Race: Kissena Opening Weekend - Day 2

The weather on day two started out cool and cloudy again, with minimal wind.  As the day progressed, the skies cleared, the temps went up and the winds picked up a little.  They were just gusts though, nothing steady.

The night before was spent eating a ton of food, drinking a few recovery beers and watching the first Sherlock Holmes movie with my parents.  I probably should have gotten to sleep earlier, but man, that's a good movie.  I finally got to sleep at about 1:30am, with a 7am alarm set.  Eggs and toast for breakfast and...decaf coffee.  I was dragging.

The first event was the kilo.  Due to the light turnout, Alan decided to run them 1 up, starting on the back and finishing on the home stretch.  Sadly, I just could not get myself motivated at all.  In fact, I was dozing off a little bit just before I got called to the ready area.  I had a strong start, but stood all the way through turn 3, 4, the homestretch and finally felt like sitting in turn 1.  I was half trying to pace myself a little better than my practice kilo last week, and half just didn't want to race.  The fire just wasn't there.  I just tried to get it over with, really having to push hard the last half lap.  I was told I looked good the whole way around, but I felt sluggish.  The final result was a 1:17.50 and another third place using a 50x15.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/175528966

Next was the team sprint.  Steve and I were originally hoping to do it with Tad as the anchor, but he was racing in the morning and only showed up for the points race.  Instead, we teamed up with Frank Mesi, who is a really cool masters racer.  Colin and Alan Buday ended up riding with Jonathan Chambers on their team, so we were basically just gunning for second place.  I don't really get that mentality to just stack the team to guarantee a win.  Why not make it a real contest?  Either way, I bumped my gear up to a 49x14 for 96".  Frank had a solid start, and I let a bike length get between steve and myself.  I was able to close it back up as best I do.  On a side note, I don't know what it is, but I still have a hard time riding close to the wheel in front of me on the track.  Maybe it's just the unpredictable nature of the Kissena surface.  Either way, at the transition, Steve kept the speed hot, with his rear wheel kicking out a little in turn 2.  The final lap I laid it on and crossed the line with a 1:30.68, which was fine by me.  This got us second place.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/175528956

At this point, I really was getting tired of racing, so I decided to look at the overall so far to see if I could just screw around in the points race and come out on top.  I knew there was no way to get second place, but the difference between 3rd and 4th place was 14 vs 9 points.  I was under the impression that the points were only going 4 deep at 7-4-2-1, which meant as long as Alan Buday (4th) didn't win the points race (which I figured would happen) the best he could do was come in 1 point shy of me.  I liked those odds, particularly with Jon and Tad in the mix.  I told Tad not to work for me, and just hunt for points as this would help me out the best.  I came through 5th in a few sprints, where apparently the points only go 4 deep, but I was mostly just marking Alan.  Colin lapped the field, solidifying his win, so I basically sat up feeling good about myself.  In the end, Alan won one sprint just after colin lapped which gave him 2nd place.  What happened to Tad or Jon, I don't know.  On a side note, I dropped down to a 49x15, which was way too spinny for this race.  Should have put the 50 back on.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/175528946

Either way, I got off the bike feeling good about myself still and waited for the podium to be announced.  First place, Colin.  Second place, Jon.  Third place, Alan.  huh??  As it turns out, I screwed up (yet again) and the omnium points went 5 deep at 7-5-3-2-1, which meant Alan tied points with me.  Since his points were the most recent, he broke the tie and I managed to bump myself out of 3rd place.  Packing up and heading home was pretty rough.  Either way, I still won some cash, so that was nice, but man, how do I do this so often?  That's what I get for trying to take the easy way out of the last race.

Edit: Where's my manners?  Thanks to Alan Atwood and all the officials and volunteers for another great weekend of racing!