It was looking like I might not race a track bike again this year, but I got one more shot. It was the last competitive event of the year at the velodrome so it’s not like there were more chances! I haven’t done a blow by blow race report in a long time but I feel oddly compelled.
There weren’t enough people to warrant the A, B, C system, so they had and A-B and a B-C group. Having missed a month of riding and not really training much this month, I opted for the B-C group for the first 2 events.
The first race (as always) was a 5 lap scratch. I botched it a bit, but finished 6th. There were about a dozen people in the field, so I was like “Alright”. I didn’t care… They all wanted to ride 4 laps and sprint 1, I made them go fast… we went fast… it was good!
The second race was stupid – but you have to race what you are given. A 10 lap “Win-and-Out”. You go 10 laps, then the next lap, the first person across the line wins…. everybody else as to keep going…. next lap… the person across the line gets second…. next lap…. the first person gets third…. then I think you go one more lap for 4-whateverith. I missed a small move for 1st… so I regrouped and decided to go for second. My plan was perfect – except the chucklehead that went for second had the same plan. Two other riders were up there, so I felt good about catching them, but alas… I was leading out the sprint for 3rd. I did one hell of a lead out… and ended up in 4th overall. Oops. It was fast.
The final event of the evening was the points race. I could have ridden one other event, but wasnt told that until later. The points race was huge… lots of people and honestly, it was stupid for all the people to be out there. Guys, if you are reading this… if you are down 2 laps and don’t know how to re-join the field, move on… get your street clothes on. Do not ride around at the top of the track chatting. It’s dangerous and confusing. ANYWAY… back to my race – I was in a second group. It ended up about 6 riders in the main field and 4 or so in my group. We were occassionally making progress, but never enough. It was alright, at the end – I finished a 35 lap race on even laps. I was proud of that (and quite sore).
It’s been a rough season (towards the end) but I think it was good overall. I look forward to winter training sessions at the track, enjoying hanging out and doing some other stuff.