I’m sure I don’t need to tell anyone on this email group that Battenkill is coming up. I’m sure that you guys, like me, have been emailing and Skyping with your coaches to make sure you are tapering correctly, figuring out the correct race fuel for the day and selecting the proper haircut for Battenkill. (That’s a joke, everyone knows that “full shave” is the most aero hair style, but not all of us can get permission from our significant others to pull it off.) If there’s a bigger race on Instagram than Battenkill, I sure don’t know which one it is. So that means we need to be ready and PUMPED for the biggest race weekend of the year.

I’ve worked out a lot of details for the team, but first we will need to recon the course. I know that Dieter has organized preview rides, but we’re not going to do those (Dude, how greedy is Dieter? Charging for a preview ride, even my nutritionist thinks that’s crazy). What good is doing a preview ride with everyone else that will be doing the race? It would be like going to Vegas and wearing a mirrored t-shirt, so that everyone can see your cards. My taper schedule says that I should have a big ride about 52 hours before the start of the race, so that means the recon ride should happen on the Tuesday before the race at approximately 7am (after coffee, of course, LOL). We’ll meet at the start finish line. I know that Jeff says he has to work, but the team bylaws state that team members must make themselves available to the team for the week before Battenkill, as well on race day. Jeff, I hate to be the heavy here, but this is your first strike.

Logistically I think that we will have a big advantage at Battenkill. I’ve contacted a local family and we will be able to park in their driveway, which is about 500 yards away from the start. This is a big advantage, because we will be able to set up our trainers in their yards to warm up and cool down (while chugging winner’s milk?) after the race. We won’t have bathroom privileges in the house, but there’s porto potties right at the race start. I’m also renting a van for the race. I can take up to 3 other people, so if you’re interested, you need to sign up on the Google doc on the team cloud page. I’m also going to be sleeping in the van. I’ve got an aero bed that will fit nicely in the rear of the van, but there’s only room for one other person to sleep in the van. So anyone riding up to the race in the van will have to find a place to sleep and a way to get there (but you will have a bike to ride, so maybe you can ride to the hotel?). I also toyed with the idea of setting up the van as a hyperbaric chamber for the race (I think I read something about rigging a home system using some Saran Wrap and a Dyson vacuum.), but I don’t think there will be room in the van for the extra equipment, so we’ll have to do without “riding low and sleeping high”, maybe next year.

We have to work out the final logistics for race day also. Everyone still needs to get their volunteer quota filled. We’re going to need as many people in the feed zone as possible, and I still haven’t heard back from Dieter about whether we can get our follow car in the race caravan yet, that dude is SO lazy! If we get in the caravan, we’ll need a few more volunteers as well, so anyone you can get above your required team quota is essential. I talked to my girlfriend about making custom t-shirts for the “feed folks”—so we can tell where they are AND create a special sense of camaraderie among our support staff—but I think her cell phone is on the fritz, because I haven’t heard from her in a few days. Jeff, I’ve noticed that you don’t have any volunteers signed up for the race, I don’t mean to be picky, but you already have one strike.

In conclusion, I think we have the opportunity to absolutely DOMINATE Battenkill this year. I don’t think the four fields will know what hit them. I don’t think ANYONE can compete with us from a logistical standpoint, (although I would like the hyperbaric van) and I don’t think I need to explain to you guys how big this race is to our sponsors. None of them will be going to the race, but they have all told me that they are really looking forward to hearing (and seeing, don’t forget to take pictures) about it on Facebook, Instagram, MySpace and AOL IM. Be sure to remember that you are representing our sponsors every second that you are at Battenkill, so watch it! But most of all, let’s have some FUN!