Nothing snapped

The Eric Kautzky Memorial race on Saturday was the first big track event for 2012. The field was huge for the track with 92 racers turning out spread over 10 or so categories. Seemed like each category has at least 10 eager trackies and the cat 1-2 race had around 20. There was some good racing to be had.  I was in the masters 40+ field, a mash-up of cat 1-2-3 races older than 40 but younger than 50 (who had their own category). I was thown in with the likes of Klipper, Hemenway, Abers and Oliphant.

For those of you new to track racing this is omnium racing, meaning that there are three different types of races and the overall winner is the one that does best in all three. As more of a sprinter rather than an endurance racer this was going to be a real test for me. The fact that my training schedule was also a couple of months behind all the others was sure to play against me.

Our first race was the 25 lap points race where points are awarded every 5 laps for the first 4 places and points double at the finish. As you can imagine, there would be plenty of ebb and flow as riders gathered for the sprints and recovered between sprints. Imagine a 1 lap PIR race with 5 primes spaced throughout that lap and you get the idea. I stayed with the main group for the first sprint and then got gapped by about half a lap for the second sprint. Two of us gave chase and we picked up two more lapped riders along the way. The 4 of us taking half lap pulls. Slowly we dragged ourselves back into contention and with two laps to go had bridged the gap. I pulled through and took the lead (briefly) before being attacked by the former lead group. seeing as I was on my own, I soft-pedaled home. Was was pleased not to be lapped in a race where plenty of good riders had been.

The second race was a 15 lap scratch race. This one is as simple as 'first past the post'.  Knowing that a win would be a significant challenge I was determined to push the field at some point. Initially, the pace was moderate with a few anaemic attacks that did not succeed. Feeling strong, I took off with 5 laps to go forcing the field to chase. Klipper caught me and continued past dragging a number of riders along. I finished mid-field or thereabouts but happy to have stayed with the group and be in a position to lay down an attack.

The last race was a miss-and-out. After a 3 lap start the last rider across the line each lap was pulled from the race until three remained. These three would then fight out a 2 lap sprint. Field placement and situational awareness is critical in this type of race. It is easy to get boxed in and unable to accelerate out of last place. I geared down in anticipation of the need for fast accelerations. At the start I wrestled myself into second wheel down in the sprinters lane knowing that as long as I held that wheel survival deep into the race would follow. From 12 starters I made it to the last 5 before being edged out by Stephen McDade who had positioned himself uptrack with more space to accelerate into. I was still positioned behind the first wheel and hemmed in by Klipper, to my right, with nowhere to go.

Overall, my efforts were good enough for 6th place in a strong Masters field. I made sensible gear selections and my endurance is coming along nicely. It was a good hit out and, most importantly, my neck felt good, well.....nothing snapped, at least.