Every year, the high school where I teach has an end-of-year outdoor assembly. Special attention is given to the senior graduating class.
I teach seniors, and they all know I an avid cyclist, so this year they have "thrown it down" with me and challenged me to a bike race on the school track at the assemly--four laps, eight lanes, eight riders (seven students and me). I want to show these guys that youth is no match for age and wisdom (?), but I've never done a track race before and I need any tips anyone can give. And this will be in front of the entire student body and staff!
Since the kids are all in their teens, they'll have a lot more fast-twitch muscle than I have anymore. I need to offset that with good strategy and gear. I'll be riding my '04 LeMond Buenos Aires, not a time trialing bike but probably better than the wheels they'll be riding. So should I pedal hard out of the gate, possibly running out of gas on the last lap, or should I just try and hang with the pack, then breakway in the last third or so of the race? Any experienced track racers out there?
The race is all in good fun, but there's my reputation on the line here
. The only real competition I think I'll have will be from the 9th-grader who went to the CycloCross national championships in Rhode Island last year and didn't do too badly. Just hope my road bike can beat his cross bike!
Brad