track TTs

So Today I went to Hellyer for Track TTs. I was kind of nervous cause this was the first time I was riding my new bike at the track, and the first time I was doing time trials ever! The organizer, Warren, was really helpful beforehand and gave me some good advice about gearing, what to bring, and what events to try.

First, let me say this (i'll explain later):

• Track riding is so much fun!!!!
• Track people are so nice!!!
  

I was a bit nervous before my 200m cause they said my handle bars were loose, so someone tightened them. Then before the 500m, Keith was nice enough to tighten my headset and make sure I was safe. I really, really appreciated that! It was also cool to see Joe Fineman, cause I had met him in the fall when I was riding with the Duros. He gave me some good advice and yelled at me during my races. Also, there was this super nice women, Cece who gave me a bunch of pointers before the events and afterwards. She was especially great because she gave me one thing to think about for each event and was so nice! I also met some other people from Oakland, some of the Montano Velo track team, and a guy who builds frames in West Oakland. The organizer, Warren, was also so nice. Now I am just rattling on about people, so I'll get to the actual events.

I did three events: 200, 500, and 2000. I had no clue what to expect or what to do- so I'll just give you my ill-informed analysis.

Flying 200- I wasn't up to top speed at the start, so I needed to accelerate both sooner and faster. Also, I didn't take a great line off the banking and need to stay higher longer. I had a 14.56, so that seemed pretty good to me.

500m- Standing starts are hard. In fact, my arms are still sore today from them. It took me awhile to get up to speed and I need to work on that. My time was 43.99 (yeah, that .01 seconds!). I think I'll like this event a lot if a work at it.

2000m-The first lap was hard, those standing starts killed me. I had no clue how to pace this, so what I did was just count to 8 a couple of times of lap and tried to make sure my pedal strokes didn't slow down. I was pretty surprised this actually worked well. My first lap at 34+ seconds, and then the rest of my laps were 30-32, so I was pretty consistent. I finished tired, but think I could have went some faster. I had a 3:10, and I definitely want to break a 3:00.

All in all, I was pretty happy! I came in 3rd in all my events, but that doesn't really mean much. What I really want to do is improve next time I do them. Track is fun and I am excited to ride faster and learn more!