FSA Grand Prix!

The weather provided lots of drama for this year's race. After a month and a half of sunny weather and no rain predicted, it rains on the biggest race of the year!

Friday evening, after warming up and getting all ready to go the sky started clouding up. There had been several races completed, but just before the men's Madison we started feeling drops of rain. They had to call everyone off of the track immediately because it gets slick very fast and you can wipe out before you even know what happened. It didn't look good with big grey clouds but they had us wait about 20 minutes.

When the rain started really coming down I ran under the nearest tent. I smiled big and asked the racers if they didn't mind sharing. It turned out they were racers from the Portland track, Alpenrose. We were chatting away when Mark found me under the tent and said "hey I just found these chain ring bolts on the track". The Oregon guy said to the other "hey those are the last two bolts you lost!" It was randomly lucky.

It stopped raining but the track was still wet. Then they asked the Men's teams to ride around the apron (flat part of the track). Mark was racing the Madison and I was very nervous seeing the track still wet. But a few minutes later it was dry and they had a safe race. I was up next for the 40 lap points race. 40 laps is twice as far as we usually go and I was really worried with all of the out-of-town superstars in the field. But our Friday racing served me well and I was able to keep up. We had a field of 31 which is very large for me. I was so happy to finish the race with the field. Last year I was lapped twice!

I went back out to the track Saturday morning and did a flying 200 and a 500 meter race. I was about the same as last year on the flying 200, 14.56 seconds but about two seconds faster on the 500. It wasn't fast enough to qualify me for the sprint tournament though. As I was heading home it started raining again! They had another delay.

I went back out Saturday night and after everybody warmed up and they ran a couple of races it started pouring. They had to cancel racing for the evening. We all headed over to the Celtic Bayoo restaurant and had a good dinner with some of the out-of-towners. It was fun to hang out with everybody and swap race stories.

Then Sunday was the rain-make-up day. I raced the 5-mile scratch race and the Madison.

On the scratch race I took a few more chances than the day before and attacked a couple of times. At one point I saw the top girls watching each other and I casually rolled up to the front. I was careful not to "look" like I was attacking but just started pedaling fast without too much upper body movement. I was able to get a gap before the others realized I was going, and then they were not motivated to chase. I was about 1/3 lap up, and they rang the bell for a $50 prime. I went as hard as I could because I figured if I got that much money I didn't have to finish the race. But the group chased hard and I got piped at the line! It got the crowd into it though and I heard a lot of people cheering for me. My teammate did great and got third in the final sprint. Hooray!

The final race was the women's madison. We had 8 women's teams. More than the men did for the second year in a row. It was so hot this year though, since it was in the daytime. We rolled off and it didn't take long before I was so thirsty and hot. It was a long race and I was very tired. I was so happy to finish that one! I dumped water over my head after the finish.

It can rain all it wants to now! FSA is done until next year.

More Racing!

Last Friday was hot! I don't like racing in the heat so much but by the end of the night it was really nice. The racing was hard for me.

On the first race some of the women were caught by surprise when they had us go from the rail instead of doing a neutral lap. As soon as I heard it I rolled of the rail and attacked. Three of us got a gap and I was really excited to have a chance to be out front but the other two wouldn't work. One of the girls sat up and slowed down because the third girl was a sprinter. I was so disappointed. I came around and tried to make it work anyway but just ended up tiring myself out. I hung on for the counter attack but was out of energy before the end of the race.

We also did a miss and out. I stayed safe for a few laps but then didn't sprint hard enough and was out.

The last race got really strung out. I felt like quitting but finished even though I was off the back. I worked really hard. Very tired after that race.

Saturday I rode the new light rail. Didn't take my bike on it yet but checked out the place to put your bike and how to board with a bike. I'll be making use of it soon.

Sunday Michelle and I met up for Madison practice at the track. We had a good time. One of our friends, Matt, was doing intervals and let us ride in his draft while we did our exchanges. He was going 24 mph and then later ramped it up to 27 mph. It was so nice to do exchanges at speed but not to have to work so hard to keep up the pace. Riding in the draft was so much easier. We also did some flying 200 efforts and a few standing starts.

On Monday Michelle and I raced Madison again. The practice with Matt really helped. We still blew some exchanges but were able to at least spend part of the time with the men's teams. Although when I got on Matt's wheel I was not able to hold it this time. He must have been going way faster than 27!

The juniors also raced on Monday. I can't believe how many of them there are. There was an A, B, and C group! Most of them ride for team Zoom which I guess is leading the team competition for all of the racers at the Velodrome. Those kids are going to be trouble!

Friday Night Racing

Last Friday was very fast. I don't know what the speeds were but it seems like we are getting faster every week. We started with a win-and-out which was very hard. I finished off the back of the group.

Then we did a Chariot race. This is the first time I've done a Chariot race. It is one lap from a held start. There is a picture of my first heat on wheels in focus. It looks like I'm going to take 3rd but I surprised the other two racers and came by them before the finish, which got me into the final.
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2009/MVA/710/W/pages/94AD9352mva7.htm

I need to work on my standing starts though because I couldn't make up the distance I lost on my bad start. I chose the first lane which I thought would be good but I didn't have a fast enough start to pull into the lead. The Chariot was fun for me though and I hope we get to do it again some time. It is so short that you can just go all out the whole way.

The last race was a 20-lap scratch race with primes every other lap. It was very hard. I felt like throwing up with 4 laps to go but I hung on to the back of the group. I like points races much better. I hope all of this hard riding makes the FSA race easier.

I watched Mark do the Madison afterwards. It is a very fun race to watch. I hope I can get more women interested in Madison so we can have women's Madisons on Fridays some day.

I raced the Redmond derby yesterday but my legs were not recovered. I didn't last too long and got pulled from the race. I felt bad but there is always another race next week. Today I'm finally taking a rest day.

Madison Races

Mark and I went to Madison races last night at Marymoor. Mark unfortunately had a "mishap" in the first race. He was diving down the track and his wheel slipped out. There might have been some debris on the track or he just took too steep of an approach and then turned the wheel the wrong way. In any case he and his partner are both fine but he missed the rest of the races for the night. So he took video of me and Michelle. The video really helped me see what we can do better. We can drop down much later and save some energy for us both. Also, I figured out that when we exchange high on the track I can't rely on dropping down to get the proper speed. Hopefully I can make use of this knowledge next time.

The racing was fun. It was interesting to talk to the officials afterwards and hear their viewpoints. They were glad to have practice officiating the Madison. I guess it's a challenge for them too.

Marymoor Friday Night Racing

The picture above is Mark giving me some advice before the miss-and-out. He was really telling me jokes to make me laugh. Mark has on his new Keirin gloves.

My races felt much better last Friday than the previous Friday. I was able to motor up on the wheel when I needed to.

The first race was the unknown distance. One of my competitors had just finished racing with the men so I thought I'd attack from the gun and try to thin out the pack. It was fun and I got a gap but the pack stayed together and caught me after a lap. Then I hung on until the finish. I think we went 13 laps which is on the long side for a miss and out. We were all getting really tired and were happy to hear that bell.

The second race was a miss and out and I tried to not get in the pole lane so I wouldn't get swamped but somehow my strategy still didn't work and I got swamped. It needs some more refinements.

The last race was a scratch race with several primes. I was hoping a group would go off the front and I stayed close on the prime laps but it didn't happen. I was happy to stay in the action though. On the third to last lap we really ramped it up and soon my legs were bursting. I wanted to stop pedaling with one lap to go. I finished about mid group.

Here I am getting ready to hold Mark for his two lap heat.

And here I am, not quite in the draft yet.

Today I did a spin workout. I was trying to hold a high cadence for 1-1/2 minutes. I blew up after the first 30 seconds. It felt exactly like the end of the scratch race on Friday! So I backed off the power and worked on breathing through the interval and was finally able to go 90 seconds. It amazed me how hard it was to do. After doing several of those I did a 10 minute set with 10 second surges every two minutes. I was able to briefly hit 500 watts again. I did a few weights afterwards and then I was really light headed. I drank a recovery drink and then felt much better. Ready for Madison races tomorrow! I hope the weather cooperates!