Tuesday, 500TT day, this should be hilarious! 

Finally, a reasonably good night’s sleep using my newly found calming nature sounds playlist. It reminds me of sleeping on my sailboat in the summer with the waves washing against the hull, the tree leaves rustling, raindrops on the coach top and maybe some light thunder in the background, very peaceful and calming and restful. My alarm woke me about 8:30, lazy breakfast and a few hours to just relax and think about how today will play out. 

                  Today is my fun race,  race day, at least that was my thought when registering for a 2 lap 500-meter all out sprint race, hoping to not be last and come somewhat close to what I used to be able to do time wise. Honestly, the 500 has never been a great result for me, usually mid field at best. Why? It’s only 2 laps, 500 meters, how hard can that be?   

                  I’m at the track about 11;30 or so. Time to do a thorough bike and wheel set check over after last night’s turn four accident. All in all, the Dolan and Mavic combo seems to have suffered no damage. Carbon can be a lot tougher than you would think. My helmet, maybe it’s ok, maybe it is not. I don’t remember taking a head hit. There are some new blue stripes on my black helmet courtesy of the blue stayer’s line I believe.  There have been a few race gear vendors set up through the week, Kronos and Velo Bike and some others. The Kronos booth, clothing aero gear, helmets and I was previously looking at buying a new aero helmet for mass start races. The price is right, and my current helmet is a bit aged. The crash was the little extra push to buy so I would have a fresh, safe helmet for the points race. Am I concerned about this group and mass starts, well maybe! 

                  Last night’s Scratch race showed me that my 51/14 gear was ok but not big enough to be competitive for top spots. I have one more option in my bag, on goes the 52-chain ring, 52/14 or 100 gear inches, biggest I have ever used. I sampled this gear option back in 2019 at Manchester but never felt comfy on it. Back then was a whole different world of track racing and gear inches. I am learning quickly since a few months ago in Colorado what I need in 2025.  I’m on the Feedback Sports Trainer for about 15 minutes, Warm up hour starts at 1:15 and I need only about 10 minutes to know 52/14 is the gear for today. 

                  There isn’t a “right next door” or in the velodrome café, I got spoiled in Manchester where there was an in-house café for day meals. Knowing that, I prepped and brought a hardy lunch along with me. Gotta eat to perform. I  wasted some time wandering the velo, reading, watching, conversing, just staying relaxed.  No pressure day but as I think about how I plan to race this I realize I haven’t done a gate start, out of the saddle for half a lap effort in years, yikes!  Now what? I’m a bit concerned about being out of the saddle through the first two turns of my effort, the gate start and that part of the race is the most technical part of the event. I feel good about gate starts, always seemed to have those sorted, it’s the first two turns I worry about.  I decide, based on this being a “fun” race, I would accel out of the gate, sit for the first two turns and then stand for the next straight. Totally an amateur method, but safe for me. 

                  Bike check is needed before each race, geometry checked, saddle up/down position and set back, bar position and in some cases weight and a tablet scan for mechanical doping, that is electric motors inside the frame tubes. I get all the UCI official stickers on moveable items and screws, and I am set to race. Time to sit back, kitted up and hop on the trainer a few more times and watch the iPad Live Track Timing app. 

                  My race puts me in a gate on the back straight to start. I’m the first heat, me on the back straight and another racer on the home straight. 1^st heat, meaning I have no race credentials anymore and they expect me to be slow. There are a few chairs on the ramp to the track entry and as I sit there keep trying to decide how to ride it.  Eventually decided seated all the way. Safe, easy, should work with this bigger gear. 

                  Some casual conversation with the other racers in the “wait” line and it’s time. I don’t have a support team so I carry my bike up to the gate on the track making sure my pedals are set exactly where they will be ideal for me to start. There is 50 seconds and counting. The officials adjust the gate to fit my bike, easy to do. Mount the bike from the up-track side, left leg over the top tube, bum up onto the saddle, feet clipped into the pedals as the timer to my left continues to count down. Time for some fun! Excitement builds. A 10 second sound goes off as I am watching the seconds tick off. I have an old start version from years ago that includes some subtle rocking back on 5, forward on 4, etc. finally back on one second to go and then try to explode (at least in my mind) out of the gate looking into my first turn. It was a great technical start, power down, straight to my focal point, no wavering off the path, and then I sadly sat before turn 3 and I am slower through turn 3 and 4 then I would like so coming out of 4 it just felt natural to stand and accelerate down the home straight into turn 1, my 3^rd turn and just time to drive as hard as I could for another lap and a half with this gear choice feeling very good, effort and cadence wise, I could maybe have gone bigger? Another time maybe, I ran the biggest gear choice I brought with me. 52/14. 

                  There were 16 of us registered for this event, Two were a DNS (Did Not Start) I ended up 12^th of the remaining 14, so not last. My time was 46.609 seconds with an average speed of 38.619 kph. My best times at worlds years ago was a 40+ seconds, 2019 Manchester was 42+ seconds when I was trained for this event, so 6 years later with no real prep at all, I 6 years older and 4 seconds slower. Even though this was a “for fun only” race, the competitor in me already is asking, how could I, can I do it better and quicker. 

                  Trainer cool down time to ease the legs, pack up and off to the lodging with a quick stop at my favorite Pâtissier for treats and then some needed dinner, blog catch up, iPad entertainment and just relax and start pre planning for tomorrow’s 40 Lap Points Race.