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What Richard saw:
Category: A
Result: Mid-pack
Getting to the track was a little tricky this evening with all the
traffic on 680. When I got there, it looked as if all the traffic was
heading to Hellyer. I think that there were a total of 53 riders
registered this evening, enough that there were 4 groups, with the C
group split into 2, 9 riders in the B group and 20 in the A group. PP
and I rode in the A group and Brad was in C1. Charlie also put in an
appearance to spectate.
I rode with a slightly higher gear this evening - 50x15. You would think
the difference between this and 49x15 is minimal, but it isn't. Two
weeks ago, I was finding myself spinning erratically at top speed round
the bends. With the slightly higher gear, I was much smoother and felt
more confident riding closely on a wheel at top speed. I am still
lacking the ability to spin such a gear in a sprint so my top-end speed
isn't what it could be and isn't yet where it was last year where I was
riding 51x15, but this will come with track time. That is not to say
that we weren't going very quickly at times. At one point, I had the
privilege of riding for over a lap behind the locomotive that is Larry
Nolan. Wow!
Our race order was: scratch, lotto, win-and-out, miss-and-out, points
race. With 4 groups, the points race was only 15 laps instead of the
more traditional 50+. I was able to hang in there relatively comfortably
in all of the races, with even a couple of short-lived attacks. However,
I am still washed away when the speed winds up for the final sprints.
In the miss-and-out, I eliminated a couple of riders before making a
mistake and losing position, thereby eliminating myself. PP rode well
and claimed some points in the points race. Brad looked like he had fun,
with good attacks off the front in both the snowball and miss-and-out to
claim 3rd in both events. Brad was the only one of us to trouble the
scorer for the evening omnium.
I spoke to a few people about our race - everyone seems to be looking
forward to it, not least because it is local.
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What Brad saw:
Category: C
Result: Mid-pack
I had some time to kill and was on the track early last night....in fact at around 5pm, 2 1/2 hrs before the first race. This was the most warm-up I've ever had!!! It seemed to help.
As Richard said, we had a huge turn-out, at least bigger than I've ever seen for a wed. night track race. It was great seeing Richard & Pritpal racing in the "A's,", and charlie spectating (I think with a doctor's pass for the night). This being my first time at the track this year, I had no big expectations. I've been weight-lifting faithfully now 1-2 times/week this season and didn't know what to expect from leg speed in that regard.
Anyways, my "C1" group raced four times: Scratch race, Snowball, Win & Out with a secret lap count, and then a Miss and Out.
I took 5th in the Scratch race, fairly pleased with that, just tried to get my "sea-legs" back and stay out of trouble. So, 1 whole point there! Woo hoo! I felt pretty strong, but was still pretty green in terms of track skills and positioning. But, so was everyone else.
The Snowball race is cracking good fun.....basically, you get points every lap, so each lap is a fight. I mulled this over, and figured my best chance was to go after the middle laps. With about 4 laps to go, there was a "brownie prime." Hmm.m....get max points and a brownie?? Yes!! I had to have that!! In coming around the last corner on the prime, I was about 6 positions back, a little up the track out of the lane, and I decided to see what my weight-lifting has accomplished. To my huge surprise, I accelerated past them all and took the brownie prime! This caught my colleagues off-guard, and with the momentum, decided to go for the next lap too, to get another max set of lap points. No one took up the chase, so took 1st on that lap too. Now, getting greedy and no doubt stupid, I went for another solo lap, but this time was caught, but took 4th at the end (out of the placing). R & P said I was huffing and puffing as loud as locomotive in coming around. Oh yeah, I was abolutely at my max anaerobic capacity. When the points were calculated for the snowball, I ended up 3rd.
I couldn't figure out the win/out strategy. It was a "blind" race distance, so none of us knew how many laps, or when the win/out process would start. I just motored around the track somewhere in the middle, and got no points. Maybe I was still addled from the snowball. I'll know what to do next time.
Our final race, the Miss & Out. Now this I understood -- last rider across the line on each lap is pulled and requested to go ride the pine bench. I wanted to really do well, so I asked Pritpal and Richard for tactical advice, and it was forthcoming. They had some general track positioning comments for me. And they suggested that I should jump to the front ASAP, but let 1-2 riders come around. Well, easier said than done, and it didn't help that I got to the start line last as I was gabbing with P & R, but I got aggressive, made a couple of risky moves low in the lane, and secured the position they suggested....3 from the front, and stayed there for as long as I could.
Now, lessons are always being learned on the track, and my lesson is to start paying attention to the fact that this is a miss & out, which means riders will disappear as they are yanked on each lap. Lo and behold, with about 6 riders left, I noticed i was the last in line!!! With 1/2 lap to go!! Yikes!! I hammered to the front and took 1st on the lap and avoided the "miss," but then my oxygen-deprived brain could think no longer, and I unwisely decided to stay off the front, instead of regrouping. So, I kept there for a few more laps until we were whittled down to 3 riders for the final sprint. But, I didn't fully understand the neutral lap concept, and the other two guys did. Thus, I wasted my effort, being in front wasn't gaining me any points! While I'm working hard solo, they were together, and with just 1/3 lap to go, I was soundly spanked and passed by both. Oh well, I took 3rd.
Pleased with the night....got places and points in three out of four races....5th, 3rd, 3rd. I ended up tying for 5th in total points, but ties are broken with the person getting a higher placing in a race (the other 5th pl guy took a 2nd somewhere), so I got 6th in the Omnium. I now see you need to secure some 1st's and 2nd's in order to score those higher-value points (again, easier said than done).
A lot of fun, and I look forward to getting smarter on the track with guidance from our "A" riders Pritpal and Richard. Hopefully Charlie will be well next week and able to race, and we can start executing a few team tactics in the "C" group.
P.S. the brownie was sinfully rich....very thick, chocolately....
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