Riding the track at Burnaby eh??

Hells Yea...as Adrian Hedge-a-berry said! So off we went. Jennifer Tripplet (Greggs), Dan Harmsall, Nick Idontknowhislastname, Jimmy and girlfriend.

The trip began w/ a phone call at 6am, everyone wondering where I was...well, in bed of course...the alarm at 4am didn't go off (MIKE'S fault)...so I rushed to meet them...and we were off.




Once there, it was a great 2 days of racing....tons of learning...Mechanical errors (aka Emurdincies), tactical errors, embarrassing slips, lots of questions, the roughest rickety track I've ever seen (my first lap I thought I may need my mtn bike), g-forced propelled Corner....and a stiff neck.





Racing went well. It was fun. A sharp learning curve. The first race was a flying 200 (so you get 3 laps...then time the last one)...I sucked..I hadn't had a chance to get on the track AT ALL before the race...so it was uncomfortable...and I couldn't really go balls out....but it was learning.



The next race was a scratch race (regular, first across the line wins) 30laps....I really struggled to keep position...still not comfortable w/ my ability to adjust my speed, and be comfortable w/ riders close to me etc...and this cost me valuable positions, and ended my race early.....oh well, I'm learning!




The last race was the points race (4deep points every 10 laps) 80laps. This time, I'd watched Gina Grain in her race and saw how aggressive she was w/ her positioning, and savvy about pulling, and Jen talked me through the A race...so I was able to keep my position a little better, and hang on to a group.
Then we went to dinner...and got hooked up w/ an awesome Host housing.

Sunday's racing began w/ a Chariot (standing start, then 2 laps)...not my best race. Then Elimination plus points (basically miss and out, then a points race....which means LOTS of hard laps)...I hung on longer than expected...and am learning more about how to keep position.

Next was Elimination (miss and out) this time I was the 2nd last pulled, a good improvement...I was pleased..but I almost crashed into Dan and Nick diving to miss being pulled...oopps 'learning'.

Then was the Win and out....yea, not so good. Jen got 3rd..that was awesome....I was in some back group..just hanging on, I struggle w/ the constant accelerations at such high speeds..but hey learning.

Lastly we did Olympic sprints (basically 3 person TT, each person does a lap them peels off...lucky for me I was first to peel off). It was a fun way to finish the weekend.



So, great fun, great new track, great people....good weekend. And here are some random shots.