Raced track at Northbrook for the first time this year. SO MUCH FUN! I got there early to practice as I haven't been on a track bike since last August, so I got a good hour of warmup. There was a comparatively large womens' cat 4 field this week, with eight in the first race. It was a Danish win-and-out and not knowing any of the other womens' strengths, I attacked hard to win the first lap -- and gave a really great lead-out to a first time track racer who's a strong cat 3 on the road. Unfortunately, if you don't win the first sprint, its almost impossible to win the second, and I got nipped at the line. But I managed to hang on for a third full-on lap, this time winning the sprint by centimeters. So third place in the first race.

My pal Robin came out to watch -- I haven't seen her in forever. Hopefully she'll be RACING the next time I see her at Northbrook. I also got to catch up with Francine, Val and Kristen a bit. Yay.

The second women's race was a 24 lap points race, sprints every 3 laps and the 4s were combined with the tree cat 1&2 women -- so fast and hard. I found standing up to sprint on the track bike awkward, so I concentrated on spinning as hard as I could while sitting. I got a little gapped on a couple of the sprints, but caught on quickly afterwards. I attacked and won a $5 prime, then held on for second place in the next sprint lap. But I had nothing for the final sprint and came in last, losing my battle for fifth place overall to a new Cuttin' Crew girl.

It was chilly -- so Matt Moran brought his Snuggie. While he was racing, Dave Moyer [who after handily winning the first cat 4 race of the evening, was upgraded to cat 3 on the spot] snagged it to stay warm. Team Pegasus coveted the Snuggie.

Third race was an unknown distance, and the cat 4 women were on our own again. Seven of us had a really fun, animated race, with lots of attacks. I was finally getting the hang of sprinting standing, and when the bell finally rang, I was third wheel. I came around the first two, but the cat 3 roadie on my wheel came around me for the win. I got second, my best result of the evening. I think with more practice, I'll be able to stick with the sprints without getting gapped and even win a sprint against strong women. All in all, my first night of track racing this year was better than my best night of track racing last year.

And I won $17!!

Most of which I handed over in exchange for some awesome [if I say so myself] new xXx socks. They came out great, I think.