Notes
warm and dry day for battenkill. i started the race too far back, and it was pretty hard to move up at the start with the big field. at mile 4.5, big crash right in front of me. i think a lot of people went down, but it was hard to tell as it was happening all around me. i rode over a guy and managed to stay on my bike. happy about that anyway. i think some people got caught out from the crash, but they would have been caught out quickly thereafter anyway.
pace was medium fast to start, rolled over meetinghouse without too much trouble except for a lot of lost water bottles. as expensive as my cages were, i've never lost a bottle...
at the stage road climb, i felt the pace wasn't too hard, but was surprised to see the group reduced to 20 or so riders over the top. however, as would be the theme for the rest of the race, once it got down to a small group, nobody wanted to work, we'd slow down to 15 mph, and everyone rejoined.
juniper swamp at mile 35- i tried an attack, as i planned. went all out over the hill, couldn't get quite the gap i hoped, but had some gap, anyway. a couple riders chased on the descent and we had a group of maybe 8 for the next few miles of dirt. i worked hard at the front of the gap for a few pulls, but only one other guy was interested in making it stick and the rest were passengers (i suspect because they couldn't do much else). so we got caught.
after that my race plan was out the window, i just tried to stay near the front and watch moves. we really raced down the next descent before joe bean, and i had to work to close a few gaps. finally got some much needed water at mile 50 and then rolled over joe bean with a solid effort, but not flat out. no attacks still. group was pretty reduced again to maybe 15. i ended up doing some work on the front, and even was accidentally off the front at one point. but nobody wanted to keep moving into the headwind, and the group swelled again. on a flat section at mile 63 or so, an attack went off as i was coming off the front. i ended up stuck out in the very strong crosswinds and barely managed to hop on the last wheel of the group. at this point, my stomach was feeling terrible for some reason (triathlon tummy) and i was in some pain. hung onto the group into the final climb, but just not feeling good.
pace on the last climb was tough, nobody got away and some were shelled off the back. i ended up jumping between the dropped riders to stay with the group since i started it at the back. over the top it slowed up for some cat and mouse. i attacked under the 1km banner, but didn't have the legs and was quickly shut down, and then fell to the back of the group on the counter attack. just stayed on the tail end to finish 11th. so my finish was weak, but i was there anyway...
fun!