For those racing Battenkill Saturday here’s the latest forecast for Cambridge. N.Y. from Underground weather:
Showers in the morning, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 43F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Should be epic. Glad I have a later start time. Group 5A (yes I know cat5 slow guy here, 4th Battenkill ) good luck all, ride safe.
It certainly will make it interesting. The forecast seemed to change daily. Earlier in the week It was showing temps in mid to upper 50’s with no rain. I liked that better. I am in group 5h. I seemed to recall last years weather was similar and it actually snowed the night before. But turned out great.
4th battenkill and you are still a 5? 
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I go out at ~noon in one of the 45+ Cat-5 groups… hope the rain has passed by then. I still have some residual post-traumatic stress from last week’s Fool’s Classic slog in Bucks Co. PA. Looks like Sunday will be a little better… doing to the GF on day-2 as well
5E for me, i am always surprised by how good some of these cat 5 guys are
rain at 10 and then should pass, in theory
just excited to be outdoors for a change, been outside about 4 times all year
.
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I’ve seen about 10 different versions of that forecast…looks to be a little colder and no rain now. Think I’m cat 5 group D, 11:15am. Should be good times!
I’m also in Cat5A. We have some strong dudes in our pack. Should be a great day.
I’ve packed so many variations of layers for tomorrow. Knee or leg warmers? Full base layer or just arm warmers and vest? What about gloves? Hat options, cover the ears or none?
Lots of decisions to be made prior to the gun.
I did a race last week in Virginia that was in similar conditions and it was brutal. I don’t know if I technically got hypothermia but I went numb in the hands and couldn’t shift or barely brake. It was the coldest I’ve ever been. If you have waterproof gloves that may make the difference.
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Best be prepared to hate life for a while.
Didn’t turn out too bad weather wise …wind more than anything for those of us not racing in the bosom of a big pack. Really the damage was done last night with the rain. How did everyone fair? Nickvox I was in your field. Nice when almost half our race wiped on the first big dirt climb eh?
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I ended up 7th in my field. Hard day. 18 of us broke free on Juniper. I dropped my chain at the top but was able to catch back on. Thinned out a bit more by Herrington Hill and a group of 3 got away. I was in chase group, but nobody wanted to help out pulling. I had a teammate in the break so didn’t want to pull the group back to them. Had more mechanical problems after stage rd but hung on for 7th. Fun day. Wind was brutal.
Pays to be at the front on the first climb so nobody in front of you stops. If you stop on a climb, your race (and anyone caught behind you) is pretty much done.
same thing for me. guy in front of me went down and when I tried to swerve out of the way, I had to unclip. I tried to get started again, the one time I made any forward progress, my cleat was so clogged with mud that I had to put my foot down and “run” to the top. first time doing the walk of shame on Juniper Swamp in 5 years of the race. Probably four or five times in the race where I was sure that I was going down.
As was said, really need to be at the front of Juniper Swamp to give yourself a clear line.
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I was off the back in Cat-5 after the first major climb, so had a long day fighting the wind. Learned the technique to ‘gun it’ through the mushy mud-sand pits along the way and made it through. Saw a few guys have some slow-speed falls in that gunk. Glad to have that one behind me now…
It was an awesome day. I don’t sign up for Battenkill expecting a sunny 60 degree day with no wind. The course is tough enough but the elements on Saturday made it a war of attrition. Everyone talks about the mud pits on Juniper, which caused a lot of cyclocross action. i had a pretty ugly dismount and than ran off the path to get back to firm ground and away from dudes falling over each other. However, nearly the entire pack got back on, and in most circumstances no one lost more than a couple seconds. The real challenge was having to put down some watts to keep the bike upright through the really muddy sections on Becker, Freeman, Cassidy, etc. The 20mph headwinds were fun. It’s a great race if you can stay at the front and climb half-decent.
My group went from 55 to 35 on Juniper, down to 18 on Joe Bean, 12 on Cassidy, 5 on Herrington and then 3 after Stage Road. The conditions made it so there was no way to really sit in, you had to do the work from Cassidy on.
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Sunday wasn’t too bad. About 33F when we got out of the car at 8:30. Not sure what it was at race time. Miss Jr. Quads took 3rd in a tough field (podium had NC, MI, and NY state champs on it). She can’t wait to go back - was with the two other girls until they hit dirt - she had the wrong line and sunk in the muck. Glad to hear she isn’t the only one. Master Jr. Quads had a tough day, but he’ll figure it out.
I did a race last week in Virginia that was in similar conditions and it was brutal. I don’t know if I technically got hypothermia but I went numb in the hands and couldn’t shift or barely brake. It was the coldest I’ve ever been. If you have waterproof gloves that may make the difference.
Sounds like Jeff Cup. Battenkill was balmy by comparison. I got stuck behind guys unclipping in the mud on Juniper. Ended up running x style up, them chasing back on all day. Love that course. Great race.
yepp, sounds like he was at Jeff Cup, coldest I’ve ever been on the bike too
This was where I burned all my matches in the Cat2 race, having to run up Juniper our first time up. Some of the guys I knew in the field joked when I finally caught back on that as a triathlete, running up the hill shouldn’t have been a problem. It was a problem at mile 65.
The 35+ race yesterday was no better, I flatted after the first feed zone and didn’t catch back on until mile 2. Heading up Meeting House, I got popped.
That said, I’ll be back next year, hopefully with Carl Spackler. That race is awesome, I loved every minute.
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I’ll be back.
That is, if work and weather don’t conspire against me again. I ended doing two far less entertaining, lumpy circuit races in a chilly 64 degrees.
“Some of the guys I knew in the field joked when I finally caught back on that as a triathlete, running up the hill shouldn’t have been a problem.”
Obviously, they’ve never seen you run…
I was out there in the 35+ field with you, I thought I was a goner on Meeting House as well, but about two thirds of the way up realized I was starting to catch back up to the front pack, just managed to latch on over the top of the second climb. Not sure how you went both days, I definitely wasn’t ready to go today.