Track Cycling Primer

(This was written in response to a friend asking me to explain Track Racing during the Olympics.)

About a hundred years ago, bike racing was bigger than unsliced bread. Since every race widow knows that nothing is worse than watching an outdoor bike race pass by once every 45 minutes, people decided to hold these races indoors. It also had the benefit of exposing racers to second hand cigar smoke, which improved their constitutions. Gravity had recently been discovered, and to offset its effects, the banked track was developed.

Dr. Jonas Salk invented amphetamines, primarily used to fuel "six day" bike races, in which competitors rode in circles until nearly all of them died. If spectators got bored, they could watch a 45 round bare-knuckle prizefight on the infield. It was the Golden Age of American Sport.

At some point, civilized people decided that was not a very effective way to kill people, so they invented World Wars, and Six Day Races declined in popularity. Race promoters decided to complicate Track Racing so people could bet on it in new ways.

Before we get much further, it's very important to understand there are two primal types of Track racer: Sprinters and Endurance riders.

Pure Sprinters are actually just weightlifters that have learned to stay upright on two wheels. If you believe the scientists, it's because they have a high number of fast-twitch fibers. Creationists believe they were just born with the legs of a mule.

Everyone else is an Endurance rider. They hate Sprinters because Sprint training consists of hanging around the weight room, eating slabs of chocolate cake, and taking a nap. Then they go to the track and ride for 30 seconds, and rest for an hour. They repeat this 3-5 times.

Endurance riders are not to be confused with your typical Tour de France road racer. A track Enduro - as they call themselves because it sounds tough - goes much faster than their road counterpart. However, it's largely a result of the fact that their bikes that cost about as much as a year of college. Only in Track racing does four minutes count as lasting a long time.

Nonetheless, all of Track racing is set up to make the Sprinter-types face off against the Enduros, in a variety of schemes to keep race officials employed:

Match Sprint
Strictly for the pure Sprinters. It's a three lap race, which about two laps longer than they'd like, so they slow it down and eyeball each other. It's like a game of Chess, which is what people say about a really boring boxing match where neither guy throws any punches until the third round. They all know each other's weaknesses pretty well, so they play games, trying to jam up the other racer, or slow down the race, or escape, etc.

Pursuit (Individual or Team)
Strictly for the pure Enduros. Racers start at opposite points on the track, and try to catch one another, or just finish with the best time. It's more or less a time trial, but since those are about as exciting as watching paint dry, they double the fun and run two at once. It's still pretty boring, unless you're the type who owns multiple skinsuits, and you can tell which one makes you faster.

Keep in mind that only a handful of people are pure Sprinters or Endurance riders, most everyone else is somewhere in between, but they have their natural tendencies that the others want to exploit. The Sprinter types will drop out of any race longer than six laps, but on the way out, they will casually mention their other accomplishments like "I guess I shouldn't have squatted 800 pounds this morning." The Endurance riders are like "lol ur so fat."

The Scratch race
First one to the finish line wins. This sounds straightforward, but it gets complicated. The Sprinters think "let's keep this friendly until the last lap or so" while the Enduros are like "hey look, free cheeseburgers" and they try to escape and get a lap ahead.

Every other race is contrived to get them all to beat the crap out of each other, mostly by putting lots of sprints in races of various lengths. Sometimes the Sprint types can hang in and keep the group together, usually the Enduros try to escape so they only have to sprint against each other. The ones that can't sprint at all try to run off solo, but if they have to sprint, at least it's only against some other racer with arms like sticks of spaghetti. Not all of these events are in the Olympics, but they include, among others:

Points Race
A generally long race, with points awarded four places deep, usually every 10 laps. The losers can go home and brag "yeah, but at least I won the third sprint in the second race."

Point-a-lap
Like a mini points race. This is one of the races where you can suck 65% of the time, finish a lap down, but somehow win.

Tempo
Like the Point-a-lap, but the first racer across the line every lap gets two points, the second racer gets one, and nobody else gets squat. Rewards racers that can keep an eye on who's winning while their heart rate is in cardiac arrest territory. Another race where you can lose every sprint and still win.

The Madison
A race in which two riders take turns racing, while the other slow rolls it around the track. They replace one another in the racing action by swooping down from the banked turns and hand-slinging one another up to speed. Half the time, even the officials don't know what's going on, but, like NASCAR, everyone loves it because it looks like there will be a deadly crash at any moment.

Keirin
Someone got the idea to use a motorbike to get the Sprinters going pretty fast, since they would never work hard enough to do that on their own.

Miss 'n Out
Last one across the line every lap gets pulled. The Olympics calls this the Elimination race, probably because its other name, "Devil takes the hindmost" just sounds dirty.

The Omnium
Some combination of events, for people that can't do any one thing well.

It all adds to a bit of mayhem sometimes, but for the most part, it makes for amazing racing because everyone is trying to take everyone else apart all the time, and it's brutal, and fast. Every once in a while, you get to see a little exasperated hand waving, which is a Track racer's way of saying to the official "I was about to uncork my big move but that guy cost me the race." In reality it means they were pretty much beaten at that point, but sometimes it works.

2011 rebounds

Not much action here anymore, but I figured, what the hell, a little summer wrap-up:

2011 didn't look to be too promising, what with a torn rotator cuff and surgery keeping me untrained for 10 weeks. I played it by ear this year, doing long solo rides, hella intervals, fartlek-on-a-bike, some swimming, and a new one for me: rest and recovery between hard workouts. I guess it worked: I only raced 8 times this year, but the results were pretty good:

-Gravel Metric - win (tie)

-Glencoe - Cat 4 sprint points competition (yeah, it was only a couple of primes, but damn it's a fancy watch)

-Cat 4 State Champ - Points race. That's *my race* and I wanted it more than anything since the SSCX in 2009. I was marked but I took the last 3 sprints FTW. I won both cat 4 races that night, and was the top 4 in the 3/4s race. That's when I started to notice my form was coming on...

-Cat 3 State Champ - Scratch. My first night as a 3 and I won both 3s races! I came looking to work for Jeff, but he ordered me to go for the win myself. He worked them over and made it look easy for me. No disrespect to my fellow racers but the 3s field isn't too deep right now. A couple big dogs have upgraded, and one of the strongest 3s doesn't have a teammate, so Jeff's attacks were particularly effective. Just to bring me down to earth: In the 1/2/3s Points race, I thought I was the baller, getting on Moyer/JT/Whiteman as they established their break...I lasted about 20 seconds.

Felt ok on my first CX race, but I haven't touched the CX bike in 8 months and apparently I've forgotten how to corner in the dirt. I blame all those laps on 20 mm tires at 145 psi.

Onward!

This one time...

I was on this xxx ride on a single speed and this cat rolls in with no helmet and a track bike and he pretty much killed it, riding solo in the wind alongside a thundering pack the whole time. I was like, uh yeah, he's good people, I gotta hang out with this guy.

I ran into this same guy wearing legwarmers at a ChiCrossCup race, a skirt too, because the year before they awarded double points for crossdressing, but I don't think they did that year, but I don't think he cared anyway. He told me to come out for the Tour da Chicago, and that whole thing happened, and I got on a team with this guy.

And one day I leaned on him to race with me at the track and help me out. He hadn't planned on it, and didn't feel like it, but I hassled him and offered to bring him Zipps and give him my prize money. And he came out to race, and it was fun and I won a lot. Andrew Nordyke rules.

one door closes, another one opens

Jaysus what a weekend. The basics:

Masters' Track State Champs. I was targeting the kilo, but not enough to actually try out different gear inches or get some quality advice. I spun out and got second place. arg. Normally I wouldn't be too upset about not winning, but the field was thin and I had lots more in the tank. So I went into the 3k pursuit with a little fire in my belly, but no pacing strategy. Somehow I pulled a 3:59, about a half second up on Chuck Judy. I was convinced he had it in the bag. I would have thought the officials would've grouped us a little more on account of the small field, but hey, 40-44 was almost the same field that 40-49 would have been. Good thing they didn't go totally by the rulebook, or the day would have possibly been rounded to 30+ and Jeff Whiteman would have won everything. It seemed like the big boys stayed home to rest for Nats, and somehow "Masters' 40-44 3k State Champ" just doesn't exactly blow your hair back, but I'll take it.

Meanwhile back in Gotham city, Ella got 2nd in the Chicago Triathlon, out of 152 in her division! Woot! Nearly last out of the water (they really ought to call the kids' ChiTri swim "water-jogging"). 3rd after a killer T1, then grabbed one spot in the run. The winner was even in sight, but with a little too much ground to make up.

Lang did his first 'real' soccer games, and man, trial by fire: 4 games in two days, in the heat, and up against some psycho suburban teams. He got a hefty plaque. I'm proud of him. He was working hard and having fun, and just givin' er. Soccer gets so little ink in this family, and he had a couple of great moves, a header or two, a couple reverses. Awesome.

Relay cross: I was slated to partner with Jannette, but after her crash, I got a shot at racing with Ella for the first time. She was a little spooked by the triple-bend/harbor drop/couch madness, but started to shine mid-first lap. The whirlpool taught her how to lean into the turns more than I'd been able to. We somehow finished 35th of 50, but more importantly, I had the best time ever at a cross race, and that's saying something. She was slightly shell shocked for a while, but she's definitely down for doing more cross. Hup! Hup!

Mom was domestique to the stars. Gotta go serve her up a vacation.

1,000 words

summer marches on

I followed up my 5-event night in K-town with a good old fashioned parking lot crit. Fortunately, the lot is in the shadow of Soldier Field (on Bastille Day, no less), and without gas money and a cross-state drive, everyone comes out a winner, even if there is pretty steep pricetag for this one. We're not doing a lot of road stuff this season, so it was rare to have a big squad out there. We daydreamed of delivering Jannette for the win, but the pace was hot and little gaps came everywhere in the field.

The legs were shattered so I wanted to add to the team cause early, laying down a hard pace. Turned out that a couple more gifted and rested (cat 1) cyclocrossers did the work for me, so I just did my best to stay near the front. I went all in for a t-shirt prime and with that, I was ready to punch the clock on my camera time. Luckily Jefferoi Perkuins was nearby and moved up to third wheel.

I knew I was to be dropped, so I let it happen slowly, over a couple trips into the wind on the back stretch. At least make a couple of legs suffer to close that gap. Max and Mike came around in one of those swarms, and they did a little soft-pedaling near the front, and with that, Jeff was In The Break.

Amazing, I tried to make a break happen 27 times last summer. Jeff races two crits a year and gets in one.

No fancy tricks, just plain old wheelsucking, and bam, he attacked with half a lap remaining, and took the win. He wouldn't post up or even write it up, but fortunately a picture means a thousand words.

Andrew followed up by killing the 'virtual' one mile climb up Mt. Ventoux in under 4 minutes, the record of the day by nearly 40 seconds. Nico's first road race. Daryl's our good luck charm, he races about three times a year, and we seem to win on the days he shows up. Sadly we'll have to relocate to keep that streak up, as he's about to move to Stockholm. Good times overall.

Fast forward to Kenosha, for my last little track tune up before the three day Allvoi Cup.

eh.
cat 4 unknown = 3 laps total. Lame. I tried out this thing I've heard about, "patience" they call it - it backfired, and I finished in shitth place.

Masters' 4/5 unknown = ONE lap. As in, blow the whistle, ring the bell. Super lame, but at least my premeditated attack looked clever and I held off for third.

Cat 4 Snowball - Brian and I got a gap and I tried to give this one to him (I wanted his help in the mini-main event), but he faded and I took top points in the laps seven and eight. Win.

Mini-main race: pfffft. I was tied for first coming into the final points lap and I screwed the pooch. I was the only one attacking, and it seems like there are a half a dozen Kenosha teens that love to sit in. Our three man break would grow back to six or so, and nobody would even take a decent pull. I should've been a bit smarter in the last couple laps, but as a wiser man once said: Racing is a battle between who you are and who you want to be.

Recent Results Roundup

Cat 5s got a couple of races on Thursday night at Northbrook a couple weeks back. I was two days off my hat trick at Kenosha and was hoping to keep the streak alive. I cleaned up the 6 lap Tempo, getting top points three times and maybe a second place to seal the deal.

I wasn't crazy about my chances in the scratch, but I was in a great spot with three to go so I told Brian 'youngblood' Ellison to grab my wheel and just laid it down. Turns out he got squeezed out by the big man, mister David Jones, and with his teammates soft pedaling we had the gap. I gotta get better at watching what's behind me, as I just dragged him around for an easy win. Still, I won the 'omnium' and he's a good guy and sometimes you like to see a good guy get a win.

A week off then back to K-town for my debut as a 4. It wasn't *too* much different, but the events weren't my style. I played the Danish by ear and got third, which is exactly the best I could've hoped for, given the competition. I was feeling sluggish in the Masters' 4/5 miss n' out and it showed. I was the victim of a rotten call and got pulled early, but mostly it made me realize that I need to stop being lazy and swap cogs for that event.

I jumped into the 30+ unknown and rode at 101% MHR for half the race. Holy shit. Kinda covered about 65% of the dangerous moves, and was close to staying out with a guy at one point, but died on the vine, and naturally, there went the bell. I hung on for 6th. Turns out it's only for 3s or better. I suspected that but wanted to try it out nonetheless, and they didn't stop me.

The 4s miss n' out was two heats later and I was forgettable, pretty much telegraphing my doom a few laps in.

I had been looking forward to the mini-main, a 25 lap points race, and was feeling a little bummed to have burned so many matches already. Spencer, a Baraboo shark who schooled most of us at the Iowa state champs, was there. He pretty much rode away and only two of us could really put in a chase. I wasn't feeling great but it turned out everyone else was feeling worse by the third sprint. I somewhat-inadvertently pulled Nico into some points while I was trying to chase the leader and when he faded I jumped and rode solo into a couple sets of second place points, and finally caught Spencer. He hawked me for the prime and the final points, but that wasn't too surprising, and I was happy to come home with second. Well, sorta happy. Not to play the sandbagger card, but if you can ride solo off the front for 80% of a 4/5 race, I think you might be ready for the 3s. Not that I mind though, I think it's good to have it a little tougher for everyone.

A decent night all around. Jeff went up a lap (again!) in a hundred lap points race, Nordyke was looking healthy and strong, finishing 10th, and all the 4/5s that rode the Cuttin Cruiser hit the podium. (It should be said that my Masters race and the main event were likely a bit easier on account of some big guns being out for Superweek.)

Tonight: Soldier Field crit on Bastille Day! With five teammates! This should be interesting the day after five track events, as in HR = max, watts = lame.

batting .750

I'm starting to find social media a little vainglorious, but I started this thing, and come this far, so I may as well celebrate on my little corner of the Internet: Last night in Kenosha, I won three straight races! Yeah, it's only an upgrade to cat 4, but I wasn't sandbagging, I promise! I asked about it last week and they said...we'll see.

Cat 5 500 M chariot: Pole spot, Al Urbanski as my holder, giving me advice. Wire to wire out front. This is not an event I ever expect to win in higher categories.

Masters' 4/5 Points race: A couple of stupid attacks, then a couple of better-timed attacks to get 2-3 of us on a break. I was tied with the stronger of two breakmates on points, and with under 3 to go, he finished his pull and I attacked, and stayed away for the win.

Cat 5 Points race: Kind of the same story. Two of us escaped, traded pulls, fairly even on points, so I took top points once and for good measure, escaped with a couple to go to take the final batch.

They called me over the loudspeaker to the table, and the field went "ooooo" like I was called to the Principal's office. I thought, uh was I a little squirelly in the sprinter's lane or something? but no, they informed me I'd just done my last race as a cat 5. First time I've been upgraded like that. Finished the night getting 3rd in the 4/5 scratch, and spent my winnings on a Washington Park Velodrome T-shirt and a cheeseburger. Good times in Wisco.

Good Times, Mediocre Times

There were a lot of racing options this weekend. Oddly, the weather looked like two of them would get rained out, but the OTHER one got dumped on. I think all velodromes should have a semi-permanent cyclocross course on hand, the first drop of rain and they shut it down, and your pre-race gameplan is all for nought.

Friday night racing at Northbrook: I'm still working on 10 starts for my upgrade, so I made it out for the first 'official' Friday night. Lightly attended with 14 elites and four juniors, but hey, it's still racing.

Five lap Tempo: I think I got top points three times, including the last lap, plus a second place and a prime. Win!

Unknown: Hassled the field with a solid tempo, attacked for a prime and stayed out for three laps around the 12 lap mark. Ring that bell! They didn't. I got caught. THEN they rang the bell. Salvaged it to come around to 3rd place.

20 lap points race: I took top points every time, and both primes. Game over.

I won the Omnium and walked away with $35. It's been a while since I've come out ahead at a race. It's also been a while since that cat 5 season when I came home with a prize for the kids almost every time, so it's nice to do that again.

Saturday, Ella opted out of Sherman Park and so did I. She wasn't at full energy, the weather was shaping up to be crap, and frankly, she wasn't really jazzed at the prospect of riding another TT as the only ten-year-old girl in the field, especially after they started a single 10-18s field at Monsters. Can't say I blame her. We'll find some appropriate competition for her one of these days.

Sunday was the Iowa Track State Championships (held in Kenosha, the closest track). I wasn't at full strength, but it was a solid day of firsts nonetheless. First flying 200: 13.62. First Kilo: 120:2. First 4k Pursuit: 5:38. First 'sanctioned' Match Sprint: 4th/8. First 'long' Points race: 60 laps! My times were thoroughly mediocre, but I finally got to clock some laps in the x-wing bars, a bit jarring on the fast bumpy track up there.

I won a solid match sprint, then went against Jeff, which was awesome, but I couldn't really imagine under what circumstances I could win. I attacked at the whistle...nope, he reeled me in. Thought about razoring, but he pushed me uptrack, bumping elbows at 20+ mph. I didn't really know what I was doing but I figured he was trying to school me on how the big boys do it, so I bumped back. Then he just ditched me with 200 m to go.

The points race was a bloodbath. 60 laps and maybe 7-8 riders. Lots of attacks, nowhere to hide. Technically it was a 3/4/5 race but Liam is practically a cat 2 in two disciplines and one of the racers was 50+, so there just wasn't anywhere to sit in, though Jeff hung back and helped me out for points when I lost the front of the race. I was hoping to just ride Liam's wheel for second, but this Iowa junior (and de facto State Champ) was sweeping up second place points. My attacks to drop him didn't pan out and I rode myself out of it. I finished third.

The junior, 50+, and organizer were the only Iowa residents so all three went home with medals. One little bonus: so many medals went unawarded, that two Silvers turned up laying around on the infield, so the kids did score a couple of souvenirs after all.

and on Tuesday there was Track

And it was good.

First sanctioned track event, not too bad, racing 5 & Masters' 30+ in Kenosha. Highlights:
Qualified for the Kilo Sprint final in 2nd
3rd in the the Kilo Sprint Final
Win in the Masters' 30+ 4/5 unknown distance! (uh yeah, pretty small field, but still, it was a win, and I played it pretty well if I say so myself. Attack, counter, repeat, get lucky and hear the bell while I'm out front with a gap.)

Kinda cooked but still plenty of attacks in the 4/5 unknown, I don't really remember. I probably attacked a lot but ended up doing too much work. Story of my life.

Consolation 20 lap scratch: Started kinda patient, chased down a two man Pegasus break halfway through. Dragged the field around and got swarmed in the sprint, in large part because I mistook the lapping leader's bell for our own. Oops.

Still fun. I spent a good 20 laps throughout the night pulling, mostly in vain. Makes for a good workout, but not great results. Still, it's early in the season, and the legs felt good. We'll see.

Velo-City 5

This is becoming my favorite event. I picked up a Roadie magazine around 5 years ago with a rundown of the first one, simply put: Messengers Hit the Track. It's grown to a nationwide series thanks to Squid and CycleHawk, but it's still kind of a 'get to know ya' event for riders who have never put their mad skillz around the banks of a velodrome. It's free (you even get a free tube, so you come out ahead) and as long as you don't simultaneously drink and race, raucous behavior is encouraged. It's still 'real' racing, but it's a welcome break from the usual scene. This year my team hosted the event at Kenosha's Washington Park velodrome, with separate divisions for messengers and citizens.

I wasn't expecting too much, as this only was my second actual track event, but I came away with zipka last year, so I wanted to show stronger than that. When I saw four Pegasi in my field, I thought, great, they're gonna have all kinds of plans. Add in the fact that last year's messenger winner, Al Urbanski, wasn't eligible for the messenger field, and it looked like trouble: a cat two and two cat threes (Ted Burger & Andrew Yeoman) in my field.

The schedule included match sprints (top two advance in the first couple rounds, then 1v1 for the last two), a 10 lap scratch, and a 20 lap points race. There was also an open/exhibition miss & out.

I got through the first round of two-lap match sprints, then drew Burger and Yeoman. I had a plan for going against a stronger, more experienced rider, but not against TWO. I didn't select a very smart lane, faked, went uptrack, and got to bumping elbows with Burger. I knew we were way too focused on each other, and I should have said something to Ted because Yeoman was just sitting back watching us play games. He took off with 200 to go and it was over. Ted was the only one with either the power or the position to get him. eh, not my kind of event anyway.

The scratch was ok, I knew the field would sort itself out so I tried to be patient. In the sprint, Al Urbanski was gone, Burger was chasing him, Jake Blaze (a fellow cat 5 :) had been third wheel but couldn't match those two, so my race was to outkick him for third. I had it in the bag and at the last second Yeoman flew past me, but not in time. Whew. That'll teach me to pull up when I think I have my man. He came out of nowhere, and I thought he had me for sure.

I was *really* looking forward to the 20 lap points race. I don't start too hard, and I don't really have a true sprinter's finish, but I love to suffer in between. I had a plan. Unfortunately I got boxed in three laps in and fought my way out in the wind just in time to get swarmed on the first points lap. I was almost DFL but was biding my time anyway (a little too much biding in retrospect). I set about leapfrogging 2-3 riders at a time to get up there. Team Pegasus more or less took the first batch of points, then Al attacked. Burger, Blaze, and scraps of Pegasus became the lead group. They realized what Al was doing and started chasing. It was kind of a blur for me because I just chased for lap after lap. I almost had them at 10 to go but they ramped it up again for the points lap. At five to go, same thing, but they sprinted later and rested faster, seemingly content to just let Al go. I caught them easily, and I wasn't really feeling great. I didn't want to get up there just to get burned on the final sprint so I just rode through. I don't know how but I BLASTED through and I heard "What? Where did HE come from?" Ted was just finishing a pull and I thought for sure Yeoman would get my wheel but I looked back and saw nobody.

Four to go and I'm chasing Al. Trevor Rolette, (a junior from ADT, and Al's new teammate) had been motopacing earlier and had jumped into this race, gotten dropped, and now Al was pacing him so he could stay only one lap down. I caught them just in time for the final lap. Al went, Trevor couldn't match it, and I hammered to finish within about a length of Mister Urbanski (of course I was "sprinting" and he was looking over his shoulder holding me off). Even though I only scored three measly points for 17 laps of work, that was my favorite part of the day. I think I found my favorite track event. Hard to believe it was only a four mile race, it took me longer to write it up than to race it.

The miss & out was open to mess and nonmess, for no omnium points. Only 11 people opted in as it was late in the day. Al drilled it at the front, I was going to take turns with him, but Burger came up and did it for me. I still had a tankful when it was down to five of us. Jake started to come past me and I was boxed in and Brian Ellison came around the outside so I got 5th. Just a brain fart there, plus I'm still a bit nervous on the track, so I don't glance back as much as I ought to for this kind of race.

Good times. I was hoping not to get hawked here and there by a couple of experienced cat four riders, and I mostly didn't. The final standings in non-messenger were: Al Urbanski, with Ted and Andrew tied for second, and me in fourth. I'll take that. Blaze was the dark horse of the day, you'd never know it was like his second day of track racing, and he finished just behind me in fifth. Should be an interested summer, if I can just convince my bones to get used to midweek night racing.

training weekend

Or, more accurately, coaching weekend. Highlights included watching my eight-year-old daughter thread the needle on her new road bike.

Highly anxious moments included watching my eight-year-old daughter thread the needle on her new road bike.

However, in no time, she was drilling nose wheelies, skitching tows, and telling cars to get their driving balls back. Kidding aside, she is totally capable of riding miles in traffic (taking the sidewalk when it's smarter to do so) without my input. It's a beautiful thing. I had to move the tag-along over to a ss road bike, so her brother and I could keep up. Another highlight was having him as a stoker, feeling him kick it up a hill so we could beat her.

In other news, my wife finally did the women's track clinic at the Velodrome, two years after offhandedly opting in. For those of you not in on the joke, my daughter asked mom why she didn't race on Friday nights. Mom replied "why not?" - not really caring one way or the other, but mostly wanting to show her that it's fun to try new things, to race, even if it's all a little intimidating. Of course, that's all I needed to start building up a track bike. A long-lost friend of hers, who had messengered in Chicago ten years back, heard this and gifted her a Campy Record pursuit tubular wheelset (coincidentally built by Marcus), with the only condition "that she race them." So that's how she ended up with the nicest track bike in the family.

And the only one to hang in the basement, unridden for two years. And by unridden, I mean "never borne the pressure of a human on the saddle."

I'm not giving her grief on the subject, since it's about twelve thousand times more difficult to be supermom than it is to be me (especially being supermom in a family that has me in it, who practically counts as one of the kids, but with a salary). She missed a couple women's clinics in the meantime, until this last weekend.

Six tattooed and pierced women in their 20s, two experienced roadies in their 30s, and my wife. I should point out that she's so busy being supermom that she takes about one bike ride per year, in a triathlon. She half-jokingly introduced herself as "I don't know anything about this, I'm just here because my husband built this bike and told me to come to the clinic. He told me to get a picture to make sure I wasn't running off to get a pedicure." She got the impression that some of the tattooed ladies were rather scornful of the subservient picture she painted. If they only knew that she's the Generalissimo around here, and she signed up solely to be a role model for her daughter. Tattoos don't make you tough, ladies, try being Supermom.

I half expected her to come home terrified from her first fixed gear experience. In short: loved clocking laps, not so crazy about the racing. Partly because she doesn't feel particularly conditioned at the moment, but also because she didn't come to prove anything, unlike many of her classmates. She enjoyed the team pursuit a lot more than the miss and out. However, she informed me that she's still planning on following through with her promise; she is going to race some Friday. Two more weeks until opening night!