Mailing it in

So my 2010 bike racing season is underway. Saturday I headed out to the teeming metropolis of Coxsackie (pronounced cook-sakee, so stop giggling) to again do the Trooper David Brinkerhoff Memorial Johnny Cake Lane training series. Yes, one of the roads that makes up the course is named Johnny Cake Lane. I don't even know what that means, but the Hudson River Valley is steeped in Revolutionary War history, and I vaguely remember something possibly related to this from grade school. Anyhow the Johnny Cake series has a lot going for it. The races are 90-100k, depending on which layout is used. The "A" race, which unlike most crappy masters races, is not only Cat 4 free (a VERY good thing at the first race of the year) but sports an 11:00 am start time as well. No ass-crack of dawn departure time for this one, even though it's a three hour drive. And the weather Saturday was, as everyone knows, perfect.

The drive was painless, as the pike is relatively quiet at this time of year. The host school has a spacious parking lot, and the locker rooms and showers are open. The NY officials are all professional and courteous. The course is bumpy in spots, but rural and flat. The racers tend to be aggressive, and good in the wind (I find this to be the case whenever I go to upstate NY). The race is well supported and marshaled by uniformed police. I don't drive out there for nothing you know, this is a quality experience.

We had 91 starters in the A race, which is Pro/1/2/3. The field limit was 85 but I think they graciously let everyone on the waitlist in. This was not a problem because the riding was all excellent. Right off the bat we're going 50kph, and I'm in the gutter. This went on for two laps of the 10k circuit. This was especially nerve wracking because everyone was getting used to where the sections of dug up pavement were. I was pegged, but luckily nobody was letting gaps open, and the crosswinds were much less severe than what is typical here. After a few laps things settled down, but only got slow once or twice. We had to ride through significant carnage from the "B" race, but our field was all safe.

I never went near the front. My goal here was to suffer a bit, get some race miles in, and in general just get used to racing after the winter layoff. All the while I was guarded about expending energy, because after the first two laps I was expecting all hell to break loose at any moment. And I am wise enough to respect the abilities of elite riders half my age. I'd met up with Greg Zysk (Svelte Cycles) before the race and he was expecting the same thing. It really did not happen, and breaks formed but did not get far against the 44 kph average pace of the main field. I counted down the laps one by one and made it to the final. Then with half a lap to go things hotted up, and with about 3k to go it went single file and someone ahead of me let a gap open, and I did not notice until it was a bit late. With about 1.5k to go I buried myself to try to close it with two guys on my wheel, but barely made any progress, remaining twenty bike lengths off the train at 1k to go, where I sat up. And this is where my only problem with the race organization is. On the flyer, its says "Results guaranteed for top FIVE finishers only! This is old school -- no video highlights to show your friends!" I thought I'd be safe from scrutiny just sitting up and rolling in, no "bikereg factor" for this one. Then today, to my surprise, THIS! WTF? Full results? This is their idea of old school? What happened to good old-fashioned "in the field" obscurity? Pink hats dammit.

After a cooldown with Greg, I did another lap to make it a 120k day before packing up. But not to head home. Just like last year, I instead made the short drive up toward Battenkill. On the way I got another history lesson when I noticed a sign declaring Hoosic Falls the home of Grandma Moses. Again, no fucking idea who Grandma Moses is, but I've heard the term. I stayed in the Bennington Best Western this time, which was full of skiers. I'd have rather supported someplace in Washington County, but there ain't much going on there anymore. Even the good breakfast place is gone, and all the lodging there is either rustic and overpriced or just plain rustic.

Sunday was the Battenkill pre-ride. I'm not doing the race this year, but with 208 riders pre-registered, the pre-ride sounded like a value-leader by comparison. For 1/6 the entry field of the real race, I got to go on a 250 rider group grope around the course, without any officials honking about yellow line violations. There is hardly any car traffic up there, and with a group this size it's mob rule anyway. The weather was not quite as warm as Saturday, but the dirt roads were in unbelievably perfect condition. No potholes, no washboard, no loose gravel, hardly any mud.

The giant pack stayed together all the way over the Eagleville Covered Bridge, across the first section of dirt, and up the paved climb that leads to the descent onto Juniper Swamp Road. The "wall" on Juniper Swamp was perfectly tacky tamped clay, and climbing it out of the saddle presented no traction problems this year. We crested out and on the descent I counted about 35 riders who'd made the front split. Few, if any, would rejoin. The pace was civilized, maybe 3-5kph below typical race pace, but this was a decent group for sure. In Salem I realized my seat bag was falling off, and annoyed by the strap, I stopped to refasten it. With gloves on this did not go smoothly, and my subsequent chase back was not easy. Luckily there was a water stop right at the base of the Joe Bean climb, and a few of the group elected to stop, slowing the rest for a few seconds, and I got back on. But of course I was pretty gassed, and here we were at the base of the biggest climb on the course.

I did ok and stayed in the middle of the group, but on the descent and flats of Ferguson, which was not so bumpy, I took it a little too easy and found myself gapped off again. The end of Fergie goes up a bit, and here there was mud, the kind G-Ride describes as like "riding on velcro." This was the hardest dig of the ride for me, as the group, now down to 25 riders, was not letting up. Back on the pavement they eased for a second before the turn on to the state highway toward Greenwich, and I managed to regain contact. Phew. We went civil but single file for a while, with me comfortably out of the work zone. In Greenwich there was another food stop, which only me and six others decided to skip and keep going. Honestly, I was afraid of seizing up if I stopped. It was on the dirt false flat climb out of town where I got dropped in last year's race, so I was glad to have a head start. Me and the others actually formed a tight echelon up this road, the name of which I can't remember. But it leads to the infamous Becker. Even here the road conditions were about 1000 times better than last year.

Meetinghouse was good too, and I made it to the end with this group, where we started working it across the penultimate paved stretch that leads to Stage Road, the final dirt climb. Along here we started picking up riders. I had never seen anyone go off the front, so I'm not sure it these guys started early, took a shortcut, or just snuck away someplace. Doesn't matter though. On Stage I climbed pretty well, near the front of the group. This was the only sector with gravel on it, very small stones recently added by the county road crews. You could stand in some places, but it was iffy in others. I'd expect it to be good by race day though, and none of the roads need to be graded between now and then. I went back and forth with a Cadence guy on this climb, but I think he was just fucking around with me. Then at the top, who comes flying by but Greg! He'd stopped back in Greenwich, and must have motored up the climb. He flew by into the descent toward town, as there were a few of the mystery riders up ahead. I just rode it in, and a group of about eight caught me and another guy about 2k from the end. Back at the start it was 101k in 3:08, so right around 32kph (20 mph).

The weather was still decent so I got more water and a jacket and headed back out to the Eagleville bridge and back to add another 23k to the day, riding easy to bring it up to 124k and just over four hours. Two very solid days back to back, but not death rides by any means. Shit, I think it took just as long to write this crap as it did to drive home. I really enjoy the riding out there though, and hope to go back again soon. Thanks for reading.