Last night of the NHMS Track Series Monday. They switched the night from thrusday to monday for some unknown reason. Works for me.
At the start, the organizer asked us if we wanted 24 or 27 laps. 27 laps by popular demand. It's a ~1 mile loop on the flats. This was my first night racing the "B" race. I have race the "C" twice, winning twice early last year, and coming in second to my buddy Richard two weeks ago. He sent me an email saying "hey man, let's do the B race next week". OK. I was a bit nervous that I would get dropped at some point, but resolved to work like a dog to make sure that did not happen.
This is a points race, so a sprint for points every 3rd lap. No primes, except for special prime nights. 20ish riders at the start, which was a little less than most nights from what I have seen, but it was the last week of the year. We took off, and I just sat in, 6-10th for the first 2 laps. Decided to just sit in on the 1st sprint and see what happened. About 7 guys contested the sprint, gaped the field by a couple dozen meters, then it all came back together. Was nervous about a split forming, but that never happened. On the 3rd sprint, I was feeling good and decided to start giving it a go on the bell laps. I was in contention for several of them, and thought I may have picked up a few 3rds ( last place for points), but in the end it looks like I was finishing 4th or 5th. Still pretty happy to be in the mix, rather than sitting on the tail avoiding getting dropped. Been there, done that. Went for about every other points sprint. Toward the end, I was getting a little tired, and found myself on the front in a headwind on the finishing straight on a neutral lap. Pulled off a bit to let someone else on the front, and felt my bike suddenly slowdown. Thought maybe I got a flat, or got my wheel stuck in a gap in the concrete on the track. Then herd a "BANG" just behind me and felt a sudden acceleration. Oh, that was someone touching my wheel. Was moving too fast to look around. Richard pulled up to me on the back stretch and told me someone tapped my wheel and went down. Yep. The guy who went down was OK, got right back up and kept riding from what I heard at the finish. Glad they were OK. The last few laps were a blur, I was loosing track of when the sprint was until everyone suddenly picked up the pace, and I started sprinting as well. Pulled in 4th, and someone said "that's it" Race and season over.
Was really happy with how I rode on my first night upgrading to the "B" race. It is more fun riding in a larger group, the "C" race often only had 4-9 riders the 3 nights I did it. It was a lot of fun to be placing in that group, but I think I will get a better experience and grow more racing in the faster paced group from now on, even if it takes a while to get some points.
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