jmikami

nice results everyone, I really wish I had the travel budget/time to go out and race more velodromes, it was so fun to travel in the 90s and experience the variety.

Back in action at Alpenrose today with legs that felt perfect for a weekend omnium. 14 rider masters race, good size field for our velodrome, over 10 is always preferred.

First race up was my favorite start, a tempo because of the carrot to keep the pace high and reduce the jumps. No one ever got far off the front and I was able to nab 2s and 1s on many of the sprints to take first place and start things off well. I even had a string of three or four in the middle where I pipped the same first place rider again and again without seeing the wind. Legs felt good, dipped into the negative karma a bit with the point stealing, but thats racing.

Next up was a Belgium win-n-out (5th first and 1st is the 5th sprint). Crazy logic trying to formulate when to go for it. A group of 2 or 3 became 4 off the front, but they never got far. The pace kept slow as no one really wanted to get 5th until late and riders kept attacking off the front one at a time. It was really crazy in the field trying to figure out which of the sprinter or omnium placing riders were still in the field vs attacking and as they rang the bell for the 4th time I finally attacked out of the field. At least I was pretty sure that was the 4th bell.

I was coming fast on the rider off the front and the lap board confirmed this was for 2nd, but I had a sprinter on my wheel and could not risk hitting the brakes and losing both 2nd and 1st, so I kept on the gas and came around for 2nd giving the win to the rider on my wheel. Safe turned out smart as that gave me a cushion in the omnium and anything else would have left me in 3rd for the night going into the final event. But I also so wanted to stiff the rider on my wheel with no points ... but maybe next time, I had already dipped into the negative karma too much in the first race.

We ended the day with a 30 lap points race which went my way. I have given up on my old logic of wait for it, and made sure I scored points early. Too often in the past I waited until the mid point before really putting out the efforts and by then it was often too late to catch up or break would be away. Our team goal was to try and get a teammate up in the break so they could score in the omnium and steal the top placings with another rider lower in the omnium, but that was not to be. The second place rider in the omnium went, so I had to follow, but was able to score a couple of firsts.

As we came back another group formed, but my teammates missed the move so I made an effort to catch them just before a bell and got another point win. Unlucky for me I pulled the 2nd place omnium rider with me and had to keep on my toes going into the final sprints.

As we were about to catch the field on the final sprint I let up just slightly to avoid the catch, but was pipped on the line for the final double points, a little karma reversal from the same rider I pipped multiple times earlier. Lucky for me I had just enough points in reserve thanks to my strategy of going for points early, so I was able to lock up the omnium with a win in the final event.

Overall a nearly perfect night and hopefully a good start to our 6 day madison event which starts tomorrow. There is no better training than racing 30 second repeats for up to an hour each night, plus omnium racing. I am looking forward to a great week of fitness gains as the season heats up with my serious race goals still ahead.

VanceMac

I'm predisposed to thinking like this too... but I've been trying to re-wire myself to be more cold and calculating. Just way too many times that I've kicked myself for nor not being aggressive enough and missing out on a place by one point. And I've never been upset at anyone but myself for getting pipped. I can think of one or two negative karma examples, but definitely not anything like point stealing. That's the points race!

Good stuff. I can't think of anything close to a perfect night at an omnium.

VanceMac

Oh, we had the Arizona clubs out to Encino again for the second in their race series. They had a huge turnout for Saturday's time trials. Sunday was quite a bit lighter for the mass start stuff. We did manage a decent cat 4/5 field, and some deserving upgrade points were earned. We only had 5 for the 1/2/3 though.

rvigeant

So that's why you guys decided to chase me! I was having fun out there by myself getting points........

jmikami

Yeah, we can't let you have all the fun.

I have had elite riders get pissed off at me for drafting the whole lap, pipping them at the line and then not pulling through for even a second. Something about the need to at least hit the wind once, but that doesn't bother me at all. But in this race the same guy actually led for 4 full laps in the pole lane without getting a single 1st place. So I was starting to feel bad ... but just a little as he is not a teammate and well its a bike race after all.

I often have fun with the new guys or roadies that come out and pull too much before the sprint laps. Giving them a track race education is part of the whole experience. Then talking with them after about what and why during the warm down.

jmikami

Alpenrose 6 day - Day one. The closest thing we get to a stage race at the track, Omniums just are not the same.


83 degrees and sunny said the forcast this morning ... 75 and dark clouds is what we got ... with slight sprinkles here and there. Welcome to Oregon. We were able to get the seeding pursuits, full B madison and 10 laps of the A madison before enough rain hit to call it a night. Just enough racing to call it a day one. I am partnering with one of our elite riders who scored well at senior nats last year, so the pressure is one to ensure I help him get his first 6 day win.


7 teams made the cut for the A race based on experience and pursuit times. The As group has a wide range of sprinters, enduros, and even a roadie or two making the cut. The only thing we are missing this year is a junior team, and maybe we are all lucky with that as there are some very fast juniors coming up through the ranks right now. My team was able to nab the top spot and earned top points going into the madison, along with a boost of confidence.


The B race was up first and 3 teams immediately went clear. My Veloforma teammates, Kevin and Jamie, the out of towners John and Matt and local star Amy with her new recruit Emmett who is by far the youngest of both groups. With the cool weather Amy and Emmett soon dispatched of the rest and were off the front solo with only Kevin and Jamie able to keep on even laps.


I am looking forward to seeing how this race shapes up and if the experience of Amy can help her new partner against the more experienced teams in the race. I think the combined experience of the B racers on average equals or even exceeds that of the A racers for the most part. With that said, Amy and Emmett have clearly established themselves at the top of the pecking order.


The A madison gave us very little time to set the pecking order as we only managed 5 exchanges or so before the race was called. It was just long enough for me to piss off another team by telling them to adjust their exchange because of an upcoming sprint ... for which I was wrong about ... and in the process miss that my partner attacked the group. So while I was trying to figure out where he was ... I left him hanging as I didn't spot him again until he was right on me.


Lucky for me the race was called before he could catch me again and all was forgiven ... but that is not a good way to start the race. So I am one in the hole, but my teammate has the ability to put distance on the group in a hurry, so that is nice to know. With no points scored, we ended the night in the order of finish from the pursuits and all 7 teams on even laps, but our team with a slim lead.

5 more days left

misterwaterfall

I like reading these so I thought I would contribute now that I finally am racing, albeit in the 4's. Had a big group so they split us into two 4's heats. Ours had 17 riders I believe. This was my first time at the track racing outside of the beginner nights so I was attempting to get used to the flow of racing at a track vs. the road/crit. Warming up and cooling down still need some work but I came out to all of my races feeling prepared so I think I did OK for my first time.

First race was a snowball. I sat out the first couple sprints sense the are useless(or so I thought) then split the field in lap 3 after we caught a guy that one of the teams sent off the front. I strung it out, then got boxed it as a strong guy went off the front. By the time I could get out and close the gap(for me and a few who sat on my wheel but didn't want to work) he had like 20 points or so and I was feeling the effort, so I just cruised the last 2 laps from there. They also cut it a lap short on accident. Bad race for me but a good learning experience.


12 lap scratch. 2nd. Road aggressive from the start but tried to be patient and sit in. A couple teams sent guys off the front but they came back quickly and didn't look dangerous which let me be lazy. Going in to 2 to go a guy went off the front and got a 50m or so gap. I launched at about 300 to go(400m track) to try to run him down and cut his lead down pretty quickly going through turns 3 and 4. I could have won it, or made it a photo finish, but the leader was bobbing in and out of the sprinters lane as I was trying to pass. Had to check up, then get back on the gas only to be beat by half a wheel. Apparently not bad enough to get relegated and I didn't want to make a big fuss of it. In hindsight I should have just stayed on the gas but I was trying to hold my line and not go further up track in case someone was trying to come around me at the same time. Not sure if I would do this differently if it happens to me again.


4x4 points. Got boxed in on the first, road aggressive the whole race and got 3 seconds which was good enough for the overall win in the points race and the omnium.

jmikami

Nice job on the win, I would love to go race up there as having larger fields would be so much more fun. I will be there for sure for the grand prix weekend, and if I can work it out I will head up there for a Friday night before Nationals as well.

Most tracks allow the rider passing to drift up track a bit. There use to be an official rule that you could not drift more than one meter at a time from the front, then it changed to just stay in the pole lane, but that one meter at a time rule is pretty safe. I think most officials are ok with the rider coming around swinging wider as long as it is within reason. My definition of reason would be swinging wide is safer than backing off. You just as easily could have had someone under your wheel about to come around you and clip their front wheel when you backed off, where as if someone is already coming around you and you swing wider, they just swing wide with you.

Your track does have a reputation for calling it closer than Alpenrose, but bobbles in the front straight are usually not called in mass starts unless they are intentional.

misterwaterfall

Thanks! And thank you for the pointers, I appreciate all of the help that i can get. I was also getting some awesome tips from another forum member last night which helped me a long, even if I didn't actually put them into practice(thanks again Steve). It makes sense when you say moving over would be safer, I didn't fully let off the gas, but I did take maybe 2 pedal strokes at half effort or so just to see what the rider in front of me was doing and to avoid any contact with him. I don't mind it as I'm used to racing 1/2 fields on the road, but I didn't want to bump elbows/hips with another cat 4 who is maybe less experienced than I am and cause carnage.

I'll be at the GP watching, I'm looking forward to it I've never been on that weekend before.

slindell

Think of Marymoor as a ballroom and Alpenrose as a mosh pit for allowed or customary bumping and tactics, more so in the sprints.
Coming around to pass is expected, just keep it gradual and also expect the people ahead of you to fan out so sprinting up on a group of 6-7 at the finish can get ugly if you don't leave yourself some room. It depends on the who is officiating and the recent incidents for how tight the lane violations get called. In the 4s it is usually a warning at most unless it is a full hook move or from looking backwards instead forward. They will call coming down on another rider tighter than drifting up. The Thursday sessions are always tight on holding lines to break roadie habits and beat it into new racers, the calls get looser as you go up the categories, but the other riders get more vocal if you are wobbling.
In the first race the pack loves a big guy willing to sit on the front and ride tempo for half the race and it is hard to attack from there.

jmikami

Alpenrose Six Day - day 2 ... those wicked officials. I left this as is from my team report, so plenty of names you don't know, but oh well.


Well with our madison cut short on day one the officials moved the A madison to the first event of the night. Which means we had to do two mass start races after our madison ... instead of hit the massage table and take a nap. yikes, pain was sure to arrive soon.


The weather was much better and we finally were able to set our pecking order in the A group as my partner Patrick, not once or twice, but on 4 different times broke free of the pack causing chaos behind. On two of the occasions I was able to hold off the group from reforming while he continued to extend our lead with each exchange and we were able to get two laps up on the field. The other two times I did not have enough in the tank and was chased down, but I will take that result any day of the week.


James and Andrew from the Gentle Lovers team and Al and Robert, a transplanted rider from the midwest, tried their best to chase us down and in the process solidified their spots in 2nd and 3rd on even laps with each other. After that it was a bit of chaos and I will have to see final results to know who is where.


So with the A riders finally getting to race a full madison it was up to the Bs to take to their mass start racing and it was clear that they wanted mostly stay together and keep the risks down. I didn't see any teams gain laps or even any serious breaks, it was mostly just sprint and stay together during their points race. Although I was a bit tired from my race, so my recall might not be spot on.


After a very brief respite we were back at it for a 25 lap scratch race, which seemed like more than enough after our madison. A couple of the teams that were down multiple laps attacked over the first half of the race, but nothing serious stuck. As the middle of the race hit Patrick went to the front and pulled a couple of laps and the attacks stopped and we pretty much road tempo from there to the end where I was able to get a nice leadout and come around Al for the win on the final lap.


The Bs final mass start was a point a lap and three riders broke clear (Emmett, Kevin and John) from the top 3 teams in the standings. As they made it past half a lap up Emmett broke clear and made quick work of the lap while John and Kevin were left with the final 100 meters to close on their own. They might have made it had Amy and Emmett not smartly gone to the front and put everything on the line to ensure that no one else made a lap.


A little attack from John nearly got him the lap by himself, but in the end just served to further distance them both and Emmett and Amy stole the lap that they could not take in the madison yesterday.


In the final race for the As we did a 20 lap progressive. I had planned to wait until 10 to go and then attack, but my partner attacked with two others at 13 to go, so I just stayed in the group and watched as they racked up all the points safely a half lap up. With about 6 laps to go Al attacked and Andrew covered him, I followed and waited for Al to pull up and countered and almost made it up to the break ... but with 2 laps to go was caught and just waited for the final sprint with my teammate safely ahead and winning the race. I was a bit tired from my last effort, but was still able to get 2nd in the pack sprint behind, so overall a great day for my team.


All that was left was for the Bs to do their madison and the teams of Amy and Emmett and my teamates Kevin and Jamie made it a fun race to watch. After a few attacks those two teams were able to jump clear of everyone else and traded attacks back and forth all race long. Neither team ever got more than the straight ahead of the other, but both teams spent plenty of time trying. Until the final attack by Emmett on the final lap I was not sure who was going to win the madison, but Emmett put in a strong move to seal a good day and combined with the lap they gained during the mass start events puts Amy and Emmett one lap up on my teammates and in the drivers seat for the Bs.


Now we all just hope for some dry weather tomorrow so that we can get in the full 6 days and see what changes day 3 brings to the standings.

queerpunk

Finally another track night - last week was rained out and I was traveling the week before.

First up, unknown distance scratch. I was at the front a bit early and then drifted back. It got fast to reel in a dangerous move. We heard the *** with two to go, and with the backstretch tailwind I had a great windup into the sprint, going from the back right up to the sharp end. Unfortunately as I getting to the proper point, my teammate sitting 4th wheel tried to go around 3rd wheel, and 3rd wheel tried to go around 2nd wheel, and we all stacked up across the track. I tried to find a hole, shot downtrack, and had nowhere to go. Wound up 5th, totally boxed in, without even getting a chance to sprint.

Next up was the elimination. It was pretty sedate and I was easily able to accelerate from the back to the front on each bell lap. I tend to play the devil and I usually have to play it by changing my approach - where and how I move up - but I didn't have to this time. Boiled it down to me and one other guy, a strong & smooth roadie. I held him high on the banking and started accelerating coming around turn 4 to the bell; he backed off and got a good jump on me, beating me to the sprinter's lane, but I had a nice late dive down the banking and hit his slipstream in turn 1; I took a few seconds on his wheel, got all eye of the tiger on this mother****er, and accelerated again. I didn't beat him to the corner, though, but everything went kind of slow motion and we had that perfect, elbow to elbow sprint coming around turns 3 and 4, and the turn spit me out going faster and I was able to cross the line with a hand in the air.

then there was a madison, and my teammate was feeling pretty wrecked, and i got a lot of snot on my toptube, and we finished 3rd, and i had to take a lot of doubles.

Zero Talent

Just finished the omnium at junior track nationals. On day one I placed third in the 200m time trial and third in the 500m time trial. On the second day due to my allergies and the atmosphere inside the velodrome I had a hard time breathing I placed 7th in the points and scratch rave
. On the third day I raced the match sprints and placed fifth. On the final day I raced the points race were I finished second putting me in fifth in the omnium

I thought this was pretty good since it was my first nationals and I was having breathing trouble.

carleton

Congrats, Zero!

Zero Talent

Thanks so much Carleton!

Dalai

Well done Zero Talent! Learn from every event - now evaluate all that went well and that didn't go so well and look at eliminating what didn't for next year...

misterwaterfall

Way to go Zero! We had a guy from my team down there who won the omnium and scratch titles in the 17-18 division. He is super strong and is hopefully only getting stronger.

jmikami

Nice job Zero.

As for me I have been spending time with the family, but we did eventually finish the 6 day and I was able to score the win along with a lot of help from my partner. We got in 4 days of racing, but only two full length madisons because of rain so that kinda sucked. On the 5th day during the miss-n-out my partner went to the front and pulled us all around single file until there were just 2 of us left and then after a single lap pull by me he score the win. One of the most impressive rides I have seen in some time, even if a miss-n-out during the 6 day is not as hard as a typical miss-n-out.

However I was at the track and riding hard for 5 of the 6 days and rode hard the other day and added in 3 additional really hard days on either side of the 6 day to really ramp up my training as this is always my big load week for the year. I am now seeing a 10% boost and more in my power numbers after a few days off the bike last week, so once again madison racing is the best training around, even with the rain outs.

I am really looking forward to testing myself at Marymoor later this month before nationals.

VanceMac

That's quite a block, jmikami. How's chronic fatigue level feel coming out of that? Assuming down week followed?

We had an upgrade omnium on Sunday. Light turnout overall, but the 4/5 field was almost full. Cat 3 ran 60-lap points, 20-lap Tempo, and a Miss-n-Out. Pace for all three was crackling, driven by a couple teenagers on the fast track to cat 2 (it's almost like there is an endless supply of those... ha).

shrinkboy

last Wednesday was the first night of the Superdrome Summer Race Series on Wednesday nights. format is to have 3 rounds of racing, with the first two rounds consisting of 3 races, separated by 2 minute rolling rest, and the last round a single, longer points/scratch/danish/elimination type race.

last wednesday, my B group went a 5 lap scratch, a 10 lap scratch, and then elimination race with pulls starting at 8 laps. i had a poor warmup, and the 5 and 10 lap races were painful on cold legs. i dropped the elimination race.

round two was two 10 lap scratches, and now i was up to speed. i'd been challenging myself to start riding more aggressively, instead of hiding in the pack and hoping for the best. i'm 63, in my second full year of track racing. i'm always racing with young Cat 3s and 4s, so i've played it very conservatively but now's the time to up the ante. i did some strong attacks in the two ten lappers, but got caught on both, and finished in the field. i was happy to have accomplished my goal of laying down some strong attacks. in the danish race of round 2, i was gassed from the attacks in the scratches and just pedaled through.

round 3 24 lap scratch found me feeling really good, and everything seemed to come together and i was just floating along with the pack, going wherever i felt i needed to be. seemed i just really understood the race and when we came down to the last 2 laps, i went with the big attack that went off and laid down 2 really smoking laps to finish 4th. i felt really good about that.

the format is very challenging and the 2 minutes recovery btw races in rounds 1 and 2 makes it really, really tough. i was gassed when we finished the last race at 930 pm and unable to sleep for hours afterward, but i will definitely be there this wednesday night

Hida Yanra

yeah, TA has always been fast, but he's really working on it and is well on his way to becoming a capitol letters "beast".

jmikami

That is a huge night of track racing, nice job.

At Alpenrose tonight it was points race night. Just one, although it was 80 laps in the heat ... ok, Oregon heat, but still for us it was warm, and I was racing the 1/2/3 race, so it was pretty fast.

My goal was to follow wheels in the sprints (only every 10 laps, instead of our normal 5) and try and pick up 3rds and 4ths early so that I would have legs to cover any breaks as well as earn some points, but not dig too deep. As one team had 4 riders, including our local win everything guy, many breaks were started by them and one other team, but none were ever serious. I was solo tonight, so I pretty much just followed wheels and tried to keep out of the wind as much as possible.

Most of my pulls at the front were just for the corner as I would pull up at the corner exit and not do a full half lap pull like the others to conserve. Just after the half way point in the race I was pretty sure I was toast and was thinking of dropping back and letting the group go after the sprint, but then heard that I was 3rd on the night so far. Ok, I can do this, just hang on the wheel of the two fast guys and let them rack up the points and try and get a few more 3rds.

Everyone was pretty blown at this point and the attacks were still going, but not very strong and the group was spending more time above the blue line. The two fastest guys were mostly marking each other while the rest of us fought for the scraps. Then I got into with one of the fast guys who was mad because I came out of the lane while in 2nd place to try and win a sprint while he was in 3rd and coming around me. I did not make a harsh move and the officials didn't say anything, but I sure ruffled his feathers. But the 2nd place sprint left me just a few points out of 2nd place overall with two sprints left.

The top two guys went hard for the sprint with 10 to go and I just followed wheels in 3rd and then while I felt I was 100% done, so was everyone else and the pace dropped again. I kept following wheels and keeping out of the wind and it appeared to work well as the final bell rung I went way high around the group and won the final sprint from above the blue line the whole way around the track. That gave me 2nd on the night, my first top three in open racing at the track this year.

So things are going well for me, looking forward to the big races the next couple of weekends as I complete my final round of hard training before a hopeful peak for nationals.

queerpunk

y'all run points race sprints every 5 laps on a 250?!?!?!?

that is murder.

gtrob

I had my first 80lap points race last week (200m track). Felt. like. forever. Doesn't help it was at the end of the night after a 200s, scratch, m&o.

jmikami

we use to run races between 120 and 150 laps (40k) with sprints every 5 for our championships. However with the new rules for points races we often do 10 laps on our longer races now, and every 5 for the shorter ones, we also rarely do races over 100 laps anymore. I almost prefer every 5, with sprints every 10 it starts to slow up too much towards the end, every 5 keeps the pace even.