A good day

It was 93 degrees today. I really kind of wished I was back in Portland where it is a bit cooler. Other than that, it was a good day in San Jose. Andrea and I got to spend the day with some of the nicest bike races around. Keyln Akuna came over in the morning and we hung out for a while, catching up on what is going on and eventually went to the store to buy some food and then to the bakery for some lunch sandwiches. Matty Martinez met up with us later and we spend the afternoon watching "Get Smart". Very funny, you should go see it. It was then time to head off to the track.

Inside the bowl was hot. Kenny likened it to Alpenrose in the middle of July at AVC. Our muscles were already fairly warm, but we still took some laps and got used to the track. It is a 333 meter track with very short straights and a banking that has a traction speed of zero. But it seemed to be fast.

After baking for a bit, the keirin heats were up. I was in the third of four heats. One went through, the next three went to the reps. I was match up in heat with two Momentum cycling guys. One was Adam Duvendeck, the other one was really fast too. Brian threw me into third wheel, right behind the other Momentum guy. After the motor pulled off, we quickly came around the guy on the front, and Duvendeck was right on top of me, putting me in a Momentum box with guys that have legs as big as my waist. But, I still was able to somehow use some keirin-fu to get Duvendeck out of the way so I could make a run at it. But it was a bit unsuccessful. I came in second.

The rep round was frustrating. I had Grant and Dave McCook in my heat. Came in third, but they later relegated McCook for trying to take the lane when it was occupied (by me) and throwing a nice hook in corner two. So it was off the finals. I put on the biggest gear I have ever ridden, a 50x14, which I think is around a 96.5. It was going to be fast and furious. I got third wheel again, with Kylen and Gio Ray in front. There was a lot of fire power, including Duvendeck and Massie right behind. The motor came off and the sprints came over the top from behind. But Keyln was not having any of it, putting in two had accelerations to keep them up track. This eventually spelled his doom as Massie finally got over the top of Gio to take the win. I rolled in for fourth place.

Andrea had a great race in the Keirin, making it to the finals with a great long move over the lap in the rep round. The other girls just couldn't catch up once she got it rolling. Her final round was not great, placing 8th, but it was good training. She also did very well in the points race considering she has a pulled abdominal muscle. She stayed in it all the way as other girls were dropping like flies, and she even put in a nice sprint at the end to move up a good number of places.

The Miss and Out was okay. It was a 36 man field and it slowly dwindled down as I stayed in the top 10 riders for a while. I was feeling really good rolling along, but made one bad move and got boxed in for 10th place.

The night ended with a 6t0 lap Madison. Andrew Armstrong and I hooked up for this race. His a great guy and was really excited about wearing a pink jersey for a bit. We had a good race, staying with two other teams that eventually took a lap on everybody. The Slipstream and First Rate Mortgage guys were a bit faster than us in the sprints, but we hung on in a slug-fest of a Madison to get that final podium spot.

Overall, it was good day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. It's late, got to go. Here are a few pics.

Andrea and Matty

Warm Up

Madison Podium