Race: Lehigh Laps - Men's Open

I suppose this race deserves a preface.  Here's the deal. I didn't know this race existed until Andrew B posted about it on facebook.  Looking at it, I got really excited about racing, but then I realized I'd have to get up stupidly early in order to get to t-town on time.  Further to that, I realized I would be at my cousin's wedding the day/night before, so I would most likely be hung over and aching from dancing.  At this point it was pretty much decided that I wouldn't race, but then I got a call from Steve during the wedding service.  As it turns out, he was the only 1/2/3 registered so far, with some pretty good prize payouts.  So there I am in the parking lot after the newly weds walked out of the church registering for a race on Amanda's iphone.  I tried to play it conservative the rest of the night.  I still stuffed my face with all kinds of delicous wedding goodness, but I kept the dancing and drinking light and actually headed home before the cake cutting (it was like 10pm already).

Sunday morning I woke up at stupid o'clock (roughly 4:30am EST), threw on some clothes, added some more bluegrass to my mp3 player, and headed out the door.  Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to pack the night before - although I did forget my aero bars for the 4km pursuit.  I got on the road about 5am, and got to Steve's by a few minutes after 6.  Interesting side story: the gate to Steve's place was closed, which is on a nature preserve type deal, so I also didn't get any cell reception.  I was able to send off a text to him, but I really wasn't sure if it would get lost in the aether of space, so I took a look at the gate system.  Lucky for me, the side gate next to the main gate wasn't actually locked, so I just popped that open and drove through.  I did end up meeting steve along the driveway, so I guess he got my text.

Anyhow.  We packed up and headed out around 6:30.  The traffic was light for once, so we had no trouble there.  We did accidentally put ourselves on the 22 for a while, though, but it's still pretty direct.  Along the way, we also stopped for some coffee and cheese danishes at a truck stop with a very energetic cashier.  I certainly was not energetic at that point in the morning.  At this point, we realized we might have actually left too late, which really would have sucked.  Technically registration ended at 8:45am, with racing starting at 9am.  We arrived at 8:59.  Steve unpacked all the gear, while I ran over to the promoters to make sure we were still good to ride.  The group running the race were really nice, though, and they had no problem with us still racing.

Up first for us was a flying 200.  I changed my gear to a 50x13, put my skinsuit on and suddenly I hear my name called for staging.  No number, no warmup, shoes in hands I ran over to the starter.  The 200's were started right at the transition from the infield ramp to the warm-up circle, so the ride would be 2.5 laps.  I put my shoes on (sans shoe covers), hopped on my bike and rolled off.  My legs were cold and I was tired, but I gave it my best half-assed effort.  First lap low and slow, moving up track, picking up speed.  The bell rings and I start to put on the gas.  I realized I wasn't really super high up by the rail before I swung down, which Steve called me out on later.  Oh well.  I dropped down right about the middle of turn 2 and just kept my head down.  The high gear felt alright, I didn't feel fully on top of it, but I wasn't bogged down.  Regardless, it was good enough for the fastest flying 200 time of anybody with a 12.20.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220968645

Next came the 4k pursuit.  We were the last group in the schedule with collegiate women and C/D riders doing 500m, A/B with kilos, then women 2km pursuit, A/B 4km, C/D 2km.  It was a long enough wait that I realized a couple of times that I've only done 1 race so far in the day.  I would hop on the rollers from time to time, but mostly I just sat around.  I talked to Travis a bit.  He's a C/D rider who was at the labor day meet. It'll be interesting watching him progress on the track.  Steve and I were finally called up to stage for our pursuits.  I was debating on stepping up my gear, but Steve convinced me to stick with a gear that I'm used to riding, so I stick with my 50x15.  I started on the backstretch, Steve on the homestretch.  The gun fired and I started the dullest 12 laps of my life.  I threw advice to the wind and went for a hard start up to speed, which gave me a few seconds on Steve.  From that point, I just tried to maintain a fast pace, and always check that I was ahead of him at the pursuit lines.  Our first lap was around 30mph, and it slowly dropped through the race to just under 27mph.  I was still feeling pretty fresh with 2 to go, but I didn't want to risk blowing up just before the end, so I waited until the bell lap to ramp up the pace.  I got it back up to 30mph and brought it home.  I think Steve ended up doing the exact same thing, as our splits were consistently about 2 seconds different.  I finished with a final time of 5:27.40, which was the second fastest time across all riders.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220968633

The schedule originally had a separate 1/2/3 and 3/4 field, but since Steve and I were the only 1/2/3's and Mark and Sean were the only 3/4's racing the mass start events, we were combined as a 1/2/3/4 field.  This still left us with only 4 racers for a 24 lap points race, which sounded none too fun, so the promoters also added in the collegiate A/B field for a super-combined 24 lap Points mega fun race.  From what I could tell, the two fields would be scored separately, but I figured it would be in my best interest to win it outright, just to be sure.  Steve and I agreed that the biggest threat to that would be west point, who had something like six riders in the field.  The pace started hot, which I think was set by me and then Steve.  Army had a few riders who were content with setting a fast tempo, which was fine with me.  The first sprint saw Sean attacking the group, but I was able to come around him.  We pulled up track and waited for the group.  It's interesting to see how the race dynamic changes depending on the number of laps between sprints.  This race had sprints every six laps, which I felt resulted in a less overall aggressive race.  It certainly gave you plenty of time to recover between sprints.  From what I remember, the second sprint saw me leading the pack in turn 4 before the bell, so that one was a long sprint around, which I also took.  The race was starting to split up around this point, so the front was three army guys, steve and me.  I think somewhere between the first and second sprint Steve looked set to break away with me, but I wasn't sure how easily Army would be able to reel us back in, so I opted to just sit in the pack.  The last two sprints basically played out the same.  We all took even pulls, except for one of the army guys, so I figured he was probably the sprinter to look for, but I never really saw him trying to come around me on the bell laps.  I took both sprints, and the overall win.  The promoters were originally not too sure about combining the A/B riders with us, but I think it definitely played out to a much more interesting race.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220968620

After this was a 5km Scratch with just the 1/2/3/4 field.  Since there was only four of us at the rail, the official asked if we would be too deeply upset if they dropped it down to 4km.  We all were fine with that with both Steve and me separately saying "Well, that's 1k per person".  That's how you know you're team mates.  We rolled off and the race started.  There were two $25 primes mixed in to the race.  The first one seemed to come right away, maybe the second or third lap.  Sean gave it a go, but I was able to catch him and pass him to pick it up.  The second prime came around halfway through the race, where I attacked and Sean tried coming up around me.  I got that one, too, and the race continued.  At the final sprint, Steve attacked at the beginning of the bell lap, and I drag raced him to the line.  I took the win, Steve second.  Afterward, I started to think about how I presented myself in that race, specifically the primes.  On one hand, I really wanted the money (as it turns out with all my payouts and expenses, I only netted $10) and I figure it's almost disingenuous to not put your best effort into a sprint, but on the other hand Sean did work really hard for both of those sprints, and I don't think he came out with a payout.  What would a classier rider do?  Is winning really everything?  I'm not sure.  I think If I did it again, I would probably let him win one.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220968603

The final event on the schedule was the match sprints.  There was one other rider registered for the 3/4 field who only wanted to do the sprints, Camille.  Since this left us with an odd number of sprinters in the 1/2/3/4 field, it was somehow decided that since I had the fastest flying 200 time, I got a 'bye', or basically instant entry into the finals.  I had never heard of that before, but I was all for it.  In the end, Sean had to head out early, so we were back down to four racers.  It was run as Steve vs me for 1st and 2nd, Mark vs Camille for 3rd and 4th.  One run each.  I decided to up my gear a little bit to 51x15, to hopefully get a little more top end.  Our race started pretty innocent.  Steve had the obligation to lead, but we stayed pretty much even with each other the whole race.  I went straight up to the boards and the pace slowly picked up the whole way around.  It's funny, I thought steve was forcing the pace, but really he was just trying to box me in and I was trying to get ahead of him.  At one point, I tried to get behind him to cut downtrack, but he wouldn't allow it, so I had to try a long attack over him.  He cut down to the pole lane to try to force me to go around him the long way, but I was able to get ahead of him for the win.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220968590

This concluded the omnium, with me in first, steve in second.  Since there were less than 10 starters, the prize list was cut in half, but I still won $40 and steve won $25.  I split my primes with him for gas money.  We packed up as some angry looking clouds floated by, but there was no rain.  A quick shower, then we talked to the promoters for a bit.  We talked about what we felt was good with the event and what could be improved, but the overall impression of the race was really positive.  We agreed that doing both sprints and pursuits leads to a very long day, so we'll see what the schedule looks like next year.  I certainly look forward to racing at it again.

On a final note, thank you to Lamprey Systems for the prime donations.  Thanks to the officials and promoters, and of course everyone who raced.  It was a ton of fun.

EDIT: two other notes:
1- My shoes were really killing my feet by the end of the day.  I wonder if this means I'll have to invest in different track shoes.  It's not like they feel too tight, I think the problem is that right by where my little toe sits are these circular ventilation holes in the inside layer of leather, which presses into my toe.  Maybe I can pad that area some how.
2- Granted, as army cadets, the USMA riders are probably used to being yelled at a lot, but it was rather off putting to me to hear their coach yelling at them all the time.  Particularly to the women riders.  Generally with bad coaching advice.  I feel like if something like this happened when I was first getting into racing on my collegiate team, I would have given up out of sheer annoyance.

Further edit:
results are posted here.