Race Night - Sprints! -- Log

Ahhh..my specialty...not!

Last night featured sprinting events, which now kick my ass. (In the B category, i found i had more kick than a lot of guys, but now i get thoroughly stomped!! A lotta strong riders..wooo!)

First up was a short (15 lap) scratch race, lots of attacks, hung in with the pack but didn't have enough pepper for the end, might have placed in the top 10, not sure...

Next up was the Chariot race, a 1 lap all-out sprint..haha.. Mike and someone else (forget..) got off ahead of me, and i managed to stay within a couple meters of Mike's wheel to the line....but Chuck and someone else flew past me at the end (all 15 seconds later of it!), knocking me out of contention (only four would go onto the finals) which is fine by me...haha..

Notable mention: hit my new TOP SPEED in that race, at 56.5kph. Gotta get that in a 200m now..

Final race of the night was what might be the most brutal race in track.....a Win'n'Out. It's like a Miss'n'Out, except the first person over the line is out (thus winning) - if you go for a win, and don't get it....you're fubared.

I knew i wasn't going to get a respectable placing, so i just hung in with the front pack, and kept the pace high, keeping an eye open for weaknesses...

Five bells (and riders) had gone, and it was me, Ryan, Sarah and Chad in contention... The bell goes, and Ryan pulls ahead, dropping me like a sack of wet potatoes..i believe Chad pursues. Then, out of the blue on the final stretch, Andre comes tearing by, 'taking' the lap! That bastard!! We all looked at each other, wondering where in hell he came from! (Turns out he'd been lapped, and was just messing with us...bastard!! We all rode 2 extra laps because of him..)

Ryan keeps the pace up, and remains ahead of me...Sarah is sitting on my wheel, and i believe Chad had dropped off at this point, he later said he was pushing too big of a gear to maintain this intensity. 48x14 i believe...big gear for this kinda race!

Ryan handily wins the next lap and it's me and Sarah...she's pulling as we hit the bell...she goes uptrack to draft, and i hit the gas there, sprinting away!! This is as good a time as any to try out this strategy...! Also, i never know what Sarah has left in her tank, so i didn't want to risk it....turns out she was outta steam, and so i was clean when i hit the line...which landed me in 7th - woohoo! No league points, but another excellent experience on the track.

Big up to all my fellow racers - great night. =)