The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Battenkill RR by Eneas Freyre

The Good:

The 3AM wake up call went off and if not for the auto start of the coffee maker I’m not sure that I would have made it down the stairs. Fortunately I had a partner in crime to head up to Congers, NY in fellow TT Endurance Club member Bruce Turner. We piled everything into his truck and headed out on our 3+hr trip north to meet up with other club members, Clare Zecher, Team Budden, and Lyn McCabe.

We were all about to tackle the Tour of the Battenkill which has quickly grown to be the must-do race of the spring season in the northeast. Why? Perhaps it is because 25% of the race is covered over dirt and gravel roads (not sure why we all love to put our lovely carbon bikes and wheels over such roads but we do!), or maybe its position on the race calendar as the 1^st real road cycling race of significant distance of the year (80 miles for elite race).

In classic New England style, the maple syrup would be flowing this morning with start temps below freezing but a swing of 30+ degrees was expected by end of day. This called for a race pack full of every conceivable piece of clothing as dressing for this race was going to be just as challenging as the course itself.

With a solid elite field at the start and a challenging 80miles of rolling and dirt roads ahead, the plan was to stay hidden and ready for the final 40k when things were going to get hard.

50 miles into the contest the legs and Evo all-weather tires were rolling and I was riding at the front of the field up the climbs with confidence, waiting for things to blow up and hopefully make the selection.

The Bad

Sure enough things did blow up but not in the way I had envisioned. As we crested over another dirt road climb part of my seat post snapped and I was quickly sidelined sans saddle and left only with a carbon post to sit on. No thank you!  

Pulling over and waiting for a support car I was fortunate enough to find that they had a spare bike that was as expected the wrong size and not fast but I had wheels and, after losing several minutes on the bike exchange, I was on my way again.

Figuring that I would not go down without a fight, I started to chase.  Within a few miles the support car came up on me and I quickly jumped on his bumper at 50+ mph.  Holding off speed wobbles behind an SUV is no fun at all, and having to slam on the brakes to make a turn with smoke coming off of your rims is no fun at all, but when I made the turn on to yet another dirt road I could see the front group about a minute up the road and my already over rev’d heart started pumping even faster with the excitement that I may actually regroup with the field.

The Ugly

Adrenaline pumping and wheels bouncing I picked up my pace in hopes of catching a stalling field when I heard the sound that all cyclist dread. Hissss! My rear wheel had pinch flatted and as quickly as I had gotten up to speed, I was now back to 0 mph. AGAIN! Only this time with a rear flat and no support car in sight to help.

Fortunately the weather was great as I hung out at an intersection with some great local police to watch field after field of age groupers roll by with no extra wheel for me.

30 min later, and seriously considering running the last 25 miles to at least get home, a wheel was gifted to me by a generous motorcycle support vehicle and I was on my way again.

My race was over but why not get a great workout in? So with about 40k to go I put the hammer down on my ill-fitted bike and motivated myself on trying to catch as many age groupers as possible before the finish.

In the end I had been defeated by mechanicals which is never a fun way to go out, but I was happy to see that my other TT Endurance Club members had made it home safe and sound with great personal results.