Day 2 of Battenkill. The big one. Yesterday was the “warm up” and Zirbel did his part for the BISSELL team. The rest of us weren’t much help sitting in the bunch about 20 minutes back! Today we hoped to stack the odds a little more in our favor.
Race started out with plenty of attacking and eventually a little move went clear with 2 riders. No problem, not a chance a little duo was going to stay away on this course. This course being 2 laps of 100 km. Each lap containing about 4500 feet of elevation gain and 25 km of gravel roads. A total of 9000 feet of climbing and 50 km of gravel. Good times!
Back to the race... First lap after the 2 riders departed from the peloton the rest of us got to know the course a little better (we did one lap of it yesterday.) There was some splitting up but most everyone regrouped after the more difficult sections. Unfortunately on one of those rough sections, first Sheldon and then Zirb’s flatted. Sheldon got a wheel change and was able to get back on but Tom was left standing on the side of the road with wheel in hand. Apparently a spectator was kind enough to give him a tube so that he could ride back to the hotel. Hitting the showers early!
Second lap the pace heated up with one of the teams sending all of their riders to the front. Eventually they must have decided this course was too much for a chase because they started launching their riders off the front one by one. Eventually one did get clear and that was the end of the chase. The pace slowed way down and I began to wonder if we were now racing for 4th place. Others must have been asking that same question because soon enough the attacks started again and a group of 3 got away. And that was when the bunch decided enough was enough- the pace became steady as a chase began. We sent first Omer, then Sheldon, to take part. The boys did well and brought this group back and that’s when the real fireworks started.
30 km to race, and not an easy 30 km! Of the 8 dirt sections, 4 of them were left with plenty of climbing in each one. And at 170 km in, every time the road turned upwards or the tires slipped on the gravel you felt it! With Sheldon and Omer having done their work, Graham and I took turns covering attacks. The group rapidly trimmed down and soon there were only a handful of us in the front with dozens of others always trying to catch up from behind. With about 20 km left to race, we caught one of the original 2 that had gone away early in the race. Only 2 up the road now, both solo, one somewhat fresh and one that had been away all day. Back in the dwindling group the bombs never stopped. Everyone was taking their turn. Soon Graham was playing the catch up game. 2 gravel sections left and my legs were feeling every pedal stroke. Knowing the suffering everyone was going through I attempted a couple of digs, but nothing happening. Then it was my turn to be calling wait up! Coming from behind is never the way to race and after several efforts doing this the legs were no longer there. Before entering the last dirt section I could only watch as some of the favorites rode away from our group. One of those ended up catching the 2nd place rider on the road, but no one ever saw the one sole leader- out front all day, much of that solo. Impressive. I finished in a group of 15 or so, what was left of the “peloton.” Good for a mediocre 13th place on the day. Graham ended up 32nd. Omer and Sheldon finished the day together in a group further back. Not quite what the Bissell team was hoping for but I think this race turned out more difficult than most of us planned! Of the 160 starters there were 62 finishers. We are already looking forward to some redemption next year!
More photos here.
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