Tracking Racing, Kevin Hetherington-Young, June 13
Another fun night at the track. It was nice and warm at the start and comfortably cool at sunset. There was no need for a jacket between races.
I arrived early and decided to warm up a bit on the road. The track wasn’t quite open yet and I had a new road frame to play with. I immediately felt the 75 miles of crit racing I did on Sunday and decided to drop my gearing down to 53×16 from last week’s 55×16. Warming up later on the track, this seemed the right way to go. The turnout this week was huge. For some of the B races, they broke up the field into B1 and B2. Plus, they had a legitimately large field of first-timers who got their own scratch race.
Barry showed up with a new track bike that arrived a few hours previous and did some impressive riding on it. During the evening, I loaned him a 50 tooth chainring so he could try a taller gear.
Race 1: 12 lap scratch race: This was the slowest scratch race in the A’s yet this season and had the surge/pause/surge to go along with it. I sat second and third wheel pretty much the whole way. I was planning a back-stretch jump for the final sprint, but was beaten to it and came in third.
Race 2: Miss and Out: Last rider on each lap pulled until three riders are left. One quiet lap and then the final sprint. I decided to ride second and third wheel the entire race to avoid the surge every lap at the back of the pack. This way, any sprint I had to do to maintain that position gave me a little extra distance to the back of the pack where riders were being eliminated. I executed well on this strategy and didn’t have to work too hard. In the sprint with about five riders left, one rider to my left and behind hit his front wheel on the chainstays of another rider and fell hard at the line. They neutralized our race for quite some time to check him out and clear the course. I believe I saw him driving himself home later – a good sign.
When we resumed racing with five riders left, I was starting to feel pretty good. The effort was there, but I wasn’t having to dig too deep to maintain top three on each sprint and made the final three. In the final sprint, I decided to really work on an earlier jump. Last week and in the scratch race, I felt the other riders were getting the initiative and I wanted to prevent that. We wound it up with one to go. One of the riders is really good at the one to two lap attack. The other rider is more of a pure sprinter. I keyed off the sprinter, as he seemed more fresh. He opened a gap inside in turn two and I took down the backstretch and around turns three and four to the line for the win.
Race 3: Unknown Distance: Another new one for me and quite fun! Basically, the idea is you begin a race having no idea when it’s going to end. The only thing they told us was there would be one prime and we’d get a bell with one to go. Tactically, this was my worst race. Barry, on the other hand, played it well. I sat second wheel most of the race and sat second wheel during the prime. I didn’t want to burn a match on that. Despite that, I failed to react soon enough to the counter attack by one of the stronger riders, but a rider who doesn’t like the sprint as much. He was trying to shed us short-duration guys. Gutsy move too given that he had no idea how long he’d have to pace himself. I coulda/shoulda/woulda had his wheel, but I hesitated that extra second and he gapped us. I did go for it despite my hesitation and gapped the pack, but realized I wouldn’t catch him and didn’t want to sit out alone for too long. Another bad move, as half a lap after getting caught they rang the bell. Just then, Barry, riding his new 50×15 gearing came blowing by me with a rider on his wheel. The winner was too far gone, but Barry did a great last lap to wind it up and hold onto second. Nice ride Barry! I won the sprint behind for fourth.
Race 4: Win and Out: After a neutral lap, the rider to win the first lap wins the race and pulls out. The rider who wins the second lap takes second and pulls out, and so on. I really wanted to win this and treated it like a chariot race with a rolling start. Before the race, I upped my gearing back to 55×16. I figured I can accelerate it fine and could use the extra top-end. I attacked first just as the neutral lap was ending, gapped the group, and took it around the track for the win. I then pulled up to the top of the track to watch the action for second. Barry was leading another good sprinter with a big gap behind them. He had to play his cards right to hold him off. Barry played some very smart tactics winding it up, but not quite, with one to go. He double-clutched the sprint with a second burst around the final turns to hold onto second. One-two for NEBC. :)
Peter Esselstyn looked great out there in the C races. I didn’t get all his results, but I think he’s got a knack for this track thing. Some other NEBC members I saw included Brook O’Conner, Michelle Smith, Ed Parsons, who won two races and placed second in another, Mark Bowen, and I believe a couple of others.
I’m now starting to really get to know the competitors on both a personal and tactical level. It’s a good group of like-minded folks. We’re also starting to figure each other out and counter each other’s strengths. When Joe (don’t recall his last name) attacked and won the Unknown distance, he told me he was focused on shedding Steve V and myself. Last week, I stuck to his wheel like glue to his detriment. This week, he successfully cleared his wheel. Likewise, I shifted my sprint distance to throw Steve V off. It didn’t work in the Scratch race, but I moved the sprint out farther in the Miss and Out to counter. This give and take makes the racing tactically interesting. It’s also a blast.
Next week’s theme is team pursuit, though we’ll also be done other pack-oriented events, so come on up and give it a try! For more information, check out http://www.leadcycling.com/ .
Final results: me: 3rd, 1st, 4th, 1st Barry: ?,DNS,2,2