Win-and-Out: The state champ took off real early and secured the first points, then it was down to me and a woman of gigantic thighs. It was a 9-lap race, so we worked together to get to the second to last sprint at the same time. She got the best of me out of turn 4, and I recovered on the next lap, biding my time and taking the final sprint pretty easily. 

Elimination: My favorite race! Which I failed miserably this time. Got boxed in, and came into turn 4 thinking I desperately needed to get around the wall of the charging cavalry. Thought I managed to get ahead of the junior in the field but Alan called my number, I still think incorrectly. I was a little pissed and had fuel to burn, so I decided to race the last Men's Cat 4/5 race. 

Snowball: Wow, it's different racing in a pack of 15-20! Way more fun...and a little disorienting. I hung on a fast wheel for the duration of the race, having no idea how many people were in front or behind me, but at one point there was an adorable surge of Star Track kids who swarmed around us. We left them behind, and I came around my ride in turn 3, and coming in fifth overall. It was a revelation that I can race more than three times a day, and something I plan to repeat in the coming weeks. 

 

My insight into Kayt is that holly shit get her angry and she sure races faster!! 

And I don't know jack, but that's probably weird. There were two crashes at T-Town on Saturday, albeit in the 5's. By this point in the season, most of the guys at Kissena have been racing most weeks since opening night.

Alan just made the call to cancel tonight. Probably a wise decision, but major bummer. 

Poms are coming, too. 

I was surprised Jeff didn't show up on the results sheet, as he had a great ride in the points race and DEFINITELY scored points. Not sure what happened on the official results there. Kayt had some good races and was constantly in the top 3 (She walked away with 2 upgrade points!). And Jesse was killing it in the 4/5 field winning his scratch race & placing 2nd in the Omnium (his first race post-injury).

Sad that the track season is wrapping up  It's been an awesome season.  

It terms of a brief race report:

Snowball: Wanted to see how things would play out early in this race, since West Point showed up with around 6 riders in skinsuits and team bikes. Made an early move to nab the first lap, no one followed. Continued to push at the front and got the second lap's points, which is when everyone else decided to chase me down. I was gassed and decided to hop on a wheel and try for the last lap, but somehow missed that wheel. Came in third with my 3 points, and only third place because I gave up and coasted the last lap, finishing 13th. The guy who won lap 3 and also had 3 points finished the last lap in 9th place which really ingrained into my head what Ros had mentioned earlier in the day: Never give up on a race, because there is always benefit to staying with the group, even if you don't think you'll win points.

Point-a-Lap: Strategy going in was to try for lap 2, 4, and 6. Got lap 2 easily, but a group got away from me on lap 3 and I missed the point on lap 4. Got boxed in a bit coming out of turn 2 on lap 6 and had to swing way outside to chase down the lead group. Passed around 3 riders to come across the line in second place, getting me 1 additional point, which was good enough for second place for the race.

3 Lap Scratch: Somehow got boxed in again. Start of lap 3 I managed to get myself outside on the rail, and again had to sprint the backstretch to pass a number of people. Coming into turn three I was closing in on the rider in first, and was able to sprint around him in turn 4 winning the race.

Overall, I was pretty happy with my races, especially since it's my first omnium podium at Kissena. A combination of warming up better to not be as cold going into the first race, and being more strategic about positioning, and I could've won the omnium.

Looking forward to States!

46T can work for Kissena and T-Town. In general, you'll want to be around 88-94 inches as an all-around gear, though Ros has experimented with 98 inches and he made it work. He uses probably the biggest gear at Kissena week in, week out. I've been most comfortable in the 48-14, for 92 inches -- just a bit above the norm there, I would say.

Here's the chart (for 700x23 rims/tires):

PS: 

You can get a cheap saddle from the OEM castoff box at Ride Brooklyn. I got a pretty darn good Arione knockoff out of there for like $12 last year. You don't have to be in the saddle long on the track, so don't be picky.