Good Start to the season

So now that my racing season has officially started, I will be regularly writing race and training reports w/ some ramblings here and there. Today was a good start for my first race of 2009. I showed up to Prospect Park on two hours of sleep after a night out. Nonetheless I still felt ready to race.

This year the race director has added KOM and Sprint points during the race. This may sound like a good idea, but during the race no one really new which lap was a sprint. Naturally the 4 field assumed every lap was a sprint and KOM lap. At least this kept the pace high. My goals for this race were to attack the field at least once, take one pull at the front and be in position to contest the sprint. I have to say that I completed all of them.

Two laps in I attacked about a mile before the start/finish as I thought it was a sprint lap. WRONG, it was not and I went for nothing. But my first goal was complete, and right before I took the front to help reel in a break but I turned that into my planned attack. I stayed up front most of the race, working w/ the two Rutgers who also raced the 4 field today. Coincidentally we ended up working together in the final lap going into the sprint. Here I used the pack position skills I learned last year to get in prime position to contest the sprint. I got a clear view of the winning move and reacted. Unfortunately I did not have the legs to really gun the sprint. I guess that's what happens when you race on two hours of sleep.

I learned today that the 4's are much smoother than the 5's in Prospect and that 4's don't like to work at the front. It seemed today that only 2 teams were working at the front today: Brooklyn Velo Force(won the final sprint in a squirely leadout train) and Kissena. I also learned that there are some cat 4's who should have their licenses ripped up. There were a few wankers who attacked on the downhill and nearly caused crashes. In the final sprint, a few more very small minded racer took creative lines. Causing several near misses at 35mph and totally disrupting the leadout. Finally I saw that I am ready for next week when it really counts at the season opener. Legs feel good, form is good, all is good...