The Road to Battenkill...

" The only point of contemplation is whether to run with a 12-25 or a 12-27 cassette driven by a 39t chainring. One Cat4 who finished last year indicated if you need the 27 you probably won't make the first selection."

Show up with an 12-21 on your bike and 12-25 and 12-27 in your car. See what other people are riding. You will have time to change it.

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On the other hand show up with the 12-27 on your bike and just use the 12-21 cogs. 12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21 seems like enough cogs. And the bigger cogs might get you up the hills better.

I've registered for the preview ride which happens a month earlier so there'll now be no suprises on the day. I'd probably default to a 27 but sometimes finding a sweet spot on the rivet is tricky for me with bigger gaps in gearing if not at efforts below the 17t. Unfortunately our notion of oneself as a climber and the reality of the climb are not always one and the same.

3 months to go with not so many winter miles in the old legs. The race is 65 miles with a few climbs. Here's the prep in a nutshell:

I'm breaking this up into 4 3-week periods with each 3rd week being the rest week (instead of the traditional 4th week). I got this idea from Friel as a recommendation for older riders. 45 ain't old but it ain't no spring chicken and it fits in with my plan.

Rest weeks will essentially entail 4 days on the bike instead of 5.

The volume ramp up will be incremental, starting at about 9 hours a week and building up to 13 or so. Easy 25 and 30 mile rides in the first two weeks to loosen up the legs, building up to rides from Brooklyn up over the GW Bridge then along River Road and back during weeks 3 and 4 (50 mile rides), adding an additional climbing loop along River Road to bring the weekend rides to 65 miles during weeks 5 and 6. Weeks 7 and 8 will continue this trend. Week 9 ride will be a round trip to Nyack, roughly an 85 mile ride. Week 10 is the preview ride of the actual course, weekend of the 11th week is totally off the bike. Week 12 is the race.

I'll start adding a few 10 minute sub-threshold intervals (80-85% of MaxHR) during week 4 building up to 2x20 mins, and 3x20 by week 9.

Weeks 9, 10, and 11 will be getting some repeatable speed work in with my own personal favorite being the good old 3 minute VO2 interval starting with 3 repetitions twice a week, building up to 5 repetitions by week 11. I don't really like to go longer then 3 minutes because I seem to settle into one pace regardless... balls out and cursing God by the end seems about right (somewhere between 89-92% of my MaxHR). Weeks 9 and 10 will probably include a 30 mile race in my local park.

Week 12 before will be relatively easy. Gives me about 8 or 9 days to freshen up. I will still ride during week 12 but it'll just be moderate rides in the local park with some jumps to keep some snap in the legs.

I don't have a trainer so rain or shine, freezing or not, it'll be outdoor rides, and except for the weekend rides most under the cover of darkness unless I take a day or two off work.

If anyone has ideas of a better way to spend this time on the bike I'm happy to hear it.

A collection of racers blogs and other related info from past Battenkill participants...

Bicycling Magazine article:
bicycling.comtour of the battenkillOpen ↗

A nice Cat5 writeup:
thedailygrind.robdamanii.comtour of the battenkill race report part 1Open ↗

A Master's race report:
hilljunkie.blogspot.comtour of battenkill race report.htmlOpen ↗

A nice account of a fella who entered it as a "training" race and finished on the podium: hilljunkie.blogspot.combattenkill 2009.htmlOpen ↗

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by danfoz [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Weeks 9, 10, and 11 will be getting some repeatable speed work in with my own personal favorite being the good old 3 minute VO2 interval starting with 3 repetitions twice a week, building up to 5 repetitions by week 11. I don't really like to go longer then 3 minutes because I seem to settle into one pace regardless... balls out and cursing God by the end seems about right (somewhere between 89-92% of my MaxHR). Weeks 9 and 10 will probably include a 30 mile race in my local park.

Hehe I get to quote myself.

I've started intervals this past weekend, 6 weeks out from the event so a bit of a change to the plan. My two "training" races are 35 miles each and part of New York City's Spring Series. I'll get some good intensity in and have a gander at where the competition is this time of year. Interestingly one of the Spring Series 10 races conflicts with Battenkill so I imagine anyone in contention for the Series leader's jersey will be skipping Battenkill. Loosing some of the major talent can only be a good thing for me.

[FONT= arial]I have participated in the Battenkill several times. My best advice is the get your weight down as much as possible. Do not worry about gearing as much and for spare wheels...if you are off the back they will be of no use up the road in the support van. Back to the rear cassette, I liken it to a condom, better have it and not need it then to need it and not have it :-). As for tire selection, I am also 180 lbs. and have run 23's every time at the Battenkill. I never got a flat, and a few times the roads were a tad sketchy. I would keep an eye on the weather, ya see if the dirt sections are wet it makes riding on them like riding on fly paper.[/FONT]

[FONT= arial]Let's face it, this race is more suited to climbers. My best turnout is under 3:00:00, 2:56:00 to be exact, that placed me in the bottom 40. Other times I contemplated why I even ride a bike, yes I almost tossed the bike into the drainage ditch. Then there was the time I had no business even being at the starting line. I mean I was dropped with in the first 15 miles of a 62 mile race. But I chugged on to the finish line.[/FONT]

[FONT= arial]What I am trying to tell you is that there is no need to worry about the gearing, just keep the training in the 10-15 hr. a week, watch where the climbs are and try to be at the front at each start. This way you can pick up help on the way down and form a group on the flats.[/FONT]

[FONT= arial]Good Luck.[/FONT]

[FONT= arial]P[/FONT]

Thanks for the advice. And the luck.