carpediemracing 

On the track thing.

When i did track in late 2008 and most/all of 2009 I had a lot of difficulties adapting. Okay, etiquette and such (go slow above blue line, pass on left, etc), but for me the big thing was no coasting. Of course I coasted a few times, my bike bucking under me. But it really affected my race craft. I had a hard time getting on a wheel and only after most of the season could I get close to a wheel. In fact it took sitting behind a moto during the pre-race-day warmup, hogging the first spot for about 5 laps, trying to touch the roller with the front wheel and finally doing so, before I could get within about 1 bike length to the rider in front of me. I also had problems with the aerobic component of the racing - I often got dropped before the sprints, like in scratch races, keirin, miss and out, etc, and just forget about any kind of TT effort like my almost 5 minute 3km "pursuit". Some of that was probably the drafting thing, okay. Slicing through the field, max power, that was okay.

Also I was grandfathered in as a 4 on the track, although I did all beginner stuff in 2008-9.