Back to club racing

Raced last night at DISC in the regular Northcote races. Had a lazy day leading up to the races and really had to haul my ass there. Initially registered for B grade, but felt bad about it. Went back and got A grade. Winter A grade is not quite the slugfest that summer is, but there was still some quality there. I could not be bothered to change my chainring, so decided to ride 91.8, 51-15, which turned out better than I thought it was going to. The racing in general was better than I expected. In the scratch, it was a good bit of fun. Got stretched out and crunched up, as is usual, though one of the juniors goes a bit far in slowing down the field every time he gets on the front. It is brakes on whenever it comes round to him. I found the speed wasn't too much of an issue and the smaller gear made following the surges so much easier. There were sketchy moments when one of the other guys squeezed me out from underneath. Not a good move and I let him know it. He promptly tried to push under again next time round, but I was prepared and he had to decide between the blue and staying back. He stayed back. As to the end, I came in 4th, but was really happy that I didn't just drop back like I usually do. 

The points race was similarly gratifying. Again, my legs were far from a match for the true A graders, but I felt a lot more zip. Leg speed seemed heaps better than it usually is. I even managed to take a few points, including a second to Madison, who pretty much won everything on the night.

Onto the motor pace, and the derny took off at a brutal pace, leaving us with no illusions that this was going to be a pleasant roll. Indeed, the pace kept climbing and the guy whose wheel I was following seemed to be flagging, and popped when he rolled off the next time around. Lots of pacing in training meant that I could be pretty efficient in my changes, and as the laps passed, others popped. It got pretty hairy at one point when someone tried to get back on, but I held it together, and kept spinning away until at 5 to go, I was done. Second overall, and quite happy with it. Felt good not to be the worst in the race!