May 28, 2009, National Sports Center Velodrome Thursday Night Lights,
Blaine MN   Category 3   Track

Another Thursday night of racing in Blaine MN on the 250 meter track. This day we had 14 entries in the Category 3, but there would be more than that in some of the races as things turned out. That young whipper snapper from the previous week was not present, so at least I'd have a chance in the sprints. A few new faces showed up, so more mystery as to who to watch. The weather was again very good, starting out in the mid 70's and not cooling as rapidly as last week.

The first event for us was a Win and Out. We do five laps and the leader at the end of 5 laps is the winner of the event. Then two laps later, the leader is awarded second, and every other lap continues until five places have been awarded. I usually hate this event because I always try to win and if someone beats me for first, I usually can not recover to place anywhere else. I had come up with a strategy and the timing allowed me to execute it. With 2.5 laps to go to the first sprint, I came around the outside from the middle of the pack and dropped in front of the pack, kicking it as hard as I could once in front. I had the luck that everyone looked at each other thinking it was too early to attack and hoping that someone else would do the chasing, thus allowing me to open a sizable gap. With one to go it looked pretty good, but another lap of all out effort was looking like a tougher chore than I anticipated. I dug in and did my best to keep my advantage and at the line was able to still have several lengths for a win in the first event. Maximum speed 35.1 mph, average 31.1 mph.

Our second race was a 15 lap scratch (first to the line after 15 laps wins). We had several women join in and the pack was much larger. I had hoped to get a breakaway going with some other riders that I could then out sprint. The pace was pretty high and we soon were shedding riders. Daniel Casper was reputed to be a very strong rider and I followed him during the pacing. We got down to a small group and began lapping many of the other riders. Since the group was small, there was little opportunity to attack them and we had about 4 of us as we approached one to go. With the rotation, it turned out that I was to take the lead with 1 and a third laps to go and I tried to just do a strength effort to see if I could just out muscle the others. When Daniel pulled up, I attacked as hard as I could going through turn 3. Looking behind me, I saw that I did not gain a sizable lead as the others were not far behind. So with less than one lap to go and leading the others, I tried to just keep the speed up until the line, but alas one guy came around me on the back stretch. As we came out of the turn I began to wear out and another rider was able to slip by, giving me a third for the event. So riding smart would have been better than riding hard this time. Maximum speed 35.6 mph, average 28.6 mph.

Our last event for the evening was a 50 lap points race with sprints every 10 laps for 5, 3, 2, 1 points to the first four places. The odd twist was that the Category 1/2 riders that opted not to ride their Madison would be competing with us. So we had a mix with some very strong, fast riders. I decided to let one of the riders be my guide, so Andy Kruse (ranked third last year) would see me on his wheel many times when looking over his shoulder. When the first sprint came up, the pack was all together, but Andy was pretty far back and did not contest the sprint for points. This would be fine, as often riders will give everything they have in the first sprint and not be very strong for the later sprints. The pack was still together for the sprint at 20 laps and I was able to get a third place to pick up some points; not many, but the race was still young. When the other riders pulled up, I decided to keep the heat on and half a lap later four others had joined me and we had a five man break away that would continue to pull away from the others. We all took equal half lap turns, but I was starting to really wear out with about 5 to go to the next sprint. With about 3 laps to go to the next sprint, I took my dutiful turn, but really felt like it was going to put my strength into jeopardy, so I actually slowed the pace down a bit. As we came into the third sprint I was in good position, but as the pace picked up I was no longer competitive and not only could not get any points, but lost contact with the other four. I tried for the next several laps to regain contact in hopes that they may ease up, but it was not to be. Later another group of four approached and I had eased up a bit to join them, but they just went flying by and I could not get into the back of the group. So rather than just slog on my own and eventually be caught exhausted, the next best alternative was to ease up, get lapped and rejoin in the sprints. At least when they came around again, I was able to join in and we eventually had a much larger group, but with riders on different laps. I was still struggling to maintain the pace, so I just sat at the back and was unable to contest any more sprints. Somehow I still managed to get a fifth place overall (which gives me no points towards the Omnium for the evening). Maximum speed 35.5 mph, average 27.8 mph.

Although I tied for first overall on points for the Omnium collection of points for the night, Alex Atherton finished ahead of me in the final event, so he got first overall and I was second again.

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