Lots of fun racing last night! I had fun racing and spectating.
There was a story about the velodrome on King5 sports and I think I am in the picture with the story. The picture is small so it's hard to see but it was exciting to see myself and to see local track racing get some press. As Mark and I were driving out to the track we were at a stoplight when a driver from the car next to us saw the bikes on top of the car and leaned out the window to ask us if we were "those velodrome racers who race with fixed gear bikes and no brakes!" Yup, that's us.
The first race of the night was the men's category 4. Mark's teammate John was racing with his son, Coner, who is a junior. Coner made an attack early in the race and John went with him. They held off the field for several laps while the crowd cheered wildly for the father/son duo. It was cool to watch. I had to frantically dig through my bag to get the camera out to capture the moment. Nice job guys!
My first race was a point-a-lap. The pace was high and I didn't manage to get any points. At one point I saw two riders from the Group Health team, Rachel and Jen A. moving up the side and I thought I'd jump on the wheel and come around, but as we moved off the front Jen A. gapped off of Rachel's wheel. I was fooled and Rachel held off the pack for the point. It was a good move on their part, I'm definitely going to watch for that one next time.
In between our races Mark's group did the Chariot race, a 1 lap all out effort. Mark got a great start and rode away from the field. It was incredible to see anybody get that big of a lead in a 1-lap race! I caught it on video too.
My next race was the win-and-out. I didn't go for the first sprint-win but I was trying to get in there for one of the next sprints. But the Group Health team did a nice job of boxing us in at a key moment. They had four riders and I got myself trapped on the inside. I finally got out and charged around to almost reach the leaders but I didn't get any of the win laps.
My last race was a points race. I was careful this time not to get in a box. I decided to stay near the front. On the first sprint lap the points only went one person deep and I was on the front. Every time I've been in this situation before the field sweeps around at full speed and I can't keep up. So this time I really tried to be ready for it . I rode out of the saddle and was ready to change speeds while watching to my right. I saw someone come up and I punched it. I got a gap and held it to the line to take the points! I was so excited to be able to sprint from the front of the group and hold it. I kept going and found myself up by 1/2 lap. But it was 4 more laps until the next points and I didn't think I could hold off the field that long. I rode strong but not all out. The group eventually caught me after a few more laps and I rested in the group but wasn't able to take anymore points. In retrospect I should have gone for broke while I was out there. It was really really fun though and the crowd was cheering hard for me. It was thrilling to hear people calling out my name. After the race I rode up high on the bank to wave at the crowd. They really make it fun for me.
Mark told me that when I went off the front he wasn't paying attention until he heard the announcer say "And Mark is on his feet screaming and cheering". I laughed so hard. The announcer knows who we both are and got Mark good.
The last race of the night was the 1/2 men's race and one of the racers was from Trinidad-Tobago. Our local guys are super fast so it was incredible to see this guy beat them in the sprint. I am pretty sure he is Olympics-bound. Next week is the big FSA Grand Prix with a prize list of $14,000 dollars. We will being seeing a lot of talent out there. I can't wait.
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