Cathy took a bunch of photos with my Canon 40D DSLR camera that I got recently for race photography. On Flickr here.
The main events were scratch and points races, with an unusual Madison team sprint event mixed in for the sprinters. I raced Bs. Felt good enough even after doing my first (light) weight training session the night before. But I raced the scratch race all wrong, as many people pointed out afterwards that it looked like I towed the pack around most of the race. I put in 4 or 5 attacks, but from too far up, so the strong guys had me marked. It wasn't until the second half of the race that I figured out which guys to mark. Almost got a breakaway formed with one guy with around 10 to go, but he didn't really want to work. Good news is that Jake (my teammate and Shelley's brother) got 3rd. A couple lessons from this, especially that scratch and points racing dynamics are quite different. I hadn't done a scratch race since June.
The points race went much better. I changed my plan when they only put 20 laps on the board, instead of the 40 laps scheduled. Running out of time, I guess. Old plan was to be opportunistic to start, then commit in the middle. New plan was to go for the first sprint, since there were only 4.
The first sprint worked out gloriously. I attacked from the back with around 3 laps to go and opened up a big gap immediately, as the pack hesitated. Paced myself to get the full points, then slowed to regroup on the next lap. The next strongest two guys attacked with 3 to go for #2. I hesitated a bit and they got a 30m gap before Jake and I got a good response going. The gap maxed at ~70m and they picked up the second sprint, while Jake and I worked team-pursuit-style to shut it down a lap or 2 after #2. That gave us time to regroup and for me to recover, then I attacked with a lap to go before #3 and got passed just at the line to get 2nd. This had three of us tied for first with 10 points each. I knew it was close but wasn't 100% where I stood.
Then I messed up the tactics. With it so close, I should have played it more conservatively and used my sprint. Instead, I had it in my head to attack again, like I had all day (not sure why, I can sprint after all). I stayed at the back, feinted on the high side with 3 to go, saw them respond, then sat in until just under 2 to go. I let a gap open up off the back, accelerated into it and dropped down track. Had a good gap and didn't get caught until turn 4 (400m to go). I could have pulled off and probably gotten back on, but I figured I'd lead it out for Jake and kept it going. The guys sprinted at 250m to go.
Result: Third overall. Fun race. It's interesting to race aggressively, rather than sitting in waiting for sprints like I tended to do in season. I'd put on a slightly bigger chainring (49t for 88in) so for the first time in a while I felt like I wasn't undergeared.
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