Tour of the Battenkill race report

Lets just get right into this since I have much to talk about. This past weekend was the Race that all of us work so hard to be in shape for. BATTENKILL. I will try my best and give you a good rundown from the start of the weekend till the end.
Friday morning I got up in my own bed at home and looked outside to none other than rain! Fantastic! For those who don't know, tour of the battenkill is like 30% dirt roads and that rain is most likely heading toward the town of Cambridge where it will turn those dirt roads into a giant mud puddle. The forecast looked ok for Saturdays race day so I had my coffee bitched to Erin about how my legs hurt blah blah blah. So me being a pain in the ass I decided to pack my bike inside the car, which makes everything else a bitch to back.
                                               

It looked like that

So Erin and I hit the road to our destination, which was about a 2 hour drive north. The ride is very boring because there is literally nothing to look at, but luckily for us we had sirius. We herd an awesome song on the way up that is def going to be the song of the week, but ill post it at the end of my ramblings. About 30 minutes from the start town "where early number pickup is" the rain was turning into this big white semi frozen shit called SLEET! GOD DAMN IT I CANT GET AWAY FROM THIS SHIT! I figured that overnight and into tomorrow morning everything would dry up and the roads would be clear............

I was so fucking wrong

The thing I hate the most about riding in salt is that the shit gets everywhere! One time I actually got it on my ass cheeks! HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN! but that's another post.

So we finally arrived to early registration. The sponsors were just getting finished setting some stuff up and some sponsors were still arriving to the race. I casually walked with Erin up to the number pick up and presented my USAC license and got my number, then got my free T shirt and headed  to the merch tent cause Erin wanted to pick up some cow bells to band loudly in racers faces as they ride uphill tomorrow. So before I get to race day I will leave you with the only three pictures I took from early registration to the lake house.

(mavic neutral support, you def see these guys at every pro tour race)

                                                  

( This is a $19,000 bike sitting in the rain)

( and this is how they get maple syrup)

Now that we arrived to the lake house, it was time to unpack my over packing of cycling shit I brang with me and relax for a while before Erin and I headed to dinner. After we got back from pre race dinner " which was fucking amazing BTW" I threw on my compression tights, stretched and drank a few glasses of wine to get my nerves calm. You wanna see how cool I look here........

( multi tasking like a mother fucker)

So now we come to race day!!!! The first sign of how you are going to feel for the day is right outta bed. I get up, and BOOM LEGS FEEL GOOD! Now time for breakfast, which was a banana and Nutella wrap. It was now 9AM and I needed to be at the race and warming up by 10. So in the 45 minute span before I left, I shit like 4 times "yes my nerves go wild".   So I kiss Erin goodbye for the day. I will add too that my sister in law, her boyfriend Scott and great friend Colin were on there way up to meet Erin at the lake house and get a nice spot on Joe Bean Rd to tailgate and cheer me on....AWESOME!!!!!

I get to the race parking at 9:55 and the lot I usually park in is closed....fuck! so I am then detoured to a field by the starting line that is a mud hole and I obviously get parked at the end of the field the farthest away from the line.

( It looked like that)

So I gear up and start rolling though the mud to the road, my bike starts acting up. Great if I cant get my chain to the climbing gear " which is the small ring" I'm fucked, because during this race its a must. I finally get it working and head to staging. 30 seconds.......3.....2....1....and away we go. We keep a casual pace for the first 5 miles until we hit the eagleville covered bridge, and the race is on. Theres nothing more scary than cruising at 25mph down mud roads. I don't want to bore you with lame words but long story short I hung with the peloton for about 35 miles then lost contact and could not bridge the gap by myself on the dirt roads " which was like riding through molasses". I finished in 3:17:25, 46 out of 96. Pretty bad, but considering what I went through this winter and spring, I was.....well not happy but content I should say. Well I will train harder next year. Before I wrap it up I want to thank Erin for being very patient with me all winter and spring. I am a real asshole when it comes to battenkill and I don't think she knows it, but If it wasn't for her, I would be seeing a sports psychologist by now. I also want to shout out my sister in law Aileen, Scott and Colin for making the 2+hour trip to watch the race and enjoying the weekend, and getting me drink 30 seconds after finishing. And I should also add my good friend Tom finished 2nd in his cat! stellar and more to come for him! I will now leave you with some of my favorite photos from the weekend with a little commentary from myself. Sorry this post was all over the place and short but I wanted to get it up today. Until next time....... Rubber side down. Mike

( waiting on Joe bean)

( suffering 33 into the race, and looking like a idiot )

( Erin yelling as I cross the finish line)

( aggravated)

( but still loving my RANGERS )

( Erin and Aileen )

(time to get ready for the game. Colin F TOWN)

( Shit got serious after a few beers )

( not bad waking up with a hangover to this)

Great weekend and I cant wait for next year! LET THE RACE SEASON BEGIN!

Trooper Brinkerhoff Memorial Race Report.

Well I can tell you right now that my race did not go as planned for me a few weeks ago. To put it in perspective, it pretty much went like this.........

But anyway. I woke up with a ok feeling in my legs. When you are a bike racer you know what kind of race you are going to have right when you step out of bed on race day. So I got up and had myself a cup of coffee, sprayed a little mud "as per usual on race day" and hit the road.

looks like 55-60 out

I made a quick stop on the way for a bagel and OJ. Its funny going into a public place when you are a skinny little guy and  have a multi thousand dollar bike on your roof. People just look at the bike and look at you, then repeat for about 7 seconds. I wonder what they are thinking? My assumption is something like "look at this little prick all skinny thinking he is the shit, with his nice bike and perfect body". Well its true, thats exactly what I think of myself........and add great looking onto there too. jk jk jk......maybe. So long story short, I got my crap and really got on the road.

(I did this while driving, which is way harder than texting)

I always like the drive up to coxsackie, its the first race I do every year. This year the race was bigger than ever. The promoters changed the course to twelve mile loops as opposed to the last years six mile loop, and I tell you what.....it was way more challenging for me, who had minimal training and was suffering from past injurys, but I will get into that later. The race is dedicated to a young state trooper who was killed in the line of duty and left behind a child and a wife. The state and local police always help marshal the race which is really cool, and they do a great job.

So onto race time!!!! I get out of my car to feel arctic like air and a gust of wind so hard it blew my USA Cycling license out of my hand. This race usually has bad wind every year, but this was by far the worst I have ever seen. So not too long after I arrive and get my bib number, my good friend Tom shows up. We struggle to pin our bibs onto our jerseys. Let me tell you a little secret. The reason I get to races so damn early is so I can have time to pin my number on. The shit takes so damn long and I end up pricking my fingers like 1000 times. By the end of the race season, I repeat this process so many times, my jersey ends up looking like a piece of swiss cheese. But I digress.

(about 30 before the start)

So after the bib fiasco, we roll out for a warmup. Just a little out and back to turn the legs on. We were flying the way out and im thinking to myself " oh man this aint bad", until we turn around to head back. STRAIGHT HEADWIND! I was so cold by the time we got back from a warmup. I went into my car and turned the heat on full blast to defrost my fingers............15 minutes till start. I roll to the starting line with all the other cat 3/4 racers. The race is four laps, which equals forty eight miles. As per usual, every bike race starts with a lecture from a USA Cycling official telling us the same rules we hear BEFORE EVERY RACE WE ENTER! Center line rule in effect blah blah blah. Meanwhile all of us are sitting on the start line shaking and freezing out asses off. Then the official says 30 seconds till start. At that time I really only think of a few things..........I hope I can stay with the group, I hope I don't crash, and I hope I can finish and get back to my wife safely. Then the horn blows and we are off. Before I know it, like 30 riders blow by me on the NEUTRAL START! and that puts me toward the back of the field, which on a course with so much headwind and so many turns, is a really bad place to be, because when the front of the pack hits the turn and rides casually on, the back of the pack has to sprint just to catch back up. NOT GOOD MIKE! At this point my legs were feeling like complete shitballs. Between that and the wind that cut down our speed from 27mph to 14, I was in trouble. Ive had a tough run up to this race, between moving into my house and a nagging hamstring pain, my training was really lacking. I held on for two laps and was dropped. Getting dropped from a group is a awful feeling, watching all the riders disappear up the road breaks my heart. So I did not give up and finished out the rest of the race with a few other weak riders, and actually got to see to pro women almost get into a bitch fight on bicycles! WINNING! I wound up finishing 62 out of like 105 which sucks but I finished. 

Well its now April and that race was in March so im sorry for the late update, but I have been working my ass off for the biggest race of the spring, TOUR OF THE BATTENKILL. I managed to finish 10th last year, but that was with cat 5 racers. This year im cat 4 and it will be much harder but I think I am ready. Wish me luck and I will be back to tell you all about Battenkill and I promise to take more pictures because I bounce all over the place on this blog. Untill next time Rubber side down

Mike.

Song of the week = Casa Del Mirto - Killer Haze