Attacking the field

Last night I raced in the men's category 4 field again but this time I raced more aggressively. It was a nice warm night and my legs felt great. I took the bus over from Seattle and rested my legs. Mark brought my track bike to his work and then took it with him to the velodrome.

My first race was a snowball. I thought it would be a fast race since the points increase each lap. But it seemed slow and a bit sketchy in the pack. I got swept up track at one point and lost my wheel and had to chase back on.

The next race was a win-and-out. Six laps around and then each lap someone "wins" and leaves the field. I figured we might have a slow pace for the first six laps as riders tried to jockey for position. So I attacked the field right from the start and was off the front for at least a lap before the field caught up with me. It was great fun and I really caught the guys off guard. The crowd was rooting me on too. I finished with the group but felt good about being able to get away from the group and forcing the pace.

The last race was a points race. I had two teammates in the race and I worked out a plan with one of them to do another surprise attack. Mark was watching from above the banking and on our neutral lap he yelled to me "attack the field!" He didn't think I was actually going to do it though! About two laps into the race my teammate went to the front to cover while I attacked hard up the side. I got a good gap and was away from the group for 3/4 of a lap when I heard Mark yelling "work together!" I didn't realize it but a rider from the Wines team had bridged up to me. This was awesome, we had blocking from two teams now. It was a vote of confidence that another rider was willing to take a chance with me. I pulled up track and we worked together for another lap until the field caught us. We were almost away long enough to take some points!

After the group caught me I got gapped off the back for awhile but one of my teammates pulled me back to the group and I finished with the pack. It was fun!