It’s The Champ here (as the newest member of the team I don’t officially have a nickname yet, so this is my attempt at naming myself before someone bestows me with something more appropriate (like Jacked and Tanned, The Handsome One, or BBOT (Biggest Bag On Team)) and this past weekend was my first time racing The Tour of The Battenkill. As I’ve only been racing since
July, I had a lot of firsts to go along with my first Battenkill, they included:

1. First completed road race outside NYC (technically I did Hunter last fall but I flatted half way, and rode solo for most of the rest, so it doesn’t count).

2. First time making a break (with three of my teammates which was awesome!)…..and then getting dropped at mile 57 or 52 or 48 or 46, it’s tough to tell where we were, see below.

3. First time having hamstring, quad, and calve cramps simultaneously. If anyone has not had this happen, do not fear, it does not give you an awkward boner in your bibs.

4. First time having a pace car get lost, take our break of 15 riders off the course, and bring us through the finish line at 42 miles.

5. First time sitting around for 20 minutes after 42 miles of racing while the organizers figure out what to do with us.

6. First time riding nearly 10 miles and 900ft elevation back to the course so we could finish our race.

7. First time finishing in the Top 10 at Battenkill! And then finding out the next day it was actually 11th pleasant touch after the pace car snafu.

8. First time racing with the whole 5th Crew which was really awesome, and even though the race did not go as planned,

We all had an amazing weekend. Overall the Battenkill was a great experience, the “dirt roads” were leg killers, but our team got 4 guys in the break in the Cat 4C field and we all raced really well together.

On a scale of 1 to 5 lost pace cars, I give this race 1 lost pace car! See you next year Battenkill!

Special shout to Malcolm for whom this was his first race in a 5th Jersey and first time in Battenkill. Also big nod to Seth who came 9th in the Cat 5 field.

Words: Ryan Fisher
Images:Jason Stilson