Ok folks, Fixed Gear Classic (FGC) in Blaine, MN was stop
number two for Korina and I on the NTC.
I am going to keep this one short because in less then 3 days we will be
back at it and on our way to Indianapolis IN. Therefore, I don’t have tons of time to talk nonsense.......
OK, actually I have tons of time for that. I’ll just cut the racing part short.
The Travel: We departed SFO late Wednesday night and took a
red eye over to Cleveland, Ohio.
The flight was full (why?!) Anyway, little to no sleep was had. That was rough because I was up at 5 am
and worked a 10-hour shift prior to boarding the plane. Generally I hate layovers, but the
napping on the CLE airport floor was the highlight of my night.... sleep! We boarded our plane for Minneapolis, MN
and luckily no one was on it.
Korina and I both took up a row of seats and went to sleep! As soon as we arrived to MSP we grabbed
our oversized bags and met our awesome shuttle driver/tour guide extraordinaire
Adam. We weren’t too exciting
since we had been up all night. He
took us straight to the National Sports Center (NSC) dorm. After a little power nap, we built up
the bikes and tested out the NSC Velodrome. LOVE IT. It’s a
beautiful 250m wooden outdoor track.
We met up with Lindsey who had helped us a ton in the previous weeks
with getting travel details worked out.
She got us some rollers and took us to target to stock up on some
food. This time Korina and I spent
20 bucks each at the Super Target. We had left all of our money at that
natural food store in TX, so SUPER Target was!
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| Testing out the post flight legs |
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| Korina checking out the rail. |
Our Racing Schedule:
Thursday
20
lap Scratch- FUN
60
Lap Points- FGC Endurance Omnium/NTC
Friday
20
Lap Win and Out- FUN
40
Lap Scratch- FGC Endurance Omnium/NTC
Saturday
Miss
and Out- FGC Endurance Omnium
Team
Sprint- FUN
40
Lap Scratch- NTC (replaced Madison)
Just to clear up the importance of each race........ The Fun
races were low pressure and just plain fun. Granola bars and sweatshirt prizes were at stake. Results of the FGC races were tallied up to determined the overall winner of the FGC Omnium. Prize money and PR is the
incentive. The NTC races count
toward the overall USAC NTC endurance standings. ALL races...... are great training!!
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| Korina and I representing Hellyer (yes- mine is the retro version) |
There wasn't much time to rest, because racing was on tap for Thursday night. Luckily we had taken several power naps and felt ready. First up was the 20 lap scratch race. This was a great leg opener for the
points race that was to be held later in the evening. Korina had gone out on a solo attack with about 5 laps to
go. The field never got anything
going, but a few riders did some IP’s to catch. Kate chased, followed by myself, and Shelby. I was able to catch Kate and sit on her
wheel until we made contact with Korina.
At that time Shelby had made contact, the group was now 4 and I made an
attack. I was able to hold to the
finish with two to go for the win.
I won a sweet sweatshirt........ it was cold, so that was great!
Haha. The points race was fun and
fast. Korina is always an
aggressive rock star in the points race and took 2nd just behind Cari Higgins.
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| The sweatshirt I won was a large, but it fits Keith well. Mahoney likes to fur it up:) |
After the racing a BBQ was held for the riders. By the time we arrived, the sprinters
had already gotten to the beer, as their events were earlier in the
evening. We may have missed the
beer, but we didn’t miss the food.
We were sure to stack our plates high; head back to the dorms and hit
the shower! I think we went to bed
at 1am. It had been a looooooooong
48 hours.
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| Post Race Jakroo Hotness |
Friday racing was again in the evening, so I slept till
10!! Oh that felt great! I strolled
across the street and enjoyed a soy latte and fruit parfait at Caribou
Coffee. I spent the rest of the
day hydrating, riding the rollers, reading, and facebooking-(is that a
word?!) The line up for the night
was a W&O and 40 lap scratch race.
The W&O turned out to be a 29 lap race for me as I was the 5th
rider out (ie 5th place). The scratch race was of course fast and
fun again, only with an even more competitive field then the one the previous
night. Korina and I both stayed
with the front group for the bunch sprint finishing 4th and 6th. The racing ended late that night and
everything was closed. Korina and
I huddled around our dorm room floor eating carrots, crackers and hummus for
dinner.
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| It's freshmen year dorm room fun....... bathroom and shower down the hall! The dorms were super great though. We just walked right out the door and onto the track. |
Saturday racing was at noon, so we didn’t get to sleep in
like a couple teenagers. The
M&O was the last race of the FGC omnium. The M&O is a tactical race and can be very difficult for
riders like myself (ie. Not always smart). Omnium points were close and we needed to ride smart. We both got to the rail quick and stayed
up front. We ended up
succeeding in not only maintaining Korina’s second in the omnium, but bringing
me all the way up to a 4th place tie with Kate Wilson. If only I had gotten 1 more
point!!! Ag. Beth had told us to sprint for EVERY
spot. I wish wish wish so bad that
I had done a better job of that as I ended up getting 5th due to the
tiebreaker rule. Kate has scored a
3rd place in the scratch, which entitled her to the 4th
and me the 5th. I have
to say though; I can’t be ashamed of 5th place. My points were short of Cari Higgins,
Korina and Shelby Reynolds..... all exceptional and talented women.
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| Awesome picture taken by Erika Fulk |
The team sprint looked like a fun little event and the
officials were looking for more women to join in, so Korina and I did. We were both total armatures. The official went over the rules and
yada yada.... the gun went off........ neither Korina or I moved a muscle. The official came over to us, confused
as to why we did not go at the sound of the gun. We asked him, “Well, don’t we get a count down?” He replied, “No, you said you were
ready.” Ok Ok, apparently that fancy beeper and someone counting down with
their fingers is not done in MN. I
swear you learn so many things when you travel to different tracks. No booties. No countdown.
Got it.
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| Ok..... Ready |
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| GOOOOOOOO |
We headed back to our dorm room to shower and relax before
the big catered rider dinner at one of the local restaurants. We had a yummy salad, pasta, bread,
chicken and fruit. It sure beat
the cracker and carrot dinner we had the night before.
Sunday was fun day!
Korina and I got up and did our ritual morning rollers. We turned up the techno and
chatted. When we were finished the
other riders in the dorm asked what was going on and if we were arguing........
haha. Ooops. I guess we were screaming over the
rollers and the techno music! The funny part was, we were actually brainstorming ways to get more people out racing the track.
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| I almost forgot about the pants!!! Pants like these will for sure get people out to Hellyer! |
Our flight wasn’t
until the evening, so we had the day to kill. We packed up our stuff and had Adam show us around
Minneapolis before heading to the airport. We ate at an amazing local joint for lunch and headed to Minneapolis
for some tourist fun....... we rented bikes and practiced our Madison of
course.
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| How does this work? |
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| I think we have our Madison technique down... Michael? |
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| It had just rained, and everything was green and beautiful! |
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| Waterfall- Say Cheese! |
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| We found out Batmobile!!!! Later- Mario Cart! |
Hmmmmm Ya- I STRAVA'd the Cruiser rental ride!!!!
We had a straight flight over to SFO, watched Parks and Rec,
the office, and Top Chef. It’s
always a bummer when the pilot or attendant gets on the intercom and disrupts
the show! Aaaaaa. I didn’t care
about a seat belt or turbulence..... I wanted to know who was getting kicked
off Top Chef! Whew, well it ended
up being a dude that made too big of an appetizer. I would have kicked off the deli meat soup guy.
Anyway, Korina and I are home for exactly 68 hours. At that time we will be at SFO again
and headed to Major Taylor Velodrome in Indiana.
Thanks for Reading,
JenniferMarie
Addendum: Korina and I are waiting to board for IN now! Sorry it took 3 days to post this.... life is busy! Wish us luck.... thank you all for everything!!!!
