Track -- Attack

Tuesday night was the first race of 2008 at Dick Lane Velodrome. I’ve been nervously anticipating my first race for the past year. The track is just like road and mountain racing in that you have to start somewhere. As a recently certified first time racer I’m in Cat 5 and weary of the sketchiness that comes with that. We are racing with no brakes on one of the steepest tracks in the country (38deg banking). I was just imagining all hell when another first time racer sits up in front of me and gets tossed when he forgets to keep pedaling the fixed gear. Luckily – this did not happen.

Anyway, the first race is in the bag. There were 13 racers in Cat 5 and we all looked pretty green and equally intimidated. It was a partial who’s-who of the Atlanta alley-cat scene which made it fun. There are 3 races which all start with a neutral lap. Overall points are tallied for final placement. We started with a 7 lap ‘Scratch’ race where you score points based on your finish after 7 laps. The pack stayed pretty tight and I was in the exact position I wanted to be in. I rode 3rd wheel for the first 5 laps and then took 2nd wheel for lap 6 and setup for the pass and win on lap 7. The second race was a 9 lap ‘Point A Lap’ race. The first rider over the line for every lap gets a point. Basically, a sprint would ensue each lap. I sat back at first and tried to figure out the strategy for this race. Once I looked up I realized that there were 4 riders that had taken off and left the pack. If they worked together they could paceline then sprint and divide up all of the laps amongst themselves. I guess it took a couple laps, but I got myself back into the mix and was sprinting for points on each lap. I ended up with 7 points. The final race of the night was a 15 lap ‘Points’ race. We would ride 15 laps with every 5 laps being a sprint which scored 3 deep. I made a couple friends and we decided to try to work together on the off laps to get away from the group. We were quickly boxed in and our plan failed. I kept myself up front and the sprints were really tough. I was second on the 5th lap, and took 1st on laps 10 and 15. I was able to win each of the 3 races and my score for the night was 21 which gave me the overall win. I have to earn 84 points to be bumped up to the next Cat (and suffer a rude awakening).

Since some of you have asked – The Masters, Women and Rookies (me) race every 1st and 3rd Tuesday. Pursuit racing is on the other Tuesdays of the month (open Cat with qualifiers). The Competitive/Expert/Elite Cats race on Wednesday nights. Racing is a 7:30PM under the lights.

DLV Week1 RESULTS


********************************************************

i can't help but post this because i can't stop thinking about it. i got word last night that an old friend was a hit and run victim of a drunken dump truck - he is going to be ~fine - but WTF!

train wreck

this guy enjoys pain, but probably did not have this in mind. he moved to Thailand last year to teach math, but when he was in Atlanta he was known for putting together some of the most brutal of alleycats. three notable and painful races - The Hills Race / Alleycross / The Rock.

Lambsandwich - get better my friend!!