6 Days of Kissena Round 2

Weather was fine, mid 40’s with some wind, 5-10mph, certainly not the starched flags of round 1. Over 100 people registered so there was a big turnout. Cat 5 was maxed out at 30 riders and there were also enough Cat 4 women for two fields. There were more than 20 Cat 4 riders but they chose to keep it as one field which made for more interesting racing I think.

There were 4 Kissenas present @EduardSpektor and myself in the Cat 5 (different fields alas) @Jeffrey White in the Cat 4 and @EvelynDeLaRosa Evelyn in the women’s Cat 4.

The racing schedule was different to last week’s three scratch races. Started with a 5 lap tempo, 5 lap scratch and then an elimination.

I’ll speak for myself now. Two new race types for me so once again my expectations were to stay safe and work out what the hell was going on. Seeing Jeff work hard in his first race and knowing there were Kissenas who had some interest in what I was doing definitely made me try harder though.

I took the first sprint in the 5 lap tempo than hand back for a break having ridden around the outside in the wind. I probably rested for half a lap too much and the front group pulled away ad once again I wasn’t on a good wheel and there was little chance of me making it back and being competitive for any of the remaining sprints. I used the last lap as a cool down. I still scored some points with the first sprint though.

Race two was a scratch and having done a few last week set the target of finishing top 5. I had an idea of what might happen - probably a break with 2 to go but it didn’t happen. I sat in a good position for the whole race but got caught behind a less than ideal wheel when the pace picked up so had to take some wind on the back straight to make the top 5 and I didn’t have enough left to compete for the top 3 which were probably only a length or so ahead of me.

Final race was an elimination for which I’ve done a fair amount of you tube based homework. I promptly didn’t race to my plan sitting about 3rd wheel on the inside of the track. This was fine until the numbers went down and I realised half a lap too late. I probably had a few more goes in me so I was a bit annoyed. It was the longest race I’ve done and I definitely learnt some lessons.

It was really great to have some team mates there to discuss the racing, tactics and who to follow. I can’t overstate how awesome that was and even better for me because I got a lift with Jeff - thanks.

As I said last week, Kim Geist was there she looked so comfortable at all times. For all the Kissena ladies, next week (Saturday I believe) King Kog are paying for all women’s entrance fees so find a track bike and get down there. Next week is also a Sat/Sun double header.

Got the track in good time at 1205 signed in etc. The weather was amazing. A little bit of wind and clear skies. Think it got up to 20 degrees even. Did a good 20 minutes or so of warm up. I've kind of developed a routine based loosely on what @JohnMalcolmson suggested. After the warm up I changed the gearing on my bike ready for racing. A good amount of people there again and 23 registered women which is a record I think so the ladies day incentive of free racing worked. @EvelynDeLaRosa and I were the only Kissenas. My race reports are as follows.

First race was a devil's scratch which the organiser made up. Basically it's an elimination race until a set number of people are left then it becomes a scratch race with the number of laps the same as the number of people. In my field of 14 or so it was 4. Went around trying to play the devil and sneaking past people which I did for a few laps. Felt quite fun and something I'd like to get better at but it meant I was in the wind a lot and far from the front it was alsoa much longer race to start with than normal so I felt a bit ropey. Although my warm up feels good its a good 30 mins before the first race and I can't seem to replicate the hack inducing efforts of a race. One of the stronger guys however got caught out pretty early, he was riding on the bottom and didn't take into account how many were left, I like to think partly because of me playing devil and sprinting out of last place right at the end but the succession of efforts took it's toll and I was done after that one.I probably finished 8/9th. So not great.

Race 2 was a 5 lap scratch race and after last week was targeting top 5. It played out fairly nicely, I was in a relatively good position. Some guys went off the front with a lap to go,  I didn't work hard enough to get on so just made fifth pretty easily, nearly 4th.

Race 3 was the big one. A 9 lap win and out where the winner would be declared on lap 6, second on lap 3 and the rest of the positions on the last lap. This means that if you go for first place but don't make it you're potentially screwed and knackered. My plan was to go for third. Let most people tire themselves out and save myself for the final sprint. Three guys went for the first sprint, amazingly one of the guys that didn't win that got the second sprint. All the while I was just sat towards the back out of the wind. Moved up with 3 to go around the outside and a guy made a move out of turn 2 off the top. I jumped on his wheel and we got a gap. Fortunately for me he pounded the pedals hard for a whole lap so the gap stayed as it was. I offered him some encouragement and kept him up to date with chasers and with half a lap to go they started gaining on us. I offered more encouragement and we still had a gap going through turns 3/4. At this point I didn't think there was any chance that I wasn't going to win the final sprint for third. Moved outside of the helpful guy and went for the line. I knew that the 4 or 5 guys that had been finishing before me in other races were either out or tired. Hence my plan. So yeah, third place in that race which I'm chuffed about. Got lucky I guess.

@EvelynDeLaRosa had a nasty crash. Someone seemed to go down right in front of her and she was powerless. It didn't look great but she came out of it pretty unscathed. Big crack in the helmet though having gone over the handlebars. 

Like I said this was all yesterday. I decided against riding today so this will b my mulligan. I'll be there both days next weekend though, maybe on the last day I'll ride a slightly bigger gear too. As I've said before it would be so awesome to get more Kissena jerseys in the mix. Even in the Cat 5 races it was plain to see how team work was going to be helpful.

Joshua Wilson said:

Interested in giving Track a try and looking for a mentor. Any takers 😬?

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