Anyone...

A couple of strong enough looking guys in the 1/2/3s, tho only 10 guys. I'm definitely gonna ride the scratch, kilo and team sprint. I might p*ssy out of the points race! Not exactly leading by example I know, but I'l see how I feel. I have zero endurance and middling speed. Pretty sure I might vom after the kilo. Preparing myself for a good kicking all round tbh - but it'll be good for me I'm sure!

I see @Aaron B. is registered for the cat 5's too, good stuff! Four Kissenas in all, nice! We can chat about the races beforehand. Starts at 10am, so we should all aim to get there for 8.30am, 9am at latest.

@Wilson and @Aaron - I see it's a "win and out" for the Cat 5s rather than an elimination as we were talking about last week. As the site describes, you race over three laps after one neutral lap. First person across the line in the first lap picks up max points and leaves the race; first person across line in second lap gets second place and leaves; first person across in third lap gets third place - everyone else gets nothing. The trick here is timing your effort - if you want to nail the first lap, either attack while everyone else if looking at each other (highly possible in a cat 5 race), but try not to do it too far out. Failing that, get yourself in the first three riders in the first lap. Any further back and you probably won't be able to come round. And make sure you try and sprint from the bottom of the track, rather than go too high (as we talked about last week too).

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Ros and I need a third for the Cat. 4 team sprint. Any crushers out there want to get involved? Podium points guaranteed.

EDIT: Actually realized I'm running the Brooklyn Half the day before, so you're probably best off going with someone else. My legs may be jello.

Would you know the schedule of events?

Roll call: Ros, Yang, Jesse, Wilson, me, and sick, skinny, pale Andy spectating and holding for standing starts for the last couple events.

We knew going in that Nick Koblov (5th Floor) was scoring at will in the 3/4 races Wednesday nights, and that Greg Olson (Stan's? ChampSys? Who knows...) would be sandbagging it with us.

On the car ride over, upon Ros verifying on USAC that it was indeed the Greg Olson we thought, we agreed that Greg better enjoy wearing an ass as a hat. Cuz we were gonna be a-sittin' on him.

Well, that tactic didn't really work out for me early on, as Greg was closely marked and wisely kept his hand close to the vest. He sat in the entire opening scratch race -- despite everyone waiting for his decisive attack. I went for a move on the outside with a few to go when Nick and Greg had cycled through to the front together (marking each other) to try to lure them into a decisive move for the first points of the day. No-go, they just strung it out and brought everyone up to me. I worked my way back in mid-pack and that's where I would stay, as the race wound itself up all the way at that point. Olson won the sprint from the front. But to my utter amazement, Ros went from possibly dead last coming out of Turn 2, to passing me through Turn 3, to passing another dozen people by the end of Turn 4, to coming in a BIG second place to Greg by what, a wheel? Gah!

The second race was a miss 'n' out. My nemesis race. It has done nothing but humiliate me time and again. Naturally, I got DQ'd for shooting my wheel up on the inside of the dude on the outside edge of the sprinter's lane at the finish line. Right in front of the referees. Yes, I knew you can't PASS a guy in the sprinter's lane on the inside, but I didn't know you can't overlap wheels either. Oh well, lesson learned? I swear to whoever is listening, I am going to harpoon this white whale of a race and ride it into submission. And then sell it for oil, scrimshaw souvenirs, and corset scaffolding. Kissena got skunked in this race. No points. That cost us.

Next was the kilo TT. Two racers at a time started this on opposite sides of the track from each other. 2.5 laps of our 400 meter velodrome. The guy shooting the starting gun stood midway across the infield so both racers heard the shot at the same time. As it happened, Ros and Jesse got called to line up across the track from each other for their 1k TTs. Before the heat started, Ros made it a point to pass on to all of us wretched, unenlightened fools the wisdom of Kieran: Get a really fast start, cruise a bit in the middle, and then press on so you die at the line, and not before. Ros took this to mean: Lose between three and four seconds (no exaggeration) to Jesse in the first 600 meters and then somehow find a way to beat him by half a second at the line. I believe I executed Kieran’s gospel more faithfully and nabbed me a fourth place, my first points in the omnium. I came in around 1:21.8, which is pretty much identical to what I did at states last year in … September?

The next race was a points race. 15 laps with points five deep on laps 5, 10, and 15. I made my move on lap 8 and made it all the way around Turn 4 of lap 10 alone before Greg Olson dragged a couple guys by me. That fourth was all I could manage that race. Two points. Don’t know if that was good enough for omnium points.

Finally, the last race was the team sprint. The Cadillac of races. The Prestige. For my race, Wilson was first man, I was second, Ros was anchor. Typically your starting man uses a slightly easier gearing so he can spin up a fast start and churn his only lap at a super high cadence. Wilson went the other way and rode something like 98 chain inches while Ros and I were at a not un-hefty 92. Here’s the crazy thing: Wilson blew up the start and stretched us out! Damn, son. He got off the line effectively two gears harder than us and made us chase him through Turn 2. Well done, sir. Wilson finished his lap, I finished my lap, and Ros finished his. We took second to Nick’s team sprint by .44 seconds. Not the tiniest of margins, but they did all have aero helmets and skin suits …

Ros just missed the podium apparently, and I likely came in a couple places behind him. We'll see in the morning!

It was a fun day at the track with teammates and non-teammates alike. I hope Yang and Jessie post (shorter) race reports of their own, as I know for a fact they have some interesting perspectives, and I didn’t expound upon their exploits as much as they deserve.