It’s been a long time since I had a race report to write, but well – I have one tonight. A good one – if I can write tonight!
It was a cool evening in East Point – so much so that I ended up racing in knee warmers. A good call on my part. Anyway, lets get on with the races…
8 Lap Scratch
The first 4 laps of this race were a tactical debacle for everybody. Not wanting to make a move to early, everybody just watched each other. With 3.5 laps to go, I got a notion to give it a go and did just that. I wound it up and held a good gap for 2.5 laps. Unfortunately, it was about 1 lap short of what I needed. A good effort – I was proud of it.
Miss-n-Out
I really don’t like these – but I’m getting oddly good at them. I guess a few years of racing – i’m finally learning? I got a good start and went straight to the front (I always do this). I rolled tempo for 2 laps when Pete – the most skilled M-n-O rider in the ATL rolled by me. Okay, I’m cool with that. We traded positions. Did some shuffling and one by one, people were getting eliminated. I thought we had 1 more guy in the field to be eliminated so I kept the pace high. I was really hammering. All of the sudden, with two teammates (not MY teammates, two fellow teammates) on my wheel, the bell rang. I thought we still had a no-pull lap. I knew right then, I had nothing left and they rolled by. Later Pete commented – I got third the honorable way or something like that. I was most proud of this effort.
Madison
I’ll just say Justin and I rode well for his first madison. I think we even got a few points along the way. It was a good effort!
Tempo
This 20 lap pain fest started about 5 minutes after the madison – I was already pretty smoked. The first 5 laps were *HOT* I was the last rider in the field and I was hanging on for dear life. I started trying to cover the attack but knew I was on the verge of implosion. I went high and let the field (which was splintered a bit) roll through and got on the back… it was fast! A few breaks went, over and over…. finally I managed to get to the front and score a lap (2 points) before getting swarmed on the second lap – argh! Back to suffering.
It was probably my strongest night at the track in Georgia. It was really good to just be in the mix – all night. Madison – not so much, but the other races I was on it like white on rice!