Bike practice at the velodrome
From: Sara Brokaw
Date: Aug 17, 2007 8:59 AM
A two week haitus (getting some much needed recovery time) from the
track and racing in general involved consumption of some fermented
beverages, eating, slow bike riding, lots of bike commuting, and some
easy running (3x). This was finally capped off Wed night with
practice of my superman remounting technique on the cyclocross bike in
preparation for DanW’s favorite bike season! Legs were feeling, well,
sort of painful all day and I was feeling a bit fuzzy. I knew what I
needed was a small amount of hard effort to rejouvinate the system,
and Thursday’s track racing would take care of this (tired today but
legs feel better).
Small turnout for the night (Bike club, U of M sprinter, and Grumpys
sprinter), but I think everyone was determined to have a good time
despite the small field size.
First race was a snowball, 12, 8, 8, 6 pts, sprints every 3 laps, 12
lap race. Knowing my best bet was to go early, I jumped with 2 to go,
hoping for 12 points. U of M came flying by with ~ 100m to go.
Across the line, I chased a bit, but then realized I was towing
Grumpys sprinter, figured that was not a good idea and pulled uptrack.
She & Bike club went by & I was apparently done. Kept tempo rolling
to not get lapped while the other 3 contested the next 3 sprints!
Hmm…bad legs during the day seem to be translating to bad legs in
the evening, but this can be expected given the rest.
Second race was a 750m Handicap. Bike club was ahead, U of M sprinter
behind, Grumpys at the start. U of M flew by in a half a lap, and I
tried closing on Bike club, but only could hold the distance between.
Grumpys comes around just before the finish so again I am 4th out of
4. So it goes. Bike club gave U of M a run for her money in this one
which was impressive given the fact that she’s raced 4 or so times at
the track.
DanS seemed to be having a challenging night at well (though I know he
got at least a 4th place finish in one race), though he was announced
as Dan “The Eagle” Schueller once. Seems as though BobW has not
settled on a nickname for him yet…previously Dan “The Diesel”
Schueller (in his Cat4 days).
Last race we found out was the state championship Scratch race (sprint
at end). Official prior to the race asked if we wanted to shorten it
from 30 laps, and given that I was riding around with a bunch of
sprinters, there was no way I was going to let this happen. This race
really felt like a practice…everyone (except U of M) throwing
attacks down, forcing U of M to chase. Interesting note was that
riding between the red line and blue line seems to protect against the
attacks rocketing down the banking, at least in a field of 4 riders
with the power present. Making my move with 2 to go didn’t seem to do
the trick earlier in the evening, so with 1 to go I attacked, opened a
gap. U of M and grumpys came flying by, but Bike Club went missing,
so I rolled across the line in third for a medal!
Thanks for reading. I hear next Thursday there will be a party at the
track, Summit, food, music, and again I’m sure expert announcing! If
you’re looking for something to do, racing starts at 7!
Sara