Bella, Bella, Bella, Betty
Yep, that's what it was tonight at the track -- three Bellas, one Betty. Gilby was the lone representative. (And, boy, that girl DOES represent - nice riding Gwen!) BUT... I do believe there were 3 Bellas there, in a field of nine women. Let's get some more Bettys up to the track! I headed up to the track tonight, and I felt like I was a total newbie again, like it was my first race ever. However, Sarah, who lapped the field last week, gave me some expert tips, and I was good to go. The first race was a "snowball" race. It was 16 laps, with a sprint every four laps, with each sprint counting for more points than the one prior to it. (Hence the term "snowball") I decided to hang out at the back for a bit and get the feel of racing on track (having just learned to ride on it last night.) I'm not sure who got the first two sprints, because I was nowhere near the front, but for the third sprint I attacked at the beginning of the bell lap. I was pretty psyched, I had a little gap, was out in front...out in front... out in front...for the whole lap, and then someone came around and nipped me by an inch at the line. WTF?? My legs don't go any faster! Oh well.
The chariot race was next -- yikes. That SUCKED. It was a two lap all out sprint, starting from a standstill. It brought horrid memories of doing the 100 meter dash in high school track, trying to figure out how the HELL people got SO far ahead of me in such a short distance. Sprinting is not my strong point. Sarah got second in our heat though! Nice job Sarah!
Then was my favorite race, the a 40 lap scratch race. Basically like a crit on the track, whoever crosses the line first on the last lap wins. It was so fun, tactical like a crit, but faster and more intense, and suprisingly less sketchy. It makes sense, because we were all on fixed-gear bikes with no brakes. If any of my non-cycling friends are reading this, here's Wikipedia's explanation of a fixed-gear bike. Anyway, some people attacked periodically throughout the race. I think I may have even attacked, but no one ever stayed away until the end... with 5 laps to go Bella Megan went to the front and set a wicked pace to string out the field. When the wheel in front of me moved up the track to attack, I went with it, and soon there was a small break -- me, 2 UofM girls, and one other girl. UofM Ann pulled us around for a lap and a half and then dropped off the pace. That girl is a machine! She did half the men's races in addition to the ladies! So that left the 3 of us to duke it out at the end. Well, actually, the two of them duked it out and I hung on for third. Nevertheless, I was psyched.
Now I know what I'm doing ono Thursday evenings for the rest of the summer.
The chariot race was next -- yikes. That SUCKED. It was a two lap all out sprint, starting from a standstill. It brought horrid memories of doing the 100 meter dash in high school track, trying to figure out how the HELL people got SO far ahead of me in such a short distance. Sprinting is not my strong point. Sarah got second in our heat though! Nice job Sarah!
Then was my favorite race, the a 40 lap scratch race. Basically like a crit on the track, whoever crosses the line first on the last lap wins. It was so fun, tactical like a crit, but faster and more intense, and suprisingly less sketchy. It makes sense, because we were all on fixed-gear bikes with no brakes. If any of my non-cycling friends are reading this, here's Wikipedia's explanation of a fixed-gear bike. Anyway, some people attacked periodically throughout the race. I think I may have even attacked, but no one ever stayed away until the end... with 5 laps to go Bella Megan went to the front and set a wicked pace to string out the field. When the wheel in front of me moved up the track to attack, I went with it, and soon there was a small break -- me, 2 UofM girls, and one other girl. UofM Ann pulled us around for a lap and a half and then dropped off the pace. That girl is a machine! She did half the men's races in addition to the ladies! So that left the 3 of us to duke it out at the end. Well, actually, the two of them duked it out and I hung on for third. Nevertheless, I was psyched.
Now I know what I'm doing ono Thursday evenings for the rest of the summer.
posted by karla at 11:16 PM
6 Comments:
Karla you did awesome at the track!! You even got 5th in the Omnium for your first night of track racing...hell yeah.
http://www.nscsports.org/tmp_images/062906.htm
You were awesome! I could easily become a track addict - in the spectating or officiating way.
;-D
Thanks guys! It was crazy fun. And what else is crazy? All the pros getting suspended right now!
attagirl! keep coming out to the track. As a veteran of the track I remember when the few women there had to ride with the men because there wasn't enough for their own field. This year we've been consistently attracting 6-10 women a week... awesome!
Thanks Skibby! And yes, I'm going to keep coming back! It's nice that more women are getting into it (track and cycling in general), although I don't really mind the guy to gal ratio either : )
ok now that there are more and more women I'm going to have to make a bigger effort to get up there (to officiate OR watch). Congrats on getting on the track. I can't WAIT to watch you up there!
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