Battenkill

You know its a Hup type of race when the race plates are Belgian bleu

All the signs where there for a big day on the road for some Hup horse power

It hurt sooo bad but it was such sweet suffering, especially knowing Tom was up the road in groupo selecto! My god why am I smiling? Do I actually enjoy suffering? maybe....

Orders from the D.S. Counting down the dirt sectors and feeds became a mantra to deal with the horrific pain being inflicted upon my legs

What a weekend. Still need to hear how it went for the 4s and our A masters. Our bad news bears 5s did some damage. Big Tom put in an incredible ride for a 5th place against some guys who were no more 5s than I don't know what. When you have $3,000 deep section Edge carbon wheels you are no longer a 5 period. Ronnie got 5th in the under 35+ with no help from us. God I wish he was over 35+ if it was Tom, Ronnie and Markie Mark it would have been a Hup 1,2,3 for sure. Mark took 13th!

Meg and Kerry were awesome as usual. Meg had a great ride and was still fresh enough to make it up the 12% grade to the Hup Haus HQ. I no more could have faced riding my bike back to the house after the race. I would have cried...We even drove past her on the highway...Broke my heart but we were packed full to the gills with bikers and bikes. I tried to drop off the team as fast as I could and roll back down the hill to get her but she was so fresh she was 1/2 way up it before I got to her! Amazing.

Dave and Jeff and Lo were awesome. I hope the 4s were ok. I missed seeing Yash. I so hope he had a good ride. Eli, Mike and Alia were the best hosts evah! It was great seeing Jimbo and his wife, Mike S (get that torch ready brother!), Stephen J and the whole crew. Hup hup...

Quick top ten BK thoughts/lessons learnt

1. Conti 4-season 25s are the tire for this! No flats, no problems even when the dogs of Hell rolled through us like the end of days.
2. Pro woman have skills that you just can't even begin to understand until you ride with them
3. Thanks to all who talked me down leading up to this
4. Bigger gears for next year...12-27 would have been less soul crushing
5. Embro burns baby!!!
6. Never draft another category even if they pass you and then slow down in front of you almost as if they wanted to help you get to the line before falling off your bike with cramps
7. God bless the Duvel rider from Springfield. Seriously I never would have survived without his work. He was like a Angel sent from Asgard to keep me upright and in one piece
8. Steel is real, real nice on a crazy hardman and woman ride and my Sycip flat out rocks
9. Battenkill is the most beautiful event in existence
10. My teamates are the best!

We had an incredible weekend. True team building.