Friday Night Regular Season - Marymoor Velodrome

Friday night was the first night of the regular season racing. With the start of season racing came a few field changes. One was that they were limiting the women's field to category 1-3 racers. That left me out since I am a category four. I was really disappointed about not being able to race. I emailed one of the officials and asked about racing with the men's 4's field. I was intimidated to ask because the men's fours field was invitational only. So I had to ask for an invite. They thought it was a great idea so I did it!

I was really nervous about racing with a bigger field with fast riders. The last time I raced with the men was over 15 years ago and my race ended in a big pile up on the first lap which took me down. So I needed to get over the hurdle of that experience too. I didn't go back out to the track until last year.

Racing with the men turned out to be really fun and I'm glad I did it. The first race was a point-a-lap race. I only lasted a few laps before I got gapped and couldn't get back on the group but I finished the race. The next race I was ready for the surges. It was a 20-lap scratch and I stayed in the whole time! My teammate Steve helped me during the race by encouraging me to get closer on the wheel in front of me. I could hear the announcer calling out my name too. It was hard but exciting. The men's field moves fast and is quite crisp. When they all start sweeping down to the line at full speed it can be scary too.

The 4's racing was done after two races so I got to enjoy watching the other races the rest of the night. The other women all came by and congratulated me for doing the men's race. It was nice to have so much support.

I watched Mark make an awesome winning move on his 25 lap scratch. Nice job!

After the races we got ice cream to celebrate!

Wednesday night at Marymoor Velodrome - Cyclisme sur piste

We got in some track racing on Wednesday night but just barely. There were some sprinkles during warm up. Every time I went out to warm up there would be sprinkles so I ended up skipping warm-up. I know the track gets slippery when it's wet so I asked one of the refs, Phil, when they call the race. He said he had a fool-proof method of telling when to stop racing: as soon as someone goes down in a crash. Thanks Phil that made me feel so much better.

The refs are really cool though. They emphasized during the pre-race instructions that safety is first, fairness second, and competition third. I know that they are always looking out for us.

My first race was a scratch race. There were only five women so it was easy to keep an eye on every one. I waited until the last lap and tried to block in the strongest rider but it didn't work and the other riders used my wheel for the sprint. I got really bad stomach cramps from not warming up but I knew what was up so I took an extra long cool down and I was fine by the next race.

The next race was a snowball. I was going to use my strategy of going for points on the second lap. Jen A. took the first sprint and then I went. But she caught me and took the second sprint too. But we had gapped the field so I tried to come around again, and again. Eight sprints and eight second places. Jen is really strong! I was on her wheel too. So I took second place in the race since I was second on the last lap. In the last race, the 4x4 it was the same story. I could not out sprint Jen. I even went for it with a lap to go to see if I could catch her off guard. Now I really have to work to get better at my sprint. I've had it!

Cougar Mountain Training Ride

We did a training ride up Cougar Mountain yesterday since there weren't any local races. I was expecting the possiblilty of rain but it was sunny. It was in the 80's by the end of the ride and we all ran out of water. It was a super nice day. We don't get to train together much during the nice weather because we are always busy racing so the sunny ride was a real treat. We stopped at Starbucks after to chat and swap stories with other racers. One of the Recycled Cycles racers crashed twice on his last crit and still managed to get 5th place!

I found another four leaf-clover before the ride. :)

Track Canceled for tonight

Track was canceled tonight but I rode my bike out anyway. I was hoping it might clear up but we were having this really weird weather pattern from the East. There was supposed to be only 10% chance of rain but we usually get our weather from the West so when it comes from the East all of the weather models are pretty useless.

It was raining when I left Seattle. I stopped to visit Scampy, the Burke Gilman trail cat. His fur was wet when I petted him. If you've ridden the trail you've probably seen Scampy on the railing watching all of the cyclists. He does this all day long. I've gone on a 5 hour ride and seen him on the way out and the way back. He likes it when you stop and visit. The other cat came out too and there was a bit of a stand off. I made sure I gave them both some attention.

Scampy is included on the Wikipedia entry for the Burke-Gilman Trail - check it out,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Burke-Gilman-Cat-3462.jpg

Here is another picture that I found by Googling http://www.flickr.com/photos/patleahy/170119546/

Lucky!

I found a four-leaf clover today! It's a little worn but still good. I think I will press it and put it under the seat of the track bike.

Marymoor track in the sun - Cyclisme Piste

The weather at the track last night was awesome. Sunny and warm and no need for a jacket between races.

This is a picture of me with Luca. Luca and I raced together on Aurora. Now he is moving on to California. He is a great guy and a good person to have as an official. Everybody will miss him!


Racing went pretty well. It didn't hurt that some of the strongest riders went to Wenatchee to race a stage race for the weekend.

Our first race was an unknown distance. I got off the front with Devon but made a rookie mistake of being on the wrong side of her just a bit so when she swung up track I had to go up track too. So much for working together. I felt pretty dumb. I think the race was about 9 laps.

The next race was the snowball. I was going to go for points on the first lap but two others were going for it before I could jump. This was convenient though because I went for the second lap and everybody was tired so I ended up getting the points for the 2nd and 3rd laps!

The last race was progressive points. I took 1st on the first sprint and hung on for 3rd or 4th in the last sprint. I found that my best shot was to go well before the last turn. I was just happy to get some points though. Hooray!

I rode out to the track from Seattle so I got in 25 miles before the start of the race. I rode easy though so it didn't hurt the legs and I drank Perpetum by Hammer Nutrition. That really helped I think I might have bonked otherwise. I could have used some more electrolytes though because I was feeling light headed at the end of the night. I loaded up on their endurolites when I got home.



This is the sunset over the Circ du solei tent next to the track.

Bike to Work Day

It's bike to work day! I think it's the best weather ever for bike to work day. It was 50's in the morning and 70's on the way home. Very nice. Lots of riders out. I was excited to see bikes everywhere I looked. The bike racks in my building were mobbed with bikes on top of bikes.

That's my green monster in the picture. Fixie with monster tires that ride through everything.