AVC was a good race for me. It was the first big track race I have been too and I was really nervous when we got there. It didn't help that San Jose was having a fluke heat wave and when we got to the track on Friday night the thermometer in Heather's car registered 108, just peachy. The Hellyer Park Velodrome is like a freeway compared to Alpenrose. You can move around easily and there is no minimum traction speed in the turns. This is the track I will race on at Master's Nationals so it was a good reconnaissance trip for me.
Friday night we raced a Keirin and a Points Race. I knew I would need a bigger gear on my bike, but I didn't anticipate how big. I was way undergeared in the Keirin. I was riding an 88" gear and I should have been on a 92". Hmm, lesson #1 learned. The best part of the Keirin was watching Jen Featheringill win and Andrea Fisk, my Six Day partner, take 8th. Needing a 50 tooth chainring to get a 90" gear, I lucked out and found Darryl from the Guiness team that had a brand new one to sell me. Awesome. The 90" gear for the Points Race was a great idea, that race was fast. The best part was that we raced after the sun went down and the lights came on. I totally loved that, it took me back to the days when I used to adventure race and do 24 hour mountain bike races. I love racing at night. Plus, the temperature outside was perfect at that point. The Points Race was fast and I stayed with the group the entire race. I was happy with that.
Saturday morning was another scorcher. I went to the Saturday morning session to race the Match Sprints. Nothing exciting there for me as I suck at those. Jen F. won and Andrea got 4th. That was fun to watch. The Saturday evening session was fun. We did a Miss and Out, which I really hate, but I actually got in the results. Check it out:
Miss n outWhat is awesome is that the girls in 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10 place are all from the Portland or Seattle area. We had a pretty impressive showing.
1 Jennifer Triplett
2 Jen Featheringill
3 Larssyn Rueegg
4 Megan Guarnier
5 Amanda Seigle
6 Kelly Bartholomew
7 Annette Williams
8 Jeanie Bihlmaier
9 Shelley Olds
10 Amara Boursaw
Later we did a Scratch Race, basically a crit with primes and a sprint for the win at the finish. I went with some breaks to hopefully get away, but it didn't happen. Unfortunately I missed the winning break that did get away and lapped the field. I was cooked at that point so I just stayed with the group for the finish. It was a hard race.
Now I get to look forward to Six Day, which starts tomorrow. Should be super fun!
