Four members of the Burris Logistics -Fit Werx squad attended the 1012 edition of The Tour of the Battenkill: Tim Noel, John Painter, Christian Verry, and myself. John and Christian raced in the 30+ field, while Tim and I raced in the 40+ field.

The characteristics of the TOB make it very unpredictable. The chances of flatting or crashing are quite high. It is best to stay at or near the front as much as you can. In a field of 150 guys, this can be quite difficult. I managed to do this for the first part of the race, but I had difficulty holding my position as the race progressed. I ended it up mid-pack for most of the race.

The first major punch in the face came when we hit Juniper Swamp Road. It is a short climb, but it is steep. I felt pretty good on it and managed to regain my position at the front as we crested the hill. I was hoping the pace would stay high to thin out the field, but instead we slowed way down. All that work was for nothing as those that were dropped were able to catch back on with no problem. This would be the routine until Meeting House Road: hit it hard on the steeps and dirt, then slow down.

I was a bundle of nerves for the first half of the race. I just could not relax. The dirt sections on this year’s race were brutal. The first couple were nice and packed down, but most of them were full of very lose gravel. It was scary to say the least. I had a momentary lapse were I thought I was going down, but I managed to save it. Interestingly, it snapped me out of my nervousness and I actually began to enjoy the dirt sections.

As we came through the second feed zone, I was tired, but I still was in contact with the lead group. I looked for Tina Noel, who was waiting to resupply us with bottles for the last ten miles of the race. I took my bottle and as I looked up, I saw a pack of about 20 guys start to roll away very quickly. The feedzone was on a bit of a hill so as to slow the pack down. However, it made it very difficult to chase and close an ever-widening gap.

Fellow Shelburne resident and 1K2Go Sports coach, David Connery, pulled up along side of me and gave me the “let’s go.” We chased hard catching riders and building what would become the first chase group. Our chase group was somewhat organized and we were able to keep the main group in our sights until the last 3-4 K of the race. In the end, I led Dave out for the sprint for 35th place (that’s a joke – nobody sprint’s for 35th). I finished in 37th, 2 minutes and 50 seconds behind the winner for a total time of 2:49:00.  I was fine with this result considering 150 guys were in our field.I could not have ridden any harder. My normalized power for the entire race was 288 watts which is just about 12 watts below threshold.

I believe I had the form to stay with the lead group had I not been gapped at the feedzone. I’m a little bummed about this because it is the same thing that happened to me in 2010. I was well prepared physically, but I did not know the course as well as I should have and I was not paying attention at the crucial moment when the selection was made.

The guys in the 30+ field waged a good battle as well. As I said, it is very satisfying just to finish this race in one piece. The men in blue fought hard and represented well.

MB

After traveling for 6 hours, we arrived in North Stonington, CT. I let Claude make our hotel reservation. I asked him what he booked. He replied, “A Budget Inn.” I said, “You mean the chain? The Budget Inn chain?” He said, “Yes, of course.” We looked carefully around the area where our hotel was supposed to be located and we did not see a big glowing sign. Instead we saw a little hand-made sign that read, Bud et Inn.”Oh no,” I mumbled. “This can’t be good.”

Claude rubbed his chin as one does when a few important details may have been overlooked. We drove up to the hotel. Or was it a motel? Or was it… We walked into the lobby which was straight out of a movie, or rather a psycho thriller complete with flashing neon vacancy signs. In fact there were no other cars in the parking lot except for an old Caddie parked at the end. Never a good sign.

We rang the bell at the front desk, which was a slab of old, peeling Formica covered with tourist paraphernalia from the last 30 years. Out comes a young girl of maybe 13-14 years of age to welcome us. She said we could have any room we wanted. Really? Any room?

After deliberating as to whether we would be safer on the first or second floor, we took the keys and headed to our room. I did my best to grin and bare it, but there was no way I was going to sleep in that room.  “Claude,” I said in the kindest way possible, “I appreciate you taking care of the accommodations, but we ain’t staying here.”

We had passed a number of hotels on the way offering excellent discounted rates most definitely due to the recent decline in enthusiasm for all things Foxwoods. We back tracked and found a much more reasonable place to lay our heads. Ahhhh sleep.

Five hours a traveling is a bit much for one 50 minute criterium, so Claude and I registered for the Pro 1-3 race in addition to the 3/4 race. This would be 2 solid efforts and a good hit of training stress. The 3/4 race went off first. My goal was to stay at the front, stay out of trouble, and try to get in a breakaway. This is the only way I can get a result due to the fact that I can’t sprint very well. I met my goal of staying at the front. I initiated a few breaks, chased a few down, but ultimately couldn’t make anything stick. If only I had a little of the “Dean” power.

As the race unfolded, Claude made a go with 2 laps left, but was swallowed up as we made the final turn. I think I was in 3rd or 4th place coming into the final straight and literally lost 20 places in the span of 3 seconds. We rolled in mid-pack, took a few laps to cool down, and then headed back to the van to refuel.

Our goal for the Pro race was just to “hang on” and try not to get dropped. The field was stacked with the usual ex-pros that beat the hell out of the rest of us every season.  To be specific, the McCormack brothers and Adam Myerson were there, so we knew it would be a difficult 90 minutes. It would be an absolute victory for me just to make it to the finish with the group.

As I suspected the first 15 minutes were absolutely brutal. The big boys got on the front and just killed it. I was in the back with my heart rate pegged at near max. I knew I would not be able to hang unless things settled down. Thankfully they did. There was much damage done though. About 20 riders had been dropped and a few others went down in a crash at the back. The field was now reduced to about 55.

After this momentary reprieve, the race promoter rang the bell to signify the first prime (pronounced preeme). Like a bunch of hungry dogs chasing down dinner, the big boys went after it. This would be the routine for the rest of the race. I felt like I was riding a bull just trying to “last a little longer.” There were a few moments of reprieve, but not many. It was pretty much full tilt.

In the end, there was a group of 6 riders that got a 9 second gap on the rest of the field. I finished with the field. I accomplished my goal of not getting dropped. To me not getting dropped by pro riders is a big freaking deal. Even if I come in 49th in the sprint finish.

I met my goals on the day, racked up a fair amount of training stress, and had a good time. We packed up and headed back to Vermont stopping only for gas and a few burritos which of course caused us to stop again, and again, and again.

mb

The weather in New England has been ridiculously good lately. An entire week in the 80s is unheard of for this time of year. This has offered an incredible opportunity for the normally “basement bound” to log some serious training time outdoors. As as a result, bike racers in New England are chomping at the bit to show off their form to the competition. Early season races are selling out like never before.

This excitement was very evident at the first of 3 Trooper Brinkerhoff/Johnny Cake Lane series races this weekend in Coxsackie, NY.  The organizers decided to bump the field limits to 95 and both the A and the B fields sold out. This made me a little nervous as I was registered in the A field. I knew the race would be fast, but now it would be dangerous as well. Ninety-five guys cruising  at an average of 26 mph through tight roads with tight turns is a recipe for disaster. We would do 9 laps of 6 miles each for a total distance of 54 miles.

We lined up at the start. The nervous energy radiated through the field. The race organizer reflected on the death of a rider in a race the week before and then led us in a moment of silence. I stopped thinking about how I would get in a break or position myself for the sprint finish and instead began thinking about how I would make it to the finish line in one piece. I was a bundle of nerves to say the least.

The race started fast and got faster. Many breaks tried to get established, but the field continued to chase them down. This created a tremendous yo-yoing effect at the back half of the peloton. Looking at my power file at the end of the race, it was nothing but spike after spike of efforts way above my threshold.

The race started to settle down with about 12 miles left in the 54-mile race. I started to feel comfortable riding in a massive peloton again and it seemed other riders started to relax as well. As we arrived at the start-finish line to begin the final lap, things apparently got too relaxed. Riders in the front of the peloton slowed down sending riders behind them fumbling for their brakes. Some could not slow down in time. Just like that, about ten riders hit the deck, with 1 or 2 really hurting themselves. The group split. With the pangs of agony echoing behind me I followed the front group as they sped away. I caught back on and took a deep breath of relief. One more lap to go.

The last lap was pretty mellow. A few riders did get off the front and establish about a 10 second gap. The rest of us geared up for a big group sprint as we crossed the 1 KM to go sign. Just as I thought I was out of the woods, the motorcycle pacer came around us and slammed on his breaks right in front of me. I swerved successfully to avoid him, went down in to a ditch and came out just in time to catch the tail end of the group. As we approached the finish at top speed we noticed the race organizers frantically flagging us down. The ambulance from the crash on the previous lap was blocking the finish line. We hit the brakes without incident and soft pedaled in.

Some of the riders gathered at the finish line trying to figure out what the heck just happened. After about 15 minutes, the organizers decided to send our group out for another lap so we could finish the race. At this point I was done and just happy to be in one piece. I found teammate Christian Verry at the finish and noticed that he had gone down in the crash. He was okay, but he broke his saddle off the rails that attach to the seat post. I made some joke about him having buns of steel and then we decided to ride back to the car.

Two of our other teammates, Philip Beliveau and Stephen Taylor raced in the B field. They told similar stories of nervous energy, “twitchy riding,” and close calls. We had a few laughs, loaded up, and made the trip home. It is always a good experience to race and it is an excellent form of training. However, I’m not sure I will be doing the other two races in this series. I never thought I would ever say this but, “I need a course with some hills to break up the field a bit.”

(Christian)

This is long, so get comfortable. I love writing these things…usually. Today I definitely do.

For some of us it was a great day, for some it was one mishap after another. As was probably evident form Alberto’s email yesterday, Saturday’s race was boring aside from all the crashes. As usual based on prior years, it made little difference in overall classification. Based on previous years I knew today really made the GC, so I was hoping for big things from the field, and for a hard day with attacks. I wasn’t disappointed.

Alberto was really our only hope, so I wanted to try and do whatever I could to make that happen.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to do much, but figured I might have a few opportunities to do something. Race started once we got on 100. It was a brisk start, but not super fast. Soon into the race I saw Tim Noel pull off the side of the road with what I thought was a flat (more on this later).  I hoped he would make it back on before the KOM came. Route then turned onto 100 over “Duxbury Gap” where the KOM was the same as it usually is for the “normal” circuit course.

Alberto lead the field into the left hand turn, and the group climbed at a hard but not brutal pace. Over the top we descended fast and hit the left hand turn that would take us over the dirt section. The pace on this section was fast as hell, and strung the entire field out into a single file, with gaps opening up along the way. I had to bridge a few to stay on the main pack, and had to work hard the entire way just to stay in. We turned onto a short bridge, then over a section of what they called gravel, but what I would call rocks. This slowed the field, and also took at least one victim, known as Matt’s tire. “Sorry Matt,” was all that I could muster up in my head as I saw him pull over to wait for the wheel vehicle.

The field then took off again, and stayed fast all along route 2 until the hot sprint. It slowed briefly and I went to the front to avoid trouble with the train tracks at the turn onto Cochran Road. After the turn I sat up a bit, and pulled alongside Alberto to get a “lay of the land” and ask him who he was worried about. If you’ve ever tried to hold a conversation with Alberto while he’s riding, you know you stand a better chance of understanding a 3 yr old child. His voice is about as loud as a single cricket chirping at night. This proved a useless conversation, and I told him just to tell me yes or no with whatever went if he wanted me to chase.

Once on Cochran Rd, people got antsy and attacks where happening all over the place. I kept looking for Alberto to see if he wanted to go, but it proved to be too frustrating, so I just started going with any break if the gap got to be too large. This offered me all kinds of opportunities to burry myself for periods of time and bridge up. Fun stuff indeed, but not great for if you plan to climb the gap hard. Regardless, I did it, and loved every minute of it. I have no idea if this made any difference in the end of the race, but I wasn’t willing to find out by not doing it.

Once the race turned onto the climb up Hinesburg-Richmond road I was spent, and drifted to the middle of the field to rest and hydrate a bit.  I was glad the field did not climb this super hard as I might have been sacrificed if it did. After the climb life got much easier as things slowed up as the field headed into a strong South headwind. I needed the rest and the liquids and pounded my water bottles down. Things got really boring, as we were about 2-3 miles from 116 until I saw Alberto ride off the front. He got about 500M on the group before one guy bridged up. Shortly after that another guy did. That was the last we saw of them more or less.

Once on 116 we stayed together as a group, and one guy went off the front to try and bridge the gap – he did it after TT’ing solo for about 5 miles – impressive. We hit the base of Baby Gap and the fun started. I was pretty wiped, but stayed with the main field ~3/4 of the way up baby gap, at which point I got shelled.

By the time I rolled past Burris handing out liquids I must have looked like death warmed over.

From there on up it was just hooking up with one or two or 3 other guys along the way, dropping them, getting dropped, and barely making it to the top. This must have been the slowest I have ever done this climb, but it was worth every minute of slowness, as chasing those attacks was lots of fun.

In the end, Alberto took 3rd for the stage, and IS NUMBER ONE IN THE GC BABY!!!! Burris Logistics-Fit Werx represents my friends! We are leading the GC going into the last day!!!  Alberto will certainly be a Category 2 soon, but for now we still have him in the 3′s, and can enjoy killing ourselves to help him win. Fun fun stuff.

Tim and Matt had tougher days. Tim’s mishap early into the race ended up being a broken rim suffered from hitting a large pothole. He got a wheel from the vehicle, but the reality of catching the field as we hauled ass down 100 to the KOM was nill. He then had the pleasure of discovering he had a slow leak in his rear tire as he climbed over Duxbury, AND that his water bottles had bother jumped out of his cages when he broke his rim. Alas, he struggled on to Richmond, where nobody would hook him up with a spare bottle, and that was the end of his day. A wise move. Matt flatted as previously mentioned, and still managed to finish as he hooked up with a few other guys. This was impressive given the heat/humidity, and the south headwind.

That’s it folks. Now on to tomorrow, where I will certainly prove useless to Alberto in his pursuit of the yellow, but hopefully others (Matt, John) can prove larger allies than I. More to come, stay tuned……

(Alberto)

Here’s how it went down from my perspective:
First of all, I speak quite loudly on my bike.  Christian just has too much wax in his ears.

Second, I took off on the Richmond-Hinesburg Road when the pace was ridiculously slow and I saw that the yellow jersey and the #2 GC rider were boxed in on the right.  I quickly got about 30 seconds and was able to maintain that for about 4-5 miles without exerting too much effort.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain it by myself to the end because of the ferocious headwind and figured either some strong riders further down on the GC would bridge up or at the very least the yellow and #2 would need to spend some energy pulling me in.  Luckily, it was the former and a group of 3 bridged up with 2 guys who had diesel engines on them.

The four of us (and then a fifth who bridged) took even turns pulling into the wind and had 3 minutes by the base of the app gap.  It turns out that I needed every second of it   I don’t know the details but I have to assume that we had some help from Christian, John and the ORS guys to keep the field back and let us get that big of an advantage.  Unfortunately, Matt and Tim were no longer in the field.  Anyway, the two diesel engines (all 190+ pounds of them) quickly fell off the pace on the App Gap, and I pulled the remaining two from Rt 116 all the way to the 2km to go sign.  No joke.  I knew they were both way down on GC so I just wanted to get as much time as possible on the yellow jersey and #2 so I did not care if they passed me at the end.  Well, they passed me gaining about 15-30 seconds (which was very manageable) and I think I ended up about 40+ seconds in front of the #2 GC rider.  I needed 20.  As I said previously, I needed every last bit of that 3 minute advantage

Anyway, this has been a fun weekend…so far.  Tomorrow is going to hurt. (Well we know how tomorrow turned out!)

MB

Race was good, sort of. I expected to get my arse handed to me, and that didn’t completely happen. I definitely got the hard day in I was looking for, and felt better than at Catskills.

It rained from beginning to end. The course was 3 laps on a 22 miles circuit with lots of punchy hard climbs. It’s a great course and makes for a very hard day. The hardest climb is the finishing one- 2.5 miles long at 5%-only because they drill it up that thing the entire time and give you plenty of reasons to implode.

First lap was hard, and the lead group climbed that thing at a ridiculous pace, but I felt good and could stay with them the entire time. We dropped ~1/2 the field after the first lap, but then slowed significantly and most caught back on. The group climbed all climbs on the 2nd lap hard, and I could feel the fatigue in my legs. The 2nd time up the finishing climb I was doing OK, until a few guys attacked at ~1.5-2K from the top where the climb mellows for a brief second (~500-600 M), and I got dropped from the group there because I couldn’t match the acceleration. It was a brilliant move  and it worked on me. I watched the group slowly ride away from me as I reached the top of the climb. I then regrouped with a few other riders and we started to work a paceline to chase back on. I took a hard pull at one point, then tried to drift back right at the base of a short but punchy climb on the 1st side of the loop, and the other 3-4 guys accelerated up that hill. I was too blown to go with them from the pull I took.

So there I was trying to chase back on in a headwind to those guys and the main field. Eventually I caught back on, but I had to kill myself for 2.5 miles. So now I’m back with the front group on the 3rd lap, about a 1/3 of the way through and know that if they really want to go hard I’m screwed, as my legs were giving out on me. There are two punchy hills on the backside of the loop before you get to a screaming descent that precedes the finishing 2.5 mile climb. The first one is short and punchy, the 2nd one longer (~1 – 1.5 miles) and punchy. Between those two was a short descent, that flattens briefly, turns right, then arrives at the 2nd climb I just described. At this right hand turn was a section of recently scarified pavement that you would hit full on, at an angle, and if you didn’t bunny hop it, could take your front wheel out.

I stayed in the group on the first of the two climbs. Going into the descent I slowed before we hit that bad pavement and bunny hopped, but slowed too much, found myself at the back of the group, and had to accelerate hard to catch back on, which took me right into the base of the 2nd longer climb. The group was already accelerating up that climb and I couldn’t stay in contact, too tired from trying to catch back on after the bad road section. I got popped there for good.I finished the last 7 miles with a group of 4-5 other guys, dropping them on the final climb.

All in all I felt pretty good, but just wasn’t able to continue with those repetitive hard surges every lap. They took their toll on me, but it was much much better than Catskills.

Well the dust has settled on another Coupe and I am currently eating and drinking my way out of race weight. Here is my story and I am sticking to it.

The prologue hill climb started on a lovely evening for pain and fresh pavement into Sutton from the border and the start of the climb. A few attacks went with the last reeled in at the base of the climb. The pack strung out as the lead guys ratcheted up the pace until there were 6 guys left at the base of the switchbacks near the top. Three in front made a surge into the switchbacks that I could not follow as I was red-lined but I held my pace and the two left with me faded leaving me to suffer in for fourth. Good enough.

The next morning I had a less then stellar time trial to drop to 7th. Boohoo!

That afternoon we did 3 laps of a circuit with a good but not super steep hill and screaming downhill. 3rd and 5th place on GC went on a break and were reeled in after one lap. 5th place got dropped on the last time up the hill and lost 2-3 minutes and so I moved back up to 6th!

That evening after driving home to be with my honeys, I sat in the coldest bath I could run for 5 minutes to calm my legs. I was still rolling around in bed that night with leg cramps for what felt like the whole night.

The next morning I arrived feeling pretty good for the start of the road race under overcast skies. I tried a couple of breaks and then sat in to conserve for the big hill near the end. Two guys got away. One was caught at the base of the climb and the other halfway up. The steepest pitch was at the base of the climb. I moved to the front so I would not have to make up any gaps. I was pretty close to my max but stayed with the lead guys.

As the climb hit the first shelf the pace eased and a couple of danglers caught back on. With the one from the break we were 11 as we rolled over the top. Foolishly I had not checked the results from yesterdays circuit race and did not know that the guy in 5th had gotten dropped and I had moved up to 6th. When I realized that guy was not in the lead group, I hit the front to keep the pace up and gain as much time in the hopes of moving up on GC.

We rolled into town and finished on a 500 meter big ring uphill. Ouch! 3 guys had jumped clear to get 3 seconds, 3 dropped off and I hung on to the main 5 for same time and 6th on GC. All in all a satisfying race except for missing the camaraderie of my 50+ teammates Bob and Bruce!

On behalf of Impulse CYCLEsport of Shelburne, VT and Fit Werx of Waitsfield, VT, I would like to invite you to participate in the 2011 Prouty Bike Ride. This event is one of the most challenging and rewarding cycling events in the North East. From the Prouty website:

Participants in The Prouty and The Prouty Ultimate come together to celebrate and support the courage of cancer patients and survivors everywhere and to raise money for crucial cancer research and important patient services at this nationally-recognized cancer center. Since 1982, The Prouty has raised more than $9 MM in the fight against cancer.

Please consider joining us for this amazing event. Our goal is to raise at least $5,000 as a team. Information on The Prouty can be located online atwww.theprouty.org. Cycling events include 20, 35, 50, and 100 miles. It is my hope that our team will commit to the 50- or 100-mile events.

As part of our team you qualify for the Fit Werx gives back program and a discounted Fit Werx jersey for the event. With every pre-event purchase made at Fit Werx, Fit Werx will donate three percent (3%) of your pre-tax spending to The Prouty up to $300. You will also be provided a customized training program from Impulse CYCLEsport to get you primed and ready for The Prouty.

The event will be held on Saturday, July 9, 2011. If you would like to join us please email me at impulsecyclesport@gmail.com. You can register as a member of the Impulse CYCLEsport-Fit Werx team on The Prouty website. We would love to have you!

Best regards,

Mike Burris

Director, Impulse CYCLEsport

802.497.4882

Sunday’s morning rain in Vermont gave way to clearing skies during my drive to Saranac Lake. Unfortunately, as soon as I parked at the race venue it started pouring.

Matt and Steve were warming up in the downpour and would soon be racing in it. It was pretty ugly. It seemed to rain pretty hard during their race, but let up a little as our field lined up for the start of the 55+ race.  A few laps in, the skies opened up again. I can’t remember ever racing through that much water. Fortunately, our field rode safely.

With 2 to go I marked the 2 guys I figured would be in the mix for the win. With 1/2 lap remaining, my 2 danger guys plus another and I got a little gap and held it to the line. The good news is I marked the right guys. The bad news is I didn’t execute as I had hoped and finished 4th. Fortunately, 4th place $$ covered my ferry ticket.

By the way, that Impulse CycleSport Jacket is awesome! Pretty water resistant and a real joy to have in cool wet conditions.