Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig
Independence Day Grand Prix- Colorado Springs, Colorado
The End

Let's see, where did we leave off.... Oh, yes, last night.
I lost my first sprint round against a woman named Liz Something-or-other. The evening got under way at 5:00. The rain got under way around 5:30. After my sprint and another, the men got through a few short races. But as soon as the downpour began, like cockroaches, we scurried under cover. After about 10 minutes of wondering, everyone took their bikes to the tunnel, lowered thier tents to protect what whas still under them, and laughed over the circumstances. The low quality photo is from my phone, of all the bikes and a few riders sitting in the tunnel.



The rumor was that we had to turn out the track lights at 9:30, or when the fireworks started. After 2 hours of sitting, eating, and wondering what would happen, the rain had stopped 20 minutes before, and racing continued. During this pseudo-session, I had a 3 up sprint for a chance to race in the semi- finals. I played a good game and had a nice gap in the final sprint. But then my idiot kicked in and I left the sprint lane open for a girl named Cari Higgins and she worked to get me at the line. So, I got 5th in the sprints.

The racing goes on, with crashes in the men's keiren round and in the masters 1 mile race- both creating delays. The first firework boom was the signal to cut the track lights. BOOM! (ooh) BOOM, krackle, (aah) narrated the next 30 minutes. Pretty fireworks lit the sky as racers, family, and race staff sat in the infield to gawk, ooh, and ahh.

Finally- track time is 10:00 pm. The men's keiren final go, as does the women's sprint semi's with that Cari girl, beating Anna-Brit (total surprise) and Liz beating her opponent. So, my first 2 sprints were lost to the enventual top 2. Just as the these two ladies set up to ride, the rain started again. This time, the officials and promoter threw in the towel. These racers would split the money for 1st and 2nd. And the madison registrants would share prize money equally.

So, in the end, this was not the most fun racing. I drew the outside spots for both keirens, I rode too big a gear for the scratch race, It rained twice during the racing, I made a huge sprint mistake, leaving that lane open for Cari (who mentioned more than once that she was a rookie and bas been on the track for 5 weeks), and have 3 days to shake it all off.

AVC is this weekend. I see great things in my future....