Tour of the Battenkill 2013 -- AND Carl Dolan

This past weekend was the Tour of the Battenkill.  Dubbed "America's Queen of the Classics," it is a 65 mile race in upstate New York (Cambridge).  It features 5000 feet of climbing and 10 dirt/gravel sections.  This race has Jake's name written all over it.  Last year was his first year in the 15-16 boys race, and Jake rode really well, just missing the final select group.  You can re-live that here.

This year, gone were the sunny skies and 60 degree temperatures.  And gone were the unknowns.  Instead of "we'll see how you do" this year Jake came in wanting and expecting to do well.  But there is still a field full of the very top 15-16 year old boys from the east coast and even Canada.  At least 5 of the top 10 best cyclocross racers in the age group were there.

Because this is a blog devoted to the Soigneur Dad, you get the full story, not just a recap of the race (but that will come).

But wait, there's more.  Sunday was also Liam's first race back at home on his new team, NCVC.  He would do the Carl Dolan Memorial, and Loren would reprise her role as Soigneur Mom (skip to the bottom if you desire that report first).

We decided Thursday that we should leave Friday morning instead of Friday after school so that we could get there in time for Jake to pre-ride parts of the course.  They had changed the course a bit from last year, and Saturday there would be races going off every 10 minutes from 8am to 2:30pm.  Jake's race would be Sunday at 10:30.  In short, the weather was terrible.  It was pouring rain all the way up the east coast.

Rain in the Catskills

But we got to the hotel in Saratoga Springs around 2:30, checked in, then drove straight to Cambridge (45 minutes depending on how slow the people are driving the country roads).  It was significantly colder than when we left home.  We got Jake's number and were about to go out on the course when I saw Shane (Scoggin) mom pumping gas.  We chatted with her briefly and agreed to have dinner with them at 6.  I let Jake drive our way around the 65 mile course (must practice).  It was definitely different.  The dirt roads had much less gravel, but were very wet.

I took some video and photos:
Here is the covered bridge early in the race

did I mention rain and mud

This is the final, decisive climb up Stage Road -- note this

but then it keeps going

It's lovely country

the decisive climb onto Meetinghouse road

the top of Meetinghouse Rd

fields

views

bucolic

dirt climb

Panorama

We had dinner with Shane & his mom at Wheatfields Restaurant, which was very good.  Shane was doing the Cat 3 race on Saturday instead of the Jr. 17-18 on Sunday

Saturday
Saturday we went back to Cambridge and did a ride to open up Jake's legs.  It would have been very pretty, except it was 40 degrees and overcast.

really lovely if it were 30 degrees warmer and sunny

sheep for Loren

We saw Shane shortly after his finish.  He did well, finishing 13th out of 130, and I learned from Jordan Cross that Shane animated the race at key times.  We heard tales of carnage from crashes on the wet dirt roads in big fields.  Jake napped Saturday afternoon while I did a little work and watched a little bit of the Masters.  We ate dinner at Wheatfields again.

Sunday -- Race Day
The weather forecast for Sunday was temps in the mid-40s and overcast.  There was a chance of snow overnight (seriously!?)  I was really worried about what Jake would wear.  Ultimately, he wore 2 defeet sleeveless undershirts, and 2 short sleeved jerseys with arm warmers and full leg warmers.  Seriously, it was cold and windy.

We left Saratoga Springs at 8:15 and got to parking around 9.  Jake and Andy Fleming went out for a warm up ride (first I had Jake go to the officials to check his roll out), while Andy's dad, Jeff, and I put wheels in the wheel car and generally organized.  Jake seemed to be in a good place in his head, and was fooling around with track stands while they staged the race before his.

Jake & Andy

That's Sam Lear in the background

I can do track standz?

Then it was time for staging and the start

Game Faces

 

 and they're off, and there is trash talk within 50 yards of the start

 So, Jeff and I made our way to the first feed zone at mile 25. It was at a dairy farm/creamery, so the smell of the feed zone was...poo -- and it was cold & windy.

We waited a bit and they came through, I got Jake a bottle, but no sign of Andy

Well, poor Andy had broken his chain and arrived via the sag wagon.  He was not happy, poor kid.

boo boo face

I had identified locations along the course where we could stop and see them come by as we made our way (perhaps at high speed) to the second feed zone.  So, first we stopped at mile 33 near Greenwich.  As we sat there it started to sleet!  Jake came through in the group. Carney Cassidy Rd was right after this, a nasty climb

 So then we raced to the next "intercept" point at mile 37-ish at Cambridge Battenkill Rd.  Again Jake was right up there

So now we really raced to make sure we got to the second feed zone before them.  We did (although we didn't wait long).  A kid was getting off the front.  I got Jake a bottle (and yelled at the idiot parents that think they should step into the middle of the road).  This was 20 miles from the finish, and it was about to get real

Instead of taking the official route back to town for the finish, I figured out a cut through that would let us intercept them at mile 54-ish, which would be after the second-to-last, decisive dirt climb of Meetinghouse Rd. where historically the selections are made.  I was nervous about whether Jake would be in the selection.  That damn kid who was just seconds off the front was now 3 minutes off the front. Oh, wait, what's that you say....he's the Canadian National Time Trial Champion. Oh, great.  Jake said they didn't even realize he was off the front until it was too late.  They would see lots of people up ahead who were coming backwards from previous fields and couldn't tell who was who.

I gave out a "whoop" that Jake was there in the lead chase. 7 guys, and then not much behind.  We drove like hell for town.  After that video was the final climb of Stage Road.  Steep and dirt.  Jake said that a kid attacked, but was quickly reeled in, but Jake could tell that a bunch of them were hurting so he kept driving the pace along with another boy from the Sommerset team (I think).  That dropped at least 1 boy.  But then there is a 4 mile run in to town.  Jake says they started playing the tactics, with people throwing down hard attacks only to be reeled in.  I stood there at the finish as the winner came through.  But then 2 minutes later Cooper Wolsey came through alone in 2nd.  Jake said they had no idea he was gone (how that happens I don't know because I'm pretty sure that's him 3 seconds ahead in the last video).
Jake says he came into the final corner 3rd in the group of 5, following Tom Dudzik of Garmin (who Shane had told us was strong).  Here's the video of the finish (note that my yelling is getting less extreme)

Photo of Jake's group after sprint from the Daily Gazette

 Well, not his best sprint, so 7th overall and more importantly he was right there in the elite group, animating in the final miles.  He said that he thinks he could have gotten away from them if he had really "attacked" on the Stage Rd climb, but the plan was to be more conservative.  Maybe next time he goes for the attack; maybe he was better on the climbs than they were (he was certainly the skinniest and least muscled of that group of 5).  Oh well, he rode really well and is in a great place to get much stronger going into the next few months.

Results (and he won $40)

It was a long ride home, but spirits were decent and traffic was light.  I'm proud of how he raced and how he handled pre-race.

EXTRA BONUS COVERAGE -- LIAM RACES AT CARL DOLAN MEM.

What? could there possibly be more?  On Saturday was Liam's opening day of little league on his new "Majors" team.  They crushed the other team.  On Sunday, Liam would do his first road race of the year at Carl Dolan Memorial.  Liam has joined the NCVC juniors squad this year.  They have a VERY big group of 10-14 kids and a very motivated and great team mom, Marge MacKeith, so that works well for Liam, who likes the social aspect as much as the racing. He has been going to practice in Arlington and was ready to race.  I once again sent Loren a detailed list of instructions, and she got to experience the joys of an 8am junior start, which meant leaving the house at like 6:15.

This is all 2nd hand, but I know that there was a BIG field.  More than 35 kids 10-14 signed up, and they would start at the same time as another 25 kids in the 15-18 group.

At the start

The start (by Loren's iphone)

Post race cupcake

the choice of all your serious racers

Liam came in 17th, which isn't bad out of that big group.  I really can't get a take on how it happened, but I gather he was riding alone, not in a group, so we'll work on that a little.  G Schultz won the 10-14 race by 2 minutes.  There's a boy that will love Battenkill next year.