I have two race reports I should give before the next week. I’ll make them snappy this time and offer up more interesting details this week.
July 2
Races: 10-lap points race, Keirin heats, 30-lap points race with sprints every 5 laps
Since I didn’t have my new chainrings yet, I switched out the cog for more power. I raced in a 92, which was great for the Keirin, but miserable for the 30-lap points race. Every pedal stroke felt like I had led weights attached to my shoes. However, the field lapped me once instead of twice, so despite the extra resistance I improved.
July 9
Races: 10-lap scratch, miss & out, 30-lap scratch
Finally went into the night with excitement instead of doom. However, it took an hour and a half to get to Blaine since MNDOT decided to close both northbound entrances to 35W near our house. Awesome. I hate being late and get really steamed when it happens, so I took lots of deep, calming breaths. I managed to get a decent warmup in and actually felt competitive instead of uncertain. My chainrings had arrived, so I rode in a 90.
As we rolled off the rail for the first race, I felt ready to hang with the big girls. And I did for awhile. When they pulled ahead, I got off the saddle and scrambled to catch back up. Definite improvement. Then the rain came when we had three laps left. The gun shot twice to tell us to get the hell off the soon-to-be slip-and-slide. We waited. They held a track stand contest to keep the crowd interested. And after what may have bee 30-40 minutes, we were summoned to finish our race. We started at five laps to go. I finished only about a third of a lap behind the field – definite improvement. The rain came pouring down. They called the whole thing for the night and left us all a little unsatisfied.
