Learning is Frustrating

I raced on the velodrome again tonight.  There were 2 races that I had never done before, unknown distance and 2 lap.

For the unknown distance, I tried to stay up front so I didn't get boxed in.  There were like 11 in our field.  I raced really aggressively, probably too aggressively.  It also ended up being really long; 10 laps.  I think I attacked 3 times during the race, and in the end, I just didn't have enough left, and I got 3rd.

Next was the 2 lap race.  I had never even seen one of these races before, and I was in the first heat.  Here, I learned that 1 is not a good number.  I drew #1, so I was in the first lane closest to the inside.  At first, I thought this was good, but now I see it's not so good.  Erin gave me a really good push.  I stayed low, basically pulled the whole race, and got boxed in going around the final corner.  I was pretty sure I got 2nd because I heard the other girl swear when I passed her, but they had me in 3rd, so I didn't move on to the finals.  

Last was the 4x4.  Here, I did better.  I won the first 2 sprints and I got 3rd in the last 2.  I got really tired in the middle, and I couldn't go much faster for the last two sprints.  It was really, really cold by this point.  I had arm warmers, leg warmers, and 2 jackets on right before the race.  Let me remind you that it is July.  

There were 2 crashes last night (not in my races).  There have been a lot lately, at least one at every night I've watched.  I like track, though, because the officials yell at people for causing crashes.  In road racing, the officials don't do much to minimize crashing. 

Busy Week

Things are getting better.

Our company won an IDEA award, which I guess is pretty prestigious.  We were in the sports and entertainment category.  The other product that won in our category was a waterproof vibrator.  Lots of jokes ensued.   

Yesterday we went to watch the FSA grand prix.  I was going to race, but when I heard about all the big guns racing, I talked myself out of it.  There was a nasty crash in the cat 3 scratch race.  It seems like people always lay on the ground for a long time when they crash on the track.  Crashing disc wheels also sound absolutely awful.

Speaking of crazy crashes, check this out! Keirin Crash 

Yesterday, we went sailing on the sound.

There are a lot of sailboats at the shilshole marina!  We went with a guy Erin knows from work.

Mountains.  They are hard to take pictures of.
You can faintly see Mt. Rainier in the distance.
The city from across the sound.

it's back

with patience, my desire to race has returned. and here...we...go.

Animated Star Wars and Broken Tibias

i used to take 16mm film classes through cleveland institute of art.  this was about 6 or 7 years ago.  we always used to joke about how george lucas uses so much CGI, he would make movies without actors if he could.  movies with just CGI.  well, it appears that day has come.

we saw batman last night.  i was really excited about seeing it, but the second the actual movie started, i got really, really tired, and i could hardly stay awake.  i honestly don't really know what happened towards the end. :(  really, though, the joker was the only appealing thing about the movie.  i'm not really into the whole batman thing.

also, i think i'm going to do some of the FSA grand prix.  we'll see how that goes.  i'm a little nervous just thinking about it, but a $14,000 purse prize? gotta tap that.

i should also mention that the surface of my knee is still numb from my crash at cone azalia.  i made a very professional diagram to illustrate what is numb based on the picture i took right after the race.  i'm pretty convinced that i chipped off some of my tibia because it's still sore when i press on it.  but today, there was progress; the numb part of my leg felt itchy.  maybe the feeling will come back.

things i learned:

-going 41 mph on a bicycle looks really slow on a helmet cam.  it's quite disappointing. 

-i usually don't make it to the thursday night velodrome practices; thursdays at work tend to depress me, so i tend to just go home.  

-pygmy hedgehogs are expensive, and they live for up to 6 years.  that's too much of a commitment for me, i think.  i'll keep it in mind.

-it takes a long time to paint an apartment building.  they have been power-washing and painting for at least 2 weeks, and they still have at least a week to go.

Wednesday Night Racing

Well, tonight I moved up to the somewhat bigger leagues.  I raced with the cat 4 women in the Wednesday Night Racing.  Wednesday racing is a lot better than Monday; there is actually an announcer and music.

 I wasn't feeling competitive today because I had a long day at work and after battling the 520 traffic going to Redmond, the last thing I wanted to do was race.  520 is like a bastard child; sometimes i like it because it's fun to drive on, but it's a shameful sort of love.  That makes no sense, but neither does the traffic on 520.  I got there late, registered right as it was closing, and warmed up quickly, but was still unmotivated.  I have a tendency to "tow fatties" according to my Michigan teammates when I'm unmotivated.  

We started out with an 8 lap point-a-lap.  I don't really like point-a-laps because I seem to be pretty good at getting 2nd place, but I suck when it comes to getting first.  I'll have to work on that. 

I think I won a few points in the point-a-lap, but I don't remember.  Next we did an 8 lap win n out (first person to cross the line on lap 4 wins, 1st on lap 5 gets 2nd, down to lap 8 which scores the rest).  This Canadian girl who seems to win everything around here won, and I got 2nd.  I seem to be really good at getting 2nd to Canadians (but getting 2nd to Julie, the collegiate national crit champion was totally acceptable in my book ).

Lastly, we did a 4x4, and I got 2nd a bunch of times.  I might have won once, but I don't remember.  I'm also really good at forgetting my results immediately.  Overall, it was fun.  It's interesting that I can still race well considering that I haven't been riding my bike much at all (3 rides per week, tops). 

First week: Survived

I survived my first week of work!  I am tired.  

Yesterday was fun.  Our office won free Jamba Juice, so we made a trip to University Village to get lunch and Jamba Juice.  This ended up taking 2 hours, and we missed our PR meeting. Oops.  The Jamba Juice is right next to the Apple store, and it was crazy seeing the lines!

I rode my bike to work twice this week.  It's only 4 miles, which is good.  If it was longer, I probably wouldn't want to do it.  

I really want a pygmy hedgehog.  Actually, I want 2 so I can name them Sonic and Knuckles.  Aren't they so cute??  I first saw them on digg a few months ago.

A means to an end?

I started my new job today.  I spent most of the day adding people as friends to the company facebook account.

As wonderful as this may sound, it's a little depressing.  Also, apparently there is a limit to the number of friends you can add in one day.   I reached it today.

After work, I went to Marymoor to do some track racing.  This week went better.  I switched my gearing to 48x14, which was much better.  I always seem to screw up the point-a-lap, but I won the scratch race.  After that, I got moved up to the mens "group 2" race, which is basically cat 5 men who are moderately fast.  

With the cat 5 men, I did a 3x3, and they were much slower than I expected.  This group health girl also got moved up, and we broke up the field pretty well - there were only 4 of us left for the final sprint.  She tried to help me go for the win, but one guy jumped going into the final turn, and I just didn't feel like going that early.  Instead of making myself sprint, I lazily sat there for a few seconds and by the time I started going harder, I couldn't catch him.  I ended up in 3rd.  Now I get to move up to Wednesdays! 

48x16 / i need a harder gear

Last night was my first evening of track racing.  We did a 5 lap point-a-lap, 5 lap scratch, and 3x3 points.

I quickly learned that I need a harder gear ratio.  My bianchi came with 48x16, and I got 2nd in every single race because I couldn't accelerate fast enough.  It was really frustrating.  There was another girl racing who was pretty fast, and every time she accelerated, I would take twice as long to catch her.  I just had no chance.  I couldn't attack her either because she could accelerate faster to catch me.

It was also frustrating because the officials and some of the other racers kept commenting on my pedal stroke and saying that I need to stop bouncing so much.  I can appreciate constructive criticism, however I knew that I was really bouncing because I was spinning too fast.  Once people realized that my gear was too easy, everyone and their brother came up to me and told me I needed a harder gear.  I knew this last week after the keirin simulation, but I just haven't had a chance to get one.

Track racing is weird.  I'm used to shifting into a hard gear and stomping out the joules/second to win a sprint.  That doesn't work, and it's interesting how the accelerations are a lot more gradual than they are on the road.  It's not the same kind of explosive power.  Maybe this is more due to my gearing, though.  My legs were spinning so fast, and there was no anaerobic work going on like there is when I do stomps or flat sprints on a road bike.

All in all, it was fun and a good learning experience.

Otherwise, the waiting game continues.  I'm waiting to hear back from two companies, and I should know if I got a job by tomorrow. Either way, it would be fine.  A fun job making little money vs. a hard job making lots of money.