Select Tuesday nights, a 0.5 km oval racetrack 8 miles north of Burlington, North Carolina gets overtaken by cyclists hammering in USCF races. This was my first foray into racing at Ace Speedway and first in general racing on an oval.
Amanda thought the all out endurance-based profile of the race would be well suited. I wasn’t so sure. My category “C” race started at 6:15. Well, it was scheduled to start at 6:15. I think it ended up like 6:30 or later till we were actually lined up at the start line. Our race consisted of 9 racers, including myself and another teammate, who was also out on the oval for the first time as well.
When the start whistle blew, I got out front and started pulling and setting the pace. Amanda was pissed that I was out there and out there so early. But we soon settled into a rhythm. There was a straight headwind on the front stretch, with a tailwind on the back. There were several attacks and lead changes early on, but nothing stuck.
It was amazing the up and down pace differences we were seeing. We hit 31+ miles per hour on multiple laps, and then other times, I glanced down at my computer on the back and we were doing 18. It was a lot of up and down, partially as people were feeling out the competition. I pulled out front for my fair share of laps – but luckily when I came off those pulls, I was able to latch right on the back and stay with the pack.
Eventually I lost my teammate to exhaustion and I believe two others dropped out of the peloton. There was a single prime lap with a t-shirt in it. I didn’t particularly want the t-shirt, but wanted to contest for the sprint. I ended up getting second that lap, but I believe that’s when all hell started to break loose. Three guys attacked and were able to make it stick. The one guy is a beast (Watts is his name as we found out after the race - fitting name for a bike guy. He was a real nice guy from Greensboro), and we all knew when he was at the starting line, that it was going to be fast. Watts will be in the “B” race soon enough. He tore things up back in Fayetteville on Memorial Day in the Cat5 race as well. Anyway, those three went off the front and I wasn’t able to accelerate enough to catch him. So myself, and another guy ended up rotating on pulls for the remainder of the race, keeping our pace high and trying to keep from getting lapped.
Unfortunately, in the final lap, two of those three that went off the front caught us and lapped us. My final lap, I pushed my legs as hard as I could and was able to secure fourth place, with a good sprint across the line. Had I only been able to go with that breakaway, I think I would have been able to get the bronze, staying with the two that lapped the field. Oh well. There’s always two weeks from now. I’m hoping to get back out there then.
Regardless, fourth place is my best result thus far since I started racing. Ninth was my previous best. I’m continuing to increase my endurance and power. It was a very satisfying night! Amanda was right. The oval track suited my legs well and I look forward to getting more race experience and training in out at Ace Speedway.
Ace Speedway “C” Race - July 08, 2008
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