The Kissena Spring Classic - formerly known as opening weekend - was my first A race of the season. Fellow Broken Robot Jeremy and I spent the night before stalking the competition to see just how badly I would be beaten. The rider list looked manageable, with a few big names to look out for. I was worried about Andy, Keiran and John, and didn't really know much about Eugene and Kurt, but they looked fast.
I can't for the life of me remember what I ate for breakfast. I'm pretty sure it was the usual cheerios with mini chocolate chips. Possibly also a banana. I do seem to remember being tired. I also seem to remember getting there kind of late to warm up. I think I only got one lap in on my race gear.
The weather was warm, but windy. 10-15kt from the west gusting to 30+, I would say.
The first event was a 10 lap scratch. It started out simple enough, just half lap rotating pulls. If I remember correctly, there was an attack about halfway through, then a counter by andy with around 3 to go. I knew I was feeling antsy, so I tried to tell myself to just play it cool and sit in for most of the race. Andy's move got me, though. I jumped to bridge, so did Lucas. I passed Andy, hoping he would catch on, but a gap formed there somewhere. Without teamwork among the three of us, I just tried to keep my head down to finish. I was caught and passed around the back stretch or turn 3 of the final lap, but was able to keep going to roll in 6th place, which sadly meant no omnium points. Apparently there was talk about Keiran blocking in the field for andy. Kurt said it was illegal. I told him as far as I know it's not, but it's frowned upon. Andy agreed with me. Apparently there's some past history between the two of them. Shrug.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311972903
Next was the miss and out. I knew I very likely completely screwed myself over in the omnium with that move in the scratch, so I had to ride a smart race here. I just stayed near the front without being right at it, trying to box in riders to stay ahead. The pace stayed pretty consistent until the last rider to get pulled. I know I thought we had pulled everybody, so I slowed up a little bit, and I think the others did, too. The final three riders were Kurt, John, and me. Kurt led the neutral lap, popping out of the sprinter's lane slightly in turn 4, so I took it as an opportunity to cut underneath to catch him and John off guard. I was able to stay away for the full lap to win, with John and Kurt second and third. I don't think Kurt appreciated my move. So much for endearing myself to the visitors to k-town.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311972885
After this was the Kilos. I was originally going to gear up to a 90" gear, but the wind was psyching me out, so I stayed at 88". I changed to the zipp disc, though, with my gold medal pro cog that I've been saving for the Swan. I started on the home stretch, got a decent start and really felt on top of my gear, standing until the end of turn 2. I probably could have geared up without trouble. I really didn't notice the wind much at all, with the exception of coming into turns 3 and 4 on the last lap. I just powered through it and finished strong. The official result was a 1:15.42, which is officially my fastest kilo yet. At the end of the day, Kurt and John expressed their disbelief in my time. It's hard to say. I've definitely been training for the kilo, but that wind was strong, though like I say, I hardly noticed it. I talked to Alan about it the following wednesday, and he said they were short handed for officials, so only one time was taken per rider. Kurt said he had timed me at 1:25, which seems way off. Based on my gearing and the garmin data, a 1:15 is believable. It felt like a 1:17 or better. Regardless, officially, I had the best kilo time, so another win to me.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311972871
The fourth race was a 20 lap points race. Just prior to this it was told to me that I was actually in the lead for the omnium at this point, with John only one point behind. Third place was keiran. Since Andy, Keiran, and I all agreed to do the team sprint together, I figured I just had to try to keep my lead over John. The first sprint saw me beating Keiran for points, then we drifted back into the pack. The rest of the race I tried to mark John, but he always had the upper hand. I tried to outsprint him in each sprint, but I think I went too early, and he was able to beat me in sprints two and three. Kurt was right up with us, too, and tried to get a break going, but I didn't want to spend more energy than I had to, same with John. We basically watched each other slide back through the pack. I put in a little effort for the final sprint, with John beating me again, but didn't think much of it since we were both out of the points. As it turns out, that sprint decided who won the race, since we were both tied for points. Whoops. John won, I came in second. This put him one point ahead of me now.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311972858
The omnium now came down to the final race, the team sprint. I knew John was riding with Kurt, but I didn't catch who his third rider was. I won't lie, I was a little worried about my team. It looked like Keiran was fading in the points race, which didn't bode well for him being the second rider in the TS. Andy had told me that he was going to be the first rider because he couldn't start fast enough to stay on Keiran's wheel. Oh well. I debated gearing for a bit, and ended up deciding on the disc with a 14t. Again, due to the shortage of volunteers, we were started from the rail. Fortunately for the women and masters, lucas and I offered to help with held starts on the back stretch. I would have thought they could find other riders to hold the rest of us, but whatever. We started on the back stretch, and had what I would consider a pretty flawless run. The first lap got up to speed quick, and Andy maintained it. Keiran kept on the gas, only fading slightly right at the line. I tried to just power my way through, ending with an official 1:28.02, which beats my previous best TS time with Alan and Colin of 1:28.28. There's an unofficial goal beaten there.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311972840
John's team came in with a 1:28.27, which put them in second place, and gave me the points i needed to claw my way back into first overall. I won $90, which is always great, and had a fun day. This also completes one of my season goals of winning either Opening weekend or States.
Thanks to Alan, and all the riders, officials, and volunteers. I also got to see Charlie for the first time this season, which is always fun. I gave Shane that bike rack that I was building and headed home tired, happy, and pretty sunburnt.
Results here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2013/Kissena13SpringClassic.pdf
