Life Through My Eyes: The First NTC Adventure-Frisco TX- Part 2

THE RACING

Part 1 was all about the travels, yes stressful and never ending. Part 2 is all about the races...... ok and maybe a little entertainment fluff. Duh, this is my blog.

Friday Night

Match sprints, ya, I probably wouldn’t have competed in this event if I was at home, but it was a perfect opportunity to get in some track time and do a couple of leg openers before the endurance racing the next day. We were seeded based on our flying 200. Why did no one tell us to bring an aero helmet for this?! Sprinter newbie’s:/ We ended up 4^th (K) and 6^th(J), so we got seeded with people slower then us for the first heat......... and yes we both won. Unfortunately, we both lost the second, which was soooo frustrating! I just don’t know what I’m doing. Sprinting is mentally challenging. Korina and I were both a little disappointed, but then we had to remember the purpose of this trip. It was not to win the match sprints. It was to contest the NTC endurance events and the match sprints were to be smaller gear leg openers. That they were!

Always a Mishap or Two or Three. We got out of the track late and back to the house around 12pm. We decided to change up the bars before bed since we needed to be up early. Korina over tightened her headset and stripped it. Oh CRAP! Thank goodness for wonderful hosts that worked until 2am calling people, finding parts, setting up a meeting with a mechanic, etc so that we could get everything resolved. I packed up the car and got our food ready for the next LONG day.

Bike building- well trying

Busting out all the tools for Korina's broken headset

Saturday Morning

I woke up STARVING, ate and we headed to the track for the morning IP session. I decided I wanted to be cool too, so I over tightened my front skewer resulting in totally stripping it! The front wheel was so loose I couldn’t ride. I tried to remain calm since the IP was in 2 hours. Thank heaven we arrived early. I found a super nice guy that gave me a new skewer. Yay! Why do these things ONLY happen when we are a couple states away from home? A Wednesday night track race would have been a much better time for a mishap. NOT before my first NTC IP. Ag. To top it off, my name wasn’t even on the start list! I had to run up to the officials and enquire about why I wasn’t on the list. They quickly added me on. Whew, just another thing to deal with. I needed to clear my head. I got on the track for a few efforts and made sure I was comfortable on the bike and in the pursuit bars. I got on the rollers, hydrated, more rollers, stretched, more rollers, hydrated, more rollers, repeat and repeat.........

Korina on Rollers

Me on Rollers.... with my booties before I was told to take them off.

This is what track racing is all about- putting your feet up

The Individual Pursuit. Korina and I somehow kept it together and totally rocked the IP. We didn’t know what a good IP time for the Superdrome was or what our splits should be. We just did as we were taught and rode consistent and smooth as we encouraged and cheered for each other. We ended IP 2^nd and 3^rd at 4:08 and 4:11. We had a few hours before the evening races, so we headed back to the host house and got in the nice ICE pool and ate some lunch.

IP Podium

Pinnacle Poolside

Saturday Night Racing

Korina’s Aunt and Cousin happily greeted us as we returned to the Superdrome for the evening races. It was sooooo wonderful to have some support away from home. We wanted to show off for them in the 250, Points and Elimination.

Flying 250. They flying 250 was a new one for me. I got to practice a bit during the match sprints night, so I knew what to do. It was just a matter of executing that! I finished 3^rd... who knows how. Keith says the only reason why I did well was because it was a “flying” start as opposed to a “standing.” Oh, I did find out that aero booties are not allowed on outdoor tracks. I must have missed that memo. I tried to tell the official that my feet were cold, but he wasn’t buying it in the 90+ degree heat and horrible humidity. Geeee. Can’t give the endurance gal a break.

Points. I just love the Points race. There really isn’t all that much to tell. Korina and I just did a lot of attacking so that we could get gaps on the field to take points. She finished 1^st and myself 2^nd.

Elimination. Oh my. I generally hate this race. I am soooo horrible at it. I attended one of Larry Nolans Elimination clinics a few weeks ago to get a little practice in. I learned a few tricks of the trade. My trick of the trade (not so sure I learned this in the clinic) was to ride the front the entire race. Yes, that IS exactly what I did. I couldn’t complain when Korina got me at the line for 1^st. I was completely satisfied with second and I didn’t have to slow and surge and slow and surge. I just got to ride my own happy pace.

Points and Elimination Podium

(Yes i know this is upside down- Ill fix it later)

The races were over for the evening and we were in serious need of some calories. Before we headed out for Applebee’s I had to demonstrate to Korina’s family the magic of a changing skirt. Well, it was windy. Lets just say the demonstration ended with, “Well, it works at Hellyer.” My love for her family grew to an entire new level when I found out her aunt is a nurse and totally into nutrition and physiology while her cousin loves cats! YAY. It was another late night. We did some hand washing of the Jakroo Hellyer skinsuits and went to bed around 1am.

Sunday Morning

I AGAIN woke up starving a 5:30am. Ag. I even ate a big dinner! A girl can’t sleep with a growling belly. I grabbed a snack and headed back to bed till 8am, and got up to eat again. Haha. We packed our bags and headed for the track! I again tried to be cool..... but this time decided NOT tighten my front screwer before getting on the rollers. Doh! I forgot I had only hand tightneded my wheel when I took it out of the car. It took 20 min of wabbly rollers before I realized it. I swear someone up above was watching over me this weekend. That could have been bad, really bad. Luckly I had survived to compete in the last two races, scratch and 500.

Drying Jakroo skinsuits on our way to the track

Scratch. The scratch race was 40 laps. Korina and I were pretty excited about that. The longer the better! We ended up lapping the field with Lauren Stevens (who rode the TOC TT!) and one other rider. Lauren, Myself and Korina got off the front again taking 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

Scratch Podium

500. Oh the 500... you suck!!!! I suck. I need to work on my standing start for a start. Oh my, I don’t want to talk about it. Korina got 5^th though. We would both really like to get better at that one.

Wrapping Up The Omnium. The races were over. We had competed in 7 events over the course of 3 days. We were pooped. We ended up taking 1^st and 2^nd in both the Matrix Cup Omnium (accumulative overall) and the NTC endurance omnium (IP, Points, Scratch). It looks like I not only need to work on my 500, but my podium pictures. Oh well. After the podium shots I was told by one of the officials that I was needed in the Press Box. I had never been called away to a Press Box before.... Fancy business! I made my way up to the official Superdrome headquarters and met with the race promoter. The weekend races were dedicated to a local teenage girl (Megan) that lost her life too soon in a tragic biking accident. Encased in a large glass frame was a pink jersey with her beautiful young image imprinted on it. The promoter handed it too me and explained that as an omnium winner, my name would be added to the frame in Megan’s honor. I was so honored and touched as I met her father and shook his hand. Tears were brought to my eyes as I gave him my condolences. It was such an emotional moment for me on so many levels.

Overall Matrix Cup Omnium

Photo With Megan Baab Scholarship Jersey

The Rush. The evening wrapped up and Korina and I quickly dismantling our bikes. We packed them away in the Mario cart and headed out on the road. We were low on gas and siri once again gave us a run for our money. We made it to the car rental, missed our first shuttle, couldn’t fit the bike bags in the elevators and had a heck of a time checking our oversized “massage tables” .... nope, didn’t get a discount, but we tried. Darn UNITED. Well, we made it! Sweaty, gross, bike greasy and tired, but we made it!

Lugging these bags around is even more difficult on no sleep and lots of exercise!

Waiting for our "Odd size baggage"

After Keith so kindly picked us up from the airport, he quickly began

checking for travel (aka Jen) damages. I passed!!

Upon my arrival I was completely surprised to find a little

something from a special friend, Sara Clafferty.

Our NTC adventure will continue in Blaine MN for Nature Valley Fixed Gear Classic June 6-8. Maybe next time we will get a batmobile?! For now- signing out - Luigi.