Never Say Never

Jordan had been begging me to watch Thursday night track racing. Carla graciously offered to drive him up to meet me at work, which is right by the track. My original plan was to go for a road ride prior to the racing, but Jordan informed me that Carla said she wouldn't be upset if I raced. That was all the excuse I needed.

It was all Madisons for the Cat 1/2's. They let me race Cat 3's, even though I'm still a Cat 2 on the track. The last time I had done a mass start race on the track was 2001. 7 years later, it was just as hard as I remember. There is a distinctive lung burn you get at the track that I never get racing on the road.

I was able to get one of the GT rental bikes to work for me. Doug Register was kind enough to loan me a 48T chainring so I could ride my familiar 48x14 = 92.5 inch gear. The Cat 3's had 3 races, 15 lap scratch, Miss and Out, and 50 lap points.

The 15 lap scratch was a bit of a shock to my system. I ended up working to close a gap to a lead group of 4, and when we caught them, the pack swarmed and I got boxed in. Strongmen Joe Johnson and Timmer capitalized and easily took 1st and 2nd.

I'm not a fan of the Miss and Out, so I decided to ride the front as long as I could to stay out of the hijinx in the back. I lasted about half the race, then popped and sat up. Timmer sat on the back the whole race, and kept sprinting over the top each elimination lap. That's a tough way to ride that race, but he succeeded in making it to the last 2, with Joe Johnson taking the win.

The 50 lap points race was just what I needed. Coming up on the first points sprint, Joe Johnson jumped, and I got his wheel. I missed out on the points, but then kept rolling, and took Joe and Dan Shuller with me. The field strung out behind, and only Timmer and Pramann were able to join us. We shared pulls, but then we started picking up lapped riders, and our group grew. Joe and Timmer were marking each other, and I just did my best to keep the tempo going.

With 3 to go, I attacked from the front, and pulled a gap with a couple other riders including Alex Atherton. Alex led out the sprint with 1 to go, and I followed him in for a LSC 1-2 on the final sprint.

I ended up 3rd in the Points race, and since Joe and Timmer gobbled up most of the rest of the points, I ended up 3rd in the ominium as well.

Watching the rest of the racing was a blast as well. The 7 madison teams were fun to watch, with the duo of Crosby/Dubay dominating the night. The womens field was a lot larger than I remember from the past. Casper did his first racing on the track in the Cat 4/5's with Frye and the boys. He made an awesome move in the Miss and Out, gapping the entire field, and soling to the win. Frye had an awesome move in the final scratch race, jumping everyone from behind, and soling in for the win. Fun races to watch.

Don't worry Carla. I don't plan to start racing the track regularly. I'm busy enough with the road calendar.

Results Posted