Racing (5-27-11) and new wheels

Well it was another hard night at the track. A lot of fast people were feeling good. I got a few points in the Omnium but it was still a hard night. Apparently, I looked worse than I felt for the most part (good? No, probably not) but I felt relatively good. My form is still coming around, I know that it is hiding somewhere in there and wants to come out with the helpful prodding of racing and training. I'm confident that as the season progresses and my training gets better that Ill be right up there again (I didn't start last season out too well either.)

I think that I may mess around with my gearing while training this week and see what I can do. I felt slightly under geared. I feel that a subtle difference will be all I really need.

One great thing is that my new wheels are ready to race next friday; the first night of the official track season. These wheels are going to be a pure joy. Ive only been out on the street for a few minutes and I can already tell that they are smoother and faster.

This was my first time mounting tubulars. I hope that I got them on there straight enough. It was for sure an interesting experience getting them on the rims. Very hard at the end.

Pretty stuff

I have my new wheels now and am just waiting on the tires, which should be coming in on either Friday or Monday. I am hoping that they come in Friday so that I can get them glued up and ready to race on for next Friday's racing.

The tires that Ill be putting on these wheels are Continental Sonderklasse tubulars. They are a bit more expensive that I was looking to spend but I figure that getting cheap tires for some great wheels is kind of pointless. I may as well spend the money and gain the benefit of good and fast tires. Ill be thanking myself later.

I'm really excited to ride on these wheels. They are by far the fastest wheel and tire combination that Ive ever ridden on before.

I really like the cogs that come with the wheelset. They are incredibly light weight and the spines on them mean that changing gears will be easier and I wont have to worry about stripping lock-rings or cogs.

Next up Ill probably be upgrading my frame. I'm still doing some research on some different frames. I'm thinking of going with a Teimeyer but Id like to ride one before spending the money. So far it seems like it is the best bang for the buck. I wouldn't purchase it for a while though since I would like to save up some money and I may also buy a new road bike first (I could use one.)

Preseason track (5-20-11)

Well that was an interesting one. As per usual there were three races on the schedule ( scratch, miss and out and a 5x5 points race.) Only difference is that the sun brought out some of the fast guys.

The scratch race (10 laps - one finish) went as expected. People went fast and I was still getting into the groove. I normally take the first race to warm up and see whose who in the zoo.

The Miss and Out (Last rider pulled at the end of each lap) also went as I expected. I really don't like this race. It is just sketchy

and not worth it to me. I normally just fall off of the back and pull myself out of the race. I think that I made my own personal record in this one and was the 4th rider out of a 25 rider field to be pulled. As I said, this is far from my favorite race to be in.

The Points race (multiple sprints throughout the race) is normally the race that I have a ball in. I found myself in a two man break

for the first sprint. We worked well together from the start and I ended up getting 5 points for first and he got 2 points for third. I pulled up and started moving to the back for a rest when things unraveled for me. I found m

yself off the back and the pack was speeding up. I had a really hard to catching back on. At one point I had caught up when the field sped up again and dropped me again. It took me a while to get back on but I did it. A silver lining is that I got some good training back there and I still got 4th in the race.

First track race of 2011

The preseason racing at the Marymoor velodrome has officially started and the first races were last night.

It went about as well as I expected and was a great test of my form and reintroduction to the track. I didn't do anything special but the main thing is that I relearned a whole bunch of stuff.

The action didn't really start until the last race; the 5x5 points race. The points race is one of my favorite races so I was pretty excited to race one again. The first couple of sprints were like normal and then a breakaway happened. It was a big one and they had a giant gap forming. I didn't really worry since about 90% of the time a breakaway doesn't stay out and gets pulled right back in. Not this time; we didn't organize soon enough to real them back in. I made a couple of attacks in the hopes that people would take chase but all that would happen is that they would slow down when I pulled off. Feeling pretty tired I sat up and went to the back for a bit of a rest; hoping that someone would turn up the throttle. Finally I made an attack and found myself in the middle of nowhere. Figuring that it was all or nothing now I put the hammer down and tried my best to make contact. I was all in and put in more effort than I knew I had in me this early in the season. My legs were searing and the commentator was cheering me on as I edged closer and closer but by the time I was just over half way there the race was over and I got nothing for my efforts. I'm pretty sure that I could have made it if I wasn't so under geared (should have been at 90 gear inches as apposed to 86) and will be changing that for next week.

In other news; I now have a pair of Easton EC90 wheels on order and should be here soon. I'm excited to be finally upgrading my wheels. New wheels is probably the single biggest upgrade I can make right now. I'm hoping that Ill be able to get a new track frame in the near future though. I may or may not get a new road bike before that though. Much to contemplate and much to be excited about.

Picture from Dennis Crane

http://www.dbcphoto.com/Cycling2011-5/Track-2011/Marymoor-FNR-51311/17052500_8hbWR2#1291205317_wbP9pKR