Tour of The Batenkill

Life events, family & work have had me very busy of late, which has cut into time available for my new blogging hobby, but I want to get caught up a bit on a dreary May Sunday afternoon.

Over a month ago, my son & I drove up to participate in the Tour of The Batenkill race in Cambridge, N.Y. My son had been registered for a long time, and I was on a long waiting list, but was lucky to get in with a week to go. The entire event was an amazing experience, very well organized, and tremendous volunteer support throughout the entire 64 mile route, with a lot of fans as well. In my Group of 50, Cat 5 riders, all group went off in 10 minute intervals, I was in a group of ten after the first big hill, then proceeded to drop my chain on the next climb, couldn't get back to the group ahead, and rode solo for 24 miles before finally getting picked up by 2 strong riders from my initial group. Of course, this all speaks to my lack of racing skills and knowledge, but Jeff, Rob & I rode the rest of the race together, and really helped to push each other and make up some time.

Although The Batenkill race has been around for a long time, and is very well known, these type of races are become so much more popular, and I can see why they are so appealing, and spreading. I really dont like Crit. racing at all, although I do enjoy going to my Son's races, who was just upgraded to Cat 3 today. I look forward to a return to The Batenkill again next year.