Today was the 500m TT, Points Race and the Team events. The day started out a bit overcast and cool with light to gusting winds and warmed up and cleared off and got windy.
500m TT:
1.5 laps on our track.
After yesterday's quick start in the 2K, I was ready to bust out a good 500. I was about 6th woman to go and I got a decent start (standing start) and stood until nearly half a lap. I hit 28.9 mph and was pedaling like mad. I ended up 0.05 off my PR in much worse conditions, so I'm happy. 3rd place.
Points race:
30 laps (6 miles), sprints every 6 laps
Since the numbers weren't high for the points race, they combined all the women's age groups and we all raced and were scored together. But then they split out the age groups for awards. We had two points racing national champions in the field, one in my AG. And the race was FREAKING FAST! We averaged about 25 mph for the first 12 laps. On the first sprint I got 4th. Second sprint, got 4th again. At this point the front three kept the speed up and I was on the edge of breathing difficulty and then I got gapped just a bit so I pulled up to get my breathing under control and took a lap. When the group came around I got back in and then one person didn't look (always look before you move!) and came down on me and drove me off the track and onto the blue line. On the next sprint lap Donna and I got gapped and she and I traded pulls to the end. Unfortunately, we got caught 10 meters before the line on the last lap. Damn! Donna was in front of me and I thought she would pull off in turn 3 like we'd been doing, but she didn't so I was stuck behind her as the front group came up on me so I was pinned in. I ended up 3rd in the AG. Not exactly happy about getting passed at the end but I am happy about hanging for the first 12 laps with the National Champions.
We had a long break between the rest of the points races and team stuff. During open track, I got on the track and just rode around easy for a bit. Wind had picked up quite a bit by this time.
W45+ Team Sprint:
Two laps, two people. One person does one lap with the second person sitting on their wheel. After a lap, the first person pulls off within the zone and the second person continues solo on the second lap.
Team Donna & Cathy (yea, original). She and I have done this a few times now and her coach was there and said I should go first and Donna second. Fine with me. Got to the start and on the gun, I had a HORRIBLE start. Not sure what happened but I went right, towards Donna. Crap! Get it lined out and take off as fast as I can and pedal like hell until the pull-off zone. She kept going but we both thought the points race took some out of our legs. Afterwards, her coach said we should have switched order. 2nd place.
W30+ Team Pursuit (or, all women's TP...no split of age groups)
3K or 9 laps on our track. They changed the Women's TP this year from 4 to 3 people, so you couldn't drop off one person as the time stopped after the third rider. It was me, Donna and Elizabeth, who just started racing this year and had never done a team pursuit. She wanted to bail, but we wouldn't let her. We told her that it was about just racing, having fun and getting the experience. We decided that she would lead it out, Donna second and me last, then do 1/2 lap pulls.
The start was OK. Not fast, but OK. Elizabeth took us up to speed and the first lap I felt like I was going pretty easy. When Donna pulled off after the first lap, I slightly picked it up and after a couple of laps, when I hit the front again, I did full lap pulls. We picked it up a little more the last couple of laps and finished feeling good in 3rd place.
So, 6 races this weekend and 6 medals. Some good racing, some stupid racing. So many people told me that I am racing much better this year than last year which is always good for the motivation. I'm looking forward to Nats in August.
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