State Match Sprints

It was about this time last year that I set my sights on the District Track Record of 11.200 in the flying 200. Last night, I finally got it with an 11.167! It was a little windy, but I've always ridden my best times out there with a tailwind on the backstretch.

Ferris qualified with a low 11.4, Ted rode an 11.55, and Tainter was at 11.6.

We started with 3-up rounds, with the winner advancing to the semifinals and the losers having to fight their way up through 2 repechage rounds. I matched up up against Andy Frye and Gabe Smith (his last name used to be Masiulis, but I changed it because no one can pronounce it). Frye jumped coming into turn 3, but I was able to react quickly and pull away for the win.

Ferris and Tainter also won their respective heats, which meant we had a nice break while we waited for Ted to win his 3-up, then a 2-up against Dan Schuller to advance to the semi's. This boded quite well for me, because it meant I got to race against someone who had just done 2 extra races.

Both my races against Ted went pretty much the same way. He led out, and I came over the top on the backstretch. His tactics

I met Tainter in the Gold Medal round, and it was a really fun race. The first round the pace was relatively slow and he was keeping me high on the track. I jumped hard coming into turn 3 and took the win. Our 2nd round was one of the single hardest races I've ever won. With two laps to go, Tainter took off. I thought he was just doing a small accelleration, so I didn't react until he had a 7-8 bike-length gap on me. I went as hard as I could and the gap slowly came down, until I was able to get into his draft a bit and came around on the homestretch. My legs were so lit up I couldn't even walk after the race!

I was feeling fast as shit last night, and it's always nice when all the hard work and training comes together at the right time.

Ferris beat Ted to take the bronze medal, and Linsey had a hell of a night, winning the womens race AND taking 3rd (unofficially) in the 4/5's.

After that came my favorite part of track racing: drinking beer and bull-shitting. We ended up over at Time Out Sports Bar, where Donimator bought us all pizza and beer. I got home around 1:00 and was OUT instantly.

It was a great night. A track record and a state championship...a man could do worse. And my ankles don't even look fat in the pictures. Great success!