Results link: http://ridethetrack.com/blog/res_wed.html
Mice in attendance: Nole, Jeff, Justin, Mateo, Cathy, Eduardo, me.
Yesterday, was my first time racing at the track, outside of a couple beginners’ sessions. I’m expecting to start getting down to the track a couple times a month through the summer, and just put in an order in at Roaring Mouse for a Felt TK2.
I rode in the Cs, which were split into two groups due to the number of attendees. The C2 group included a number of juniors.
First event was the C1 12-lap points race. My plan was to contest every sprint, but particularly in the second half when other Cs might be tiring. The first sprint was bunched up and I grabbed third. Then a woman took off and got a decent gap to stay away for sprint 2. I let others work to close, then sprinted to grab second. I won the third off of a nice leadout from Justin Cotton. I stayed off the front after that sprint, as the pack slowed down even more than I did after the sprint. With 2 to go I was still off and picked the pace back up, then fully committed with 1 to go. Two guys passed me right at the end, so 3rd there. Won the event by 2 points.
Next up was a 10-lap scratch race. I set tempo at the front, then covered an early move or two. After spending so much time in the wind in the points race, I’d decided to work less in the middle of this race. I covered a couple moves but generally didn’t push the tempo. I realized with a few to go that it was too slow and bunched up. I was blocked in, so worked to get free without getting tangled up in sketchy riders. Got free near the back at the rail as the bell rang and made a move to go from the back to the front up high, then past the pack and fully committed around turn 2. I probably should have accelerated harder to start out, but passed the pack fast enough that I didn’t figure they’d catch back up. I kept it spun out to the line, but got pipped right at the finish by a guy who told me later than he happened to catch my wheel when I moved from the back. Got 2nd.
For the miss and out, I chatted with Nole to get some tips and was planning on trying to grab the pole until it thinned out. I didn’t get the pole but did spend the first few laps at the front, then moved to the back up high and started playing the devil (informally to start, then intentionally). Didn’t have to work much for the next few, but did have a couple that were fun, where I just turned on the gas in turn 4 while boxing lower guys in to get them out. I was playing with the timing a bit to go as late as possible while fully boxing in the guys riding the pole. The last guy eliminated told me after the race that he nearly thought he could make it through before I closed the door on him. But I have to say that I wasn’t fully comfortable with the rules of the format, and hesitated a few times, including when it was down to the final three and the bell rang. The guy who’d been in the wind pulled off and instead of following the fresh guy’s wheel, I sat back to see what would happen. Fresh guy took off, second guy caught on, then let a gap open up, and when I started my sprint with 200m to go, I couldn’t quite close the gap and come around to win. 2nd.
I won the C1 omnium.
I was looking forward to trying my hand in the final A/B points race. But a nasty-looking crash in the final C2 points race put an end to racing for the evening. There was no clear explanation for the crash, but it knocked the guy cold and caused a lot of bleeding (someone said from a broken nose). The track staff kept him lying down until the ambulance arrived.
Side note: There was something in the air last night that really didn’t agree with me (or many others, it sounded like). I started coughing after the first race and was coughing all sneezing all night that I wasn’t actually riding the bike and a bit this morning. Spinning around the warmup circle seemed to help. I don’t usually have allergies, but that’s not inconceivable. I might also be coming down with something.
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