- Time
- Aug 1, 2011
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It Was All A Dream
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It was season kickoff weekend for us at the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome here in scenic Redmond, Washington.
Friday Night was a more sprinter-themed program: a short points race, keirin, and scratch.
My team is more on the sprintery end of things - we've had four folks in the 1/2s, one in the 3's and also the son of one guy racing juniors.
I normally go for the points races, but my legs were feeling rough, and I am always pretty marked in a points race, so I didn't manage to make much happen. Got countered hard on the second sprint and let a break get away, rolled in for 6th, just out of omnium points.
We had a reasonable amount of time so I decided to get goofy and throw a big gear on for the keirin - not as big as one of my teammates who went 57x14, but one tooth off which is still huge for me (especially since I haven't been in the gym since the pandemic started).
My teammy in the 3's won his heat tidily https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmFu2J81m4&t=5214s.
And then my teammy in the 1/2's heat 1 won his heat even more dramatically https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmFu2J81m4&t=5466s.
And then my teammy in heat 2 made a big move from the back draw to take his heat, too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmFu2J81m4&t=5773s.
After that I really felt obligated to follow suit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmFu2J81m4&t=6068s
For the final we all made pretty good draws, and managed to go 1/2/3 (with me bringing up 3rd by a whisker). Super fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmFu2J81m4&t=7818s
Last race of the night was a 20 lap scratch - not too long, but plenty long with a lot of big efforts in the legs.
For whatever reason I was feeling better than I had all night, though, and decided to just race spicy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmFu2J81m4&t=10408s
Any time I got to the front or folks started slowing down I surged it to make the folks sitting on big gears hurt. Super fun way to race, but I was too gassed to cover the winning move with 3 to go - fortunately a teammate was in there so I didn't feel bad looking around. Sat in and forced one of the fastest finishers into leading me out, then came around in the last 15m for second, enough to get 2nd in the nightly overall. My big sprinter teammate's keirin win was enough to put him in 3rd.
Wrapped up the night with shakes and burgers at a 50's style drive-in spot (pandemic friendly dining!), because we ain't roadies.
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Saturday morning was timetrials and a sprint tourney, but I was too fried from how late I got home (whoops) to bother.
My big pursuity teammate crushed his 4k, though, going sub 5min for the first time on a windy day with heavy legs, and my sprinter buds clocked up the two fastest 200m times in the tourney.
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Saturday evening was an International Omnium (Scratch, Tempo, Elimination, Points Race, with points scored in the first 3 and added to what you earn in the final points race for the overall decider).
I love this event - it's such a good mix of different flavors of tactical racing, and you have to be extra aware of who is watching who, who thinks they can make up enough to win, or who is just trying to consolidate their current spot. Sadly they don't run it for masters, so I don't get many opportunities to do it.
Still feeling pretty frazzled, I decided to try to race a bit smarter instead of pure spice - didn't want to write any checks I couldn't cash.
I figured the Scratch would be raced fast, but it's too short for anyone to let a break go. I was right, and instead of kissing wind I rode mid pack, let the right people drop in front of me, and then forced them to close down moves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5DBfDgEs7E&t=739s.
The tempo gives one point to the leader each lap around - nothing for second. I got pretty worried in the first few sprints of the tempo - I kept getting used and missing out on the one point on the line. Without really intending to, me and one other fellow got off the front. We worked together a bit and then I rode in alone - with only one point on the line the field was too busy looking at eachother to dig deep and pull me back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5DBfDgEs7E&t=3803s
That race was "good luck" because the osprey that nests in our floodlights hit me square on. Oof!
I felt pretty gassed in the elimination - couldn't hold the front, got dangerously close to an early elimination in the box, and had to get a little aggressive to push out of the box because I didn't have the energy to back all the way out and come around. Worse, I screwed up and wore my aero helmet which I can't hear well in - total brainfart, and got pipped for fourth when I thought there was still one more person back. OH WELL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5DBfDgEs7E&t=6253s
 A brief moment of foolishness.
I went in to the Points race leading by 1 point, with another fast guy 3 points behind. This is where the tactics get turned up to 11, because folks in 5th or 6th would need to lap the field in order to be in contention, so I could let them up the road without worrying too much. That's the theory, at least. With only 1 point lead it was pretty hot right from the get-go. I didn't end up securing a healthier margin until 10 to go. After the penultimate sprint, though, I had a 3 point lead - with 10, 6, 4, 2 on the line, as long as my nemesis didn't win the final and I finished right behind him, I had it sewn up. Luckily for me, three folks went up the road, I locked myself onto my only opponent's wheel, and shrugged. Didn't end up taking him on the line, but I didn't need to. Zero wasted energy, taking the Omnium by 1 point.
I love reading these, so much. Thanks!
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May 30, 2021 23:44
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- Time
- Aug 1, 2011
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It Was All A Dream
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This rules. thank you so much for posting it.
its also the longest youtube video i have ever watched the whole video of
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Nov 19, 2021 02:09
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May 30, 2021 23:44
