fast like cheetah

Alynda said to me last night, "Either I've gotten slower or you have suddenly gotten much faster." I had an amazing finish to a 8 lap scratch race - smoking by the competition and beginning my sprint from corner two. By the time I pulled through the finish line I had 10 bike lengths between me and second place. It was exhilerating.

Then came the Miss N' Out - I can say that I learned alot from Alpenrose. Never ever ever get stuck down in the sprinters lane unless you are the first in line. Otherwise you will be pinched out everytime. I managed to stay up high and draft once we pulled through the finish line to conserve energy for the over the top move. Kit was trying hard to flick and hook Amara and I - as though she had decided to ban against us from the start. Thankfully it didn't work - although there was one occassion when she crossed wheels with Amara and I was so happy that a collusion didn't occur. Taylor, Emily and I duked it out the final lap - I was in front for the neutral and then we had one to go. Taylor drafted behind me, I made a move in corner two and she managed to stay on my wheel and pull around me last minute. Originally they called it for me - and then they reversed their decision and called it for Taylor. It was a tough call. Amara said when someone comes over the top and it's a photo finish they will typically call it for the higher person. lame! It was a great race.

Then lastly we did a 5 mile scratch race. The pace was fast - Teresa had an excellent break away and managed to hold it for the win. I burnt my matches up when we couldn't catch her and I ended up pulling for dear life to catch her. Deb sat on my wheel like a fly on paper - and wouldn't pull. Come to find out later that was her intent the entire time. Some people said they had a hard time staying in the paceline. I was getting frustrated because it seemed no one was willing to do hard efforts to pull her back. I learned I need to distribute the work more and pull 1/4 laps. It was a good way to end the night - I'm actually pretty dang thankful the last one was challenging - because you only learn when you're challenged.

On another note - Dianna Boursaw spoke with Stan Gregg about getting on the Gregg's team. So I spoke with Stan and he insisted that I not be pulled away from my current team - to which I said, don't worry I came to this decision quite some time ago. Plus our team is not a track team or supportive of the track discipline. I suppose I could have worn a different jersey all this time... oh well. He and I are supposed to meet tomorrow to see about additional jerseys to wear down at Nationals and also about my future with the team. I'm looking forward to that conversation.