Velo 4

Last night was my fourth time racing at the track. Man, it was a ROUGH NIGHT. There were no other W4 competitiors, but those juniors pushed the pace every single race (W4 and JM/W race together), and it didn't help that my gear was much to small.

We started with a 6-lap handicap. I, of course, was the rabbit, placed at 120m, and gave it my all. Leigh gave me a nice push to start out with, and I just sprinted my heart out until someone caught up with me...and passed me. Oh well. I think everyone caught me, but I don't think I got lapped by everyone - maybe only half the field. The worst part was that my legs were spinning so hard! I just needed a bigger gear, and I could have at least grabbed on to a wheel a bit sooner. That's what you get for renting a bike at the track. I mentioned my gear issue to someone as I was leaving - they saw that I was walking to my car without a bike and inquired if I rode a rental. When I replied "yes," I added that the gearing was way too small, and they told me they bring extra gears every time, and I should never hesitate to ask them to borrow one. Sweet! Cyclists are pretty nice people. (:

Next race was a miss-and-out. This means that the person whose back wheel crosses the start-finish line LAST each lap gets pulled from the race. They pull one rider per lap until there are 3 left, and then they have one lap to go and they sprint for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I knew I needed to get up high on the track so I wouldn't get stuck in a position I couldn't get out of, but somehow everyone got over me, and I was the first one pulled. Oh well, live and learn. I was already coughing up a storm from the handicap race, and I needed the extra rest.

Finally we had an 18-lap points race. Points go to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (13, 7, and 1 are the points values, I believe) every 6 laps. I knew I wouldn't be sprinting for points, so I just tried to hang on as best I could. All I know is I lapped one person, but so did the rest of the field. I grabbed a few wheels and worked with them for a while, and that was all I could do. It's hard to push yourself too much when you know you don't really have any competition, but I definitely gave it all I had on that last lap.

All in all, I'd call it a successful night. I didn't perfom all that well by any stretch of the imagination, but I learned a ton. I learned that I needed a bigger gear for those races. I learned that I need to figure out how NOT to get stuck on the inside in a miss-and-out. And I learned that even if there are no other competitors in my category, I still get $20 at the end of the night! This only pays for next week's road tolls ($3.75 total to get out there during rush hour using the Beltway), bike rental ($3), and entry fee ($12), but in the end I make a buck, and it feels good to be handed an envelope with money in it! (: I really pushed myself to my limit last night - I really worked my butt off. And it felt good. Now I get to spend today recovering (2hrs of endurance miles with a few power intervals thrown in for fun), and hope to keep up in tomorrow's crit. It's a Women's Open category (i.e. I'm racing with Cat1's), so it should be interesting and another learning experience, if nothing else. Wohoo!