Day 2 All Through

Tonight's racing began with a 25 lap points race. The important thing for Emily and I is to stay on even laps during the omnium races. The pace was tolerable and I even went for some sprints. I think I got 2nd and 3rd in 2 of the 5 sprints. Then Emily took over the grrr and picked up a few more points for us. We got 3rd and 4th place in that race. The mass start races are scored 10, 9, 8.. .and so on points, for the riders finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd... and so on.

The next race was a point-a-lap. I played follow the leader(s) during this race. Emily scored a point or two. Then we finished 3rd and 4th in the finish, putting us 4th and 6th overall.

The Madison was scheduled for 20 minutes. We completed 16 minutes because it started to rain, then stopped shortly after. I thought we got down another lap, but the results show different. We're still down 1 with 40 points. It doesn't matter how many points we get though until we get a lap back or one of the other two teams goes down one. Stay on lap... stay on lap... stay on lap.... However, this is tough with Mike and Brian on separate teams vs. us! Here is a link to a sample of what a Madison exchange looks like, if you've never seen one. This is not at Alpenrose. It's pretty amazing to feel the momentum transfer from your teammate as you're thrown into the lane and have to catch up with your pedals!

I am having fun so far with this. I'm feeling comfortable on my bike and have a gear that I can accelerate, and I'm feeling strong. It's a fun, novelty to play madison/ mass start racer for a week. I feel like I fit in with the skinny kids!