First night of track racing

Highlights:

1. Having the whole LGR track racing contingent (and Swiggie) cheering us on.
2. My teammate Gwen and I going 1-2 in the Chariot race!
3. Nine women showing up for the first night of track racing.
   
4. Bumming a non-expired Clif Shot from DonimatOR- see #4 below .
5. Not crashing - see #5 below.
   
6. Not puking - see #6 below.
7. Not having to do a Miss-n-Out.
8. My teammate DW getting #20 for the season.
9. Gwen winning the very first race of the track season.
10. Drawing #1 in the starting line-up for both of my Chariot races.
    

Lowlights:

1. The longest drive ever to the track...bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to 694.
2. Track lung - this is common for the first night of track racing and it involves coughing up your lungs (it's 11:30 pm and I'm still coughing). Those of you who race the track know what I'm talking about.
   
3. Realizing that one of my Speedplay pedals was missing one of it's two screws after the first race of the night (and not having a replacement screw to use).
   
4. Starting to eat a GU that tasted sour - I looked at the expiration date and it said 12/05.
5. Watching someone pull out splinters with a tweezer from a racer's back.
   
6. Almost puking during the last lap of the last race - those of you who know me well know that I have a fear of vomiting, which is why I don't usually let myself get to the point of almost puking from exercise (this is not a good fear to have if you want to be a decent bike racer).
   
7. Eating dinner at 10:30 pm which consisted of a blueberry waffle, a banana, oriental rice crackers, and cranberry juice.
   
8. Being too wound up to sleep and blogging instead.
9. Thinking about the track hangover I'll have tomorrow.
   
10. Worrying that my legs won't recover for racing on Saturday night.

Strats out

In case you care...

I'm just barely keeping my head above water these days. I apologize to those of you whom I've failed to return calls and e-mails...give me two weeks and I'll get back to you.

I finally did my first bike race of the season last week. I lined up for Opus, rode a few laps amidst the sketchiness, and got my ass dropped after the first sprint on lap three. I sat up and was surprised to see a handful of people behind me - they all came by, a few yelling at me to get on their wheel. Feel free to disagree with me, but I am of the opinion that Opus is not for time trialing (either by yourself, or with one other person) in circles. I really think that unless you really have a chance of catching back up to the group, that you should sit up and wait for the field to come around - then jump back in and practice your group riding skills, positioning, helping out teammates, etc. It's a training race....you can ride circles by yourself any day of the week at Opus...Tuesday night races are for group riding practice. I don't care if I come in last because of it (or if I don't even show up as DFL in the results).

And so began another year of bike racing in the same fashion as the previous few years.

The Opus races are actually going on right now as I type. My race starts in just under 1.5 hrs. If I don't leave work in the next half hour, I won't make it. The model I'm running at work says it has over half an hour left to run...and after it's done running I have to compile the results...you do the math. I don't like to write about work on my blog, but I find it a bit ironic that the stormwater model that I'm running actually includes the whole Opus area. And the building I work in is also owned by Opus. I can't get away from Opus. It's a good thing I like saying (and typing) "Opus".

So it looks like my second race of the year will be at the track this Thursday! I'm actually really looking forward to it. Then there's another track race this weekend - I'm also excited for a weekend track event....they're even serving beer. There's apparently been a lot of drama at the track lately, so it should be an interesting week of racing.

The rest of this week and weekend will be spent packing. I close on my condo next week, and that same day we close on our new house...we're pretty excited, but we've got a lot to do before we move.

I'm guessing that this summer I'll be doing about half of the bike races that I did last year, maybe even less. I just don't have the time or energy to keep up the bike training/racing schedule that I did last year, and having a house certainly isn't going to help matters.

Model's done running...gotta check to see if Opus is flooding.

Opus.