Track League 21 May

[Tamar]

I finally ran out of excuses and ended up at the track last night. There were five women in the B group, including Maria - who seems to be riding absolutely everything at the moment, from MTB to sportives to road racing. Predictably I got spat out the back almost immediately. Ho hum.

Started with 15 lap warm up race (10 laps warm up, 5 laps racing). I got dropped as soon as the racing bit started.
Points race. Dropped 1st lap.
Devil. Ditto - thank goodness I'd had the sense to bring a book to read.
Women's 2 lap dash - stayed with them for lap and half - whoo!
Declined to do Madison.
42 lap scratch race. Stayed in for TEN LAPS!!! Amazing. I think this is because they weren't doing lap leader prizes so instead of sprinting every lap they rode nicely. Spent next 3 laps with elastic at full stretch then rode round the top recovering and spent the rest of the race practicing sprinting onto the back as the bunch passed under me. Would hang in for anywhere between a quarter of a lap and a whole lap, then recover at the top again and repeat.

[Snoop Doug]

Go for it Tamar!! Fixed gear, no brakes - scares the crap out of me well done.

Snoop

[Ivor]

[quote="Snoop Doug"]scares the crap out of me well done.

[Andrew G]

I hope to join you (probably at the top of the track after being shed unceremoniously too), fingers crossed for the weather and I might get there next week.

Can you refresh my memory please, is it a 7pm start, with a sign on beforehand, and then you can do which ever events you want to.

[Tamar]

Yes - 7pm start. Sign on beforehand, either as A, B or novice (novice racing is only on a Wednesday - A&B on Monday too). I think novices are unlicenced so can't ride in the A/B races...something like that.

As a B rider I can ride in any B race or A/B race I want to, but don't have to ride in them all....but then again you're paying a fiver to join the league and get a number for the season and then eight quid per night on top of that so you might as well ride as many as possible....apart from the Madison of course 'cos that would just be terrifying.

[Andrew G]

As a 4th cat with a race licence would that make me a B then, or would I be a novice - which I would be really having never done one of the track leagues before.

[Tamar]

You should be a B. Novices are really people who've done no racing and just attended a couple of the Saturday morning taster sessions. There's only about 6 of them and it would be fairly pointless you joining them. Check when you sign on, but I think you will be a B.

[Jon H]

[quote="Tamar"]... but I think you will be a B.

[Tamar]

Very true!

[Michelle]

Hey nice one Tamar, you are really going for it!

Do they really have a race called The Devil . Track racing is not for Christians then....

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Michelle"]Track racing is not for Christians then....

[Andrew G]

Michelle there is an event called the Devil, or to give it its full name Devil Take The Hindmost.

It's a mass start event like a scratch race but every lap the last rider in the field is pulled out to gradually whittle down the numbers until there is a sprint for placings at the end. People adopt various tactics, either try and ride near the front and keep it quicker and steadier for themselves - but stay out of trouble, or sit at the back getting maximum draft and doing as little as possible. Then when they are coming round for the end of the lap they'll try and just nip their wheel in front of someone else and dump them out instead. You need to keep alert .

Re Calshot I think 3 things were in my favour:
1) It was a fairly short exercise.
2) Keith had done at least twice as much as everyone else by acting as derny all day and towing us all around.
3) I suspect he wasn't really trying , we all know what would happen if he really tried. Bye-bye Mr. C.