Marymoor Friday Night Fast Racing!

Yesterday was FAST. Well there were times when it was slow but when it sped up we were at a faster level than my legs were used to. We had some racers I hadn't raced with before on the track - Kelly, Jen, Monique, to add to the already fast racing of the regulars, Amara, Tela, Christine and others. It was fun to have such a talented field to race with.

I had a smaller gear for this race which I'm not sure I liked. However it wasn't a good comparison since we also had a faster field. I just have to race more to figure everything out.

Our first race was a scratch and was fast because we had several primes to keep us from slowing down. I hung on but wasn't really contesting anything. I was on the front with two to go but couldn't match the jump when it came around me.

The next race, the miss-and-out I totally screwed up. I had this idea of starting at the front and then moving to the outside. But one of the really strong racers also was going for the front and pulled ahead of me. So then I was in a really bad position and tried to correct it but we still had the entire field in the race and they were in a single line on my outside - so I was trapped. Out on the first lap! I learned later that if you are trapped you need to slowdown as fast as is safe and get to an outlet. You can't try to do it on the last corner either. It's tough to gain experience this way but I'm hoping it will be a valuable lesson to keep me out of trouble in the future.

The last race was a 4x5 points race. I had fun going for an attack but I really didn't have the fire in my legs to contest sprints. Karen tried to give me a leadout for some points but I totally missed her signals and didn't get on her wheel. I will have to be more alert to communication that can benefit me! It is great to have someone who wants to do team stuff with me.

I am looking forward to more elite level racing!

The last race of the night was the men's cat 1-2 Madison. I watched closely to try and learn from the guys. Jen and Monique raced with them too. It is really hard to follow a Madison race and it is also hard to try and video them and watch. I took some video but then decided to just watch the rest without a camera. I highly recommend getting out to the track to watch the racing in person!