Canadian Cyclist

 

April 7/14 20:54 pm - Tour of the Battenkill, report and results


Posted by Editoress on 04/7/14
 

Battenkill is the hardest race I’ve ever done. Period.

Everything about Battenkill was hard. To start Chris Bozek, Barbie Hope and I were late leaving Toronto and didn’t get to our hotel until 1am. After 5 hours sleep we made our way to the race course.

Battenkill was my first Cat2 race and it was a welcome sight to see a few other Canadians including Anthony Steblowski and Luke Vanlauwe on the start line.  Anthony and I were able to have quick discussion and he gave me some great advice: don’t attack until the end. Of course, this is advice I didn’t follow.

Once out on the roads, the fight for position was constant and I found myself continuously yo-yoing from the front to the back. Rain the night before had changed the dirt roads to the constancy of peanut butter which had the peloton strung out immediately. The course was constantly rolling and, on one steep muddy hill, the pace from struggling riders became so slow the much of the peloton was forced to dismount, with many riders running their bikes up the hill. My cyclocross re-mounting skills saved me on that one.

At about 30km into the race breakaway of three, which included two teammates, got away. I don’t know what it is about breakaways - I can’t resist. I jumped, even though I knew I shouldn’t. I bridged to the break. And we were away for close to 60km.

Everyone in the break was Canadian and we were able to work extremely well together. At one point, the support vehicle pulled up and informed us that we had a 5 minute lead on the peloton. We looked around at each other and laughed with joy. We were going to win this race! I could already picture Barbie standing at the line seeing me finish in the lead. But, as my old boss used to say when I worked in politics: “pride comes before the fall”.

Things were going well until about 80km into the race. I made a crucial mistake before the race and didn’t set my bike computer to display the elapsed distance. And, I was too worried about showing weakness to my fellow escapees to ask them how far we had to go. Punching up the constant climbs and the effort of pushing through spongy dirt roads was starting to weigh on me.

I kept telling myself that the finish should be around any corner. And then, all of sudden, I could hear cheering. We were close I knew it! We turned the corner onto feedzone one. We were only at the first of two feedzones! At that point I knew I was already pretty much cooked and I could tell the others were getting there too.

On the next series of climbs our breakaway lost a rider. The support vehicle informed us that our gap was down to one minute and thirty seconds. We lost another rider. Then the leader lost me.

I was caught by the peloton and again pride was my downfall. Rather than finding the most sheltered spot in the group, I wanted to show I wasn’t down and out; I tried to stick it out in the first ten riders. This worked until the first hill. I was dropped like a stone. The true cost of the breakaway came to bear. I never saw the lead group again and was on my own with 20km of muddy road and steep climbs still to come.

I had failed to recognize that Battenkill is a war of attrition. I had put all my cards on the table and lost.

In my head, when I launched for the break, I had visions of riding away from the field to victory like Bruce Bird so often does.  It was at that point that someone called my name. And who was it? It was Bruce, who had broken away from his own race, which had started later than ours. Without a sign of pain in his face he said “hi”, smiled and soloed on to victory.

As luck would have it, I ended up riding with another dropped rider from Toronto, Scott Fitzgerald who described my breakaway attempt as a “kamikaze move”. We suffered on together until eventually Scott dropped me as well.

I’ve never been so desperate for a race to be over. I ate everything I had and tried to push on to the finish. I came across the line physically destroyed. I immediately went to sleep in the back of the car and then drove back to Toronto with Chris and Barbie (both of whom had strong races in their categories) so that I could race the Tour of Bronte the next day.

I’ll be back a Battenkill for sure. But next time I’m going to be smart.

Report by Grahame Rivers

 

Sunday Results

Pro/1/2 Women, 104.6 km
1 Kathleen Giles (USA) ABRT 3:32:57
2 Cecilia Davis-Hayes (USA) CRCA: Stan's NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX at s.t.
3 Stephanie Wetzel (USA) Colavita Midatlantic 0:02
4 Brittlee Bowman (USA) CRCA: Stan's NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX 2:46
5 Kerrin Strevell (USA) Farm Team Elite Women's Cycling Team s.t.
6 Lauren Dagostino (USA) NJ/NY COLAVITA WOMEN'S TEAM 2:48
7 Jennifer Stephenson (Can) Holiday Inn Express / P-K Express s.t.
8 Nancy Labbe-Giguere (USA) Quadcycles 2:49
9 Rosanne Van Dorn (USA) Farm Team Elite Women's Cycling Team
10 Gabriella Nordin (GBr) Pedal Power RT
11 Emily Spence (USA) CRCA/BH Comedy Central all s.t.
12 Natasha Elliott (Can) Cycle-Smart Elite Team 2:50
13 Catherine Dessureault (Can) SAS-MAZDA-MACOGEP s.t.
14 Catherine Fleury (Can) Cyclone d'Alma 3:37
15 Ana Sirianni (USA) Riverside Racing 5:26
16 Aimee Layton (USA) CRCA/CityMDcycling 7:16
17 Clara Kelly (USA) NEBC p/b Cycle Loft 7:35
18 Lisa Vandivort (USA) CRCA/CityMD Racing 9:12
19 Anna Zivarts (USA) Rockstar Games/Signature Cycles 9:13
20 Ashley Barson (Can) Coachchris.ca 9:18
21 Adriane Provost (Can) SAS-MAZDA-MACOGEP specialized 9:24
22 Erica Adelberg (USA) CRCA/Radical Media 9:37
23 Meredith Uhl (USA) Farm Team Elite Women's Cycling Team 11:46
24 Katrina Niez (USA) Team ERRACE p/b DSO Manufacturing 12:27
25 Julia Lonchar (USA) Team Alliance Environmental 14:00
26 Christina Birch (USA) Farm Team Elite Women's Cycling 15:41
27 Laura Lee Pedersen (USA) CRCA/Radical Media 22:19
DNF Helen Hatch (USA) CRCA: Stan's NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX
DNF Rose Long (USA) CRCA/City MD Womens Cycling Team
DNF Jacqueline Mcclure (USA) Farm Team Elite Women's Cycling
 
Men Pro/1, 160.93 km
1 Scott Zwizanski (USA) Optum 4:24:00
2 Tim Mitchell (USA) CCB Racing at 3:56
3 Eneas Freyre (USA) TTEndurance
4 Paul Lynch (USA) BMC Development
5 Marcos Mazzola Lazzarotto (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite
6 Jean-Michel Lachance (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
7 Ben Frederick (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite
8 Adam Myerson (USA) Team SmartStop-Mountain Khakis all s.t.
9 Andrew Seitz (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite 4:03
10 Ariel Mendez Penate (USA) Champion System-Stan's NoTubes 5:36
11 Cameron Cogburn (USA) Team SmartStop - Mtn Khakis 7:04
12 Mike Garrigan (Can) Van Dessel s.t.
13 Benjamin Fogle (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite 7:19
14 Jacob Tremblay (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite s.t.
15 Mike Stone (USA) Stan's NoTubes p/b Proferrin 7:34
16 Micah Engle (USA) Faulkner Nissan Racing s.t.
17 Evan Murphy (USA) CRCA/Foundation 7:49
18 Jon D'Alba (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite 7:51
19 William Cooper (USA) QCW Cycling - Breakawaybikes.com-Vie 13 p/b Felt Bikes 9:15
20 Gaelen Merritt (Can) Wheels of Bloor/Graywood Developments s.t.
21 Chase Goldstein (USA) Stan's NoTubes p/b Proferrin 10:42
22 Curtis White (USA) CCB Racing 10:46
23 Christian Favata (USA) TRT BICYCLES 10:49
24 Brett Kielick (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite
25 Alex Cox (USA) CCB Racing
26 Anthony Clark (USA) J.A.M. Fund / NCC
27 Samuel Blanchette (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech
28 Tyler Wren (USA) Jamis/Hagens Berman Pro Cycling presented by Sutterhome all s.t.
29 Anthony Sreblowski (Can) Wheels of Bloor 10:55
30 Neil Bezdek (USA) CRCA/Foundation s.t.
31 Leandre Bouchard (Can) Cyclone d'Alma/ Devinci 11:00
32 Bruce Bird (Can) Wheels of Bloor/Graywood Developments 12:16
33 Sean Mccarthy (USA) JAM Fund / NCC 13:15
34 Dennis Cottreau (Can) Ride With Rendall p/b Biemme 14:19
35 David Drouin (Can) NccH 15:01
36 Andrew House (Can) Coachchris.ca 15:39
37 Jacob Mueller (USA) Stan's NoTubes p/b Proferrin 16:27
38 Derrick St-John (Can) Silber Pro Cycling s.t.
39 Craig Nichols (USA) Team Alliance Environmental 18:00
40 Aaron Fillion (Can) Ride WIth Rendall p/b Biemme 18:24
41 Sébastien Rousseau (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech 19:29
42 Casey Roth (Can) Ride WIth Rendall p/b Biemme 20:43
43 Daniel Chabanov (USA) CRCA/Foundation 22:44
44 Matthew Bruner (USA) Happy Tooth Racing 25:22
45 Etienne Samson (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech 25:22
46 Nick Keough (USA) CRCA/Foundation 27:11
47 Nick Rogers (USA) QCW Cycling - Breakawaybikes.com-Vie 13 p/b Felt Bikes 30:05
48 Dany Belley (Can) Vélo Station 38:56
49 Lewis Fellas (USA) ENGVT
50 Simon Castonguay (Can) Felt MTB Racing Team both s.t.
51 Benjamin Martel (Can) Vélo Station 39:07
52 Robert Ralph (Can) Silber Pro Cycling s.t.
53 Joseph Carpisassi (USA) Cycletherapy 43:15
54 Jeremy Shirock (USA) QCW Cycling - Breakawaybikes.com-Vie 13 p/b Felt Bikes 44:15
55 Guillaume Fiset (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech s.t.
56 Ryan Rapolas (USA) QCW Cycling - Breakawaybikes.com-Vie 13 p/b Felt Bikes 53:00
57 Neal Shepherd (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies s.t.
58 Maxime Le Pluart (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech 56:00
59 Adam Andersen (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech
60 Louis-Charles Lacroix (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech both s.t.
DNF William Blackburn (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
DNF Benjamin Chartrand (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
DNF Logan Cornel (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech
DNF Fred Cossette (Can) Transport Lacombe-Devinci
DNF Joël Desgreniers (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech
DNF Jean-François Dionne (Can) Norco Bicycles / PremierTech
DNF Eillott Doyle (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
DNF Nick Frey (USA) Boo Bicycles - TrainingPeaks
DNF Matthew Furlow (USA) QCW Cycling - Breakawaybikes.com-Vie 13 p/b Felt Bikes
DNF Alexandre Gaumont Casias (Can) Cycle Technique
DNF Emmanuel Goguen (USA) RACE CF | racecf.org @racecf
DNF Patrick Goguen (USA) C.F. Racing | racecf.org
DNF William Goodfellow (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
DNF John Harris (USA) CT Cycling Advancement Program Pro-Am Team
DNF Jesse Keough (USA) CRCA/Foundation
DNF John Loehner (USA) Stan's NoTubes p/b Proferrin
DNF Phil Marceau (Can) Cycle Techinque
DNF Nicolas Masbourian (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
DNF David Onsow (Can) Silber Pro Cycling
DNF Yohan Patry (Can) Transport Lacombe-Devinci
DNF Hendrik Pineda (Can) T-Palm Pôle continental wallon
DNF Bruno Pinto (USA) Stan's NoTubes p/b Proferrin
DNF Justin Purificati (Can) Ride with Rendall p/b Biemme
DNF Willem Shepherd (Can) Cycle Technique
DNF Geron Williams (USA)
DNF Daniel Zmolik (USA) Stan's NoTubes p/b Proferrin



Saturday results

Cat 2 Men, 135.1 km
1 Bill Ash (USA) QCW Cycling p.b. breakawaybikes.com 3:54:28
2 Nicholas Applegate (USA) Cycleton at 2:20
3 Chris Strumolo (USA) CRCA / e2Value
4 Landen Wark-Acebo (USA) ENGVT - UnTapped both s.t.
5 Cory Small (USA) UVM Cycling 2:21
6 Nick Iacovelli (USA) highgear
7 Martin Rupes (Can) NCCH p/b DEC Express
8 Jesse Walker (USA) CRCA/e2Value
9 Alan Royek (USA) Faulkner Nissan Racing all s.t.
10 Jayson Jacobs (USA) CRCA/Rapha Racing 2:22
11 Evan East (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Team 2:23
12 Charlie Gorman (Can) Nine2FivePro.com Cycling Team 2:38
13 Robert Chorost (USA) 2:40
14 Calvin Hoops (USA) Faulkner Nissan Racing 2:41
15 Dave Warner (USA) GREEN LINE VELO driven by Zipcar 2:42
16 David Dawson (USA) The Performance Lab p/b Caffeinated Cyclist
17 Sammy Moseley (USA) CRCA/Foundation both s.t.
18 Andrew Bernstein (USA) Faulkner Nissan Racing 2:43
19 Claude Binchet (Can) Acquisio - ACQ 2:44
20 Anthony Sreblowski (Can) Wheels of Bloor s.t.
21 Fred Thomas (USA) Downeast Racing 2:46
22 Bryan Mcgill (USA) Grinta Cycling Team s.t.
23 Johan Gibcus (USA) Grinta Cycling Team p/b Erba Cycles 3:36
24 Daniel Crespo (USA) Primal-Denver Audi 4:24
25 Luke Vanlauwe (Can) NCCH p/b Dec Express 4:40
26 Colton Valentine (USA) QCW Cycling p.b. Breakawaybikes.com 5:06
27 Nathan Goates (USA) Faulkner Nissan Racing 5:56
28 Matt Moon (USA) Downeast Racing s.t.
29 Olivier Lavigueur (Can) Guru 6:34
30 Alex Carmona (USA) Grinta Cycling Team 6:35
31 Keith Hatton (USA) Tri-State Velo / Amoroso's Racing Team s.t.
32 David Costa (USA) Farm Team 6:38
33 Matthew Randolph (USA) Shirk's Racing presented by Trek Bikes 7:37
34 Marten Beels (USA) Lamprey Systems 8:12
35 Lucas Fortini (USA) Sherpa Elite Cycling 8:23
36 Raphael Gariepy (Can) ABC Cycles & Sports / Honda Centreville s.t.
37 Shane Scoggin (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies/LSV 8:25
38 Graham Macbeth (USA) CRCA / e2Value 8:26
39 James Jung (USA) CRCA / BH Comedy Central 8:27
40 Guillaume Pinglot (Can) ACQUISIO 10:26
41 Charles Veilleux (Can) CC Rossi Lac St-Louis 10:27
42 Owen Eastmond (Can) CC Rossi Lac st-louis 10:28
43 William Morris (USA) Grinta Cycling Team p/b Erba Cycles s.t.
44 Nicolas Azara (Can) ABC Cycles/Honda CentreVille 10:30
45 Scott Fitzgerald (Can) Euro-Sports 12:40
46 Kyle Foley (USA) Amity Bikes s.t.
47 David Richardson (USA) Team Towpath 14:22
48 Grahame Rivers (Can) RealDeal 15:12
49 Allen Carr (USA) CRCA / e2value 16:12
50 Lance Ohlsson (USA) 1K2GO Coffee - Burris Logistics 18:30
51 Michael Egan (USA) PA Masters 20:25
52 Olivier Lalonde (Can) ACQUISIO 20:26
53 Erik Post (USA) CRCA/BH Comedy Central 22:49
54 Jacinto Pereira (USA) 22:52
55 Alexi Richer (Can) Acquisio 22:52
56 Brian Wolff (USA) GBSC/Carl Hart Bicycles 28:53
57 Jean-Roch Marion (Can) 32:35
58 Bruno Labelle (Can) cc rossi lac st-louis 37:10
59 Philippe Allard (Can) Guru Racing Team 15:56
60 Brian James Quessy (Can) Guru Racing Team 19:10
DNF Ross Baldwin (USA) High Gear/Trek/WW
DNF Mathieu Boudier-Revéret (Can) ACQUISIO
DNF Jack Burke (Can) team CHCH/NCCH
DNF William Cooper (USA) QCW Cycling p.b. Breakawaybikes.com
DNF Adamo Forian (Can) GURU Racing Team
DNF Philippe Lalonde (Can) Guru Racing Team
DNF Fabien Lemaire (Can) ACQUISIO
DNF David Perreault (Can) Guru
DNF Edouard Tougas (Can) ACQUISIO
DNF Mathieu Denis (Can) Guru
 
Cat 3/4 Women, 104.6 km
1 Cassandra Maximenko (USA) CRCA: Stan's NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX 3:47:36
2 Katherine Santos (USA) ProChain Junior Women Cycling at 2:33
3 Barb Blakley (USA) CRCA/CityMD Women's Racing
4 Janelle Cole (USA) WMCR/Andrie Jr. Devo Team both s.t.
5 Bryna Blanchard (USA) North American Velo 2:38
6 Evelyn Korbich (USA) Young Medalists 3:12
7 Sara Yancovitz (USA) CRCA/Stan's NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX 5:32
8 Joanne Grogan (USA) 1K2GO Coffee - Burris Logistics 5:33
9 Melissa Hiller (USA) QCW Cycling p.b. Breakawaybikes.com s.t.
10 Karen Nash (USA) CCB Racing Team 6:02
11 Andrea Archer (USA) CRCA/Houlihan Lokey 6:23
12 Alexandra Morley (Can) RealDeal/Gears p/b Fieldgate 7:37
13 Julia Sante (USA) Farm Team Elite Womens Cycling Team 7:59
14 Kathryn Cumming (USA) Team Yacht Club 8:06
15 Meghan Schloat (USA) CRCA/CityMD Racing 8:21
16 Kayla Washburn (USA) Mason Racing 8:22
17 Rachel Dobrozsi (USA) ProChain Junior Girls 11:36
18 Madeleine Mcconnell (GBr) NCCH p/b DEC express 12:57
19 Melissa Seib (USA) BIKEMAN.COM 13:20
20 Kennedy Adams (USA) ProChain Junior Girls 14:42
21 Erica Tricarico (USA) CRCA: Stan's NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX 14:57
22 Barbie Hope (Can) Team Spoke O'Motion 15:08
23 Ruby West (Can) Team NCCH p/b Dec Express 15:28
24 Mackenzie Green (USA) ProChain Junior Girls 19:15
25 Nancy Bailey (USA) Pittsford Painting Cycling 19:18
26 Marcy Diem (USA) Thru-It-All Body Shop 22:25
27 Cynthia Lo (USA) CRCA: Stan's NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX 30:05
28 Kaitlyn Steeves (Can) NCCH 31:50
29 Jennifer Poirier (USA) CRCA - Houlihan Lokey 33:28
30 Megan Amling (USA) ProChain Junior Girls 38:09
31 Raur Meilleur Harvey (Can) Bikurious Racing Collective 40:12
32 Sophia Lee (USA) QCW Cycling p.b. Breakawaybikes.com 43:58
33 Catharine Hollenbach (USA) Thru-It-All Body Shop 57:20
34 Stephanie Makoujy (USA) Portland Velo Club 5:34
35 Ede Cameron (Can) Bikurious Racing Collective 6:33
36 Tracy Lea (USA) T.E.A.M. FUJI 6:35
37 Kristina Santos (USA) Team Danica 22:04
DNF Lucia Deng (USA) CRCA/Rockstar Games/Signature Cycles
DNF Hillary Lowry (Can) NCCH p/b DEC Express
DNF Kristie Nichols (USA) QCW Cycling p.b. Breakawaybikes.com
DNF Paige Williams (USA) Farm Team Elite Women's Cycling  

 

 

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