Battenkill 2011

I was able to ride in shorts and shirt sleeves for the 1st time this year at Battenkill. The race had a dreamlike quality. The colors of bright new kits contrasted against the New York countryside. Rolling hills, skeleton trees, and the occasional new England homstead were austure. The combination of bikes, motorcycles, and vehicles whipped up quite a bit of dust on the descents - so a few times I literally inhaled the surroundings. Perhaps most dreamlike was the way in which my bicycle responded to my efforts to propel it around the course. It wiggled in the sand, but held the course. Picked up claylike mud when I took a line through what was probably the only wet section of 60 miles. Most concerning was the relative speed of my bike compared to those around me. It really did seem to stay still while others pulled off impressive efforts of forward momentum.

Many times, the race did not seem like a race at all. More of a reunion of female cyclists out for a Sunday stroll. About 40 miles into the race, I started a hill near the back of the field. I ended the short climb in the same position and saw the field split on a roller ahead of me. This was truly unfortunate but there was not much to be done about it except put out some effort to get into the back group. When the group had come together and was rolling, I got my breath back and started to bemoan missing the break. I could see a wheel car up ahead and figured that some ladies were blocking our group from moving to protect the break. There was no sign of cyclists ahead and we had been going quite slowly for a while. If we kept this up, it would likely be a boring 20 miles. I was in a great position for an attack and launched myself off. It was much more fun to ride the rolling pavement alone than in the group. I figured at some point, someone would show up but for now I was free to choose my own lines and pedal away. Freedom came to end in a turn, when I had to break to avoid hitting the pace car which had drastically slowed. Wait a second, how did the pace car get there? Somehow, in my dream like state - had I mistaken it for a wheel car? The field must have joined together without my realizing. Soon enough, the ladies arrived and I settled back in.

I later was dropped from the field on the final climb after stopping when I thought my rear tire had gone flat (it hadn't). I became part of the detritus left behind by the peleton. To add insult to injury, my bike wanted to toodle along at a holiday pace. Thank goodness to Audrey to come scoop me up into her draft at nearly 30 mph. Wow, I wish I could go that fast!

Here's to dropping a few pounds and improving my power!

I enjoyed a relaxed state of mind for the 1st half of the race- but it turned out to be too relaxed for the 2nd half as I made mistakes that kept me out of the finish. I'll try to improve my mental focus for the summer.