echappist

Props to all you Flandrians for toughing it out.

DennisD

I agree that it was an awesome course and a very well run event, though for some unexplained reason my legs disappeared and I can't personally call this a great race (long post here). I also heard lots of talk about the gravel. If the weather was foul, all of that talk would have been more than justified as I couldn't imagine what a mess things would have been, especially on those sandy sections on Meeting House Rd. But with such great weather yesterday, the dirt roads were in my opinion in better condition than some of the pot-hole riddled asphalt roads here in CT.

slynkie

nice report Dennis. i was in the same field - i actually recognized you from pics from your blog, it wasn't me that mentioned it though. you were looking good from what i had time to notice, and i saw you up there as i was getting gapped off on Joe Bean. your teammate Lance was putting in some utterly massive efforts to rejoin with the front. we regained contact at the base of the Mountain Rd climb thanks in large part to him - maybe you were with us then? i came right back off and mostly worked solo until 5km to go, where i joined a small group and we rolled in for high-20s/low-30s placings, i guess not far ahead of you.

chapeau to anyone who finished that race - it was brutal. can't wait for next year.

DennisD

If I was looking good when you saw me, it definitely had to have been in the first half of the race. Unfortunately when teammate Lance, his big engine, and presumably you passed by me, I was so defeated, deflated, and covered in dirt that I probably easily blended into the road, hardly to be noticed. Congrats on your strong finish, and hopefully next time we cross paths I'll have enough energy to look up and say "hi".

GirlAnachronism

Nice photo of my teammate and friend crashing here: https://www.saratogian.com/articles/2...3857551200.txt

This has been forwarded to me about 500 times today. Luckily she has a good sense of humor about it.

Grumpy McTrumpy

50th in the M40+ out of 150. I think a third of the field DNF.

I kind of liked the rough sections and hairy descents

Flak

Was my first trip out there, and ended up 4th in the grey 3 race. Some dude in our race solo'ed the whole bloody thing and we were left racing for second. Gave me enough points for my 2 upgrade - should make next year a good deal tougher!

I enjoyed it. It's for sure different to the kind of racing we have here in Ohio, and the dirt was fun. The run into the finish sucked though. No idea why they changed it. I'm glad there was only a small group of us coming to the line together.

RudeSiggy

Yeah MD - good talkin' with you and happy birthday! Didn't realize it at the time.

I was doing just fine, LOVING the dirt and feeling comfortable, although the hills definitely hurt a bit. Got over Joe Bean at mile 46-47 with the lead group and psssssst my front when flat.

That's basically all she wrote. Holding up my wheel in the air, I watched a bunch of chase groups and two MAVIC cars fly by before the SUV stopped for me. Chased a lot, and at the new dirt section, within about 150-200 meters of the group, I gave it all I had. Unfortunately I only picked up stragglers and then dropped many of them.

About 10 miles from the finish a group of 7 guys caught me so I jumped in their paceline to finish it off. At least I was able to feel like I went fast into the finish... some consolation that our team leader did get 4th. Bittersweet, in a way. He tried to take off with a few k to go but couldn't hold it, then still got in the sprint.

I definitely have unfinished business with Battenkill. Such a great-run event, cool course, and yeah, so what if luck plays its toll. There's little else like this race.

Matt2.8NJ

RR - Cat 3 Gray.

Flatted about 1:25 in, out of the lead group. Lost about 10 mins waiting for the wheel truck, watching them down the road giving wheels to other riders.

Rest of the trip was solo passing stragglers.

Thanks to whoever's wheel I got to use for the rest of the miles.

Best part of the weekend was my 10 month old clapping for me at the finish, although he may have been clapping because my wife gave him some Cheerios. :-)

GirlAnachronism

This race also officially destroyed my teammates' borrowed $3k carbon wheel. Oops.

Her mechanic (and friend) was replacing the bearings in her Hed's, so he let her borrow his lighter wheels for the race.

Homebrew01

With all the flats, sounds like beater tubulars would be the way to go.

ridethecliche

Adorable, nonetheless.

bostongarden

Hat's off to all who raced there.

FormerBMX'er

Cat 4 Racer here, finished 51st in 40+ Masters. Basically the 2nd group on the road, too far back to make early the split.

Grumpy McTrumpy

hey then you are the guy who finished right after me!

FormerBMX'er

Did we shake hands after the race?...that's too funny.

Grumpy McTrumpy

yes that's me

here we are in the group

MDcatV

grumpy - where are you getting all these photos?

Grumpy McTrumpy

if you go to the battenkill facebook page, a bunch of photogs have posted links to their personal collections.

FormerBMX'er

That's absolutely crazy. I've seen you around the forum, kinda crazy we meet, shake hands after a race and not knowing we are both BF members

That was my first Bkill, so I was working to keep my match book full. I was expecting a much colder ride; I was way overdressed

Nice to meet you in case, I'm sure I see you out there again. Our time would have held up well in pretty much all the Cat 4 waves.

Grumpy...What did you have for power numbers?...what do you weight?

-BMX

GirlAnachronism

And there's video of my teammates' crash! That is one well-documented wipe-out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUfdi...e_gdata_player

MDcatV

which one is your team mate? the person who caused the crash looked OK, 2nd one to go down looked like it hurt, 3rd one to go down looked like it hurt and it's going to leave scars.

during pre-ride we went through that sand pit a few times, I insisted that we keep going back.

GirlAnachronism

Third one down--the one who was rolling around on the ground holding her head.

MDcatV

yikes, she definitely got the worst end of the deal. hope she's OK and recovering well.

ridethecliche

Any idea what happened there? Looks like the first gal tried to swerve around a bump/pothole/whathaveyou and then just couldn't get traction back on her front wheel.

->Front wheel slide
--->Rear wheel slide+Fishtail
------>All fall down.