Track racin'

So last night was my first track race. I did two 30 lap Points Races. Points are awarded to the top placing riders in a series of sprints contested at various intervals during the race. The winner of a Points Race is not necessarily the first to cross the finish line, but rather the rider who has accumulated the most points during the race.




Around 10 people were in my race category (C) over half of them women. We (men) were told not to sprint for the points and to let the women race. This was fine by me considering this was my first race on the track.




The tempo was nice and fast. I was even able to help a few riders bridge back up to the pack after the sprints. One of these efforts took me 3 laps to get the riders back into the pack. I was able to recover just in time for the next sprint that had me hanging on to the back for dear life.

I also took this opportunity to see how the new NOAA kit looks while riding. A few areas will need to be tweaked before the "official" NOAA cycling kit is made available.

Watsonville Criterium

The Monterey crew relaxing after the race.

Event: Watsonville Criterium
Weather: Sunny 65 degrees, light winds.
Length: 17 laps
Category: Cat 5
Racers: 33
Finished: 13th

This race was 17 laps (.75 miles per lap) with many turns, dips at the corners and a small hill to the finish line. I was joined by two other Velo Club Monterey teammates and a few other Monterey area locals from different teams. The total number of racers (CAT 5)were around 40 or so.

My goals were as follows:
1. don't crash.
2. stay with the front group.
3. finish with little to nothing left.

I am happy to say that I was able to accomplish goals #1 and #3 so it was a good race.


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As with any criterium the race started out fast. After a few laps the pace leveled out. The many turns on course made it difficult to keep the momentum through the turn (lots of breaking the first 8 laps) At 8 laps to go the pack started to break up and I found myself loosing contact with the front group. I was able to battle my way back to the front group on the next lap. Now all I wanted to do was recover and wait for the attacks to come. In order to stay in contact with the front group I made it a priority to stay out of the wind on the backstretch. With 6 laps to go the attacks started. I was able to hold on for half a lap but once a gap formed I was unable to bridge it. The last four laps were at around 95% MHR so if I did make a move it would not last long and by now the front group was over a block away. I kept the HR around 95% the last two laps and then sprinted for the line with all that I had left in the legs.