brickhouseracing

So after witnessing the sprinting abilities of my competition yesterday, I decided that I should avoid a sprint finish today at all costs. The race (in downtown Nashville) was uphill for the first few turns, so I knew that there would be attacks and chances to get away from the pack.

I was a little worried about the race from the start- I had a horrible first couple of laps, but felt better once the pace settled down. After that, I felt strong. Early in the race, I was in a small break and realized that I had a rider behind me that would probably not follow an attack, so I took a flier on the uphill section of the course. The result was a solo breakaway that lasted about 6 or 7 laps.

It landed me a couple of primes and wore me out a bit, so when the time checks were down to 7 or 8 seconds (I was hearing 18 and 20 the first few laps), I decided to sit up & wait for the pack.

Luckily, when the pack caught me, they all sat up (surprising, given the talent that was in there!) I was able to sit in and recover for at least 4 laps before another prime stimulated a surge in pace. Another stroke of luck- the couple of times that Debbie Milne and Leigh Valletti managed to get away from the pack, it appeared as if they couldn’t agree on how to work together, so they never stuck what could have been some seriously dangerous getaways.

Getting back to my strategy, though…
Fast forward to the last lap. I am trying my damnedest to stay on Debbie’s wheel (which meant I was shoulder to shoulder with a couple of others who wanted to do the same). Then I thought back to my last race of last season (Kim and Gina from Vantaggio can tell you about it ) where I used a surprise attack early in the last lap to take the win. In the long straightaway before the last two turns to the finishing stretch, I saw my chance and made the same move- an all-out hammer to the finish, taking the final turns at speeds that could make or (literally) break my chances of winning.

Photo of final turn:

It worked. I yelled and raised one fist in the air (see photo- it’s a little goofy, but hey, it works…)

Somehow I doubt it will work again tomorrow

Last night was a lot of fun. The races, a kilo time trial and short, sprint criteriums, were held at the Old Nashville Speedway- a short, NASCAR-style track with high, banked turns.

The kilo was an insane race. It was a hard acceleration followed by an all-out effort. I rode hard enough that my vision blurred and I felt as though I was on the verge of passing out. My time was 1:26.45- good enough for 2nd place (1st was 1:24.39 and 3rd was 1:26.87).

Afterwards, racers were all called to the infield of the track to start the preliminary heats of the sprint criteriums. The official was great- though the race flyer billed us for one, 8-lap race, she ran the women’s races in a similar way to the men’s races. We had a 3/4 prelim and a 1/2 prelim, with the top 5 finishers of each group advancing to the final race. I made it to the final and finished in 4th place.

Though we were racing for fun (no prizes), it was a great time. It was also a great opportunity to size up the competition. I knew that Debbie Milne (ProBike) and Leigh Valletti (Vanderkitten) would be strong, but a few others made good showings as well.

A couple of Kilo photos: