June 2008 totals, Friday night track racing

Friday night, 6/27/2008
The previous Wednesday I had discovered my saddle had slipped backward about 6 mm. The trouble is, I have no idea when it happened. It could have been a month ago, and I will never know! Those who know me know that I am OCD about my bike position, so I was freaked, to say the least. I slid it back to the marks on the rails, but, of course, everything felt "wrong" now that I was hypersensitized to every sensation. After my warm up and the first race on Friday, a scratch race, where I managed 7th in the final sprint (out of 27 riders), I became convinced my right cleat must have moved too. Luckily, my teammate Jerry had a screwdriver in his car, and he was kindly willing to go grab it for me.

The next race was my first attempt at the Keirin, which is an odd race that is quite the gambling rage in Japan. A motorcycle paces the group for 4.5 laps, pulls off the track, and then the sprint is on. We draw straws for position, and I drew the spot behind the motorbike. Bree had warned me that this bike tended to stink, since she had practiced Keirin racing the night before at women's training night (that's right, Bree has a shiny new track bike, and is planning to give racing a shot). All I knew was that I was supposed to draft it for the 4.5 laps, and then I didn't really have a clue what happened next (or what the rules are). After the bike pulled off, I pulled up track, thinking "I am not going to pull them for the next 600 m", and another rider (Cooper Lang - very strong) attacked. I sat on the chaser, but was passed for the finish and came in 4th in my heat. Only the top two advanced to the final, so now I had a lot of sitting around to do while the other races went on.

I messed with my cleat, and discovered it had not, in fact, slipped. So, I just had to assume my bike was back in my preferred position, even though everything felt weird.

The final race was a 5x5 points race. I attempted a solo attack with 500 m to go, but got nipped in the last turn by a group of ~6. I barely caught back on, and was pretty winded from doing 500 meters at about 34 mph. Two sprints later, there was a break fo two off the front, and I attacked solo from turn 2 and got the 2 points remaining in that sprint. I just barely hung in the pack for the rest of the race. My two teammates in the race, Niels and Mark, both managed to get some points too, so overall it was a good race for Team Cucina Fresca! We also had a great crew of teammates hanging out, giving us some love from the sidelines. It sure is nice to be on such a friendly and supportive bike team.

I took it pretty easy on training since Friday, so hopefully I will be good and fresh for Wednesday night racing with the Masters group. Bree should be there too! My mother is in town and can sit with Emy and watch while Bree and I compete. It will be the first time Bree and I have both been in a racing event since May 2000. Wow.

June 2008 totals

bike
Distance: 543.9 miles
Time: 30:34:00
Longest Ride: 38.7 miles (2:05)
Rest days: 5

run
Distance: 7 miles
Time: 0:51:00
Longest run: 4 miles
(took two weeks off of running, just to see how it would go)

I'm planning on the 40 km TT test this coming weekend. I expect it will be roughly the same as last time, since I have not been doing much threshold training. In fact. most of my "training" is racing on the track these days. With two nights of racing, I do only one other structured training ride a week (intervals, hills or sprints, usually) - the rest of my rides are easy spinning (17-18 mph, 1-2 hours, <130 bpm HR max) with one rest day a week. I'm definitely not in shape for road races, but I should be fine in the summer crits. I'll need to switch over to some more threshold intervals of 10-20 minutes before cross season (in less than two month now!).

Husband discovers wife's "therapist" is actually a male phlebotomist

Cat 3 is faster, but luckily, so am I

I raced in the Master's races on Wednesday night, which contains all riders 35+, and consists of many cat 3, 2 and 1 riders. It was the hardest night I've done on the track this season, but I managed to do well in two of the three events and took 7th in the omnium out of 19 riders!

Here's the report I sent to the team on Friday night's racing:
If you haven't been checking http://velodrome.org/cms/node/85, you might not know that the Pasta team is holding down 2nd place overall for the season so far. And based on the continuing success of our track riders, I don't see how we can go anywhere but up!

Friday night had the best spectator turnout so far this year, owing in part to the first Kiddie Kilo night that was not cancelled due to rain. Some of you may know hat Team Cucina Fresca member John Klupar, our representative on the MVA board, is now running the Kiddie Kilo, as part of his ongoing duties to ramp up and grow the Junior Program at the track. He's done a fantastic job taking a disorganized and directionless program and given it some new hope for real development. Give him a hand if you're able. The kids (especially the girls!) are the future for our track.


On to the racing:

The 4's had both a Tempo race (sprint every lap, two places deep for points) and a 4x5 Points race (four sprints, one every five laps for points, 4 places deep). The Tomatoes were represented by John Klupar and Jerry Shafer, both of whom were active and scoring points. I believe Jerry had his best night ever, scoring on at least two of the points race sprints. He was grinning the whole night!

The 3's had a 10 lap Snowball (progressively increasing points, 1 place deep, sprint every lap), a Miss n' Out (pulling down to 5 riders, one rider out per lap, then two laps to the finish), and a 25-lap scratch race (essentially a crit on the track). The number of Cat 3's Cucinas grew by one this week with the arrival of Niels to the ranks. This makes four of us in total, with a field size usually in the upper teens, which means we are able to "be a team". In the Snowball, Mark snuck away for a point, was reeled back, then I attacked on the 5 point lap and took it solo, pulled up (should have kept going), and attempted to block for Niels, who was stuck in no-man's land between the field and a break of three for a few more laps, before it all came together for a field sprint on the 10 point lap.

Chris Hill put in his second appearance this season in the 1,2's, despite being recorded as "Chris Cunningham" on at least two occasions other than the ones in which he actually appeared (but hey, Cucina Fresca got the points). He got this all straightened out, and was out there duking it in the field that was missing both Kenny Williams and Grant Boursaw. I didn't get to see much of Chris's first two races, but in the points race he scored on multiple occasions, despite still running his 50x15 (will someone give Chris a 51?).

The start of the Miss n' Out - finally, heat and sun!
(that's me, just left of center, in the red/white/black with a tomato)

In the 3's Miss n Out, my plan was to not get dropped on the first lap. Amazingly, I met this goal, as did Niels, as we made the final selection of five riders. I stayed on the front for the remaining two laps, hoping Niels was the sound on my wheel, and while he did get an excellent 4th, a sneaky Gibb Clark of Garage was actually enjoying my draft, and later sprinted by me. Still, this gave Niels his first omnium points in the 3's, and I now had two 5th place placings from the first two races.

And then there were five...

Our last race in the 3's was a 25 lap scratch race. Somewhere around lap 10, after a prime on the 1st lap, and another prime had gone by, Niels got away with a guy from Recycled and a guy from HB. Brian and I moved near the front and added to the blocking being done by Recycled Cycles. A few laps later, when Niel's breakaway had almost a half-lap, the Recycled guy popped, and now the blockers became the chasers, for about two laps. They gave up, which allowed Brian and I to patrol the front, sitting on and slowing down. At one point, the break of two was nearly lapping us, and despite another prime, the field never got closer than a half-lap. The sprint began to wind up in the field, and I was sitting in 4th position, ready to pounce for 3rd place when my chain bounced off! Initially my reaction was that of the roadie and I tried pedaling a bit (as if my derailleur was going to recover my chain - except for the distinct lack of a derailleur). Frustrated, I coasted from 200 meters out to the finish and went from hero to 10th. All was not lost, as our intrepid Niels sat on his companion for the final lap and took the sprint for 1st place! As Mark was saying, he'll "probably do much better when he gets over his first race jitters!" Niels enjoyed his envelope of cash, I whined about my chain to whomever would listen, and overall we totally rocked for the night. My wife, Bree, reminded me that I should just be happy my wheel didn't lock up at 35 mph for what could have been a horrendous crash. OK, honey, I get it...

J-Dub's taking the track class tomorrow, and Travis starts his Monday night track hazing period next week. Soon we will be well over 10 riders strong at the track and if all goes as it has been, we'll occupy that #1 team spot by the end of the season!


Emy finally gets her Kiddie Kilo Night!

Emy in the Kiddie Kilo - not afraid to ride on the banking!

After having been rained out the last time, this was the first running of the Kiddie Kilo (one lap around the track for the sub 8 year olds, dived into age groups, and by number of wheels (2, 3 or 4). Emy was riding with my boss Bruce's daughter Alex, who recently took off the training wheels, and had a great time. She is especially proud of her pink "Cupcake" cycling jersey she picked out with Bree at REI earlier in the day. I'll try to get a picture posted tomorrow. Bruce's son Chase was in the Kilo too, as was another coworker's (Chris's) son and daughter. Bilko, the announcer, was pretty excitedly cheering on Jasper Gallagher as he cleanly took the >2 wheel category, an ear-to-ear grin beaming on his face. Future track star there, for sure!

OK, I probably won't win the Chariot Race

But I couldn't help including some stomps in my training regimen for the weekend. I felt so embarrassed by my standing start sprinting ability on Friday that I had to do something to improve in this area. So, today I did a two hour tempo ride (yesterday was a two hour hill interval ride) in some glorious sunshine and HEAT (finally). I spent the first hour at tempo running a HR of ~140-150 with a fairly high cadence. Then after I turned about to head home, I switched to the 53x14 and coasted until I was below 3 mph before I grunted out a sprint to 32+ mph. I rested two minutes between each of six of these. My knees definitely can tell I was putting out, but it felt good. Hopefully I can squeeze these in every week or two weeks to build up a little more explosive power.

OK, so now I know! Cat 3 is faster.

Below is my report I sent out to my team. I can say that upgrading to Cat 3 on the track is nothing like upgrading to Cat 3 on the road. When I upgraded on the road I hardly noticed a difference, except that races got longer. On the track, there is a clear difference in speed, ability, and speed. Plus the guys around me have a lot more hardware, as in, the cost of the bikes around me in the field has gone up considerably!

On to the report:

Since my last report I've upgraded to Cat 3, so I will have a little
less I can report on the 4's racing. But, Friday night was a great
night of tomato power!

Jerry, John and Niels represented us in the 4's, all of them getting
invited to the "big show". They had a tempo race (points every lap,
two places deep, 2 pts, 1 pt). This is one of those races that a lot
of people don't enjoy, since the racing is fast and furious from the
get go. But my friends, if you didn't see it, you would be amazed by
our tomato trio - they were scoring points left and right! Niels took
the lion's share, and came away with 2nd place.

The Cat 3's began with a 12 lap scratch race. This being my first 3's
race, I didn't know what to expect, other than a sneaky suspicion it
would be faster than the 4's. But, everyone's been talking about how
fast the 4's field is this year, so I had an inkling it wouldn't be
too different. I could not be more wrong! We hit it from the
beginning, and strung out single file at high speed about every other
lap, then a brief respite, followed by more hammering. I got gapped
when the final 200 m sprint began, but I saw Mark up there among the
group. Brian and I strolled in to the finish. I checked my computer
afterward - the fastest sprint I'd seen in the 4's races was 35.6
mph. In the 3's scratch race, we hit 33.2 mph, and it was not a
sprint - just cruising along single file.

The 3's had Chariot heats next, which is a one lap, all out sprint in
a group of 3-5 riders, from a held start. I didn't expect to do too
well in this race, as "explosion" is not one of my talents. Mark, on
the other hand, excels at this kind of endeavor, and handily took to
the front of his group, and held it all the way to the line! It was a
thing of beauty. Both Brian and I, um, let our groups beat us. I'm
sure we were saving ourselves for the points race later, right
Brian?

Next up, the 4's had the ever popular 4x4, and Niels had high hopes.
This is definitely his best event, and he showed it once again by
cleanly taking two sprints, and a couple of 2nds (right, Niels?).
John and Jerry also looked great out there - Jerry is definitely
starting to adapt to the track with a number of "cheeky" moves that
will no doubt pay off soon. I was pretty sure John got 2nd or 3rd in
one of the sprints (and he thought so too), but a protest after the
race came to naught. Niels won this race, and so he was assured of
taking the omnium for cat 4's.

Niels has now earned enough to joined Mark, Brian and I in the 3's!

While Brian and I got cold and stiff, Mark was in the finals of the
Chariot - he blasted away from the line again, this time accepting a
bit of a draft, and he took and amazing 2nd, beating Hyun Lee into 3rd
by a small margin, and only half a wheel off of 1st place. We were
screaming our lungs out for the entire finishing stretch.

Last up for the 3's, while John was already enjoying the beer garden,
was the 5x5 progressive points race. This is run just like the points
race, with a sprint every 5 laps for points, but the value and depth
of the points increases with each sprint lap. I had joked to Brian
that I was hoping for 1 point, as this was the only race in which I
might be competitive in the 3's, but when I didn't attack for the 1st
sprint (1 point, 1 place deep), he took a flyer and scored the point.
I was sitting in second wheel of the pack, doing my best blocking
imitation, in case Brian wanted more pain, but he eased up and we
assimilated him. The next sprint went by without me noticing much,
other than trying to stay near the front, and then Ryan Miller
attacked, and I jumped on his wheel. He didn't seem to be fully
committed, so I past him in the finishing straight and encouraged him
to actually make his move stick. We did two half-lap rotations before
we were joined by 2 other riders, and I was thinking "Yes, four
riders, and the sprint will soon be 4 places deep! I'm going to get
points!" However, within short order we were joined by 3 other
riders, one of which happened to be Mark. I was leading the break
coming down the backstretch, and when I saw a flying tomato, I eased
up just a bit (he didn't really need the help) and Mark took the
points. They break wasn't super interested in chasing, and I sure
wasn't in good shape, as they all blew by me snatching up the
remaining points. But we stayed together, absorbed Mark, and then
were caught the lap before the last sprint. By then I was spent, but
I saw Mark again up in the lead pack for the final sprint.

So, results for the night - I know I need to get faster. Niels rocks
and will be joining me soon. Mark is flying, and took 4th for the
omnium, earning him some cool, hard $.

I hear Mr President will soon be joining us in the 3's after a little
time in the 4's, right Travis? And, rumor has it J-Dub is taking the
track class next weekend. We are going to have so much fun this
season!

Headline I just thought of

Coworkers getting really tired of Jeff always talking about "Constant Comment" tea

Cat 3 I be

From Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three."

I earned the upgrade on Wednesday (see below post). It's official - now I am a cat 3 on the road, track, and cyclocross. I expect to get schooled for a while, as the 3's race appears to be much more tactical, and definitely a bit faster. I'm excited about tonight's racing, as I get to do two events I've never done before, the Chariot Race, and the Progressive Points race.

The Chariot race is from a held start (someone holds your seat while you clip in to the pedals, and then without pushing, lets you go at the gun for a one lap sprint against anywhere from 2-7 other riders. The race is done in heats, with a final. I suspect this will not be one of my top events, as I just am not that explosive of a sprinter.

The Progressive Points race is very similar to a Points race, with a sprint every X number of laps (in tonight's case it is a 5x5 race, which means there is a sprint every 5 laps), only the points get bigger and go deeper at each sprint. So in the first sprint, the 1st rider gets 1 point and everyone else gets nothing. By the 3rd sprint, the 1st placed rider gets 3 points, 2nd gets 2, and 3rd gets 1 point. I'm hoping to get at least one point, since in the cat 4's the points races were my best event barring the snowball, which has its own element of progressive point increases (see this post for a description of the snowball).

As before in the 4's, I will have teammates. I'll be helping Mark and Brian as much as I can - I am the "new guy" after all.

Wednesday (6/11/2008) Track Racing Report

Here's what I sent out to the team:

Last night was very frustrating. The intention was for me to get my 1 point needed to upgrade, and then work for John to get his 4, or at least some of them. In the unknown distance, we were definitely going to score a top placing for John, as I was driving a fast leadout with him on my wheel, and only two slower riders we were about to pass, only to get stymied by the guy (one of the slower riders) who took 1st for the omnium with some dangerous riding! He pulled up track out of the sprinters lane right as we were attacking on the backstretch in the final lap. Luckily, John and I went in opposite directions to go around him, or we might have had some squashed tomatoes. I was able to continue my sprint well enough to get 3rd, as I was lucky enough to get around the guy to the inside, but it brought John pretty high up the track, and out of the draft. Jeff also managed to get a 4th (?) in this race, which shows if we can get him to keep showing up (there will be plenty of time for dirt during cross season, Jeff!), we'll have yet another strong tomato!

Then, in the miss n' out, John and I were destined to be in the final 3. However, when Jerry got pulled (nice job making it to the final 6, by the way, Jerry!), and they called number "445" there was some confusion as to whether they said "445" (Jerry) or "405" (John). Mr Brun (#1 for Omnium in our group, same guy who almost took us out in race #1) told John that the announcer said "405", so John started pulling onto the apron and slowing, as I was frantically saying "No! No! They pulled Jerry! You're still in!" Unfortunately, this meant John was stuck down in the sprinters lane, with no chance of getting unblocked before the finish line, where he got pulled. I managed 2nd in a very tight sprint, beat by the ever-green Bill Walker.

In the 4x4 points race, we wanted to take advantage of the 4 tomatoes in group B (John, me, new arrival Jeff Anderson, and Jerry) with a dramatic 4-man team Cucina breakaway. Alas, when riders went hard from the 1st lap (that never happens in the points race!), our plan to attack the 2nd lap went awry, and while Jeff gave it a go to get us away on the first lap, and just after the 1st sprint, it just wasn't happening. I'm not sure if it was just the high pace (we didn't let up for pretty much the whole 16 laps), or an actual collective brain in the field that kept an eye on the 4 tomatoes (they had to assume we would do something), but all our attempts at glory failed. It was pretty much a sprint-for-all where I managed a few minor placings.

Niels was the sole tomoato in the group A, and as you can see, he did just fine on his own. He was up against two of the stronger 4's (Kroll and Cole) and got solid top 3's in each of the 3 events. Kroll will be upgrading, so your life just got a little bit easier, Niels :-)

May Totals, and 40 km TT test

It's been wet and cold. I see that according to the National Weather Service we had a record cold maximum temperature today:

... Record low maximum temperature tied at Seattle-Tacoma Airport...

a record low maximum of 55 degrees was recorded at Seattle-Tacoma
Airport today. This ties the old record of 55 set in 2002 and 1950.

Bree was supposed to have her "intro to track racing" class today, but it was canceled. She should get her chance tomorrow if the weather improves. It's June! I want sun!

Wednesday was some good track racing. 28 Cat 4's showed up despite threatening weather, so they split us into two groups to keep the field size "manageable" and safer. Here's an edited version of the email I sent to the team:

***********************
It was a great night of racing by the team. Niels and Jerry were in the Cat 4 Group B, and John, Ernie and I were in the Cat 4 Group A.

In the 8 lap scratch races, the field pretty much hung together in my group, and while there were some heated attempts to lift the pace (including by John), it came down to a field sprint, in which I got beat by Ross Spero, yet again, and another guy from Recycled whose thighs are as big as my torso. But, I was happy with 3rd. Niels scored a nice 2nd in Group B, again in a field sprint. There was some fast dude from "Brazen Dropouts", Ryan Gist, who appeared to be the Ross Spero of Group B.

In the 200 m flying TT, many of us were looking to John and Mark for advice, since none of us had ever done it. The general strategy is to wind it up for the first lap, head high on the banking in turn 1, and then fly down the banking of turn 2 toward the 200 m line, sprinting to the finish. I definitely need to work on the timing in this event. I did as described above, but continued to accelerate through the final 200 m, and felt like I had much more to give. Next time I will try and hit max speed right when I cross the 200 m mark and hold it to the finish. I may have had a decent time, but I'm sure I could have done better (I suspect we all felt this way). Seems like gearing is a big question too. John had the biggest gearing (94 inches?), and I was running 90 inches. More to learn about this particular event. My time was 13.8 seconds, which means 52.3 km/h, or about 32.9 mph. I know I can beat that.

We all froze while we waited for all the groups to do the 200 m TT. I was shivering, with teeth chattering, even though I was under a blanket and wearing a sweater!

The final 4x4 points race - Niels and Jerry will have to comment on theirs. I only know that Niels did a good job and scored some points. In our group we had a solo flyer from Wines take off from the gun (or maybe it was the 2nd lap) and hold it through the first sprint. With 1.5 laps to go to the next sprint, I took off in pursuit, and barely held on for the 5 points after passing the previous breakaway at about 150 m to go. I sat up, and then a lap later John Caprica (sp?) took off. Many of us in the field figured he wouldn't last. But he was joined by some guy wearing a PEZ Cycling jersey, and I am sad to say they outwitted us and took the remaining top-2 placings in the last two sprints. I did manage to collect one more point in the last sprint, which put me in a tie with my nemesis.

Thankfully, Ross will now upgrade!
*******************

I should follow him shortly. By my calculations, I have 19 upgrade points, and I need 20. That makes last Friday getting rained out an extra bummer. I want to move up - it's so close! I am having so much fun at the track. I'm surrounded by a great group of teammates and competitors every race night, and it is just a blast.

May Totals
The totals are lower since I was off the bike for 10 days...

Bicycle
Time: 25:50:00
Distance: 461.6 miles
Longest Ride: 48.9 miles, 3:00:00 (hill repeats on Zoo Hill)
Rest days: 11 (some of the vacation days were running days)

Running
Time: 2:25:00
Distance: 18.0 miles
Longest Run: 5.0 miles

40 km TT test for May (OK, early June)
My previous best time from April has fallen yet again. I was skeptical that I would have it in me today for two reasons - yesterday I did a hill run, and I haven't really been doing long intervals since track season started. Even so, after 2.5 miles of warm up, I hit West Lake Sammamish with hopes of at least equaling April's time of 1:07:00. By the time I was looping around the south end of the lake, I was running a good time, but not better than 1:07:00. However, the east side of the lake is much less undulating, and the shoulder is a lot smoother. When I made it to Marymoor, I was slowed down by heavy traffic. It's a bit sketchy passing cars on the right side of the speedbumps, but I wanted to get an accurate time! I hit the 24.8 mile (40 km) mark at 1:05:11, a substantial improvement over last month. Also interesting is a comparison my winning time for the Cat 5 men in the Minnesota State TT, in 1999. The course was pancake flat, and my time was 1:05:25. It's both comforting and sad that my time is better, but not by much over the same distance 9 years ago. As Bree told me, though, you really can't compare the two races since the terrain is so different.

Next time I do the test I will instead attempt to beat an hour, rather than limit my HR to sub 160 bpm. I think it is totally possible, and would be a good benchmark in my training.

Track Racing, since we got back from Europe

Some of the characters in the stories that follow
Image courtesy of Amara Boursaw, WheelsInFocus.com

I've written a couple of email recaps for my teammates, and rather than re-write them for the blog, I will post them below, in chronological order:

Wednesday, 5/28/2008
What a fun night of racing. The rain held off, and the 4's field was
20 strong. By strong, I mean they were all strong. Niels and I asked
Mark if anyone was getting dropped off the field during the 2nd race,
and he said that no, we were all together. Pretty remarkable, since
it was one of the fastest, if not the fastest night so far this
season. I recorded a max speed of 35.6 in one of the sprints in the
4x4, and I didn't even win that sprint, so we were moving! I felt
generally pretty solid, but some of the "snap" is missing from my legs
after 10 days across the pond with no riding. I'm hoping to be back
to full strength next week.

Cucina Fresca is definitely garnering attention at the track. The
announcers can't help but point out the presence of the tomato, and in
last night's case, we had three racers in the cat 4's: Niels, Jerry
and me.

The first race of the night was an 8 lap snowball. I love the
snowball, but as the first race of the night, it proved to be a rude
awakening. A guy from Wines went for the usual glory hunt on lap 1,
but he actually managed to stay away for 4 laps, giving him 10
points. Niels and I planned on going on the 5 point lap, and Niels
followed through with the plan with aplomb, only I wasn't on his wheel
at the right time! I got stuck in no-mans land between Niels and the
pack, and so I dropped back rather than give the field a jumping off
point to catch Niels. He flew the coop and scored the 5 and 6 point
laps before he was caught. I was intending to go at that point, but
"allowed" myself to get boxed in with a momentary mental lapse (two
guys in the field seemed intent on boxing me in for each of the three
races - some guy from Greggs, and Alden from HB (who was helping Ross
Spero - that guy can sprint)). This worked out well for Niels,
though, so I was not too upset. Niels ended up with 2nd in the race,
as another guy got the last two laps. Not bad for Niels debut on the
track for the season! He was also a bit surprised by how winded you
get when off the front for a couple of laps :-)

The second race was the win n' out, which is my least favorite race.
For those who don't know, the bell rings with 4 laps to go. If you
win the next lap, you win the race, with the next lap's winner getting
2nd, on down. The last lap is for 4th thru however deep they go. The
race was pretty piano until 5 laps to go and then it picked up. Both
Niels and I were no where near the front for the win, but Niels had a
well times sprint and took 2nd. I tried for third, didn't get it, and
then just got nipped for 4th. But I was happy to get "something" this
time. After the race, Jerry commented on how quickly the races get
going, and how quickly they are over. I'm sure this is mostly true
for the 4's, since the races are so short, but it's definitely a theme
to the track - if you make one small mistake when the field is heating
up, chances are you are out of it since the race is over in the blink
of an eye.

So, so far we've got Niels with two 2nd places, but Niels and Jerry,
being the good souls, asked me what I wanted from them for the last
race, the 4x4 points race. We agreed that a lead out for the first
sprint would be a good start, and man, we did a nice lead out. Niels
took me up to about 100 m to go, and I had a good sprint, but Mr Ross
Spero was on my wheel and nipped me for the 5 points. The second
sprint lap we weren't particularly organized, but Niels and I both got
some minor points. I was out for the 3rd sprint, and I don't actually
know if Niels got anything, and then Jerry took to the front, with
Niels on his wheel, and we were all duking it for the last sprint.
Niels and I both got something (I think you got the 1 point, right
Niels?), and Jerry was just out of the points.

Final for the night - wow - the field was so deep last night. The
winner for the night had 8 omnium points. This is in stark contrast
to the pre-season Fridays where I won the omnium with 15 points, and
got 2nd with 14 points on another night. Last night, the top rider
had 8, Niels had 7 (2nd place!), and then it pretty much went one
point or fewer between rider placings. I got 9th with 3 points. The
Cat 4's have a really strong field this season. Did I say that
already?

I got my invite email to race on Fridays. I'm trying to recover!
John, I assume you got an invite. Niels, did you get one based on
your performance last night? Did you get the email from Hyun that you
now have 5 upgrade points? 15 more to go! John is really close to
cat 3 with 16 points, and I have 12. Hopefully we will soon be
swelling the 3's with tomatoes, as some new cat 4 tomatoes come
online. I think Dave will be in the 4's soon, Jerry is going strongly
now, and even Mr Z-Dog intends to make some appearances. I hear that
Travis and J-Dub are taking the track class, but unless they feel like
doing the time in the 4's, they will be able to debut in the 3's.


Friday, 5/30/2008

Bree and Emy joined me in the infield for the first time.
Emy may need a little practice keeping calm and out of the way,
but in general it was a good experience.
It lets both of them be more "a part of the action"

In this shot I am thinking, "Nah, those cat 3's aren't so fast."
John, behind me, is thinking, "Man, I can't wait until they open the beer garden!"

I am starting to run out of superlatives! Friday was the largest
number of CF riders so far this season at the track. We had Brian and
Mark in the cat 3's, John, Niels and me in the 4's, and our lone "duke
it out with Kenny" cat 1/2 rider, making his first appearance at this
level, sporting a smaller tomato, with a puny 50x15, "It's not the
gear", Chris Hill. The critical mass at the track makes for some
great camaraderie; it's so much fun.

I can really only detail the 4's race, but I will begin with some
highlights I observed from the other categories:

In the 2 lap cat 3 heats, Brian P had an awesome performance - he was
sitting in 4th (last in his heat) coming into turn 3, and was on the
"right wheel". He pulled out a sweet sprint right at the line to move
on to the final. I know he was pleased - those two lap heats were
speedy, so to come in 1st in your heat looked tough.

Watching the cat 3 scratch race, while pontificating from the beer
garden, John, Niels and I were quietly chiding Mark for sitting at the
back, lap after lap, ignoring every breakaway, the epitome of
patience. He sure shut us up - right at the bell he blasted from mid-
pack (he had silently moved up in the 2nd to last lap) to an immediate
5 bike length gap, which he held all the way to the finish (the full
400 m). A couple of riders were closing, but he gutted out an amazing
finishing sprint. Also, since this was the feature race (last race of
the night) for the cat 3's, his winning performance netted Mark the
omnium! That's two omniums so far this season for Mark. I'm thinking
Chris will soon have some company in the 1/2's.

In the 1/2's 6x5 points race, again in full pundit mode in the beer
garden, we cat 4's watched Mr Hill hang on to Kenny's wheel for dear
life for the final sprint. He was definitely in the right place, and
even though he claims "it's not the gear", I think a few more gear
inches would have helped him cling to the cash register a bit longer.
Chris looked strong out there in his debut with the big boys, (but he
needs a skinsuit with a bigger tomato).

OK, to the 4's. Friday night racing for the cat 4's has switched to a
"by invitation only" mode, but thanks to John and my pre-season
performances, and Niels incredible Wednesday this week, we had three
CF invitees! With a field size of 17, this meant we could play the
team card in each of our two races. However, it also means that the
cream of the 4's comprises the field.

The 10 lap, point-a-lap: (I don't think anyone actually likes this
race)
Each lap there is a sprint for 1 point, kinda like how they used to
run Derby Days at the turn of the millenium. Final lap goes three
places deep, 3, 2 and 1 point. I had told Niels and John I would
attack from the gun, and I did, but this was not a surprise tactic,
and they don't give me much leeway these days anyway. I pulled the
field around for most of the first lap and crossed the line in 2nd
place. Then, Ross Spero of Hagens Berman attacked, and got the next
three laps solo before we caught up with him. In the sprint for the
6th lap, both Niels and I were duking it out with one other guy. I
was actually on Niels' wheel coming out of turn four, but I wasn't
sure Niels was going to get it, and unfortunately (fortunately?)
nipped Niels at the line to put myself on the scoreboard. A couple of
other riders took the next two laps, and then Spero went off again for
the 9th lap. John hammered it at the front, and I had his wheel,
which pulled me around nicely to turn 3 where I moved ahead and passed
Mr Spero in the final straight to get the 3 points on the last lap.
(Note: we didn't actually know the last lap went three deep until we
saw the final results, so for a long time we thought I had two
points). I owe Niels a beer, for sure.

The 20 lap scratch race: (a crit at the track)
There was a rumor we would have a prime during the race, and so Niels
was patrolling the front like a hawk, patiently waiting for the bell
to ring. Sure enough, right as we were all getting complacent, just
trying to hold a good position high on the track (to allow for the
ability to accelerate past riders), the bell was rung. The pace
heated up, but I was holding back focused on the finish. Niels was in
the hunt, I think, but Spero again flew past us all to take the $20.
John and I were both laughing inside, "Yeah, you go ahead and get that
prime - now you won't win the finish!" With a little more than 1.5
laps to go, John lit up like a candle and I got his wheel, with Niels
on my wheel. I could hear Bilko say something about "three Cucina
Frescas..." but I missed what he said. Little did we know that all
three of us were off the front with a few bike length gap! A dream
situation, had we only been aware of it. I didn't know Niels was on
my wheel, either, since I was just trying to stay glued to the Klupar
fire engine. John started to fade a bit with about 250 m to go and I
was urging him to pull up, but he rightly stayed in the sprinters lane
(track rules). Just as I was thinking I should pull around him, a
white and blue missile blasted past us - Spero again! I took off in
pursuit, but there was no catching that guy. I got 2nd, and Niels was
right behind me in 3rd. John gets the hero award for giving us a 600
meter lead out, full gas. (to top it off, he bought me a beer after
the race - now I owe him two beers!)

We were a bit embarrassed to get schooled by this "one guy". I have
since learned that he's a cat 1 on the road. We don't feel so bad
now. And, he barely beat us in either race. At least we are giving
him some good competition!

In the end, I got 2nd for the omnium behind guess who, and Niels got
4th. This now puts John and I one more good omnium result away from
cat 3. We are going to work for Niels for at least another night so
he can catch up with a few more upgrade points. Soon the three of us
will join Brian and Mark.

P.S. Doesn't track racing sound fun? Why not sign up for a track
class: http://velodrome.org/cms/node/21

P.P.S. Derek, disregard all the discussion of drinking beer.
Milkshakes are fine too.