Saturday marked Nick's return to the racing after 5 years, as well as my first experience on the track.

Nick, being a successful young lawyer, showed up with a beautiful midnight black all carbon Colnago C50 track bike - almost too pretty to race.

I had my Cannondale.  And I soon found out that I had a problem - after attempting to put on some of nicks gears, I realized the stock road chain was too narrow and I was out of luck - my 46/16 was way too small to race on.  so I sat, watching my cat 5 points race without me.

Nick's first race was a 9 lap affair, and he took off with the field - looking really strong and fast.  He wasn't able to get good position so finished out of the points - but Nick was back.

With 2 more races, I finally got the bright idea to ride up to the bike shop and get a proper chain and gears - so I did and was back just in time for my race.  I felt rather manly in my new burly chain and big 51/15 gears.  However I'd never rode them on the track and was not warmed up.  9 lap points race – I took off with the front and actually was feeling good and right in the race - until a huge crash took out a
bunch of guys on the bank right behind me.  They restarted, but now I was too timid and lost position - finishing mid pack - at least I wasn't dropped.

Nick, after consulting with kirk, decided to attack his final snowball race right from the start - unfortunately he was boxed in and couldn't attack and lost position.  He tried a move up high – gaining quickly, but was out in the wind too long.  He held on but the field was very fast and couldn't get back to the front.

My last race was an unknown distance affair.  Again I realized I needed to be towards the front with the fast guys.  I grabbed a wheel of the right guy and held if for about 5 laps then suddenly he jumped with
his teammate. I didn't react fast enough, and wasn't able to turnover my big gears quick enough so he and 4 others quickly got a gap on us.  I was in the 3 man chase group and we were gaining but the bell rang and we couldn't catch them.  I ended up 8th - out of the medals, but felt good about my first time on the track.  I need to figure out how to maneuver and grab a good line on those high banks and need to work on some speed - but I think I'll be back to get some revenge.

Nick had the speed and strength to stay with anyone in his field - with his first race out of the way – look for him to start kicking butt.  Especially if he gets some teammates out there to help him in cat 4.

to add to Joel's report ...

First: Hats off to Joel, who had NEVER been on a velodrome before, let alone race in a HUGE field of riders.  He rode aggressively and was certainly strong enough and fast enough to beat those guys ... it all comes down to experience and knowing how to race these races. After the crash .. he got right back in there and mixed it up.  He rocked like thunder in the races ...

As for me, I felt like a rookie all over again.  I did not race with any aggression, nor did I shoot any gaps when i could have.  Although I was boxed in a couple of times, I could have pushed my way out, I was just very tentative and lacked the confidence of knowing how my body and bike was going to react to the speed of the race.  I was hesitant about mixing it up and staying on wheels as the race sped up and slowed down.

As soon as the game starts to slow down in my head, stop thinking, and just race ... I feel like I will be competitive.   I just need someone to bump into me ONCE ... and I will get the taste of blood in my mouth again and then go for it.  It's like a football player saying the game doesn’t start until you get hit once.

Race 1 ... done ...

fool 'em in April ... beat 'em in August!