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Result: Back of pack

This evening, the first of the track District Championships was decided, the Madison. This was the featured event at the end of the racing promoted by Eric Peterson.

If you weren't doing the Madison, there wasn't that much racing if you weren't over 35 or female. Fortunately, I found a partner for the Madison, Marc Franklin of Alto Velo, though he did wear FFBC colours for the race.

Event 1 for me was a sprint heat. I had put on a new, bigger gear for this evening, 51x15. I am slowly building up the gear in preparation for the Championship pursuits. I rolled in at the back of my heat, getting the gear turning, but not contesting the finish.

Event 2 was a de'il. I rode this pretty well, rolling nicely at the front, and then mixing it near the front for a couple of laps before getting boxed in at the bottom.

Event 3 was the Madison: 80 laps with sprints every 10. Marc and I had both done Madisons on recent Wednesday evenings, though we hadn't ridden together. We did a few exchanges to get a feel and then it was time to start. There were 7 teams.

The Madison is a fun event - you get thrown in to work hard for a lap and a half (45 seconds or so) and then rest until you do it again. Each time I looked at my heart rate when I went on relief, I was over LT (though I didn't look every time)! The pace started pretty brisk with me racing and Marc on relief. The first exchange when racing is always a bit daunting, but we managed it ok and didn't get gapped too much and Marc got back on the group.

And that was basically our race - hanging onto the back of the group and not getting dropped or lapped, though some serious chasing was required at times after being slowed by poor exchanges, especially by the Jamaican boys who definitely need to practise a bit more in traffic.

There was one crash. Bobby Walthour hit the deck, on the back straight while I was on relief near the top of turn 4. The race was stopped. He picked himself up, dusted himself down and we started all over again. Bobby and his partner, Giovanni Rey, won the race despite Bobby's fall.

The stoppage was a bit unfortunate for us (as well as Bobby...), as Matt Tamel and Nate Shaw of Garden City had been dropped and were on course to lose a lap, and therefore lose 20 points. After the restart with 35 to go they were able to hang in for most of the rest of the race. We did drop them again in the last 10 laps, but not enough for them to lose a lap. This meant that, as we had no points, we ended up last of the 6 teams which finished.

Anyway, I don't really care where we finished, it was great to ride the district championship race and finish without being lapped. The Madison is a great event which I enjoy riding immensely. I think it is easily my favourite event. Next year I would like to train for it properly with a partner as I think this is an event I can do well in.

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