We are here and the races are on

Finally a bit of down time to update the TX adventure. It's Wed and we have been here since Monday after noon. Uneventful trip down, easy drive when sharing the load with 2 other drivers. As Chris said, we had the Team sprint rotation on. Pat, does 4 hours, Dan does 4 hours and Chris leads us home with another 4 hours. We drove to Wichita on Sunday and spent the night. Linsey and Andy got there before us because they got out of town a few hours earlier. Chris, Dan and I spent 2 hours with the final "bike coffin" arrangements and packing. I don't think either Andy's car or mine could have fit anything else in with 9 bikes, 5 track and 4 road bikes, all the spare wheels and tires and then of course all the gear required to spend a week away. Every one said basically the same thing; I think I brought to much stuff!
One of my worries was how the little Caliber would tow a packed trailer and haul three guys. Other then the mileage dropping from the usual 30 MPG on trips to 18 to 20 MPG, it wasn't too bad. 18 was still a bunch better than the 4-6 the motor home option would have got us.
Monday was a short drive day, we found the hotel early enough to unpack the coffin, settle in a bit, put the track bikes back together and eventually go to the track for some laps to stretch out the stiff travel legs. The weather was hot, mid to high 90's but not too bad for early evening recovery laps. Andy and Linsey seem to be always ahead of the three of us, left Sunday before us, got to the final hotel before us, got to the track before us, etc, etc. Dan did a road ride instead of a track session so Chris and I were the last 2 on the track. The officials actually asked us if we were ready to leave rather than kick us out. Maybe that's the reason Chris got the nick name Captain Midnight, for late night training. It was a fun night, marred only by me a little when, on my first lap I got dropped off turn 4 right in line with a sponge that was set up to keep riders away from the gate practice. I thumped over it and then got yelled at by the flag man. Oh well, get the stupid stuff out of the way when the track is empty and not too many around to see it. W e eventually made it back to the hotel after a grocery stop. Made dinner around midnight and got to bed late.
The track is the same but a lot different than Blaine. Plywood surface with an epoxy coating that is like a textured surface. Not as abrasive as I expected. You can ride slower in the corners but not too slow as can be attested by a few who slid down trying to push the limit. No major accidents just some bruise egos and some track rash, no slivers though! The transitions into and out of turn 1/2 and 3/4 are more aggressive than Blaine. Tiny infield ride ring, very wide cement apron on the inside of the track to progress onto the track. The blue apron is strange, half is flat and half is banked like the lane. The rest of the facility seems good, I'll have some pics up soon.
Tuesday was a real training day for Chris and me. We slept in longer than we wanted but everyone seemed to need it. The only problem was getting to the track for the hottest part of the day. Back to the regular warm up schedule with some slight adjustments to try and cope with the heat. I finally started to adjust and go faster, pretty close the same times and speeds in my Flying 100 efforts as in Blaine. Chris got cooking right away and did some comparable times which made him feel good too. Dan was out and got laps in to try and get used to the new feel. Of course, Linsey and Andy were there in the morning and were leaving about the time we arrived.
All in all, a good day. Not too hectic on the track so we could actually do Flying efforts without a lot of traffic. Finally out of the track, a stop for dinner and then back to the hotel to try and get to bed a little earlier than the night before, but not by much.
Wed. morning, I wanted to get to and be on the track by 8 for the open session that closed at 9 to do some recovery laps with some traffic to get more familiar with the track. Chris and I were out on the track not much after 8 and each got our half hour in.
Linsey and Andy were there ahead of us but this time had some real reason for being there. Andy was the first racer up of the NSC group, doing a 3K TT, Linsey later was up for a 2K effort.
No suspense, Andy did great and got a bronze medal and then about 4 hours later Linsey went out and did a GREAT race holding off her competitor by .122 of a second to take first overall and be our first National Champion. Her competitor was up almost half a lap half way through the race but Linzilla just kept riding the black line and clawed her way back to the gold.
Congratulations both Linsey and Andy.
Next up is tonight's points race for Dan, 80 laps?
More reports and pictures soon.