Category: B

I raced this evening at the second of the season-long Wednesday Training Race Meetings. It was very nice to be down on the track racing again and there was a good turnout of riders. We split into 3 groups (A,B & C), with 18(!) in the A's, 6 (including me) in the B's and 11 C's.

Something slightly unusual compared to seasons passed: there was actually some structure to the warm-up where the race referee was actually doing a little be of coaching for the B's and C's. Very nice. We did a good warmup and I probably worked a little too hard warming up!

Each group had 4 events: 10 lap scratch, 10 lap point a lap, 7 laps to win and out and a points race (see here for decoding of the events).

In the scratch race, I decided to stretch my legs as soon as the whistle sounded and launched an attack to get everyone going. I was clear for a couple of laps and then started to lose ground so I sat up to wait for Brian Krause who was coming across towards me. We worked together for a while, but we were caught. Things were then set up for the sprint - I went for a long one with more than a lap to go, but was passed on the final turn.

In the point a lap, a pair of riders got away. I tried to bridge, got 2/3 of the way across and then blew up. I eased up and then comfortably won the sprint for 3rd.

The win and out was very cagey - no one wanted to attack as we were all going for the win. We picked up the pace a little at 3 to go and at 2 to go, I feinted to the inside causing Brian to jump. We let him get a small lead as we were setting ourselves up for the big jump at a lap to go. At the first bell there was a switch and I had 2 options: slow down or jump. If I had slowed down, there was no way I would have been able to contest the sprint for first, so I jumped, about 25 metres before where I wanted to. How crucial those 25 metres were, as I was beaten by Dan from Pen Velo coming round me in the last 25 metres... At this point I was spent and didn't place.

For the points race, we joined the A's. I managed to hang on for 18 laps...

It was great to be down at Hellyer racing again and painful to be reminded of the intensity required by track racing. One of the great things about the track is that you get a much better chance to socialise with the riders on other teams. It is a very relaxed atmosphere and very cool.

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