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