be unsuccessful after the raccoon outsmarted the dogs by leaping from tree top to tree top, and this was the best line of the show.
Battenkill was a week ago now, and, while it took a while for me to settle on one feeling about it, this line just about sums it up. After going down that day on the group ride in October (still don't know what happened there), going over the bars in the Vassar trails in the late fall, crashing on a downhill on cross country skis into rock-hard frozen snow crust in January, and wiping out on a patch of ice out on the dirt roads in February, I was scarred and bruised, more than just physically. As the weather provided a few (very few) days of riding weather, and I left the safety of the basement where my bike was firmly locked into a trainer, any sign of sand on the road or rough patches in the pavement would make me nervous. So 64 miles of racing on upstate roads, with a significant portion of them dirt, was not something I was looking forward to. Add to that the fact that the list of confirmed entries contained a significant number of teams, and many strong names, including some with impressive finishes out west at Redlands already this season, so there would be no room for any hesitation or the race would be over before I knew it.
But, at the appointed hour Don and Jenn showed up in the driveway, we loaded up the Subaru with enough bikes, wheels, riding clothes and food for a small army, and off we went. Choosing to ignore the GPS somewhere around Albany, Don drove us out into the wilds of upstate New York, and an encounter with the biggest turkey I've ever seen as we crested a little rise in the road added a moment of levity and countless opportunities afterwards to just yell the word "turkey'' and crack everybody up if things got too serious. We finally made it to Cambridge, with no feathers in the front grill, suited up, did a pre-ride of the first few miles and climbs on the course (where I felt pretty good and remembered that yes, I do know how to do this) got our race numbers, found our hosts, and headed out to the lake house that was to be our lodging for the night for some food and rest. Some good food, good conversation, a hot shower, and off to bed.
The next morning, I woke up sans alarm at 6, trundled up to the kitchen, made myself a pot of french press, a big bowl of oatmeal, pb and honey, and watched the rising sun's rays light up the windows of the homes across the lake. Awesome.
Then we packed up and headed to the course. Don started at 9:30, me at 11:30 and Jenn at 1:10.
I made it to the start line just to see the back of Rivers' and Tony's jerseys as the start whistle blew for their race (great), watched Don start 10 minutes later, then went back to the car to get dressed and warm up. I did a couple of laps back and forth on Route 22, then dropped off my arm warmers, vest and seat bag at the car, and went to the line.
The race itself, for me, was pretty much a carbon copy of last year: get dropped on the climb, chase back, get dropped on the next climb, chase back etc etc. The group was much stronger than last year though, and as we came into the never-ending step climb on Joe Bean Hill, the group of 60+ was still pretty much all together. After that, though, there were a few that never came back after each successive climb.
Somewhere in the middle of the new dirt section, which, unlike the others which so far had been pretty much just like pavement, was recently-graded and a bit loose and gravelly, I almost started laughing. This, my friends, is insane! And .... it was fun!
As we came into Meetinghouse Road, which is a series of huge dirt rollers, I was getting fatigued from all the chasing. But I was actually doing pretty well on this climb compared to last year and wasn't too far back on the downhill in the middle when I got sucked into the sand pit on the side of the road at the bottom of it. Somehow I managed to stay upright as I came to a dead stop. Just in front of me, Silke from Team Kenda was digging herself out as well, and we worked together to get going again up and over the next climb and when the road went back down hill we (and others) managed to get back with the front group.
On the flat pavement section coming in to the final (dirt) climb, I (and everyone else at the back) made the mistake of relaxing for just a second when suddenly those at the front hit it and the cross winds shredded the group, ripping open huge gaps. Silke and Kate Verronneau and I did the work to pull it back (you're welcome), so I was already in the red as we turned left onto the final climb where again, I started to slide back. Somewhere around 2/3 of the way up, Silke came by me, and I heard someone tell her to keep going; her teammate Melissa was just ahead. As she stood up to drag herself back up there, I knew that I needed to, but failed to go with her, and that was my biggest mistake. I could still see their two green jerseys as they crested the climb and hit the last, mostly downhill and flat 5k or so back into Town and the finish. I went as hard as I could, picking up some people and dropping some along the way, but I never saw them again. Turns out they made it back to the leaders, and finished with the front group, Melissa sprinting for third, while I finished 1:09 back in 22nd with a couple of others.
So, while this race could have lived up to its name and killed me, it didn't. Though my finish placing was disappointing, I had fun and know I need to work on my climbing legs for the season (again), and (also again) that I need to be willing to hurt even more and put in the necessary accelerations in those moments when the race goes up the road, because eventually we will get too close to the finish line to chase back anymore.
Saturday is the Quabbin Reservoir road race in Ware, MA. It finishes on a climb - will be a good test.
Thanks to teammate Beth for the pics - they are on Meetinghouse Road after digging myself out of the sandpit; that's Silke in the green and black kit. Check out Beth's blog at www.mudandmanoloscycling.com.
-A