The OBRA Track Championships are/were this weekend and unlike omniums where all the points for all the events are added together for overall winners, here... there are three days of racing with each style of event being its own championships. Because even though it seems that a sprint is a sprint out at the track, there are actually long sprints, short sprints, and then long sprints with other people and then short sprints with other people. So, for all intensive purposes it's like asking a marathoner to compete against a 100m sprinter. So anyways, the action started off Friday night with the long solo sprint competition called the 500m TT. 500m is pretty much 2 laps around the track in which you are started from a held position. Ever wonder how long it takes a women's Cat4 rider to do two laps?
Roughly 45 seconds. As you can see by the above times, I missed getting first by 1/100th of a second - which is such a slim margin of time... I can't even wrap my head around numbers like that... I also can't beat myself up about it either (although my start could have been a little better). Anyways, I rolled in at a respectable 2nd place for the evening and looked forward to coming back Saturday morning for more racing.
Saturday we competed in a 200m TT to seed the riders for the sprints later in the morning. I think I came in around 15:48 seconds which was the fastest for my CAT so I would then be seeded first. The most exciting thing about watching all the racers do their TT is that we even saw one racer beat the track record for the 200 that had prior been held for like 7 years. It's horrible that I forgot his name, but if you ever make it out to the velodrome it'll be written there on the wall with a record time of 11:30 seconds... which, is pretty friggin fast.
Anyways, I love the track, but one thing I hate is the waiting around for your next race, especially when it's as hot and sunny as it's been the past few days. So, my game plan was to race, sit in the shade, get nervous, hydrate, race... sit in the shade, get nervous, hydrate, race, talk to someone's grandparents (that wasn't my game plan... but they were nice folks who had come in to see their grandson race and didn't understand match sprints so I actually chatted with them a lot. We got into a great conversation on hand made greeting cards and scrap booking! but wait, I degress) sit in the shade, get nervous, hydrate, race and so on and so forth for about three to four hours. Long story short... I won all of my dual match sprints and then advanced to the Gold Medal round.
In all of my races I drew the opening position, but was able to get in the following position within the first lap. In the gold medal round though, I was going up against a girl who had been racing out at the Velodrome for a while and she knew how to play the match sprint game. Meaning, she stuck to my wheel like glue and it was hard to get a good read on her to see when she would make an attack. Right before we went into the final lap (out of three) she swooped down from behind me and it was up to me to chase her down with a lap to go. I tried to stay confident that I could catch her and at one point it seemed slim... but I just kept hammering and going into the final straight a way, kept the gas pedal slammed to the floor and ended up passing her just before the line. Woo-weee... I had just won the Gold Medal and my first OBRA Championship Jersey!
Initially, I had been thinking about racing the mass start point races and the pursuits tomorrow (Sunday), but really... I am pretty beat from the sun, heat and waiting around and to again perform at max effort. So, instead of going to race tomorrow, I think I'd rather just go hang out at the river, relax and enjoy the remains of my weekend. I am tempted though, but the main reason that I am writing this all tonight and hitting the publish button is so that I won't go back on my word to take a day of recovery and try to win another one. It is really tempting though... but I'm happy as it is, so - we'll call it good. :)
(additional note: Unlike Saturday which saw record numbers of participants, only two women showed up for the events on Sunday making me glad that I went out with my friends on the river for the day.)
And ps: incase you're curious what match sprints are in a track race... watch this informative little video. ;)
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