Not a spectacular night for me. Raced smart half the time, raced like a tactical idiot the other half. :oops: Pace was tough, but not unmanageable. 18 riders, big field.

Points (5×3)

A break got a little gap almost right away, I stayed on there tail taking 5 in the first two sprints just out of the points. Drifted back into the pack for the fourth sprint. Pack caught them for the last sprint, I covered a lot of ground to get third in the last sprint. Far from enough to place. Mistake was not working hard enough to get in the 5 man break that ate up all the points.

Scratch (12 laps)

Started out racing smart, sitting 5th, 6th wheel biding my time. But as I riders pulled off the front I found myself working too much. I traded half lap pulls with the same two SBCU riders from laps 8-4. I figured if I could put a little room between me and the front at lap 4 and catch on an attack at lap 2 I’d be recovered enough for a sprint. However as I pulled through coming off of lap 4 an attack went off which sent me reeling to the back of the pack never to recover. Mistake was working too much.

Miss & Out

Raced this was very intelligently, just not hard enough. For the first several riders off I sat at the rail. Every lap I picked a rider to pass and passed them easily at the rail. With 12 riders left I hopped into the pole and made sure my handlebars were up front for the next three laps. However I misjudged it at lap 9 – my rear wheel ended up being last even though I was safe in the pole and had all the room up front to move ahead. Mistake, not working hard enough. To be fair though I would have been done on the next lap anyway. The pace was tough in this race, especially for a miss and out, and 18 riders is a lot.

Points (3×10)

Non-scoring Bs combined with Cs made for a nearly 30 large field. I started at the rail watching the Godspeed guy who takes a first lap flyer in every mass-start race he does (including crits). I got on his wheel mostly just to annoy him. Of course he sprints at the whistle with me in tow, and we get about a third lap lead on the field. Jake makes up the gap and we work hard for the first 8 laps. I work too hard 9 laps in and get gapped a little for the first sprint. Spent the next 5 laps alone just out of touch with Jake and Godspeed. Drift pack to the pack, work in for the next 4 laps. Dropped again after working too hard the lap before the bell. Pacelined/training ride with SBCU and the Proman girl for the rest of the race (ended up lapped by the field that came back together). Mistake: I don’t know. Maybe taking off with the Godspeed guy was a bad move, but I wasn’t taking this race very seriously either. It’s the same idiotic move he makes every single time and I kind of just wanted to get on his wheel to pester him.

Summary

June 2nd through June 8th, 2008.

Monday

Rest day, commute.

Tuesday

Commute, planned on the park ride, but missed it due to work.

Wednesday

No commute, but track racing.

Thursday

No commute, bike still in track mode.

Friday

No commute.

Saturday

Home improvements, no ride.

Sunday

2 Wheel Racing Criterium.

Schedule and Goals

Races

• Chariot (heat/final)
• Win and Out (6 to go)
• Tempo (12 laps)
• Miss and Out (15 riders)

First Wednesday as a B.

Goals: learn, not get my ass totally kicked.

Chariot

1st heat – started low down toward the pole. Got a good throw but was cut off as riders did not stay in their lanes. Narrowly grabbed 4th with a throw at the line.

Final – got a better start up track, able to drop in third wheel after the finish line. Held it to the 200m mark when two riders jumped hard. The leader and I reacted fast and I narrowly missed 3rd against Morgan of Montano-Velo.

Lesson learned: start is super important, don’t save anything. A good throw can make a different (both from the holder and a sprint throw)

Win and Out

Fast from the start, a lot of jockeying for position in the first 5 laps. I was 2nd wheel going into the bell lap when everyone gunned it. I didn’t have the jump to follow or contest the first sprint, just burning the matches to stay with the pack cost me the rest of the race.

Lesson learned: need to figure out placing expectations and strategy then go for that. Sit in. Improvements will be week to week.

Tempo – 12 laps

Had trouble getting a good position in the pole at first. Got in 4th wheel at turn 3 then went up around to take the first sprint by about a wheel. Big mistake. The pack attacked and I narrowly caught on to the tail end of the second group of a split pack. We caught the three guys at the third sprint, but I was still recovering and couldn’t cover the surge well. Got dropped at the 4th sprint. Sat a lap out and hopped back into the chase group for the next 5 laps as three guys off the front scooped up the rest of the point.

Lesson learned: don’t go for the first sprint if it means burning a match.

Miss and Out

Despite the big group (16?) I decided to try the tested strategy of being greedy with the pole. Grabbed the pole halfway in to the first lap and kept it for another 5 laps until a Webcor guy came around. I let him have a little room so as to not be boxed in. Big attack at lap 6, managed to stay in but lost immediate access to the pole. Not enough time or gas to come up an around. Sat after at lap 8. No placing but a midpack finish.

Lesson learned: pick a spot, pole or rail and get to one or the other quickly if I lose my spot.

Reflection

Overall lesson: learned that being competitive in the Bs is going to be a minor fitness improvement and a major mental improvement. Certainly Bs are faster, but starting to place and then win on Wednesdays is just going to require smarter racing and being more aggressive. Tuesdays are another story.

Omnium result: 4-way tie for 6th with 2 points (placed at 8th, other races break ties), of 15 riders.

Ashley has been itching to get her new Cinelli on a real track since the moment she laid her hands on it. We finally had the truck around, so we headed down to the Hellyer Velodrome in San Jose.

Stopping to get cash and gas we were there in about an hour with no traffic, however looking into the future of Wednesday night racing, getting there in traffic could prove tough. We parked and met Ben and the rest of the mouse squad. We definitely had a presence in San Jose that morning: Ben, Matt, Greg, Ashley, and I were all in Mouse colors ready to ride around in circles. Greg, both new to riding and to the mouse had brought his new Leader track bike.

I was skeptical of the Leader frames, having seen the crappy welds in photos on eBay auctions, but it looks a lot nicer in person, especially with some carbon fiber FSA cranks. Ben brought his white IRO Mark V, which made me think that I could get my commuter somewhat track ready with a little effort (and money). And of course Ashley had her beautiful Cinelli Olympic.

After a little fiddling with the rental bikes and milling around the instructor gave a preliminary spiel and sent us off in two groups on a 30 lap warm up which went fairly smoothly until the end. One guy in our group kept taking off which screwed up the lap count and when one group finished everyone scattered. During the confusion one girl with very little riding experience went up to the rail and nearly became roadkill beneath Matt as he was speeding up to catch Ben. Somehow no one crashed, but it put a lot of people on edge for a little while. Fortunately all was forgotten during the next portion of the warm up as we did some sprints.

The fun really started when the instructor put everyone on the track for a twenty lap scratch race; when he said it was like a criterium I saw Matt’s eyes light up. All the riders got set up on the rail, Matt and Ben making their way to the front. It only took them a lap or so to start taking off. I held my own for at least fifteen laps, overtaking most of the field, watching most people drop out before we were even seven laps in. But as I was starting my sixteenth lap Ben and Matt, along with a Cat 3 junior named Nick and a few others lapped me. I couldn’t jump on but I did manage to keep pace long enough to not lose more than another half lap.

Next came the Italian pursuit, or team sprint. Matt, Ben, Ashley, and I joined up against another group of four on the other side of the track. At the whistle we were sent off at full effort for four laps with Ashley in the lead. She went off so fast at the gun that it was hard to keep her wheel and she even gapped Matt and Ben briefly. In the Italian pursuit the leader pulls of at each lap, leaving the last riders of each group trying to catch each after four lightning fast laps. In our first heat we made up so much ground that Ben nearly caught the other rider at the line. Our first pursuit went so well that we went again after a short break. This one went just as smoothly, but we were started to feel the wind in turn four and we lost by about a bike length.

The last event of the day was the Australian pursuit. With riders starting lined up at every other light pole along the rails the winner would be the last rider standing as other riders must pull of to the stairs once they are passed by any other rider. I was feeling pretty worked so I got picked off after only a lap and a half. Matt held strong against the two remaining riders until a 3 lap lead out into a sprint. He made the mistake of pulling the whole way and trying to attack at a half lap to go when the others went to the rails. They came off the rails so fast that Matt was out just before the final turn. Still an incredible effort. It’s so easy to ride so fast on the track that you have to ride that much harder to ride faster than everyone else.

Overall the day was awesome, great training, and educational. I can’t wait to go back and eventually start racing for real. Check out Ashley’s report of her first day at the track too!