Portland Alpeonrose Velodrome Challenge
Session #1 and #2

Yesterday morning was the 3K pursuit. I only decided to do this race Thursday night after realizing that there won't be many riders. I was correct. 5 women would be in contention. I was in the first ride against a girl named Mary Maroon. The weather was perfect, the wind was none and I felt pretty good. Riding an 88" gear, I rode a 4:28. This was good enough for second place and the lunch money that accompanied. This is 4 seconds slower than last year, but I was riding a slower gear and I'm not much of a pursuit rider in the first place. I was happy with in and stuck around to call splits for others. Per and Steven had great rides. Track hack settled in.

In the evening session, I felt good during my warmup for the 500m. TT. I think it helped to have done a light geared pursuit in the morning. My jumps felt good. I was fortunate to have what Darrell and I named a "windopause", which would be a pause in the wind. My start wasn't stellar. The holder wasn't very solid and I think that bothered me in the start. It wasn't horrible, but I think I may have had a sub 40. My 40.31 is a new P.R. on Alpenrose track and it placed me 3rd behind Becky Quinn (39.2) and Auna-Brit (39.7). Considering those .3 wouldn't have placed me any higher, I wasn't disappointed.

Today is the Keiren and Miss-n-out.

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....

Day I-don't- know

9:00- We be racing this morning. 1st keiren heat there were 4 of us. I got 4th. In the rep round, I was 1st to the motor from 5th on the rail. However, one rider was obligated to take the motor unless someone else took it, but they relegated her for not trying- lame. So the second time to the rail, that rider wasn't there and I was 4th again in line behind the motor. I launched the attack, but the 2 riders came around me. That placed me 7th overall- of an eventual 8.

This is not my best performance. Sprints tonight. First ride is against the woman that won the keiren.

Day 3 RAINOUT!

Like someone set a clock on it, the rain started 5 minutes before racing was to start. We begin again tomorrow morning at 9:00.

Day 3
Race Day #1- AM

This morning was just the 200m. TT. I fet great druing warmup, did a few runs, decided on the 94" gear. However, I just wasn't that fast. I posted a 12.69, which on this track is pretty slow. Last year I had a 12.5. There were only 7 women- all fast. I finished 6th of 7. The 7th place time, was only .004 slower. I was pretty disappointed, since I was hoping for a faster time than last year. I'm going to have a hard first sprint. With only 7 sprinters, 1st will get a buy first round. I'm sure they'll take the rest of us and do match- ups to narrow it down to 3, and that will be the semi- finals.

But that's all tomorrow. Tonight we have the Kerien and scratch race. I'll get back later with a report.

Indenpendence Day Grand Prix
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Day 2


Well, not too much adventure today. I went to the track with Mark and Katie this morning and did my workout, which included a few warm up laps and some flying 200s. I figured out my gearing and a good line. I felt good. Well, I thought I felt good. After my last two efforts, I experienced a little dizziness and desperate gasps for air. Elevation here is abotu 6000, which is about 5600 feet higher than Alpenrose. Breathing is touch, but that's just another reason for not doing a points race :)

After getting my little (really little) rental car, I tootled to.... Actually, I can't tell- it's a surprise for Chuck.

As I write this afternoon, the daily late afternoon thunderstorm is coming by- not too much rain, but some fantastic lightening and thunder claps.

Independence Day Grand Prix
Colorado Springs
Day 1

So even before I get to Katie and Mark's house, I had a funny day. The plan was to get to Denver, get my bike and duffle from the baggage claim and wait 2 hours for my $60 shuttle. When I get to the baggage area, I see Becky Quinn with one of her team's mechanics. We chit chat a little and I mention waiting for the shuttle, when mechanic guy says that I could probably get a ride with them.

So I wait with them as other members of the Spike team show up. We got into one van and the bikes went in the other. My bike was going to the track. So, team staff guy drives me to the house and calls mechanic guy to ask about my bike.

Unknowingly, he'd put my bike together. He said that he just opened the box and started putting parts together. Then he started to wonder why there were pint glasses and big bottles of beer (from mcmennamins to give my hosts.) Finally, he noticed my name on the top tube. Well, all be! So, when I drove to the grocery store, I stopped by the track to pick up the box and thank mechanic guy.

I forgot my computer charger on this trip- oh bother. I have to borrow a computer the rest of weekend.

I haven't updated lately, mostly because I've had little to shout about. Maybe I can write about not doing very well! Nah, that's not so motivating. The last month has mostly ticked by in the way of racing.

On June 10th, seven of us jumped into the van and drove up to Seattle for the Ballard Twilight Criterium. 2 years ago, I was pulled from this race about 10 minutes in. That time was mostly due to my lack of strength and experience. THIS year was mostly do to...stupidity and confidence. We ran a little late getting to the race, so I warmed up for around 10 minutes. But the bigger problem was that when I rolled around the course to the start, the women had already lined up. I was somewhere in the the middle of the third row. They had cat 1-4 racing together. As the whistle blew, I jumped into my pedal and began the weave to the actual race. Around corner one was a descent and a left turn- both a little difficult to navigate through with riders that had trouble with both. For about 4 laps, about 5 of us drove and wove through the riders. Finally a small group of us formed and we tried to chase down and actually join the race. But we couldn't catch the 2- or so others. The officials let us race a few minutes together before blowing the degrading whistle. One of these years, I may actually tackle this race, but this wasn't the year. Norrene however, scored second and a nice fat check. Nice work!

Racing on the track has been a bit uneventful. I feel steps behind last year, but Brian says it's fine. Nationals are two months later this year. We've had some WET weather too. Last week was the Alpenrose 6 Day. Thoses racers actually had a 5 Day, but there were only races for the non- 6 day riders on Thursday. Cat 1-3 were all lumped together. I'm one of the slowest cat 3 riders when the races are more than 10 laps as it is, so these races were what we call "character building." Then Saturday, we raced an omnium, where I built even more character! Chuck raced too. It was fun to have him out there and he got some good experience.

The Oregon State Games are this weekend. I'm not too concerned with overall omnium, so I"m going to pick and choose the races that work for me, whether they be women's, cat 3, cat 1/2. Next month starts the explosion of races. Stay tuned for write ups from The Independence Day Grand Prix, Alpenrose Challenge, and the FSA Grand Prix. Lots of big racers- lots of speed.