May 31, 2009, National Sports Center Velodrome Radius Series,
Blaine MN Category 1/2/3 Track
A rare Sunday night of racing at the Blaine velodrome.
Unlike Thursdays where I race in Category 3, this would be a lot tougher with Category 1 and 2 riders also in the event.
I had no fantasies of winning, but would still try to do my best.
This race is one of three held over the summer and this particular one used two man teams.
I had the good fortune to partner with Ben Dubay, a young rider that's one of the better Cat 1/2 riders and a very nice guy.
He's definitely stronger and faster than me, but he would not admonish me for not being able to hold up as strongly.
Although this has been the warmest day in Minnesota so far, we constantly had the threat of rain that might cancel the night.
Even before the first race, some drops came down and at times you could see many splatters on the warm up circle.
Fortunately it never hit us hard enough to cancel or delay our fun.
Our first event was a flying 200 meter.
This is a timed event that each team performs with no other racers on the track.
With two man teams, one rider would lead out his partner and then either hand sling him into the action with one lap to go or lead him out and pull up out of the way.
I led out Ben and he finished up with a 12.2 second time, which would put us towards middle of the pack of eight teams.
I'm afraid I did not give Ben the fast leadout he needed to give us a good time, only giving him a maximum speed of 34.8 mph and fading before I pulled off for him.
We had a large contingent of 4/5 riders doing single events which allowed us to catch our breath.
Then our next event was a 20 lap Tempo race (sprints every lap for 2 and 1 points for the first two riders each lap)
where the points of the individuals would be combined for the two man teams.
Although Ben complained that he hated Tempo races, he was able to get two wins and a second for 5 points and I added 2 points on a win in the middle of the event,
which was enough to put us into third spot for this race.
Maximum speed 35.4 mph, average 28.8 mph.
Our third race was a 360, which is a standing start race of one and a half laps.
They have two races with one rider of each team in each race.
I usually do poorly in these as the other top racers have such explosive starts and I use a big gear, so they gain a couple of lengths on me right at the very start.
Ben went in his race first and didn't feel he had good legs for it, getting 6th out of 7. He was surprised that he was feeling tired.
In my event, I started 5th up from the pole line and Bob Williams (the track manager) was my gracious holder.
I gave everything I had at the start and on the third pedal stroke even pulled my front wheel off the surface.
I was soon fighting for third position and was able to squeeze out the guy to my inside to solidly be third going through turn 4 for the first time.
As they approached the back stretch, the pace increased and I started to lose solid contact with the front two riders, but held them at about a length away.
With 20 meters to go it looked like I could take third, but Andy Kruse (ranked third at the track last year) came around me and knocked my down to fourth.
Still I was pleased as this was the best I had ever done in a 360.
Maximum speed 35.8 mph, average 29.1 mph.
Next up was a two man flying kilo (four laps) with a 2 lap wind up.
This is a timed event that each team performs with no other racers on the track.
Most riders would hand sling their partner into the start, then get slung back in two laps later to finish.
Since I had not yet done a hand sling in competition, we decided to ride it like a short team pursuit, taking one lap pulls each, with me starting and Ben finishing.
Perhaps it was not the best choice as we finished in last, but I can't be certain we would have placed better with the other method.
Our last event for the evening was an 80 lap Madison race with 8 sprints at unknown distances within the race for 5, 3, 2, 1 points to the first four places.
These are unique races where one of the riders of a team is the active rider, while the other slowly circles the track waiting to dive down and get thrown in to replace him via a hand sling.
In addition to the points, it is possible to lap other riders and this has precedence over any points (e.g. Team A with 50 points, but one lap down on Team B with 20 points is still behind Team B).
Some of the pure sprinter types that do not have the endurance to do well in a race of nearly half an hour, opted not to participate, so we only had five teams.
Thus I would be able to be in a less intense situation as I adjusted to performing hand slings for the first time in a competition.
Back in my prime, Madison exchanges were performed by grabbing his shorts on the side towards the rear, which contained an internal dowel for a grip.
Ben started as I waited on the opposite side and then later came in for my first throw in.
It all went smoothly and it turned out to be no big deal.
All of our exchanges went smoothly except for one very late in the race where Ben didn't have room to come in on my left due to another rider going slower than I anticipated
and he swung around the outside giving me a tap on the back.
Of course the favorites for the event were Brian Crosby (ranked number 1) and Andy Kruse (ranked 3rd) as the team that would annihilate the rest of us.
We got very lucky on the timing of the first two sprints where riders had gotten a bit strung out (due to the speed demands imparted by Brian and Andy) and Ben was in second position and held it for second place points.
On the third sprint, I was able to get second place points and we were down to three teams in the lead group soon after that (of course Brian and Andy had already gained a lap on all the rest of us by then).
Ben wanted to also gain a lap and flew off the front after I threw him in.
I thought he was crazy for trying as I was sure that I would not be able to keep that momentum going,
but I gave it my best and surprisingly we did get that lap on everyone (except Brian and Andy who were now 2 laps ahead of us and 3 on the next team).
We got another second place sprint points and all we really needed to do was sit on the third place team and make sure they didn't get their lap back.
After awhile, Ben got the itch to try for another lap and away he went.
I don't think we got the lap on that try, but soon after he tried again and we were able to latch on to the Brian and Andy train after getting lapped again and working with them were able to get our second lap in on third place.
We got a third place sprint point on another point lap due to our being situated in between the lead action during the lap attempt, but we got second on all the rest of the sprints.
So we handily finished second in the event with Brian and Andy gaining about 3 laps on us.
We rode well together, had some good luck and I was nowhere near the class of Brian and Andy who could drop me any time they desired to.
But it was a lot of fun and now I have no trepidation about doing Madison hand slings.
I discovered that I could not ride below 12 mph on the 45 degree banking with my clincher training tires without the front wheel starting to slip down the track.
Maximum speed 34.2 mph, average 22.5 mph (due to riding slowly during my time out of the action, speed of the race for us: 77 laps = 19.25 km or 12.03 miles over 24:11 is 29.85 mph).
We finished third in the overall Omnium out of eight teams.
I statyed late, talking with all the wonderful people there.
Results
Video demonstrating Madison exchanges
Racing page Bike page