2013: A Look Back

Well with the CanAmQue challenge now over, I'm going to call 2013 done and move on to 2014.  So let's take a look back:

Here were the goals I had come up with:

1. Sub 1:15 kilo

2. Win Opening Weekend and/or States

3. Race Pro-Am (Upgrade to Cat 2)

How'd I do?  Well, at states I had a 1:14.65, so I beat goal 1.  I also won Opening Weekend, so that's two for two.  Finally, I put in for my Cat 2 upgrade and got it as of September 23rd, so while I didn't race any pro-am races, I did get my upgrade.

I think that means I actually beat all my goals for once.  I'm shocked, and yet honestly I feel like this season wasn't all that great.  I don't know why, but I don't feel satisfied or fulfilled.  Maybe it was my poor performance at States.  Maybe it's just end of season burnout.  I swear it gets worse each year, as I suppose it should.  I keep racing more and harder each year, so it stands to reason that the burnout gets more intense, too.  I wonder how long I can keep this up.  I definitely suffered with motivation all year, and despite good results I hardly ever felt on top of my game.  Instead, I generally felt frustrated.  I think this was from a combination of forces, like frustration with not enough training, endless frustration at work, not having team-mates to race with, and just general dissatisfaction with how things are going.

By the numbers, it looks like I wrote 39 race reports, which seems like a respectable number.  Granted, four of those are roller races.

Here's my 2013 palmares:
1st - Pennsylvania Track BAR - Stagiares
1st - Kissena Spring Classic
1st - 2nd Life Bicycles Roller Race Series
2nd - Kissena Omnium
2nd - NYVelocity Roller Race
3rd - Kissena Labor Day Track Meet
3rd - GSVA Keirin Cup
3rd - Kreb Cyclocross #1

6th - State Championships

Fuji Super Tuesdays

Times raced: 9

Omnium placings:

First: 3

Second: 3

Third: 1

Kissena Twilight Series:

Times raced: 15

Omnium placings:

First: 4

Second: 3

Third: 2

Note that a few of the wednesdays didn't have an omnium.

And that's that.  Thanks to my team and everybody else who has supported me over this past year.

R13.39: FCV CanAmQue Challenge

This race report is basically just a copy/paste job of what I sent to Jamie Swan about racing his bike up at FCV for the CanAmQue challenge.  My gearing was 86" again.

Well, I've returned from Canada.  I rode the swan this time, and it rode like a dream.  I'm not sure if it was the geometry or just from being on the track more, but I noticed right away that I was able to hold a tighter line going around the track.

I was able to breeze through the first round of qualifiers.  There were 60 riders registered, so everyone was randomly arranged into five different 40 lap heats of 12 riders, where the top six from each heat would advance.  Early in my heat, a group of four went off the front to take a lap, but I just conserved energy in the rear group, which slowly disintegrated until there was just one rider and myself, so we had our top six figured out.  When the first group of four came around again, I hopped on their wheel to make sure I maintained my position.

These groups were then split up into two 60 lap semi-final rounds of fifteen each.  Joe Brennan was up racing with us, and he was giving me tips on how the races would play out.  He had said that these semis would be fast, but stay together since the riders were all of similar strength.  Naturally, this didn't happen, and I found myself on the wrong end of a gap with 8 riders up and 7 back.  I tried to surf wheels, but our group shattered pretty quick, and I found myself doing an individual pursuit trying to catch back on.  I wasn't able to, maintaining a quarter lap gap until the end when I sat up to try to conserve energy for the repechage.  In hindsight, I should have sat up sooner, but I was hoping the group would slow up to play some cat and mouse before the end so I could catch up.

The rep round was maybe five minutes after finishing the finals, so I was pretty toasted.  These consisted of two 30 lap heats of roughly 12 riders with only one rider from each advancing.  A rider attacked early, and I hopped on his wheel to take a lap on the field.  I sat two riders behind him to save energy until the backstretch of three to go, where I kicked hard, got a gap, but got passed on the backstretch of the bell lap and was out of contention for the final.

The final was 138 laps with a 14 person field consisting of the 12 riders from the semis and the 2 riders from the reps.  By the end of the race, there were only 6 riders left.  Amazingly, nobody was able to take a lap on anybody during that race, which just goes to show how strong the whole group was.

The bike got a lot of attention, with just about everybody on the infield stopping to take a good long look at it.

R13.38: QCW Roller Race 11/15 - Trackies vs Messengers

This is one race of a four-part goldsprint series.  I was invited down to try roller racing using the goldsprint seonsors.  The track guys weren't allowed to drink until they were done competing, but this wasn't supposed to be an issue and the roller race was supposed to be the first event.  I showed up early, and in typical goldsprint fashion nothing was set up.  Come to think of it, I don't usually write goldsprint reports.  Also come to think of it, I did a goldsprint at 318 cyclery a month or so ago.  I came in second there.

So the deal was the track guys doing roller racing weren't allowed to drink until after they were done racing.  This wasn't supposed to matter, since the roller race was supposed to happen first at 6pm.  Instead, the goldsprint qualifiers happened first, which meant all us track guys were sitting around with our legs getting cold and being stone sober.  This was compounded by the fact that the operators of the goldsprint setup seemed to have no clue what they were doing, with rollers constantly malfunctioning and one setup actually falling apart mid-ride.  By the time 7:30 came around and I still hadn't raced, I got a beer figuring at this point if they had an issue with it, I just wouldn't bother racing.  Most of the track guys figured we wouldn't actually end up racing anyhow.

Eventually, we did get our chance to shine.  I clocked the fastest qualifying time of 20.332 seconds while racing against Andrew B.  After this I raced against Andrew B again.  And then again.  And again.  As much as I love racing against him on the rollers, I was expecting there to be some kind of bracket or round robin style competition.  Half the time the sensors didn't even work and our rounds were nullified.  I was getting really frustrated with this completely half-assed event, which I made well known.

Eventually they said the roller racing portion was over, which none of us understood, as the fastest guys didn't even race against each other, and we all only raced three times, if that.  After doing some digging into the matter, it turns out they decided my qualifying time actually belonged to John Chambers, despite us qualifying in two completely different heats.  Beyond that, I have not a clue what else happened.  We decided among racers who was the fastest and who should get the prizes that were handed out.

After this, I packed up and left, but I can only imagine what kind of fiasco the rest of the night was.

Long story short, what a waste of my time.

R13.37: FCV Special 11/9 - "B" Field

I went up to Forest City Velodrome to get a feel for the track and try some racing as I was hoping to race in the CanAmQue challenge right after thanksgiving.  We drove up friday, got an early start on Saturday with an open training session that I was able to get in on from nine to noon.  Right after that was my Track 1 session, where I went through the whole "learn to ride the track" process, which was honestly pretty cool.  I know some guys complain about having to do intro classes, but I find them fun to see how other tracks run their clinics.  After this, we grabbed some lunch, and then I came back to do some training with the juniors.  I was able to do some 1 lap standing starts, and then flying 1 laps.  These definitely were smart to do, as going around those tight turns at high speed is something I've never experienced before.  The G forces really slam you into the track.

For racing, I was placed in the B field, which seemed appropriate.  Turns out I was a fair bit stronger than them, but that didn't really matter since I was told to just sit on the back and get comfortable.  This was actually more annoying than I figured, since everybody was expecting to slot in behind me, so I had to tell them to come on in.  Once I got on the front of the race, my big strategy was to go really hard so I could get more fast track time, since this is frowned on during those open training sessions.  And that's basically how the races went.

The first race was a win and out, which didn't mesh well with the whole 'sit on the back' strategy, so I didn't really place at all.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/403236158

Next was a miss and out.  Also not won from the back.  I had a bad starting position, and floated up and down the track at the back looking for a hole, but I didn't find one I felt comfortable with, so I was the first one out.  I think they pulled riders every three? laps.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/403236152

After this, I decided to try to mix it up a bit more.  The third race was a 50 lap scratch, so it was a good test of what to expect for the CanAmQue.  The start was much slower than the first two races, and I found myself too high up on the banking (I was on the pole line) going into turn one off the rail, which I tried to adjust for, but gravity took care of that for me, and I slid down and crashed out myself and a junior rider.  They let me get back into the race, where I employed the go hard off the front strategy, which let me win the mid-race prime, after which I re-integrated, sat in and went off the front again with maybe 5 to go, which gave me the win.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/403236147

The final race for those not doing the feature Madison was called "last man standing", which is basically an australian pursuit.  I started right on the banking going into turn three, which I figured would put me at a distinct disadvantage, but I put in a hard start and found myself not passed immediately.  I think I only passed one rider when I heard that there were only three riders left.  Soon we were down to two, with us basically on opposite ends of the track. The other rider ended up giving up and I came around to pass them for the win.  Hooray!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/403236145

By this time my neck was killing me from looking through the turns.  And my sit bones were hurting from being slammed into my saddle so much.

For those interested, I raced with an 86" gear, aka 50x16.  Warming up and early training I did in a 48x17, which is a 76" gear.

I did another training session the next day and then headed home, with some mountain biking added in for good measure.

http://www.forestcityvelodrome.ca/results/132/results_-nov_9__2013.pdf

2013.43-53: 9/16 - 12/1

After states, I basically stopped training.  My riding was sporadic enough that individual weekly synopses aren't really worth writing.

One notable ride was the Kissena 150 on Nov 2nd.  I only did the first 100 laps, which was plenty.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/399624251

There were a few more races that I'll write reports for.

R13.36: New York State Track Championships 9/15 - Cat 1/2/3

Well this was the big race of the year for me.  It was originally scheduled for some time in August, but due to a lack of certain-level officials, Alan had to cancel.  I stepped up to take over promoting after Eric R talked to some of the t-town officials who agreed to Sept 15.  This was the only day in their schedule they were free so it'd have to work.  Alan had assured me that promoting would in no way affect my racing, which I believed.  Boy was I wrong.  Don't promote your A races, people.

A short time before states, I realized that the schedule Alan set up for me was a little wonky.  The first event was the team sprint, which meant that people had to quickly come up with teams on the fly without having any metrics for other riders' abilities.  This momentary chaos did give us a chance to let the officials figure out how to use the fancy score keeping spreadsheet that Alan usually uses.  The next moment of chaos came when we realized the team sprints were being done in order of sign up instead of the category start order that was posted on the schedule.  This meant that Karl had no clue that we were up, and had to get ready quickly.  Josh and I lined up and waited for Karl.  Dave the official said he didn't have time to wait, so one of us would have to do two laps or forfeit the ride.  I said sure, why not, but somehow I lost my balance and fell over right before the start, which gave Karl enough time to get over and ready for the start.  Funny how those things happen.  Karl and I knew our big team to beat was Kieran's kissena team, which we overheard we were able to do.  They had a bit of a split up at the start that they didn't recover from.  Our team integrated nicely and felt fast the whole way around.  I tried looking for our opposite team while riding, which was a composite team of Al, Lucas, and Dan Lim.  Turns out they just edged us out for the win.  I wish I had known because I'm sure I could have dug a little deeper.  Our final time was 1:26.60

Next up was the kilo.  I rode hard for a 1:14.65, which was the third fastest time behind Kieran and Karl.  Those of you who know standard Kissena times probably have realized by now that this year was screaming fast.  I don't know if it was the timers, the weather, or what, but I haven't seen that many sub 1:15 kilos and well below 1:30 team sprints ever before.

The third race was a 25 lap points race.  I tried to attack from the gun to see if I could either get some solid early points or preferably connect with another strong rider or two and take a lap.  It didn't happen and I fizzled out.  After the second sprint, a group of four got off the front who did eventually lap the field.  I didn't really end up doing anything noteworthy, which put me in last place.  This basically put me out of contention for states, which was fine by me because this is when shit really hit the fan promoting-wise.

The kilos, 500s, and team sprints took up over half the day, which meant we were running well behind schedule.  This meant we might have to cut an event.  We decided right away that flying 200s would have to go, as that would take another hour alone.  This angered the sprinters, who are an emotional bunch.  Then right after my buddy Randy the EMT left, there was a touch of wheels and Mike P went down cracking his collarbone.  This put us further behind schedule which meant we'd have to scrap all but the championship rounds of sprints.  This really angered the sprinters, most of which weren't even NYS residents.

So then I had to do a scratch race.  By this point I had thrown my helmet down in complete disgust with how my event was going, which naturally cracked it.  I still rode with it anyhow.  In fact, I'm still riding with that helmet.  Since I was basically out of contention and partially out of my mind, I spent the race attacking and venting my anger and frustration.  Somehow despite completely wasting myself, I still came in fifth.

The final race for the 1/2/3 combined field was the match sprints.  We decided to run them based on top kilo times, but since this excluded last year's state champ Al, who was very close in points to both Karl and Kieran, I opted out as the third seed.  Kieran unsurprisingly beat out both of them to win the overall, but Karl and Al gave him hell, with Karl only being one omnium point down.

I then spent another hour or more sorting through results, handing out medals, cleaning the track, packing away gear, and vowing to never promote a race again.

And that was state championships.  At least I didn't get stuck with second place again.

Results:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/NewYorkStateChampionships.pdf

2013.42: 9/9 - 9/15 - Race!

Sunday: State Championships.  See the race report.

Saturday: Rode around to the local beaches.  Gconnect seems to tell me I used it as some kind of openers for states tomorrow.  I'll believe it.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/375762455
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Friday: nada.

Thursday: work.

Wednesday: Rode to work and back.  I almost got pummeled by an SUV that was pulling into the king's park hess station.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/374348713
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Tuesday: Did some sprints down at long beach.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/373853233
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Monday: Rest day.  Rested.

R13.35: Fuji Super Tuesdays 9/3 - Stagiares & Women

This was the final Super Tuesday of the season at t-town.  Karl came out with me, which was fun.  Andy and Kieran also came, possibly with JP and others?  I don't remember.  What I do remember, though, was how eerily similar this night felt to the last tuesday of last season.  The sunset had that late-season light, a warm-gold look.  The weather had a cool, crisp feel.  It felt like fall was right around the corner.  I reflected with Andy about how similar and yet how very different the two nights were.  It was a great way to reflect over the past season, the ups and downs and events that happened.

Alright, let's not get too misty-eyed here.  Here's some warm-up data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370779773

The first race was a 12 lap Tempo points race.  I don't see the results for this posted, but from what I remember, I attacked early, picked up a bunch of points, and then sat in, came around the field and won more points.  I think this gave me the win overall.  I could just be full of myself, though.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370779764

Next up came a 25 lap points race, which the results call a 20 lap points.  I'm starting to question the integrity of these results here.  Oh well.  I seem to remember winning this one, too, so I'll go with it.  I don't really remember how I won, but who needs the details?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370779757

Finally for the combined stagiare/women field was another super sprint elimination.  I remember this one well, as I made it past the elimation, then Pat Gellineau did an early solo attack as I hear is his signature style.  The crowd was cheering for him the whole way.  I attacked from the group and caught and passed him in the last half lap, if memory serves me correctly.  Andy said he was pretty sure the crowd hated me for doing that.  I have no respect, I guess.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370779749

Three wins in a row means I won the omnium.  Back on top, baby!  Yeah, whatever.  The feature was a 30 lap scratch race.  It would appear that I didn't survive all 30 laps.  I think I stayed at the rear and kept getting gapped off.  Who knows.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370779739

And with that, tuesdays ended.

Interesting tidbit, though.  This was also a PA BAR event.  Prior to this race, the standings winner was Will Pestcoe, who since the last BAR race started racing in the pro/am field.  He realized I could win enough points to take the lead from him, so he tried his best to sell me on racing pros with him so he could keep his BAR win.  I, being a jerk, did not.  And I waited until after the racing to let him know that it didn't matter anyhow, since I'm not a PA resident.  How did I become such a jerk?

EDIT: another interesting tid-bit.  This is the night when Karl became worried about Kieran winning states.  Something about placing well in the pro/am field in long endurance type races.

Results here:

http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Fuji-Super-Tuesday-revised.pdf

R13.34: 49th Annual Labor Day Track Meet 9/2 - Cat 1/2/3

This one will be quick.

It rained on and off.

The cat 1/2/3 field got in a three lap scratch.

I tried gearing really heavy since I had a feeling it would be the only race of the day.

Lucas and Karl beat me to the line.

It rained more.  Racing was cancelled.

Karl and I got BBQ with Dan and Ronnie.

It was beautiful out afterward, so I went back to the track to do some laps.


...almost reads like poetry.

2013.41: 9/2 - 9/8

Sunday: Karl, Josh, and I got together to do some team sprint training.  I think I was the weakest link today.  I don't know if my gear was too big or what, but I was usually the one creating a gap.  Also, it's hard to do team sprints from a rolling start.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/373436282

Saturday: Went to the track to do some flying 400s and flying 800s.  The usual tracky bullshit.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/373436303

Friday: I rode to work and back again.  You can definitely tell the days are getting shorter.  I don't like it one bit.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/371614669
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Thursday: Worky-work

Wednesday: Nada.

Tuesday: T-town.  See race report.

Monday: Labor Day track meet.  See race report.

R13.33: Kissena Twilight Series 8/28 - Cat 3/4

Well with this report comes the last twilight race of the season.  I don't really remember what happened, as usual, but the results seem to say I did pretty well.

The first race was a miss and out.  I don't remember this at all, but apparently I won it.  I feel like I should have remembered something like that.  Shrug.

Next was a points race.  I feel like it was 20 laps, in preparation for States.  The results say I won again.  That can't be right.

Finally, it seems that we had a scratch race of such-and-such number of laps.  I came in fifth on this one, which sounds much more believable.

I came in first in the omnium.  Way to finish the season strong!

EDIT: this night is coming back to me slowly.  Karl was there to race, but he wasn't really feeling it for some reason.  I think the main reason why he came was to get some time in on his pursuit setup.

Results:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek18.pdf

R13.32: Fuji Super Tuesdays 8/27 - Stagiares

Once again bikes were raced at T-town.  Once again the first race was a 20 lap points race.  Which means once again, I don't remember a single detail about it.  The results sheet seems to say I did well, though, with a second place finish.  Good job, me.

Here's the warm-up
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369064812

And here's the 20 lap points
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369064736

The second race was a super sprint elimination.  If memory serves me well, it went down to five riders, then a five lap scratch.  I made the selection and another rider and myself set a painfully slow pace on the front until someone attacked, which I think was Pat Gellineau.  The results tell me I came in second.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369064721

The final Stagiare race was a miss and out.  That's right, I remember this week.  The week of many elimination style races.  That's as much as I remember about it.  The results tell me I missed and I got out.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369064702

I wonder if this was the week that Marty told me I didn't look so good out there. I just don't remember anymore.  I'm starting to think it was.  I also think Rose came with me this week.

EDIT: In fact both of these were true statements!  Hooray!

Regardless, I came in third overall.  I didn't race the feature, which was a madison.

Results:
http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Fuji-8.27.13.pdf

2013.40: 8/26 - 9/1

Sunday: did a beach run with dan and lisa.  we also looked for a shed that used to exist.  it sure doesn't exist anymore.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369064690
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Saturday: still nada.

Friday: nada.

Thursday: work.

Wednesday:  K-town.  See race report.

Tuesday: T-town.  See race report.

Monday: nada.

R13.31: GSVA Keirin Cup 8/21 - Cat 1/2/3

A decent-sized group of NY racers descended upon the garden state velodrome to bring havoc and destruction upon the unfortunate citizens of Wall, NJ.  I headed down by myself with my swan in tow, meeting up with team kissena, which was comprised of Kieran, Andy and Josh, and JoshS.  The format was a three-round keirin omnium.

I did some not-too-motivated warming up, which isn't a good idea at GSVA, because the track rides a lot differently at speed than any other track i've been on.  One day I'll do a full scientific inquiry into the matter with an engineering survey and everything, but until that time I'll just accept the fact that it's hard to stay low on the track at speed.  Or maybe I should do more crit racing to get used to actually having to apply steering input into turns.

This phenomenon came back to me rather abruptly in the first race when I tried to attack and instead just started moving uptrack instead, much to the anger of the riders behind me.  I seem to remember this being the round where Andy pipped me at the line for 5th place.  That's what I get for sitting up and not looking around.

The next round consisted of me not winning things either.  What did happen, though, was this hot shit local yokel started yelling at Andy for 'chopping his wheel'.  What really happened, though, is andy came around him.  He started yelling at Andy, though, who seemed more confused than anything, but it pissed me off, so I dug right into him.  This guy spent every moment off the bike talking as loud as possible about how fast he was, how tough t-town keirins are, the impressive size and girth of his dick and how he controls the weather with his mind.  Well, that's my guess as to what he was talking about, because I tried to zone him out as best I could.  It's kind of like trying to ignore the car alarm that's been going off outside for the past hour.  Long story short, he yelled at Andy, i yelled at him, he threatened to beat me up, i got off my bike ready for blows and he scurried away.  I told Sam that this nutjob seemed to be interested in trying to fight anybody from NY for some reason, he said some words to him and the guy packed up his shit and left.  And there was peace and quiet for the rest of the night.

The final round involved some bikes and stuff.  I tried for a long attack, but it would seem keirins aren't my specialty.

In the end I came in third place somehow, behind Kieran the keirin killer, and JoshS the hard-to-come-up-with-a-nickname-on-the-spot guy.  Yeah, you can tell this race report is being written on four hours of sleep.  Deal with it.

Afterward, I put my nice ratcheting 15mm wrench on the roof of my car, drove off, and gorged myself on food with the other guys at the diner.  Oh, hey, that reminds me, Geoff of teamtomez instagram fame was there, too.

R13.30: Fuji Super Tuesdays 8/20 - Stagiares

As can be expected writing this so late, I don't really remember much of what happened, but let's see what we can glean from the results sheet.  It looks like this is the week that Brean showed up.

Well, to start I warmed up.  Here's my warm up:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472957

The first race was a 20 lap points race.  Brean won this guy pretty handily.  He would go for an early attack and hold it across the line.  I took the second place points.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472942

Next was a miss and out.  I was able to stay in until the 5th place elimination.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472929

Finally for the Stagiares was a 10 lap snowball.  I managed 33 points, which I think was by going off the front near the middle of the race and holding it until near the end.  Something along those lines.  It was enough for the win.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472905

The Feature race this week was a 10km final.  I played the roll of pack fodder, possibly dropping out.  One of these races I got gapped too many times.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472888

I ended up in first for the Stagiares omnium.  Brean was in 5th.  Good job, everybody!

EDIT: I also realize this is the week that Marty came over and invited me to race Friday night.  Naturally, I felt gleeful like a little school girl, and then told him I'd have to check with work.  I wasn't able to get off from work.  Boo.

Results:
http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Fuji-8.20.13.pdf

2013.39: 8/19 - 8/25

Sunday: Dan and I did a nice long road ride.  We stopped in riverhead for some bbq and then a few miles up the road we stopped to drink some bears in the river.  now that's a ride.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/365275460
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Saturday: Dan and I cracked out the mountain bikes today.  we cut the loop a little short from a lack of light.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472807
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Friday: another attempt at sprints.  i saw lisa riding the opposite direction today.  and i saw some deer.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472866
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Thursday: worky work.

Wednesday: I don't see my name on the results for k-town this week, so I either didn't race or (equally likely) i really sucked.

Tuesday: T-town.  see race report.

Monday: nada.

R13.29: Kissena Omnium 8/17

This was the Kissena Omnium, aka Kissena International Omnium.  Formerly an event put on by Joe B, this year it was run by Alan.  I won't lie, I was feeling pretty confident in winning this.  Fortunately, kieran was kind enough to kick my ass.

I rode the swan, which was as supple as ever, but without being flexy.  you know, if i remember correctly, Dan came out to race with me.

The first event was a flying 200.  I think I went with a 14t in the rear.  I probably just put my disc wheel on.  I had the second fastest time with a 12.42.  I made sure to gloat over Josh for beating him by 1/100.

Next was a 20 lap points race.  It looks like I came in third, third, fourth and third.  This put me in third place.  I remember thinking that kieran would drop back at some point since he's a big sprinter type.  Yeah, not so much.  He beat me in almost all the sprints.  my spirits were crushed.

Then we had an elimination.  This is where I really screwed up.  I think I got boxed in by either kieran or dan lim.  maybe both.  very possibly neither.  Regardless, I was the third one out, which was a 7th place.

After this was a scratch race.  How long?  who knows.  I wanna say maybe 15 laps?  I seem to have come in second.  How on earth could I have done that well?  The answer is lost to time.

The final event was an 800m TT.  I think I used the black track bike for this one.  The reason was I was going to use my dual discs, but Karl the Official told me that was probably a dumb idea, so I switched back.  My guess is I did this with a 48x14.  I had the fastest time with 1:00.05.  Good job me.

The points were tallied and the omnium results were as such:  Kieran won, I came in second, Josh in third.  This is when I started to worry about Kieran beating me at states.  (ooo foreshadowing!)

Dan came in 6th overall, with a very respectable flying 200 time.  We'll have to work on the endurance events.

Anything else noteworthy?  Shrug.

Results:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/KissenaOmnium13.pdf

R13.28: Kissena Twilight Series 8/14 - Cat 3/4

This night involved a lot of fast roadies on the track.  It was painful.

The first race was a scratch.  I didn't place.  what did happen?  who knows.

Next was a win and out.  I came in 4th, it would seem.  that's the most detail I have.

Finally was an elimination.  Apparently I got eliminated.

Man, this report sucked.  Sorry to my readership.  I can only hope you've moved on to better blogs by now.

Results:

http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek16.pdf

2013.38: 8/12 - 8/18

Sunday: Nada.

Saturday: Kissena int'l omnium.  see race report.

Friday: looks like i took an easy ride over to hercules after work.  I think I had some things on my mind, most likely.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364472980
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Thursday: work and stuff.

Wednesday: kissena twilight.  see race report.

Tuesday: too rainy to go to t-town, so I did some cruise intervals.  Well kinda did, apparently.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364473038

Monday: no riding.

R13.27: Kissena Twilight Series 8/7 - Team Events

This week was a mixture of team sprints and team pursuits.  Jamie showed up to race again, but I used my other track bike for some reason.  I don't really remember why.  I think I was just too lazy to swap bikes from last night.

I went in hoping to test out our team sprint team for states.  At this point I don't remember if it was the original Kieran and Andy team or the new Josh and Karl team.  I think the former.  One way or another, they didn't show up, so I came up with an impromptu team.  I thought the team sprint was first, but the results seem to indicate the TTT was first.  shrug.

originally, we tried to do the TTT as keith, sean, me, but sean's wheel kept slipping.  instead, we switched to john w, dave c, keith, me.  The team blew up from the first lap.  by this point I was pissed for having to restart twice for sean's two wheel slips, so I just went balls out.  a gap opened, and it never closed.  by the end, keith dropped out, and it was me yelling at dave and john to get their asses moving.  not the brightest moment of my career.

the team sprint was a bit more cohesive, with dave, keith, and me.  we had a relatively smooth run, with a 1:30.67 time.

Miss Haley came to watch me race.  She said she liked watching me yell.  She had never seen that before.  At least something good came of it, I guess.  We got some indian food afterward and walked around.  I think Jamie might have also been there, but he took a phone call most of the time.

Results here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek15.pdf

R13.26: Fuji Super Tuesdays 8/6 - Stagiares & Pro Women

This was another week mixed with the women's field.  I think I mentioned it last week, but these fields were kind of sketchy for some reason, with a couple of crashes one of the weeks.  I don't remember which week it was, but both joe and keith got crashed out, which is both sad and surprising as they're really good riders.

Here's some data with possible anecdotes:

I warmed up.  Proof:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/355293144

There was a 20 lap points race.  I won this one.  Hooray me!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/355293134

Next was a 12 lap tempo.  I came in 4th.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/355293131

Then a miss and out.  I got out.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/355293130

The feature was a 10 mile final.  I just kinda sat in and tried to not die.  It seems to have worked.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/355293127

Looking at these results, this leads me to believe this was the week that Marty said "you didn't look too good tonight" to me when he gave me my prize check.  yup.  sure didn't.  Somehow I still came in 2nd overall, though, so hooray me?

EDIT: Nope, this wasn't the week.

Results here:
http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/8-6-Fuji-Super-Tuesday-Results.pdf

2013.37: 8/5 - 8/11

Sunday: Rode to work and back.  shrug.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/357443660
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Saturday: Wanted to ride, but passed out instead.

Friday: Work, then not riding.

Thursday: Long day.  No riding.

Wednesday: K-town.  See race report.

Tuesday: T-town.  See race report.

Monday: Rode to the beach with dan to do some sprints.  Neither of us wanted to do any sprints by the time we got there, so we just watched the sunset and rode home.  eh.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354202940
NP/IF/TSS:

R13.25: Kissena Twilight Series 7/31 - Cat 3/4

By using the results sheet to trigger memories buried deep within this underused brain of mine, i've been able to construct the following race report:

The omnium consisted of chariot qualifiers, finals, a points race, and a scratch.  how many laps were the points and scratch races?  no clue.  i'm guessing 12 laps for the points.  I remember Jamie came to watch me race again, which is always nice.  I threw on a 14t for the chariots, which I won handily.  I think Jamie was actually impressed with this, which was a nice change.  Fortunately, I was able to completely screw up in the points and scratch again, which he made sure to let me know about.  I stuck with my new tactic of missing the break, and trying to catch a 4-man break the entire points race, while dragging the rest of the field around.  I don't really remember how I screwed up the scratch, but I'm guessing it involved putting my nose in the wind too much.

That's the best I have for this.  Only 3.5 months late.  Sweet.

Results here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek14.pdf

R13.24: Fuji Super Tuesdays 7/30 - Stagiares & Pro Women

Well this is over two months old, so I don't really remember anything that happened.  They combined the womens and stagiares fields, which was surprisingly sketchy.  I don't know if it's just a mix of two different riding styles or what, but it seemed like the women were much more apt to just slam on the brakes or cut across the track without looking.  I didn't like it.

warm up
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354203165

20 lap points
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354203140

5 lap scratch
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354203114

miss & out
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354203095

Results here.  I came in second overall:
http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/7-30-Results.pdf

2013.36: 7/29-8/4

Sunday: Rode to work and back.  Fortunately for me, this ride was saved in two parts, so it'll look like I rode more than I did this week.  You might be wondering why on earth I saved each leg of my commute separately.  Well, wonder no more.  It's because my garmin battery was mostly dead, so I had to charge it between rides, which saved my old ride history.  Fascinating, I know...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354203075
NP/IF/TSS: 200W/0.941/105
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/354202994
NP/IF/TSS: 194W/0.910/95

Saturday: End of vacation, followed by work. No riding.

Friday: More Vacation.  Saw some tandemonium, though.

Thursday: Vacation.  No riding.

Wednesday: K-town.  See race report.

Tuesday: T-town.  See race report.

Monday: Probably nothing.

R13.23: Kissena Twilight Series 7/24 - Kilo Night

Being as how this race report is now like a month old and the only race was a kilo, this'll be a short report:

I rode a kilo.  I used the swan.  1:16.4.  That is all.

Easy enough.

Actually, One thing I did notice was that my saddle seemed to have slipped over the weeks, so I raised it up a bit before my kilo.  That's about the only excitement of the evening.  I think Jamie came to watch, which was nice.

Results here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek13.pdf

2013.35: 7/22 - 7/28

Sunday: Met up with Kieran and Andy.  I did some flying 400s, they were doing actual structured top secret kissena workouts.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349891267
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Saturday: Rode to work.  Got a huge chunk of glass through my tire on edgewood, so I got a ride, popped on my pro4endurance that i've had sitting around forever and gave it another go.  No issues this time, and a good ride home after swapping the front at work.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349269829
NP/IF/TSS: 197W/0.924/221

Friday: I wanted to ride to work, but it was wet out in the morning, so I didn't.  I hopped on my bike when I got home, though, and knocked out a handful of half-assed sprints.  I forgot to press the lap button before the first sprint, so that data is sprinkled in with my ride to the ol' sprinting grounds.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349269872
Int - Max Speed (MPH) - Max Power (W) - Max Cadence (RPM)
1 - 34.0? - 1108 - 177?
2 - 33.3 - 1138 - 182
3 -32.8 - 1167 - 186

Thursday: nothing.

Wednesday: k-town.  see race report.

Tuesday: no riding.  There wasn't supposed to be any racing at t-town, but they put up a schedule last minute.  I already had plans to hang out with haley, so that's what I did.  We did walk around kissena, though, so that kinda counts.

Monday: nada.

R13.22: Kissena Twilight Series 7/17 - Cat 3/4

Another day racing on the Swan, so again, no data.  Jamie came out to watch again, so I figured I would try to employ some of the tactics we had been talking about.  I was able to get an actual warm up in and felt surprisingly good after yesterday's racing.

The first race was a 3 lap snowball.  Jamie told me to sit in for the final sprint.  Instead, I jumped on to Sean's wheel, who took the first sprint.  Unfortunately, he then faded, so I attacked to take the second sprint.  The third was a wash for me.  This was basically the opposite of what we had discussed, so Jamie was not too pleased and hit me on the head with an empty water bottle.

Next was an 8 lap point-a-lap.  We tried for the same strategy this time, treat it as an 8 lap scratch and just sit in.  Of course, I don't listen, so I was able to sit in and pip the other riders at the line for sprints 5-8.  This gave me the win.

The final race was a 10 lap scratch.  Brean attacked early, eugene more or less went with him.  It was somewhere between going with the attack and bridging right away.  A kid from MIT bridged up later on.  Aaron and lucas tried to bring the field back together, which in hindsight is strange if brean was up ahead, but whatever.  DaveC sat on their wheels and I sat on his, outsprinting all of them and almost catching eugene.  This gave me a 4th place finish.

In the end, I was able to take the omnium.

After racing was over, I did some laps with Jamie and HarryZ, though harry disappeared right away.  Before this, though, Andreas was riding slow around the track, and apparently jammed his foot against his front wheel or something and went down.  I didn't hear or see it, but I've been told it resulted in a fractured clavicle.  That sucks.  He just got his cat 3 upgrade, too.  And while we're talking about the latest happenings at the track, it looks like brean finally has enough upgrade points to go to 3.  congrats to him, too.

Also, after looking back at my race reports, I never actually had a R13.02 race, so all these are one number higher than they should be.  Shrug. Turns out I just didn't label R13.02 as a race report.  Carry on, nothing to see here.

Results here: http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek12.pdf

R13.21: Fuji Super Tuesdays 7/16 - Stagiares

Mark: hm...

write me a race report for last tuesday

Jeremy: Hmmm

Did you win?

Mark: i did

Jeremy: Done

"I won"

In reality, here's a write-up:  I woke up ungodly early to drive out with my parents to PA to pay for a new car that my dad bought.  I tried to sleep most of the way, but that never works well.  The car was beautiful; a great condition 1936 Ford Club Cabriolet convertible.  Afterward, we drove up to my Aunt's to visit, but she was at the doctor for a broken finger, but we still chatted with my cousins for a bit.  Then came dinner, which was at this tacky diner right next to our hotel.  Finally came racing.  I spent a good amount of time hemming and hawing about whether I should race or not because at this point I was completely beat from a long(er than normal) day.  In the end, I went with the mantra "what would Marty do?" and figured if I was this close to the track, I might as well race even if I just ended up getting my ass handed to me.

We showed up at the track not long after Keiran and Andy showed up, which was a pleasant surprise.  Philly Keith and George were also around, so it was a nice group to chat with.  I think Cameron was also around.  I started by warming up as usual:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344711425

Then the first race was a 2km scratch.  These races seem to be on the schedule a lot.  I seem to remember attacking on the back stretch with 2 laps to go.  I came from the back, but I didn't feel like I had a good jump.  It was enough to get away clean, though, and I was able to stay ahead for the win.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344711416

The local news team interviewed me after that first race, which was very cool.  Nothing makes you feel Pro like a tv interview.  The next race was a 20 lap points.  I don't really remember what happened.  I think I grabbed a couple of 4th place points, maybe?  It got me 4th overall.  (note to self: write reports sooner).  Wait, wait.  I think I remember now.  I got some early points in the first sprint, then tried to stay away to win the second sprint.  Something along those lines.  But I got caught on the sprint lap.  After that, I was mostly toast.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344711413

The final race of the evening for the Stagiares was a 10 lap Tempo.  Will P attacked, and I came with him.  We traded pulls for a while, trying to stay away, but somewhere in the middle we got caught.  After that, I sat in and was able to catch the odd point here and there, if memory serves me well.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344711408

In the end, this put me in the lead for the omnium, one point ahead of Will.  I could have sworn he would have won it, so I was super excited.

Marty asked me if I wanted to race the Pro/Am feature, which I kinda did, so I said sure.  It was stupid fast.  I bumped up to my 96" gear, and felt like I was spinning out again.  The avg speed was 30+mph.  It was a 10km scratch, and I lasted over halfway through.  I was just sitting near the back hanging on for dear life when a gap opened in front of me that I couldn't close.  I also wanted to keep some kind of power in my legs for k-town the next day, so I wasn't too upset by this.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344711403

I packed up, picked up my prize money, and went to our hotel for the night.  It's nice not having to drive home right away.  Or drive at all.

Results here:

http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/7-16-results.pdf

2013.34: 7/15 - 7/21

Sunday: Team sprint practice in the morning with Keiran and Andy.  We did two undergeared half lap efforts, and then one full-on race effort.  Our speeds seemed good.  I think with a little more practice, we'll be golden.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/346330523

In the afternoon I rode with Dan to spin the legs out.  I was on the evo, so no power.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/346330476
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Saturday: I was thinking about going in to brooklyn to race some goldsprints for that J-Pro fundraiser, but I was tired, my knees hurt, and to be honest, I just don't really care that much.  Don't do sketchy races without insurance where you can get your face ripped off if you don't want to get your face ripped off.  It seems simple to me.

Friday: post-work intervals.  3x6min with 4 min rest.  These went much better than last week's intervals.  Congrats to me on sucking ever so slightly less.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/345112399
Int / Avg Power / Max Power / Avg Cadence / Avg HR
1 - 248 - 297 - 106 - 160
2 - 250 - 317 - 105 - 167
3 - 250 - 296 - 105 - 171

Thursday: Rest day.  Rested.

Wednesday: K-town.  See race report.

Tuesday: T-town.  See race report.

Monday: Rode to work on the evo.  Almost got hit by a dipshit in a huntington town truck.  I called the cops and they said "well he probably just wasn't paying attention.  no worries".  right.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/343229723
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

R13.20: Kissena Twilight Series 7/10 - Cat 3/4

I rode the Swan again today, this time with the official wheels.  Still no data, though.

The first race was a full-on elimination down to two riders.  I can't say I remember ever doing that at k-town.  I rode it at the front for once.  It was a combination of questioning myself after last week and trying to mitigate the effects of this constant fatigue i have.  Being at the front is much steadier than trying to play the devil in the back.  In the end, I came out 4th.

Next was a scratch.  I wish I could remember how many laps.  Maybe 6.  4 laps.  Regardless, I attacked in turn 2 with 2 to go, got a good gap and held it to the line for the win.

The last race was a five lap tempo, which I originally planned on attacking with 3 to go, trying to hold everybody off, but i saw a good moment to attack at the beginning, so I went hard and got first in the first two sprints and second in the third.  I then sat in to recover, but wasn't able to snag any of the final lap points.  Unfortunately, Andreas ended up using my original strategy, so although we had the same number of points, his better finish gave him the win.,

Results here:  http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek11.pdf

2013.33: 7/8 - 7/14

Sunday: Sleepy day, but I got out for a little bit at the end of the day.  not quite the long ride I was hoping for.  I almost got hit by a smithtown public safety patrol car going down to short beach, so I took a detour on the way home to file a complaint.  Only one junior officer was on duty, so he asked if I could come back the next day to complain.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/342694491
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Saturday: again, nada.

Friday: nada.  I don't remember why.  I think it was rainy, maybe.  rain is a pretty good bet this summer.

Thursday: despite a long day of work, my subpar results yesterday motivated me to do some AE style intervals of one sort or another.  I was aiming for 3 or 4 6.5 min intervals with 3.5min rest, but in the end I did 3 intervals, 6 min, 5.5 min, 4.5 min.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/342694510
Int / Avg Power / Max Power / Avg Cadence / Avg HR
1 - 247 - 274 - 108 - 165
2 - 239 - 328 - 108 - 172
3 - 241 - 407 - 108 - 175

Wednesday: k-town.  See race report.

Tuesday: instead of heading to t-town to very likely get trounced, I helped haley with a green trek bike ride for her work.  it was the debut ride on the new evo.  the thing rides sweeet.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/340142782
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Monday: toooo tired from the weekend.  rest day.

2013.32: 7/1 - 7/7

Sunday: Worked, then helped bring the christeen back to oyster bay.  What a fantastic sail!  The weather was great, there was a big storm system to our west, which provided a nice breeze as well as a good lightning show, and there were fireworks on both sides of the LI sound.  I think this was my favoritest of sails to date.  No riding, though.

Saturday: volunteered all day on the christeen doing sails out of glen cove.  Toooo hot.

Friday: Rode to work and back.  I think I also put an angled shim on my right cleat today, but I can't remember for sure which day it was.  I'm very sure I put a new chain on Gigi today.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/338017005
NP/IF/TSS:191W/0.896/190

Thursday: had the day off for independence day.  at some point in the day I actually rode.  It was very hot, so I just bummed around a lot.  I went along the port jeff bike path, which is very interesting.  I also witnessed the closure of sheep pasture road because somebody obliterated a telephone pole.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/337574675
NP/IF/TSS: 172W/0.808/174

Wednesday: no k-town racing scheduled.

Tuesday: nothing.  I think I skipped t-town because of a poor weather forecast.  It was probably rainy here, so no riding.

Monday: nada.

R13.19: Kissena Twilight Series 6/26

This wednesday I raced on the Swan.  The wheels still weren't built up, so I used my volos track wheels.  I don't have a garmin mount on the bike, so no data.  Jamie was there to watch, which was nice.  Too bad I still suffered from a lack of any kind of fitness.  In addition, I didn't eat lunch because I was stuck running the shop solo for most of the day.  This also meant that I left work to race 45 minutes later than normal, which lead to me barely making it in time and not warming up in the least.

The first race was a points race.  I think 12 laps.  I think I spent most of the race chasing guys who were actually getting points.  Somehow I managed one point to put me in 5th place.

Next was a scratch.  I don't remember how long.  Same deal, lots of me in the wind, not me in the win.  Look how clever that was.

Finally, there was a miss and out.  I went out fairly early because I got myself boxed in.  The 3/4 field seemed pretty aggressive today.  I don't know what that was all about.  A few guys throwing elbows and shit.

One general theme I noticed is that with the exception of brean and new rhino, nobody really wanted to put any effort in.  I realize this included me, but that's because I had no fuel in me to go hard with.  Unfortunate, as I would have loved to attack the hell out of everybody.

Results here: http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek10.pdf

R13.18: Fuji Super Tuesdays 6/25 - Stagiares

It's a pretty good assumption that the forecast was 30% chance of thunderstorms.   That's the theme for this summer.  I picked up jen in brooklyn.  She drove us through manhattan into jersey, where it started to rain.  I switched to driving, picked up a sketchy roast beast sandwich in some convenience store and we continued on.  We got there on time, and all.  I don't even know what's worth writing about.  Here's a warm up for you:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/334584526

The first race was a 2k scratch.  I've once again been suffering from knee pain and general fatigue/lack of snap.  I can't remember if I had my disc on, but I'm pretty sure I did for that extra ooomph.  Regardless, I attacked hard, but just didn't have anything in my legs to stick it.  I finished in 6th, just out of the omnium points.  This'll be the theme for the evening.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/334584508

Next was a 20 lap points race.  Same deal as in the 2k scratch.  Nothing in the legs and continually 5th across the line, so no points.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/334584499

The last race was a 10 lap tempo.  I don't even remember, but I think I got away with another rider.  I tried swapping pulls with him, but he just wanted to stay on the front.  I just got a handful of single points, maybe three of them, but it wasn't enough to place in the omnium again.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/334584488

The final was a madison, which Gavi was interested in partnering with me for, but they had enough fast teams.  I sat out and drank some hard cider that I brought.  I showered, Jen picked up a veggie burger from Applebees, and we drove off with the ventures playing on the tape deck.  Coming home, we dropped down to route 22 for a 'natural break', where we saw lots of police speed traps.  It was weird stuff.

That is all.

2013.31: 6/24-6/30

Sunday: Ditto.  Volunteered on the Christeen.

Saturday: Nada. Worked and slept.

Friday: Three LT Reps/Sprints down at long beach.  There was a tough headwind, but they felt half-assed at best.  Time to get this season turned around.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/334584471
Interval -Max Speed - Max Power (W) - Max Cadence (RPM)
1 - 31.1 - 911 - 112
2 - 30.6 - 1047 - 119
3 - 28.4 - 952 - 166?

Thursday: Workity work.

Wednesday: K-town.  See report.

Tuesday: T-town.  See report

Monday: Nada

R13.17: Kissena Twilight Series 6/19 - Cat 3/4

This wednesday was the longest twilight race of the season.  As such, we did a sprint tournament.  It wasn't really bracketed, just random pairings among the riders with the closest 200 times.  Only the riders who didn't have a flying 200m time on record did those, so I sure didn't.  What I did do was warm up though, so have a look at that data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330787677

My first sprint was against JoshS and Lucas.  Josh led, I sat on his wheel and Lucas sat on mine.  There were a few times where I felt a good ol' attack would make sense, but I decided to try to stifle those feelings and wait for a shorter sprint.  This probably was a dumb idea since Josh is a super sprinter now.  Regardless, his jump finally came in turn 4 just before the bell lap.  I jumped.  Lucas jumped.  Lucas snapped his chain.  I faltered.  Josh immediately had a massive lead.  I tried to bridge up, but no dice.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330787673

The second sprint for me for the evening was once again against josh, but with Andreas as the third man.  I switched to my disc wheel which meant I went from my 15t to my 14t, making my intentions pretty obvious. I think I might have even said to them "yeah, I'm just going to try to ramp up the pace and sprint long".  Which is what I did.  And it worked out alright for me.  I won, then Josh, then Andreas.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330787663

Here's some results:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek9.pdf

Wasn't that interesting?

2013.30: 6/17 - 6/23

Sunday: Rode to northport with the brother.  It was a pretty good ride.  Still felt sluggish, though.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/332423993
NP/IF/TSS: 180W/0.843/221

Saturday: No riding.  I don't remember when exactly I did it, but since today is pretty empty I'll say it was today.  I switched my right cleat on my road shoes to a red cleat with more float.

Friday: Rode to work and back.  My legs just felt dead.  And my knee was killing me.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/331217814
NP/IF/TSS: 193W/0.905/212

Thursday: nada.

Wednesday: K-town.  See race report

Tuesday: After much waffling, I decided to take the trip out to t-town despite a dark forecast.  It looked like the storm in question just might pass to the south of the track, which it did.  But racing still got cancelled.  I rode around for about 5 minutes, then drove home.  At least I got a cali burrito beforehand.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330787687
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Monday: Went for a short ride after work to check on the rhododendrons.  Nothing to report.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/329532418
NP/IF/TSS: 205W/0.962/57

2013.29: 6/10 - 6/16

Sunday: Gconnect says I didn't ride.  What did I do, I wonder.  Maybe it rained?

EDIT: I remember it all!  I didn't head to kissena on saturday, I volunteered on a sunset sail on the christeen with a church group.  They were very friendly.  Sunday morning I barely made it on time to sail again in the morning, then I headed to the bike shop to cut the steerer on the swan, then I went to kissena.  This is what happened.  Mystery solved.

Saturday: Work.  Afterward, I took the swan and the träckbike out to kissena.  I didn't have the wheels built yet, but with the cane creeks on, the swan rode really well.  It really softened the ride, but it didn't feel whippy or flexy.  I am very satisfied.

Friday: Again, no riding.  I think it was rainy.

Thursday: Work.  No riding.  I worked on the swan a little, but ran into a little technical difficulty.

Wednesday: Back from vacation.  Not enough time to get to k-town, though.

Tuesday: More vacation.  Did some hiking in the rain.

Monday: Vacation.  No riding.

R13.16: Kissena Twilight Series 6/5 - Cat 3/4

Like a fine wine or cheese, this race report has been aged to perfection.

I seem to remember the weather being very nice.  Either that, or there was a threat of rain.  I don't really remember.

A sudden rush of memory has hit me as I looked over the race results from this week.  This week Alan wasn't able to run the races, as he had a CX webinar to attend or something.  Joe B took over, with Karl helping him out officiating.  There was a little snafu with the container key, but I was able to get a copy and bring it over.  The weather was in fact nice.  There was a great turnout, too, with 54 riders if memory serve me correctly.  Some big names in the 3/4 field were Tony, Sean, and Al.  I don't remember JoshS or Andy being there, but I think Lucas was?  Anyhow, here's the warmup:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004565

The first race was a win and out.  I put in a hard attack and got a gap.  I then won and was out.  I spent a few more laps rolling around the top of the track to watch the rest of the racing.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004556

Next was supposed to be a Chariot, but due to waning daylight, Joe changed it to his specialty, a flying 500m.  I lead the group through the neutral start, keeping a good fast pace.  It was a t-town elimination style neutral start.  Joe blew the whistle, and I attacked.  I was able to stay away for the win again.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004544

The final race was a 10 lap scratch.  At this point, daylight was nearly non-existant, so I wanted to get done. My original plan going into the evening was to just go hard and try to make everybody hurt.  This is what I tried to do in this race.  I attacked, got caught, I think eugene countered, got caught, I attacked again, etc.  Eventually, I ran out of gas and just rolled through the finish.  No points for me.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004537

This concluded the omnium.  Fortunately, the omnium points were mixed enough in the other races that I was able to keep my lead overall.  Results here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek7.pdf

R13.15: Fuji Super Tuesdays 6/4 - Stagiares

I have finally allowed this race report the proper two weeks to mature into a report filled with fuzzy details and half truths.  If I remember correctly, my legs were feeling pretty dead.  I think it's from standing all the time at work.  I don't have an opportunity to rest.

I met up with Jen and we headed out.  We tried a different way to the BQE by way of Atlantic Ave which did not work at all.  Beyond that, traffic was traffic.  We got there around 5:15 or so, I would say.  Here's my warm-up data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004631

The first race on the Stagiare program was a 2km scratch, which is 6 laps.  Mini Nothstein was still racing the Stagiares, as was Gord Singleton's son, because he lost his license or something.  I was told he was very fast, so I made sure to sit on his wheel, which happened to be right by the front with a lap to go, but he wasn't planning on contesting the sprint.  I got boxed in behind him, and wasn't able to make any moves.  Oh well.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004616

Up next was a 15 lap points race.  I found myself at the front on the bell lap for the first sprint, so I put in a hard dig, but my legs just weren't there.  I settled in, and tried an attack for the second sprint, but again, I got a gap but my legs couldn't keep it up.  The final sprint I just sat up and rolled in behind the group.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004604

The final race was a 12 lap tempo.  I was able to get away with one other rider, who wasn't too interested in swapping pulls, but I wasn't interested in pulling anyhow.  I picked up a handful single points and then we got swallowed up and that was that.  In the end it wasn't enough to get me into the omnium points.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004594

One big problem from this week was the pollen in the air.  I don't know what it was, but everybody was coughing up a lung.  It felt like my throat was on fire, and I thought I would just cough out a lung at some point.

Instead of getting a bear at the concession stand, Joe B suckered me into racing the Pro/Am feature.  It was a 35 lap points race.  Andrew B said I should gear up to around 96", so I switched to my disc with my 14.  All my other racing was done on the usual 90".  This was good advice, because it was the only way I was able to keep with the field.  I spent the whole race sitting in, staying in either the first or second group.  At one point Andrew B and I got gapped off the back, but we were able to work to get back up there.  By the final sprint, I sat up again and rolled in coughing like mad.  It felt good to be able to keep up with the group.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/324004578

2013.28: 6/3 - 6/9

Sunday: I backed out of plans to go to the beach with lots of cute girls to get a long bike ride in instead.  I now have killer tan lines.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325532814
NP/IF/TSS: 159W/0.747/304

Saturday: No riding.  still don't remember why.  maybe more rain.

Friday: No riding.  shrug.  wait.  it was definitely raining today.  I picked up the swan from Jamie.  It's faaancy.

Thursday: No riding.  Just work.

Wednesday: K-town.  See race report.

Tuesday: T-town.  See race report.

Monday: No riding.  Maybe rain or something.

2013.27: 5/27 - 6/2

Sunday: I felt off today, so I didn't ride.  I don't know what's going on lately.  I'm going to race at t-town again this week, so we'll see what's happened to my form.

Saturday: No riding.  Didn't get much sleep again.

Friday: Rode to work and back.  I hope it wasn't too much too soon, as I definitely felt like dying on the way out and just didn't have legs on the way back.  I think the heat was the problem on the outward stretch.  I did stop to check out the rhododendrons again on the way home.  Two were in bloom, but I don't think they were wild.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320885255
NP/IF/TSS: 198W/0.932/255

Thursday: again, no riding.  I made it a point to try to run up the stairs when I could, to try to get some kind of fitness out of myself.

Wednesday: no riding.  K-town did not get rained out.  Weather is strange here.  It went from a 70% chance of thunderstorms to 0% chance of anything within two hours.  Regardless, I was still sick, so I opted to stay at the shop and close up.

Tuesday: slept all day.  T-town got rained out anyhow.  slightly less sick, I think.

Monday: No riding.  Still sick.

R13.14: Kissena Twilight Series 5/22 - Cat 3/4

My notes aren't as good for this race night as they were for tuesday, so we'll see how this goes.  I remember I was very tired from getting home at 3am the night before.  I was able to sleep in and come to work at noon, which was much appreciated.  Karl asked if I wanted to car-pool, so I said sure, and met him at the bike shop around 5pm.  We loaded up, including a big box of parts for pink rhino, and headed out.  Traffic was terrible leading up to the cross-island, so we finally worked our way south and then over to avoid it all.  Apparently two lanes were closed due to a stack-up between a car and a semi.  We got there a bit after 6, so I changed quick and tried to get a little bit of a warm-up in.  I didn't warm up in my race gear, nor did I record the data, nor did I feel good at all.  I still felt sapped from that bonk of sorts last night.

In addition to feeling like crud, there was a stacked field.  Tony, Karl, Al, Andreas, pretty sure JoshS, Lucas, Sean, Mike, Ariel.  Lots of fast.  The first race was a 12 lap points race, during which things happened.  I don't really remember what those things were, but the results spreadsheet tells me I got second in the first and third sprint, which gave me third.  I seem to remember a lot of hanging out in no-man's land, which I think was during this race and the last race.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801735

The next race was a 3 lap scratch.  Since it was short, and I didn't want to spin at all, I bumped my gear up to 94" at 49x14.  I started the race near the back, and basically spent all three laps slowly moving up in position.  I ended up in second.  hooray big gears!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801727

The final race was a seven lap tempo.  Oh goodness.  I went hard for the first sprint, getting second, with one point.  I then was passed on the back stretch and spent the rest of the race trying to chase one group or another.  It mostly was Karl taking all the points, with a short bout of Tony getting one sprint.  I remember Sean yelled at me to pick up the pace, which I gladly would have done if I could have.  He won the final sprint, I came in third.  This gave me a grand total of two points, which put me in fourth place.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801721

This concluded the cat 3/4 omnium.  Karl dominated in first place, Tony got second, and I came in third by the grace of math alone.  Karl and I met up with JoeB and Alan at Arby's, ate some food, discussed some bike racing, and had a good old time.  Karl dropped me off at Syosset and I went home and passed out.

True story.

Results here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek5.pdf

R13.13: Fuji Super Tuesdays 5/21 - Stagiares

With the coming of the first Fuji Super Tuesday out at t-town, I feel like we're finally getting into the real heart of the season.  I offered a ride to former team-mate Jen, so I left the house around noon to pick her up in brooklyn.  This was the first real hot day of the summer, being above 80F, and one thing i noticed immediately upon leaving the house was that my air conditioning didn't seem to work anymore.  That made for a very painful and sweaty drive, stuck in stop and go traffic on the LIE going around an accident and some construction, but it offered enough time for Jen to bring her bike to ride brooklyn to have her old track cog removed.  I picked her up around atlantic terminal, drove to her place so she could pack, and headed out.  The drive out was pretty uneventful, stopping around the NJ/PA border to get some iced coffee and snacks.  We arrived in T-town around 4:30, I would say, which gave us time to relax and try to cool down temperature-wise and warm up muscle-wise.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801775

There was a real big pro/am field, but only 12 or so riders in the stagiares, including tyler nothstein.

The first race was a 2km - or 6 lap - scratch.  I made it a point to not attack too early and just sit in and watch tyler.  Finally, I saw my moment and attacked hard in turn 4 just before coming through to the bell lap.  I held it until the back stretch, where I was passed by Tyler and then one other rider, at which point I put in another hard dig, and watched him fade back.  In the end I was able to cross in second, but my legs felt shot.  The second dig came with an immediate feeling of hitting the wall.  My legs just went numb.  I knew this was a combination of overheating and not eating enough, which was also due to a lack of appetite from the heat.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801760

I spent the time between the scratch and the next race trying to recover, by spinning around slow, drinking water, eating gels, and laying on the ground mostly lifeless.

The next race was a 20 lap points race with 4 sprints.  I was able to gather the strength to get second in the first sprint, I think behind tyler.  I then really started to feel like I had nothing left.  I spent the time trying to maintain contact with a group of 4 riders, but couldn't get it together to get any points in the next two sprints. This theme basically carried through to the end of the race, but my notes here say that i might have gotten fourth in the final sprint.  Whatever happened, it was enough to get me 4th.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801755

Between this race and the next, I was able to gather the strength to get over the flyover and pick up a gatorade and a cup of ice from the concession stand.  I rubbed the ice on my head, ate ice, put ice down my skinsuit.  Finally, I started feeling human again.

The final race was a super sprint elimination.  The original plan was to go down to ten riders, then a five lap scratch, if I remember correct-like.  Since there were only 12 riders, they changed it to go down to five riders, then a three lap scratch.  Since I felt a little bit like lazarus coming back from the dead, I basically just sat near the middle to back playing the devil, making sure there was always at least one more set of wheels behind me.  This strategy was enough to keep me in, though I do seem to remember thinking we were down to five riders when we were only at 6.  The scratch part of the race was mostly slow and tactical, staying uptrack for the majority, just marking the other riders.  I was able to jump at Tyler's attack, and held it for third place.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/316801742

This concluded the Stagiare omnium.  I spent some time taking photos of Jen for her instagram addiction, though I got bit horribly by who knows what while laying in the grass on the back stretch trying to get some fancy photo work going.  After that, I tried to get a beer from the concession stand, but they closed up.  I didn't do the feature race, as I was still decently dead, so I just started to pack up.  I head over the PA system that I got second in the omnium, which was awesome, so I picked up my money and then took a shower.  Fortunately, the other guy in the locker room let me know there was only cold water before I got a horrible shock, but I still showered anyhow.  Jen was feeling hungry, so we ate at Applebees, gassed up at Wawa, and headed off into the night.  Besides construction in PA and some crazy driver in staten island who was splitting lanes and speeding up and slowing down, it was decently uneventful.  I toyed with the idea of hitting the velvet lounge when I got home, but I had work in the morning and k-town races in the evening, so I just went to bed.

Results here:
http://www.thevelodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/2013-Fuji-Bicycles-Pro.pdf

2013.26: T-town Begins - 5/20 - 5/26

Sunday: It was my day off, so I should have done a long endurance ride, since I haven't done one of those for as long as I can remember, but since I was sick I just laid around the house all day.  Eventually, I got up the motivation to ride the fixed gear down to stony brook harbor to check the status of the rhododendrons on the way back.  It felt good to be on the bike again.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/320885277
NP/IF/TSS: N/A

Saturday: more not riding.  rainy day, I think.  Also, I'm getting sick again.  I think I overdid it with the three long days in a row.  This season sucks as far as illness goes.  I need to figure out how to get my immune system working right again.

Friday: no riding again.

Thursday: no riding. work.

Wednesday: Kissena Twilight Series.  See the race report.  Also, my cranks came in for the Swan.

Tuesday: Fuji Super Tuesdays at t-town.  See the race report.  I also rode to the bank.  It hardly counts, but it felt nice to be on a bike again.

Monday: I'd like to call it a rest day, but there wasn't much that i needed to rest from.  Regardless, no riding.

R13.12: Kissena Twilight Series 5/15 - Cat 3/4

I was supremely tired heading to the track today.  I was really thinking about not even racing, and almost fell asleep on the drive in.  For some reason, even though this has been the shortest wait to write my race report, I can't think of how the weather was at all.  I think it was chilly during the day, but warmed up at the track.  Or the opposite.  One of those two.  I thought about taking a nap, but instead just sat around instead of warming up.  I don't think I got any laps in on my race gear.  Geeze, I'm really having trouble remembering now.  These races are starting to all blend together.  Hopefully this'll be the motivation I need to write these sooner.  One thing to note was a good turn out of pink rhinos this week.  I was starting to worry some of them weren't racing anymore.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313357975

The first race was a win and out.  I jumped typically early and got a gap, which I held to the line.  Won and outed.  Tony Hall was racing with us, and he got caught in the same situation as I did in that w&o a few weeks ago.  Andy caught up and beat him for second place, but he was able to hold on for third.  I know how that goes.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313357961

Next was a five lap snowball.  Lucas attacked early, I tried to catch him.  He was able to get the first two sprints, then tony caught up and took the third sprint.  For some reason, I don't remember this happening.  I was able to beat him for the fourth sprint, but he got me on the fifth.  Forgetting about that third sprint, I thought I had enough points to win, but not so much.  Whoops.  Also, having to keep my garmin upside-down has finally cost me some data.  I can't even begin to say how stupid this new rule is.  Here's some data of me riding around after the race instead of anything useful.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313357952

The final race was a 9 lap scratch.  I don't particularly remember the details of most of the race, but Tony attacked around two laps to go, I would say.  I caught him coming into the home stretch before the bell lap, and decided to come around him right away because I was worried about the rest of the field catching up.  I felt him closing in around turn 3, but far up track.  I had to dig deep for this sprint, ending with a photo finish that I probably wouldn't have won without a well timed bike throw.  

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313357937

This concluded the night's racing.  I won the omnium, Tony second, Andy third.  honorable mention to lucas in 4th.  Results here:

http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13TwilightSeriesWeek4.pdf

I really need to start taking more notes when I race....