Keirin

Having tried 90” I geared way up to 92.5 (48×14). Took second wheel on the motor from Brennan in the first heat. Millar and Licatessi tried to ride the outside but couldn’t match Brennan’s razor when the motor pulled off. I launched hard at the 200 after the bell and won by about 2 bike lengths. For the final I drew right above Milroy and hopped right on his wheel (3rd). Andreas rode the outside with Millar right behind him. Couldn’t find my way around early enough since riders were stacked 3 high on the bell lap and held on to 4th. A little disappointing for such a good first heat, but still a placing. The higher gearing felt great.

Scratch

Marked Milroy and basically sat on his wheel the entire race. Tim took a 10 lap flyer that a few of us slowly reeled in at which point Ted V took off and got a trivial gap. Lap cards were winding down though and Milroy looked a little annoyed that we might not close it soon enough. I unfortunately got stuck with the final pull to bring back Ted. Mateo launched a well time attack at this point, figuring I wouldn’t/couldn’t chase. This is just when Milroy got behind me. He was able to follow and I was not. I died in the pole with 1 lap to go. Rode the entire race very well, but the second I let Milroy out of my sights it was game over. I probably worked too hard and should have taken “polite” pulls rather than “honest” pulls. Major props to MAO for a successful attack from a lap and a half even though he got relegated.

Miss & Out

Smaller field for this one. I played it pretty conservatively and sat toward the front for the first five laps. Felt myself getting boxed in so I rotated down through the bottom at the 200m line for the next 3 laps and marked a rider to box in at each sprint. Worked perfectly but it left me with little left for the 3-up sprint. Beth and Tim didn’t have to work during the 4th place sprint but I was still gassed and when Beth launched from Tim’s wheel I couldn’t follow.

Madison

First time. I couldn’t seem to get the exchange down very well during the practice and I totally screwed up our first four or five exchanges, but then Mateo and I kind of got the hang of it and got into a good rhythm. I kept trying to fling with my arm bent or outward, but as soon as we got really close and kept our arms mostly straight for the fling it started to work. The exchanges make a huge difference. We started out slow and basically only lost a lot of ground (down a lap and a half) during the first 10 laps. Then for the remainder we kind of just held our position relative to everyone except Nole and Nick Harter. Tons of fun and excited to do it again.

Overall: 4th in Omnium. Mice rounding out the podium