FORTUNATELY...the casualty on the track was no rider....but a suicidal squirrel. You would think that they know better since they live on the infield of the velodrome. We were doing a paceline burn-out where the speed of the paceline gets faster and faster until you can't keep up and you 'pop' off the paceline...leaving the fastest people at the end. I think we were still warming up at that point, I was near the front of the group when I saw the squirrel starting to try to dart up the track. We were probably going about 25mph...he had no chance.
I was just glad it wasn't my tire that took him down. One of the bigger guys had the misfortune of being the squirrel killer for the evening but it was probably a good thing that HE hit it and not someone smaller like me...the rider to squirrel ratio was better and more favorable for not causing a crash. The next time around I was pulling the paceline and was a little concerned that the squirrel might be squished into the track or something, but fortunately he had slide down the track and onto the apron. The guys in charge managed to move him and give him a proper burial. Stupid squirrel.
The rest of class was pretty awesome. I'm getting a LOT...A LOT better at holding the tire in front of me, drafting, and getting stronger class by class. It's really awesome to watch my progress. My favorite part of tonight's class was a 5lap motorpaced sprint where the first 4 laps are a motorpaced paceline and then the last lap is a sprint. We had to do this 3x. I hung on the wheel ahead of me really tight, no gaps...after each sprint was able to hop back into the paceline behind the motorcycle and even came in 3rd on one sprint!
I even got a nice compliment tonight...we were discussing speed and one guy said: yea but you are getting stronger. It does kinda hurt whenever you are in the front the paceline.
Awww...I never thought I'd be proud to know that I can put a little hurt into the group when I am pulling the paceline. Funny things to be excited about.
As per usual...i love the track. Nothing more to say here.
4 comments:
i'm pretty sure you have now owned the name rocketpants in the aspect of speed instead of the other ;) great job Roo!
Better you than the squirrel! Glad you're having fun...sounds like a total blast.
Pants you are a track animal!
Granted I hear you on the squirrels it seems they're always gunning for cyclists.
So long little squirrel.
Hello ROCKET!
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