Tuesday was the final race at T-town for the season. I met up with Keith, Andy and Jen in Brooklyn and we drove over. Steve was able to sneak out of work early and meet us there. We stopped in Jersey for some pizza again, but I wasn't really hungry, so I just had an RC cola. I don't really remember what I ate in the morning, but if it comes to me I'll edit this.
I feel like I say this a lot, but the weather really was near perfect. Zero winds, A few nice looking clouds. It just was getting a little bit chilly through the evening. I think it would have been worthwhile to crack out the leg warmers for between races. Non-team Andrew and Keith were there, as well as Joe. Despite the Pink Rhinos bringing almost half the minimum field size, the fields were combined into one Pro/Stagiare mix. It ended up being a total of 18 riders in our field. To be honest, this dropped my very high spirits a little bit, as I really felt it meant I wouldn't factor at all into the races.
The first race was a 20 lap Points race. The details are fuzzy, but here's what I remember. Steve attacked early, but got brought back around the first sprint. The bell for the first sprint was rung when the lap card said 17 to go, actually. I don't know if that was an error on the bell ringer's part or the lap card guy's part, but either way, the field didn't seem to respond to the bell, so I worked my way up. I think I was either fourth or fifth on that sprint. After this, Keith went off the front with two other guys. I ended up on the front of the pack while they were trying to break away, so I just set a tempo pace. one of the pro riders yelled something at me and came around to set a higher pace. I didn't hear what he said and didn't really care much. They got reeled back in before the second sprint, though. The third sprint saw nothing noteworthy in my mind, and the same could probably be said of the final sprint. I did put in an effort to try to move up, but I was still like 6th place, so I sat up.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221787609
Next was an elimination. I went into it thinking I could maybe make some moves in this one. We all lined up to the line and were told to roll off. The roll off ended up being a straight up sprint the whole neutral lap with the field already falling apart. Now, I'm not one of those "let's go as slow as we can" neutral lap kind of guys, but I feel like if the field is shredding before the race even starts, the gun probably shouldn't fire until everyone agrees to at least start together. I bet Alan wouldn't have started that race, but I'm sure Marty just wanted to get home to polish his medals or whatever he does. Regardless, Andy was the first one out, Steve came out second, and on the third lap I was confident that I pipped Andrew B at the line, but they called me out. Oh well. Keith stayed in longer and helped to represent the rhino.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221787602
Around this time was the women's 500m Chariot. Jen was pushed by Steve - the master chariot holder - on the backstretch. I could swear she didn't even have to pedal until turn 1 of the final lap. In the end she held on for fifth place.
After this was the ten lap Scratch. I don't really remember the early part of the race, but eventually Andrew Berstein (another andrew? really?) attacked and I jumped on his wheel. Steve was able to bridge up and we traded some pulls. Andrew would do two lap pulls, I managed half lap pulls. Steve's legs still weren't there so we told him to skip his pull, actually. He ended up sitting up out of the group, but Andrew and I kept chugging. We had about a quarter lap gap on the bell where I was leading my pull. I gave the sprint my best effort, but Andrew came around me for the win. I was completely expecting this and happy to stay ahead of everyone else for second place. Keith was able to get 4th place sprinting in the group.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221787593
This concluded the omnium. There was a feature race of a 10km (30 lap) Scratch. I was happy with my results for the day, so I sat out and got some beers instead since the beer stand is always closed by the time the feature race is done. Keith also sat out, but Andy and Steve raced. Keith put in a $20 rhino prime, which was a nice gesture. Steve put in some good time at the front of the race and in the end Andy and he came in 6th and 7th.
We all packed up, I stopped by the window hoping that somehow that second place in the third race would get me into the omnium. As fate would have it, it did, and I got $15 for 5th place. Moving up in the world, my friend. After this, Steve and I finished our beers in the shower, and then the five of us headed to a diner to celebrate our last race of the season. Despite some rough bits in the middle of the evening, I know I went into it really excited, and finished on a high, and that's really all I could ask for.
Gearing note: all races were done with a 51x15.
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