rodent track rpt/Amy’s last race
From: Sara Brokaw
Date: Jul 20, 2007 10:07 AM
Headed up to Blaine for yet another installment of the Thursday Night
racing series with Amy in the Womens Field & Dan Schueller in the
Mens. Rodent Wheeler came to spectate, as did sognier Brian and
co-workers of Amy & mine as well as Dan “The Diesel” Schueller’s
workplace. Sognier Brian’s ex-coworker and husband also made an
appearance
On tap for the womens events, a Snowball, Keirin, and 30-lap points race.
Amy I & lined up at the rail with 10 or so women for the Snowball
(winner takes all points, 4 sprints every 4 laps), where a mechanical
delay I’m sure disrupted my mojo. Apparently in track racing if
somebody has a mechanical on the neutral lap, you stop and wait for
them to fix their problem. Definitely kinder and gentler than road
racing. I completely disrespected the long-sleaved skinsuit in this
event with too much chasing which left me gasping for air and
finishing in the back half of the pack. I like this race, but when it
goes poorly, it goes poorly…sort of all or nothing.
Keirin involves pacing with a motorcycle for 5.5 laps, with the
motorcycle pulling off with 2.5 to go. Two heats. Made it through the
first heat to the finals. An improvement over the previous event.
However, the final still didn’t go very well, as I rolled to the front
too early after the motorcycle pulled off. Keirins are sort of fun!
Last race was a 30-lap points race, sprints every 6 laps with 2 merch
primes. I was happy about this. First bell I follwed Bike Club who
thew down an attack. Yelled at her to go. Around the north side of the
track there was a sudden bang & her line started wavering…she had a
flat…dodged her slowing down on the apron (hitting the boards) &
rolled back uptrack to take the sprint … for some Peace Coffee!
Yeah! Bell rang again, so I just kept the tempo hoping others would
be delayed by that mech (even with the flat she stayed upright), & not
be able to close. Passed by 2 riders at the line for a few points.
This is definitely an improvement. Heard a bell again for a prime &
went for it, this time getting some B-wood granola. B-wood with the
gopher connection notices our gap & yells we have a gap. Sprinter
types (Dahlmans, Grumpys 2x) don’t care since they have a nice turn of
speed, so ! I go to the front to drive the tempo. No points in the
next sprint. Chase back on after sprint to a group of 5. In the end,
we pick up some lapped riders & I finished 3rd or 4th in the final
sprint..very satisfied with that. Apparently the legs were finally
working by the end of the evening. Ted always said that you need a
long warmup once you get fit, so perhaps this is what is happening;-)!
Relatively new Gopher Amy Moran will be leaving us this weekend to
live/race/work in Australia. She’s come quite a long way since
November 2006, where having only done a few triathalons and a few
bike-beer tours with her husband in the metro area, heard me talk at
work about this “team bike racing thing,” she went out and bought a
bike, trainer, clothing, and started riding with hopes of being a
contributing member of the team. Shortly after, she found she & her
husband would be able to realize a dream of living and working in
Australia, but she kept at the training, no doubt an outlet for the
stress involved in trying to move to another country. I was impressed
and knew she was capable of becoming a good bike racer when I had her
out on a 60-ish mile ride in below-freezing weather, she on her heavy
MTB & me on my cx bike, and I did not have to really ride below a low
endurance pace! In the spring, she joined on her first Gopher group
ride out to Afton, where she exhibited a never-say-die attitude and it
became clear she was going to conquor this bike racing thing. She was
extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to head to Hudson WI for
weekly Tuesday rides with Ted Free & Kathy Ostland who taught her (and
Cheryl) the finer points of good bike riding. She was very happy after
finishing her first RR (Ken Woods) & looked forward to doing more
races. She kept improving at Duluth, staying with the pack in the RR
over the first lap, and finishing a wet criterium in Cloquet. She
pretty much went to every race she could, learning more each time.
Finally, in Peoria, she was able to finish with the pack in the RR &
crit, and at Hopkins she felt like she was finally a “contributing
member of the team.” Its been fun having her at the track, where she
probably has great potential (given her history as a power-lifter in
high school). I’m happy for her in the fact that the Australian womens
scene seems to be very healthy, and she will be heading to Sidney
where she will be able to ride on the Olympic track. Howerver, we will
all miss her enthusiasm for the riding/team racing and look forward to
rides/races whenever she can visit. Perhaps sometime we’ll be reading
about a rising Australian track star on cyclingnews.com!