Season Wrap Up

The ferry ride over to the Blackberry crit. It's fun to ride over with the other racers.

Race bikes on their way to the crit.

I missed a bunch of posts and now I'm forgetting what all happened. I got really busy and had a hard time keeping up with everything.

I raced a final Friday night track and a criterium in Bremerton. I rode down to the Blackberry crit in Bremerton. It poured rain all morning but let up just enough for me to get to the ferry. The ferry ride was 1 hour. Then I raced for 50 minutes, rode back to the ferry for another 1-hour boat ride, then a 30 minute ride home. I brought three changes of clothes in my bag so I wouldn't have to sit around in wet clothes. The racing was fun and hard. I really like the blackberry course.

The last night of track we finished with a Madison race. We had six women's teams. I talked to one of my friends in the crowd afterwards and she said she had never seen a women's madison on a friday night. She didn't realize she was seeing the very first one ever! My partner Michelle and I were very happy - we stayed close and didn't get lapped and didn't miss any exchanges. Yea! We also had a tempo race where I got some points on the first sprint. It was hard with so many fast racers in the field.

I'm looking forward to more fast racing next year.

Last week we had our "meet the team ride" where new riders ride with us to see if they want to join the team. I'll be losing some key teammates next season so I"m really looking for new riders to join the team and train with. It's fun to ride with new racers because they have the excitement for racing. Maybe some of them will do track.... Any other track riders out there want to join me?

Rain Out! Marymoor Velodrome :(

Free hot dogs!

We tried to race on Friday. We went out to the track and waited until they called the race due to rain. For a while it seemed like it was letting up and the track would dry but it was not to be. The racers all sat around the edge and watched the track but it didn't help it dry.

I finally got to have a hot dog that I had been craving all season. It is always too late after we are done racing to get one from the hot-dog-mobile aka "carameas' sweet treats".
Then they opened the beer garden and gave out free drinks to the racers. I hope it doesn't rain next week!

Devon is not 18 so could not come inside the protective fencing.


The racers hung out to socialize.

Our loyal fans taking shelter in the bike storage area while eating a hot dog.

Seward Park Summer Criterium

Last Sunday we had the Seward Park crit. I raced with three teammates; Leina, Annette and Michele. It had been two weeks since I rode a geared bike but I made sure to remember shift each lap around. When I came around the top corner I found that my track spin really helped out because instead of pushing a big gear I just spun the legs faster to make up the gap after the corner.

This was the first time Leina had done this race and at one point I saw who I thought was her coming around the top corner in a big gear so I yelled "use a smaller gear" to help her. But it wasn't Leina - it was Annette who answered back "yeah, I know". We were just talking about how those two are easy to confuse. I think it will be handy to have a decoy out there for Annette next year.

I was able to keep up with the group until the last lap I was really tired by then. I came off the group but felt good about the race in general. Annette won and I think Leina was in the top 10.