My first velodrome race!!

[katinthehat]

So I raced Friday night

I had planned on just volunteering to get a feel for how everything works but I ran into someone at the cyclocross clinic I went to Thursday night and she told me to bring my stuff because they'd probably need me to make up the women's field.  So I brought everything with me to the track Friday night but still didn't plan on racing.  Turns out, they had more than enough volunteers and only four women, so literally, I was pushed to the table to sign up

But since I wore regular clothes because I didn't really plan on racing, I actually forgot my jersey.  I was only wearing a tank top and you can't race in sleeveless.  One of my friends literally gave me the shirt off her back so I could race.  Which is why I was clearly the newbie on a track rental bike racing in a triathlon t-shirt.

HA!

By the time we got everything figured out, I only had about 15 minutes to warm up.  So I rode about 12 laps at just a steady pace throwing in some straightway sprints and then they cleared the track and it was go time.

I did three races.  The first was a point-a-lap race.  We raced 9 laps (at our track, that's a 3K race) and every lap, the first person across got a point.  The final lap, first place got 2 points and second place got a point.  It was fast.  I mean really really fast.  My goal was first, not to cause any crashes and second, not to get lapped.  I achieved both goals!  I was pretty close to being lapped but managed to keep away which just meant I got to ride the last lap by my lonesome out there.  That's okay, it's a good ego check.  While I was happy not to get lapped, I've also never wanted to get lapped so badly in my life and bring an end to my misery that much sooner.  I felt like vomiting the entire time, both from nerves and effort.  However, there is little euphoria like getting off the track for the first time and realizing your survived!  A bit like every time I get out of the swim in a tri and realize I didn't drown.

As soon as I got off my bike my coach ran up to me and was like, we've got to change your gears, it's all wrong.  My husband and my friends all said it was super obvious how wrong my gearing was.  The cadence of everyone else looked to be about 80-90 and I was easily over 110.  So we did a quick gear change and it was time to hit the warm up track again.  There was another big cycling even this weekend in town so the turnout at the track was pretty small and they ran a condensed schedule which mean there wasn't a lot of recovery time between the races.  Most people either brought rollers or trainers with them but they didn't even have time to use them between events because it was turning over so quickly.

Second race was a miss and out.  You have a neutral lap, then they sound the whistle, you ride one lap, they ring a bell and then the racing starts.  After the bell, the last person to cross the finish line gets pulled from the track.  Then the next lap, the last person gets pulled.  And so on and so forth until there are just four riders left and they race for first, second, third and fourth.  Since we were such a small field though, we raced a lap for each place until there were just two racers left.  My goal for this race was to not be the first out.  I knew I could hang with them for that long.  And I wasn't the first one out!  I placed fourth, haha!  I could have gotten third but I made a tactical error and gave a girl enough space to pull out in front of me with about 50 m to go to the finish.  The miss and out was most definitely my favorite race.  The devil is the person behind you and it's fun to both not try to be the first person (because you're doing all the work) but not be the last person either because then you're probably out.  It's both fast and tactical and super fun to watch.

Last race of the night I really really really didn't want to do.  Again, since I didn't plan on racing, Friday morning I did a 2000 yard swim workout so I was pretty done at that point and the last race of the night was the longest race - 12 laps.  It's a scratch race which is just a regular race where you ride XX amount of laps and first person to cross the finish line wins.  The women's field since we were so small basically told me we'd all take it easy and ride a paceline for most of it.  I asked one of them if it was okay if I just dropped out after a few laps and she was like, don't ever do that.  Just keep riding and look at it as practice.  Let me just again state how much I didn't want to do this race.  Thankfully, they kept to their word and we all started out in a paceline.  I even got to take a lap at the front and no one yelled at me so I guess I didn't mess up too much!  With about four laps to go though, they turned up the heat and I fell off the back.  I finished last again but again, I didn't get lapped.

Our track pays out to the fifth place and so I won $10 for my efforts!  I forsee a long and profitable career as a track cyclist in my future.  And by profitable, I mean I can buy myself a victory milkshake after races.

I cannot wait to race again.  I can't wait to learn more about how to get better and faster and all that stuff but really, I just can't wait to get back out on the track again.  It was just so much fun and the women, while competitive and no one cut me a break for being a newbie, were really friendly and very supportive.  The guys for that matter too - it was pretty obvious out there riding in a tshirt that I was new and they were all very encouraging.



All of my races were wall starts. You ride up to the wall, grab it and wait for the whistle to blow.  That's me at the back, in my little gray tshirt on my little rental bike.  And why yes, those are race wheels and a disc wheel you see on carbon frames.

I was shaking so much Josh said you could see my frame wobble.



And there we go!



And quickly there I am by my lonesome.  Whomp whomp.



Sad, lonely and borderline vomitting Kat



Mama's bringing home the bacon!



And a video.  My husband is not so good at being both photographer and cheerleader so I'm hoping to get some better pictures from friends that were there.


Best of all, I brought home a track bike the track was looking to unload, so happy early birthday to me



Meet Tricia, my track bike.  And my new sweater I finished just in time to wear to church this morning.

And this whole thread just goes to show, buy a bike, scare yourself, fall in love and never been too afraid or too old to try something new.

[joenali]

How fun!! Congrats on the pay out!!!

[grk2012]

This was so fun to read.

[jene]

This sounds so fun!

[cinco]

Very cool! Congrats!

[coconutbug]

That is so awesome! Great job!!

[Wines Not Whines]

That is badass!

[dmxm]

So very cool! Congrats!

[marcyiam]

Great write-up and sounded fun! Tiring, but fun!

[kams]

Wow, that is so badass!!! I love it!!

And you can't beat coming home with a new bike! Sweet!

[sadlebred]

Congratulations!! Of the mass start races, Miss and Outs were always my favorite! Sounds like you did great in it!

(I have a mean 200m TT...still.)

[shauni27]

nice work! congrats, and so much fun