So I continue to try and recollect what happened the last 2-3 days of our Texas adventure for anyone that really is still interested.
Saturday morning was nasty early and after the short night and not very energetic. This was Chris' day to sprint and he wasn't really feeling fresh after being with me all day and night on Friday.
I was hoping he could rely on his past late night experience and gather up the power for the day. Unfortunately at this level you need more than the will to do things, you need to be rested and fresh because your competitors will be at the top of their game.
Not wanting to put words in Chris' mouth, the end result wasn't what we wanted and after qualifying very high he didn't make it to the finals.
I feel responsible to a certain extent because as my coach, team mate and friend Chris wanted me to have the best Sprint round experience possible and sacrificed himself to help me get my bronze.
I can't say how generous that was on his part, Thanks Chris.
The day dragged on, we got back to the hotel for a short time after stopping for lunch. I needed to try and rest a bit because my points race was scheduled for Sat. night. This was to be my fun race and I felt good that I could do well after all the Peace Coffee Grind race night experience from a few weeks back in MN.
Back to the track and warm up time. I felt somewhat off my game from lack of sleep too but still had high hopes.
As I warmed up, I kept checking the sign in sheet only to find 6-8 entries. What the ?? One of my sprint competitors summed it up for me. Not a lot of my age group wanted to race with a big field. I can't answer why, steep banking, past experiences, I don't know.
We got close to the race and just before the sign in closed with 8 racers, a bunch stepped up and signed in filling the field to about 15?
Roll off the rail and I was near the front thinking about last years race that was hot for the few laps around the sprints but not so much in between. I stayed near the front when a few guys went off and thought I should get up with them, which I did but I brought the whole field with me. From then on the race pace picked up speed and didn't surge like last year. So much for consistency with last year. I struggled during the race ending up in the middle of the pack doing way too much on my own but never getting close enough to gain any points. A few laps to go and I thought I finally would score at least a 4th place on the last lap only to realize some one was off the front I didn't see so, 5th place on the last lap.
I think Dave G. said it best, I was the hardest working racer to not gain any points.
Finishing position I think was 8th overall.
I think I gained some pack respect and leaned some lessons to race another day.
The rest of the night was spent relaxing on the deck watching the other points races for Dan S, Mark S and Andy K. I really should have gone back to the hotel to bed but I really wanted to see how the NSC group would fair in their points races.
I know I should have their results here but I just can't recall them right now. I know they all had very competitive, big fields that were very tough.
I am always impressed by Mark S. strategy and knowledge. Mid race, I think 4 were off the front and about to gain and then did gain a lap. He went off with front with two others, stayed off the front long enough to collect some sprint points before drifting back into the pack, great track sense Mark.
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