Flatballer

Yeah, I've got good knurled bolts and a good KMC chain. I upgraded most stuff on the bike, including going to 144 and 1/8" stuff, but never inspected the wheels much other than to true them and replace the tires.

Not the Slowest

Glad you made it to the clinic and had fun.
last year was my first time on a fixie and then racing on the track and as you actually racing. It took me the season to get aquainted with the tactics and with my ability on the track. Race more, watch all the races and you will learn. Ask questions and listen to suggestions. It'll come to you and you will be surprised that it's NOT all about how fast you are but rather when to make YOUR move and when to conserve.
Good Luck
Robert

NateRod

Thanks for the advice!

queerpunk

#lesigh
as I mentioned in the "race experience 101" thread, i can podium a cat 1/2 points race reliably, but i've never won a cat 1/2 race. last night's 8-sprint points race was my first race in a handful of weeks - enough time off the bike due to a cracked rib that I didn't really have high hopes for me. But, the points races shake out pretty fast and tend to come down to a small group of contenders. I surfed into the first couple of sprints, getting 2nd and 3rd without much effort before following a wheel into a long-range move. in the closing lap i jumped away from my companion as the pack was chasing hard and held off to win the sprint.

i settled back in to a rhythm of snagging 3rds in sprints until a teammate went off the front and i sat on the wheel of a lone chaser. when we had enough distance over the field i started working, but my companion dropped off; i bridged to my teammate and we counted down the laps until i got another 5 points. we kept going, but it was deck chairs on the Titanic - the field was coming back.

but i was in the lead.

back to the rhythm of getting minor points in sprints and i lost the lead, though, even with my teammates trying to snap up points from my two main rivals. a teammate opened a big gap with 2.5 to go and the leader closed it; he spent enough energy that i was able to attack him with 1.5 to go and thought i was going to win the final sprint and the race, but he passed by me in the final 10 meters.

the race took all i had and it was gutting to lose it so late.

Jaytron

Not really a race report, but after coming back from yet another ITB injury (now seeing a PT) I came back and hit a 12.8 F200M as maybe the third timed attempt of the year? I was pretty stoked about the PR. I still don't think I'm 100% up to speed and my line was pretty bad. Lots to learn and work on.

queerpunk

Madison State Champs. 25km. covered in under a halfhour.

our master's world IP champion turned much of the race into a godawful drag race, a 10+ km strung the **** out in what was essentially a long-ass madison pursuit. when my team finally caught up to the 2 leading teams, and got a lap with them, the WC attacked again. they got another lap, we held on for 2nd via points, but it was awful, terrible, and hard. i felt awful. my partner was a superhero.

next up: showerwhiskey.

Jaytron

District State Sprint quals

Background: 1st year racing, haven't really had any targeted work but have always felt like a sprinter.

Qual'd 5th with a 11.83 (wtfbbq, PB by like a full second) I know, I thought it was wrong too, but there were 3 USAC officials timing and they all agreed it was right. I'm kind of just feeling like it was a dream.

Lost the first 3 up heat because I went to early and while my sprint is strong, my fitness is lackluster. Lost by about half a bike

Won the next heat

Lost the match sprint to get into quarterfinals. Outsmarted and felt tired. Again a fitness issue

Top 10 seems great. Overall I'm super stoked with my performance and I'm eager to actually start "sprint training" this off season to see where that takes me.

queerpunk

I won my first elite race last week (not counting a madison)! I've fought hard for wins, and gotten a lot of 2nds and 3rds for my trouble - largely because there is somebody so fearsomely strong at our track. He can't ride away from anybody, but he can outsprint anybody, cling to any move, and wind up his 52x14 to respond to any attack. It's really, really hard to beat him.

Anyway, in a 12-lap tempo on the last night of the season, I finally got a short race right. At our track these races tend to shred the field - the race all happens at the front and anybody not there usually just gets off their bike or softpedals in. I started near the back, didn't trouble myself with the normal moves, and surfed the right move of a newly-upgraded sprinter heading to the front to contest for points. He and I battled for a few laps, found ourself off the front, and I was able to attack and get a few laps solo when the fearsomely-strong guy bridged up to me. We settled into a groove, but I was able to attack him late and get the final two laps on my own for the win.

I felt like I had an extra gear, an extra lung, and was just able to just keep going faster and faster - necessary in a tempo or snowball or anything where it's just the front of the race going and going and going.

i'm super pumped for next season.

Velocirapture

That is AWESOME!
congrats, Queerpunk. and a nice finishline photo, too.

bradlyaolson

I was there, great race! Another great season in the books, hopefully I will be on the track next year instead of in the stands.

TMonk

+1 nice racing! I find tempo races and snowball races to be the most intense too.

queerpunk

thanks y'all!

bradley, look forward to seeing you at the track next season. definitely come out and race.

TMonk

over here I cleaned up in the "B+" category last night on the penultimate night of TNR: I won the scratch, snowball and points races.

10lap scratch: A little short for my liking - but the supapowerful sprinter of our group was absent. It was pretty slow imo, so I wound it up real big from 1.5 laps out and kept a big margin.

10lap snowball: took laps 4 and 10. I tried to shoot for lap 9, but barely missed passing a group of two who had been OTF. I swept up track and around them, dropped to the pole lane and stayed low. I had tons of room.

35 lap points: Took 1st in all sprints in but the last one which I did not contest. I really felt like I was head and shoulders above my competition fitness wise during this race, like last week.

Last week I took first in the 50-lap points with 27points (sprints every 5) and 2nd in the 50-lap scratch to said sprinter who didn't see the front until 300 to go.

I'm reluctant to upgrade to the A's because I know I will never be competitive with the top guys, but that's clearly where I belong. I race 3's on the road with some of the average and low end A's. On the top end (>or= half the field) we have cat1's on the track, ex-olympians, ex-nat champs, ex-6 day racers and current road pros, although the latter (current pros) usually don't go all-out on us amateurs.

Jaytron

Friend of mine is moving up from SD, it sounds super competitive down there.

Do you happen to know what the F200M times were at districts?

queerpunk

tmonk - I think you should upgrade to the A's. you never know how fast you're gonna get when you test yourself and your body adapts to new stresses. If you're unable to keep up, you can downgrade. but if you're dominating the B's, then, give the A's a shot. and you get to tell yourself that you're an A-field racer!
good luck!

TMonk

thx. for me a lot of track is just learning to be effective and efficient at high speeds.

edit: jaytron I have no idea what our top F200 times are, or even what a good one is down here. Different worlds. As far as track goes for me its all mass-start casual ATRA stuff - I may or may not get into USAC (it would be cool and very doable to get cat3) but im in no rush.

kyle!

Get in the A's. My last B night I swept all the races. That's when I knew I was ready. I've never won an A's race but it's made me so much faster. TNR isn't "real" racing anyway(no cash/points/medals on the line) so take it as training in a way. Really intense, very realistic training. You're gonna learn more from the likes of Wallace, Schiller, Chambers, Hollenbeck, etc than you will from winning Bs races.

kyle!

Congrats on your win and having the best victory picture this board will probably ever see. ��

carleton

Awesome!

Take that energy and use it to fuel your winter training.

queerpunk

i sure will. i'm pretty highly motivated: me and my rival have a sort of David-v-Goliath thing goin' on, but I want the story to end with David slaying Goliath a lot more often than it happened this year.

TMonk

I choose to race TNR with about as much emotional investment as I put in my USAC road stuff: none.

This game is all about fun for me; whether or not it is USAC makes no difference to me as there will never be gold and glory down the line with my limited time and talent.

Having said that, I agree that racing in the A's will be a valuable experience that will make me a better rider, on and off the track.

kyle!

Sounds like you know what is up. We're a bunch of amateur hacks and that's totally fine. Keep it that way. There's nothing worse than someone who takes amateur cycling too seriously.

But yeah. A's are fun. Finishing a 10 mile scratch when there's only six people left out of the 20+ that started is pretty amazing.

TMonk

Yeah I look fwd to getting my ass kicked by u guys

zitter

had a lot of fun at collegiate track nats this past week. got to meet Hida too haha. got 18/60 in the 200 with an 11.938 which was good enough to seed me last in the match sprints. wound up against #1 (matt baranowski) and proceeded to get my ass whooped, but had a lot of fun. pretty cool to race against one of the fastest guys in the country and probably future olympian. after that, I was in the first qualifying heat for the points race, but got crashed out at ~30mph when a marian rider pulled up and took out my front wheel. almost saved it, but went down super hard on my right hip and elbow and cracked my helmet. was super pissed since I was in good position and just needed to score a couple points to make it to the finals. wound up not being able to compete for the rest of the evening/next day. had to skip the scratch race and pursuit, which I really wanted to do. felt good enough on saturday to ride again and decided to do the kilo. hip definitely held me back and was painful, but managed to do a 1:12.4 which wasn't too bad and put me just outside the top half (really wanted to break 1:10, but the crash messed me up a lot). also did the team pursuit that evening and we managed to get not last which was our main goal haha. overall, except for the crash, it was a ton of fun. got to hang out and meet some cool people and then proceeded to get trashed with my team for several nights. have to go get my hip checked out though =/ it is not pretty.

TMonk

nice zitter... too bad about the crash!