sprint night
mixed results for my first night as a cat3 racer. after a nice warm up and getting use to the highfive again i was ready for my round of the sprint race. i felt alright, more nervous than anything. the race consisted of 6 riders in a 3 lap race, top 2 move to the next round. fast from the start with the speed only increasing at the bell lap. junior chaz miles took off like a canon with everyone chasing. im pretty sure i was sitting ass last till the bell lap. pulled around two and gaining on the second place wheel. i see the wheel i need to catch after turn two and now i can catch him. by turn three i have halved the distance, but that still means he is already out of turn four. out of the saddle i got to get a little more last minuet speed. head down and pushing as hard as i could. i know the line is close one quick peek to see where second wheel was, and at the line i am half a bike to short. in my head im cursing like a sailor. if only i road my bike ever and i was back in the gym, then i would have had it.
but hell there was an hour of standing around in the cold that could have also played a role in the sub par performance.
while the rest of the sprint heats are contended im going through the race in my head and asking myself if i want to race the snowball (a race that has ascending point for every lap). another hour goes by and im still standing around and getting colder. i start packing things up until i notice that its only going to be 10 laps. get my moneys worth and just race, thats what im there to do. sit in the warm up circle trying to figure out the best strategy. in my head it goes like this. sit in until someone slows down try to make a brake if im not to far back and try to hold as long as i can. laps one through three im sitting towards he back watching who is doing what. two riders make a move and i decide to sit on their wheel. half way around im passing them and i feel like im making some space. i pick off the next two laps in first, then in turn 2 like i am standing still chaz makes his move once again. im pretty sure he was off the front the rest of the race. i tried hard to hold on for the next lap but started to fall back, guess i just sit in and hope to not do anything stupid. i was done for the night and not expecting anything, but tj informed me that i scored enough points on my laps to place 4th.
pretty stocked on that. first night as a cat3 and i made some money, not bad. wish i did better with the sprints, but gym time is in order, then actually riding my bike like i should will fix that. the racing in cat3 is defiantly faster.
but hell there was an hour of standing around in the cold that could have also played a role in the sub par performance.
while the rest of the sprint heats are contended im going through the race in my head and asking myself if i want to race the snowball (a race that has ascending point for every lap). another hour goes by and im still standing around and getting colder. i start packing things up until i notice that its only going to be 10 laps. get my moneys worth and just race, thats what im there to do. sit in the warm up circle trying to figure out the best strategy. in my head it goes like this. sit in until someone slows down try to make a brake if im not to far back and try to hold as long as i can. laps one through three im sitting towards he back watching who is doing what. two riders make a move and i decide to sit on their wheel. half way around im passing them and i feel like im making some space. i pick off the next two laps in first, then in turn 2 like i am standing still chaz makes his move once again. im pretty sure he was off the front the rest of the race. i tried hard to hold on for the next lap but started to fall back, guess i just sit in and hope to not do anything stupid. i was done for the night and not expecting anything, but tj informed me that i scored enough points on my laps to place 4th.
pretty stocked on that. first night as a cat3 and i made some money, not bad. wish i did better with the sprints, but gym time is in order, then actually riding my bike like i should will fix that. the racing in cat3 is defiantly faster.