Results and a day.

 Duality, or continuity, or synchronicity or whatever you feel like calling it at the time or place...well it has a big place in my heart. These things are easy to overlook, or over emphasize. In a smallish or bigish city(whicher you find Atlanta to be). You can spend a day sharing your space within a crowd of people so homogenous that it makes you feel like you never left highschool, or run into all sorts of weirdo's that make you realize this isn't kansas anymore.

 And then there are days like today where there is a bit more magic in the air.... where you could leave but not get anywhere, when well either kansas supplies you with the unexpected, or when the big city feels like a small village. 

 The stars had to truly align to bring these two grins together. Wearing no brakes t shirts on the same day. While only one rides a keirin bicycle on the daily, the other a vintage scooter. Both with day of the dead sleeves(done by two different artists with their own interesting and storied histories). Both on the porch of the Local on a beautiful day finished off just right with a few beers right before the weather turns. A day of bringing people together with nothing and everything in common.

  

 As to the promised breakdown of last nights racing well...

 

 Warm ups felt a little bit more stable than weeks past. But with another mini scare in the beginning as a disk wheel slipped down track but was recovered.

 

 C's started out with a 5 lap scratch which Bobby Costello took easily. Winning a pair of cycling sunglasses.(Prizes have rightly become a more standard addition to the usual wednesday racing!) 

 B's scratch got going and then held up a bit with the sprinters saving up for the final lap. Was a very hairy cluster with a bunch of big sprinters going for it. 

 A's i didn't really pay attention to the whole night sorry.

 Unknown distance  went 11 laps for B's(about the same if not exactly as the C's so it pays to pay attention) It went on to be discussed that an unknown is ALLWAYs an odd number? Interesting explanation-less and true. Heavy pace, lots of false breaks and I just tried to stay in the top half at all times and hot on the tail of any break, ended up being a good enough strategy to grab me a 4th.

 The wheelrace ended up a sprint between a group of C's and B's with the A's needing another lap to be able to close the gap.

 The night ended with long points race for all groups. My goal was to not get lapped and make a couple of smart moves, one ended up being smart, the other not so much. Got some points but not enough to place in points for the whole race.

 Afterwards beers and pizza at OZ(I had forgotten how delicious there pizza was down to the very crust, almost sourdoughy in an amazing way)

 

  

Race 4(or race 3 for me) of season at DLV

 Another good night with no traumatic incidences. For now last nights schedule, waiting for them to post results so that I can reconcile my dry mouthed panting experience with someone calmly determining the sprints.

POINTS!

I got a couple last night in of all things a chariot race(one lap standing start sprint). Second place... and then I didn't even get lapped or drop out in any of the consecutive races of the night.

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-bobby costello

Say what you would like...

 Graveyard remains one of my favorite places for a beer or six. On the wrong night if it gets a bit too crowded I can feel like neighborhood wildlife on display for the sightseeing tourist. However it is their true sense of ridiculous that brings out the crowds regularly, and ridiculousness is something I can appreciate. Strippers in Jello, in the parking lot? with a moon walk? picking jello off of my helmet the next day...If it seems like it should be illegal well they'll do it big and hire on an off duty to give it class....This flyer reminded me a bit of why they can't be ignored, all the while ringing true that on a busy night the max occupancy in any given stall exceeds the fire marshal's limit.

 The only way to top this flyer would be to call it Teen Night. And if they call it Teen Night then I have to host it because that's my idea.

First Race of Season.

Last night at the track... Held on and didn't get lapped in the first two races of the night. This may not seem like a big deal, but for me when racing with the B's towards the end of the last season, I'd usually get lapped by the end of the second race.
Paceline...first of the season with most of the B riders. Pretty disjointed as far as pace but safe at least.
Race one of the night...Ten or maybe 5? lap scratch. Turn 2 Fran(I think is his name) comes unclipped as he starts to sprint. I thought he was about to go down, somehow he kept it up. Everyone regrouped, an by the time we cranked it back up it felt pretty natural. Finished 9th out of a field of 16.
Second race, unkown distance. Tight group with a few mini breakaways. Bridged a gap at some point. Josh Frank went for a jump and I followed with a good gap on the field, he didn't realize it was me and didn't fall in...Brushed elbows with Bill Thomsen at some point in as polite a way as possible. After the failed break with Josh, it was just me trying to catch back up to the group.
The third and traditionally longest race of the night, I sneaked a point in at lap 20, and didn't have any left in me for the next ten laps, so I hit the infield.
All in all, better then my worst performances of last year, and in fact towards the better end. With a bit of training I could be not getting lapped throughout the whole night by the middle of the season.