For those not keeping up, I took a spill at Hellyer Velodrome on Wednesday night, leaving a fair amount of skin behind (nose, upper lip, both knees, both elbows), getting a fair bit of bruising (right ribs, shoulder, and knee), and breaking the end of the right femur. The femur has a hip screw (large screw into the ball of the femur), two plates, and several additional screws that were added on Thursday. I am one messed up guy.

The biggest thanks has to go to The Wife who has been doing yeoman’s duty helping out under what are, for her, difficult circumstances. She has such a tenderness to her heart and soul that it is hard for her to help me at times since helping causes some momentary pain. She fights through and has been solid in doing what she can, and more, to help me get around for now and repair so i can become independent again. I can tell how hard it is, and sometimes my pain may come across as grumpiness, but I can assure her that I appreciate all she does and I am working to keep my comments to myself. Thanks sweetie!! I can never repay in full, but I will work on that debt later.

Also a big thanks to those who helped at Hellyer and assisted in getting us to the hospital. I was pretty much out of it; I remember the start of the race (BxC points race) and I remember someone telling me to wait for the ambulance, but other than that my memory banks are blank until such time I was in the CT machine at Regional Medical Center being scraped along the wall of the device by incompetent techs.   Major thanks to Rick Adams, and to Michael and Sabine who helped to gather my stuff and get it to the Toaster along with the newlyweds Erika and Linda who continued to help transporting the Toaster to the hospital for the wife, learning my full legal name in the process.

A big thanks to the staff of Regional Medical Center who worked fast to get humpty-dumpty together to the point that I was able to go home about 64 hours post accident. And to the dozens of folks whose calls, e-mails, and blog posts have conveyed good wishes.

And a special thank you to the friends who have taken some of the burden off The Wife by offerering to plan, prepare, and drop off meals to keep us nourished, thereby relieving The Wife of that extra task

If I do not get a chance to extend the thanks in person, know that I want to and I greatly appreciate the tasks of the many.

June means back to to scratch races for a few weeks, leaving the points races for July. I did start the first ‘C’ race, but myself and a bunch of other guys in the field were told we could not be factors in the race; no attacks, no lapping, nothing to help affect the outcome. I tried to stay near the rear until I started seeing real bad decisions, mostly a rider who liked to dive down on the inside when the rear of the paceline would swing uptrack in turn 3. That is a recipe for some skin on the pavement, so I went high and soon found myself in no “man’s” land, between the main pack and a break mostly consisting of ProMan Virginia. When I feigned to sprint against Virginia for a cookie prime I got a reminder from Larry that I was not racing. So back to spinning my own circles for the remainder of the 30 laps.

Since I was riding rather than racing with the ‘C’ group I decided it was time for more. I did not even exit the track after the ‘C’ ride, just went around and back up onto the rail for the ‘B’ race. It was a big field, and I was a bit nervous after the crash 8 days before. I found it much easier to stay in the group this time, and even set myself up to block at the front if a teammate decided to try a flyer. He tested the waters at one point but pulled up on the front so I sat in and continued circling and paying close attention. The problem with big fields and lots of wheels is that you keep ending up on the wrong wheels and have to sprint back on when you realize the person in front of you has fallen off. After a bunch of that I did not have enough gas to catch back on and ended up in a 3 person chase group, including Beth, for the last 10 laps or so. We were never far behind and we came close, real close, to reattaching but there was not enough time and we lost one engine at a critical juncture. As we dropped down after the race Larry called out for some of ‘B’ riders to join the second ‘C’ field; I thought about it briefly, but I had just done 60 laps (30 and 30) and was a bit dehydrated so I cooled down instead of making it 3 straight.

The second ‘B’ race almost ended for me as soon as it began. At the beginning I had an opportune moment so I took a flyer off the front. It was short lived as the legs were a bit too thrashed and I was soon OTB and considered pulling out. But I stayed and soon was riding as tail gunner behind Mark F. After a couple laps of recovery I moved back up into the middle of the field where I would have more options. That was a nice place to stay until about 25 laps in (of 40) when things strung out and I dropped down into the paceline; the paceline was short lived and when it ended I found myself blocked down in the sprinter’s lane. I was fending off a constant barrage of guys trying to drop down without looking so I dealt with the fact that to get into a safer position I would have to either sit up and drop back, or take another flyer off the front. And I chose option B. It was another short-lived event but I did get out of harms way. And that seemed like the perfect opportunity to pull myself out and cool down a bit.

So I guess I will be making it a habit of signing up for the ‘B’ races from now on, saying goodbye to the ‘C’s. The other aspect of ‘moving up’ is a bit more of a question. I may have the minimum number to do a category upgrade, depending on whether the low-key races last October count. So today I am musing on whether to send in the upgrade request, or wait two weeks and then try.

There was a good sized crowd again last night, heavily weighted towards the ‘B’ group. Larry wanted to keep the ‘C’ group for the women and junior, for the most part, so I got asked to take a trip with the ‘B’s; Larry tried to get some of the ‘B’s to go with the ‘A’ group, but he did not have many takers. There was no one with the last name of Jacques-Mayne in the field so not sure why there were not more takers. That meant a ‘B’ field on the large side (25 riders) with a lot of talent.

In the first race of the night, the first ‘C’ race, it was mostly a question of whether newly minted Proman rider Hanan would be content to keep a 100-150m gap off the front or try to lap the field. She seemed content with the former. With her and a rider wearing a Cal kit off the front, the field sprint was for third place points and Sabine seemed hungry to collect a bunch of those. Angela was saddled with a real hamster gear on a rental bike and could not spin fast enough; the rentals are a nice convenience when needed, but definitely not a good option for competitive riding.

I lined up with the ‘B’ field for their first race knowing I would get spanked. Lots of good, fast track riders: Aaron, Justin, and Shelley to name a few. Once the first attack started I was left to try to keep with the pack, and was successful for a while. But I seemed to keep getting behind someone who would be gapped, have to sprint to get back, and then try to recover. After 4 or 5 of those in short succession I did not have enough juice for the next one and ended up OTB in a 4 man paceline fighting to keep alive.

The major, unnecessary, excitement of the night came between turns 3 and 4 on the penultimate lap of that first ‘B’ race. On the back straightaway there was a lot of positioning going on, everyone trying to get ready for that last lap sprint. Knowing I could not keep up in a short sprint, I went high to move forward so I could try for a long sprint. And just as we made turn 3 I heard the unmistakable sound of wheels touching just off to my left and maybe a bike length in front. And then the bikes and riders were flying. In the end everyone was up and walking, but definitely something that gets the adrenaline flowing. The reconstructionists view afterward was that one rider in the sprinter’s lane paceline went slightly up track to scrub speed before turn 3, someone behind him saw that as an opening to take, and the crash occurred when the first rider came back down to the lane after the turn. Perhaps someone needs a remedial beginner’s session if that is indeed what happened; just because there is an opening does not imply that you should fill it.

I then jumped into the second race of the ‘C’ group, without a rest and with just one quick hit on the water bottle. The field included Hanan and the rider in Cal kit so I knew that 1st and 2nd place points were likely theirs. Some others in the field can spank me good in short sprints, especially since I had a hamster gear (83″). Again I figured my best strategy was to try long. The first 4 points laps all played out the same: as we crossed the start/finish line and got the bell I would spin up and away for the 333m TT, somewhere near turn 3 Hanan and the Cal guy would come around me, then I would fight for 3rd place points against whomever was left. And I was successful the first 4 times. But predictability can be a liability. Coming to the line for the start of the 5th points lap Donna took off about 50-60m earlier than what I had been doing. I seized the opportunity and grabbed her wheel, came around her at the 200m line, and from there it was a repeat of the first 4 points laps. After that sprint I decided that was enough for me, so on the 6th and final points lap I slid back and let the others contest the finish. It was a blast, even though I was really dehydrated and having a major allergy attack. Thanks Larry and to all the riders out there.

This week it will be track night at the Hellyer Velodrome. Three or so hours of pain and socializing, courtesy of Larry Nolan, all in hopes that just a little tiny bit of the Nolan magic can rub off on little old me. This month it is all points races, next month scratch races, back to points in July, then scratch again in August. I will be making an appearance every other week through the summer, or at least that is what I have scheduled.

On the Tuesdays I am not at Hellyer I will be a couple miles further south doing the SJBC Tuesday twilight crit. Nice course, but getting a bit too much traffic these days. Of course, some folks do not like the course as much as I do, something to do with that nice little 90 ft or so climb on the east leg. Fun and games. And to make sure I get out to this, I have committed to working registration at them every other week from now until the end of the summer. Of course, the need to get so far south on a work night sort of means I will be working from home on Tuesdays; need to cut that 20 miles of commute down the peninsula from the travel task.

If you are in the area and want to have some good training, join me in the “Tuesday night highway 101 sufferfest”!

I refitted the Fuji track bike to my proportions (The Wife has been using it while I was laid up) and loaded it, the popup, an extra wheel, and far too many tools into the Toaster and drove south to the track. There was a good crowd, probably 45 or so racers, show up to race for glory or at least a few upgrade points. I threw down my $20 and signed up for the ‘C’ group; not an easy group by any stretch with Sabine, Soni, Beth, Hanan, Jennie, PenVelo Ray, Justin, Ileana, and a collection of the BEER team signed up in that field.

I left the gearing with what The Wife had been using (about 84″) since the winds were roaring at times and I did not want to get caught pushing a big gear into the wind. But I did opt to put the Nimble tri-spoke wheel on the front. Out onto the track for a warmup and a reminder that a wheel with a lot of surface area facing sideways can be a problem. The winds were shifting around, but for a while there was a good crosswind in turns 3 and 4 and that tri-spoke was catching it well. I almost reverted back to the standard 32-spoke low profile wheel but in the end the winds tamed a bit and I got used to handling it. It might not have made me any faster, but at least I looked a bit more impressive.

Keirin: I drew the third heat in the ‘C’ group, then drew 7th position, out of 7, at the line. That put me at the rail and I mused on what I had heard about strategies while trying to eavesdrop on what Mark A. was telling Jennie, who was lined up to my left. The group rode rather conservatively while on the motor; I got 4th wheel and no one tried to come past until just before Peter pulled off. From that point on it was a blur; all I can remember was that I, rather foolishly, allowed myself to get boxed in on the inside and still there were folks who kept coming down into me. I had fourth coming into the last 25m or so, then someone came down into me, again, and I backed off a bit as we came to the line. I need to work on getting better position, establishing it, then getting aggressive (but not too much) when folks try to take my space. Since I was not in the first 4 in the heat I had plenty of time to play holder during the remaining Keirin heats.

Scratch race: Or why I owe Sabine a big apology. Our group of 19 had a short race, just 5K, so I knew that the attacks would start early. The first attack started on the back stretch of the first lap, a bit too early in my opinion, so I took charge and pulled the pack up to the attackers. There were not any serious attempts for the next couple or three laps but then a small group got away. Not sure of everyone in the group but I knew that my former TUA (Team Unattached) mate Beth was included. A lot of chasing ensued but we were not really eating into their lead. Then another group got away, and again I was not sure all the riders in that break but could see that Soni was included;  and Soni has a small stuffed bunny peering out from under her saddle.  That stuffed bunny became my rabbit as I gave chase. I was so focused on the target, and the fact that I was closing in, that I failed to look back. Then I heard ‘pull up’, so I did, and Sabine and one other rider shot past; I had apparently been blocking their chase. Sorry. If I had known we could have joined forces. As it was I was a bit spent from the chase so I just soft-pedaled a bit behind the pair until the last 200m and then tried to sprint past them for the line. Too little, too late, and who cares since we were far enough back that the finish was just practice.

Miss-n-Out: We lined up with 20 riders and I wanted to try to be top 6, at least. I got 4th wheel from the whistle and no one was moving up as we approached the line on the first 3 laps and I got complacent. On about the 4th lap there was a mass movement forward as we approached the line and I realized I was boxed in with no place to go if I needed to in order to survive.  Fortunately there were still folks behind me and it was not my number that got called.   So I jumped, took the lead, and pushed the pace up a tad. And no one contested that decision for a few laps. But when they did it was a majority vote as all but one shot rider past me as we approached the line. I had pulled the train for a while, the survivors were voting me off the island, and I could not find the dang immunity idol (extra gas in the legs) to counter the vote. I believe I was 8th, not as good as I wanted, but I did give it the old college try.

Points Race: One last attempt to redeem myself. Another short race, just 5K with points every 5 laps. I made myself content with staying mid-pack through the first 3 laps of each 5 lap set, then would go over the top towards the front on the 4th lap and try to hang through the sprint lap. But my darn puny quads were no match for the more accomplished sprinters. I was about 6th or 7th on each sprint.

No results, but who cares. It was a lot of fun, and a good test of the body and mind in race situations. Funniest moment of the day was when Sabine was offering me as a sacrifice entrant into the ‘A’ group’s points race. Right! I could see the betting line: how many meters before I got lapped?

Larry ran a bit late, so by the time I got the rental bike and did a quick setup there was not much time for a warmup. Then I had to wait through the 30 laps of the first women’s race to get out on the track. Let’s just say that I was out of my league at this time with that group. I could hang most of the time, but when Andreas and a couple of others threw down the gloves the pace went too high for me and I was chasing the tail of dragon. Then there was a LONG time until our next race as the women did a second and ‘A’s their first, and most of us were torn between using the judging stand as a windbreak or breaking it apart to make a fire on the infield. Even riding the warmup circle was not sufficient to generate sufficient heat to keep me warm enough and the lower back started to seize up. Crap, already at a disadvantage then that. I mused on throwing in the towel, but decided to go back out for the second race and see how long I could last. I actually did a bit better the second time. I pulled out after a pull on the front with 5 laps to go; the legs were spent and I knew The Wife was probably becoming a human popsicle while flipping numbers on the lap counter (she was).

Ten days before the next race, the EBC crit. Not sure if the thumb will be where I want it to be. I will give it a tryout this weekend, then a bit better one next Tuesday when I join in the fun of the SJBC Twilight crit in south San Jose. My current plan is to alternate Tuesdays between the track and the Twilight crits for the next 4 months, with every 4th Tuesday being in a recovery week where I will play course marshal rather than race. If you are looking for some Tuesday night fun, come an join in.

Yesterday I was riding to work when a dog, a big dog (yellow lab) ran out suddenly in front of me. As I evaded the front wheel dropped off the edge into dirt, the wheel caught, and I went down to the left. I was doing all of maybe 7-10MPH at best. Got a bit of scrape on the left knee. Nothing major. But as the day wore on the right thumb kept swelling, and then turned a nice blue. Just got back from getting some pics taken; fractures (plural) of the distal phalanx. All I can think is the thumb caught on the brake lever as I twisted down.

I am in a splint, icing and medicating to reduce swelling. Then the orthopedist will decide on the next step. Looking like I might be a spectator at Madera. Dang!

On the positive side, the upgrade sticker to put on the license was in this morning’s mail. Not that it matters much since I race open or mixed categories for the most part.

After the session, and today, I am trying to figure out where the gas pedal was last night. Last week I was cooking, doing better than in the past. Last night I was fine through the warmup, then faded on the next couple of training drills. On an Australian pursuit I did fine through the first 8-10 laps, but then the team put the pedal down and I could not follow. I minimized the loss, staying within 10-15 meters of the team but could not reattach; just nothing left in the legs. I did recover a bit for the final 12-lap scratch race and stayed in contention until the last lap, but overall my goose was cooked last night.

So I am bewildered. I did easy rides on Sunday and Monday to be rested for the track. I ate what I thought was sufficient calories during the day. But was it enough? Did I need more calories while at the track? Am I still in the hole from the early season weight loss (wanted to drop 10 lbs, dropped 20 but have recovered back 5)? Are the allergies having an effect? Lots of questions, no answers at this time. I will need to try to determine what happened as next week the real fun begins: racing instead of training!

The ‘most interesting’ part of the night, for me, happened on a leadout drill.  Four laps, six riders.  Should not be too bad.  But I had not recovered fully from the long day at Zamora, I had been feeling a bit queasy all day, I have been slow (an understatement) in sprint drills in the past, so with Shelley Olds, BamBam, Ali, and Natasha in my group I begged to go first so I could set the pace and get it over with fast.  I got a good drop from the rail, ramped it up, put my head down and led out.  I expected to hear a call for me to pull off near turn 3, but nothing from my companions who were mysteriously silent.  At the end of the first lap I figured I was getting low in the tank and time for someone else to do some work so I pulled up.   And only ‘Pocket Rocket’ Shelley came by, yelling at me to get her wheel.  Yeah, right.  I made an attempt, but who was I kidding.  Coming into turn 3 I heard Ali behind me yelling “pull up, pull up”, and I did as I was told and watched her pulling BamBam and Natasha in their attempt to catch Shelly.  At the end of the drill, as we pulled up near the judges stand, BamBam was asking “whose idea was it to let THAT guy go first?”   Sorry ladies; I had no intent to drill you off the back.  Next time just yell for me to slow “down”.

Lots of good practice with moto-pacing as Rob pulled us around the circles, even on our Madison warm up.  He was drilling it the last few laps on that one, and I got to see the fury of the “Legs of Gio” as he pulled in front of me with a cadence that has to be somewhere off the charts.  Bet he could do well on Beth’s ‘overpass challenge’.  Going to be a fun summer of Tuesday night sufferin’!

And of course the biggest achievement of the day: a full set of races and ZERO mechanical issues. Myself and the Fuji were at peace.

Update: A few photos from the session are here.