Sunday, June 15, 2008

First Night of Racing (part 2)

The first Track Cats races were great. It was amazing to see what progress the kids have made, and how comfortable they seem to feel on the track.

Let's hope they keep it up in the weeks to come, and thanks to all those that made a contribution.

First Night @ Northbrook Velodrome



Friday night was the first time the team got to ride on a real track (as opposed to our usual practice on a jogger filled foot path).  We caravanned in a patchwork of borrowed cars thanks to Working Bikes/Nick Colombo; 4 Star/Mike Morell; and Andrea Fritch/car owner and Sarah's roommate. 

The six Cats were the bulk of the teen racers (they were caught between kids on training wheels and the Cat5 adults).  With a lot of paper scrambling and rule limbo Chuck got all of us officially registered to race!  

Each Cat showed their own style on the track.  Nadia was steady and fought her battles on a shoulder to shoulder basis.  Reneka thought she could lap everyone and spent 3 rounds sprinting with the pack at least 100 meters behind her (till she got exhausted).  Gerardo learned the rules quickly and did an excellent job of racking up the points on the snowball and pulling out in some energetic sprints.  In true Grindcore fashion you could tell that Adam was going for it as aggressively as he could.  Guy, who'd had a frightening crash earlier in the season, got over his nervousness.  When the first $5 prime (pronounced "preem") was announced he kicked it up and was the first across the line.  Patrick took Coach Brean's advice and hung back in the pack until the final pushes and then gracefully pulled in-front to win each of the 3 races! 

Friday, June 6, 2008

NKOTB

We had some new kids out at practice last week, and it looks like we will have some more noobs tomorrow.  That's all good, because we are looking to get as many riders out to the track next Friday, which is the first evening of Friday Night Funtrack hosted by the Northbrook Cycle Club.

Anyone who is interested, is welcome to come to practice tomorrow.  We practice at the running track at Pershing and Cottage Grove.  You don't need a track bike, you can use one of ours.