NY state of mind
It's always a treat to see the talent that shows up for Velo-City. I've been racing the track for about 2 full years plus a coupla broken seasons and even with that experience I had to really step it up to place a bid for those tickets to Guatemala this year.
The racing included a motor paced Kierin, a win-n-out, a miss-n-out, Australian pursuit, and match sprints.
I fared well in most of the events. Won the Kierin, win-n-out and match sprint with some bell lap jumps. The miss-n-out is a pain of a race for me and I worked up front as much as I could to take it in the end. The Australian pursuit is certainly a new one for me and all I have to say is them Aussies are a maladjusted sort to come up with something like that...
Here's how the Australian works - each person takes a spot along the rail equidistant from each other. When the race starts everyone must drop into the sprinters lane. From then on, if you get passed you get pulled. If you pass someone they get pulled. Talk about a brutal trip to the depths of your will. Brean gutted it out for a 2nd overall finish and 1st out of the rest of the messers.
The old man showed more than guts. Sure he took podiums in almost every event but he also showed major class. He spent his warm up helping another strong newbie get the feel for his first trip to the track. The biggest moment would have to be when he surrendered his 2nd place omnium prize of a race frame and passed it on to the 3rd place messer, NYC's Kennedy. Kennedy showed crazy potential given his strength and speed. Hopefully Brean's generosity will help sprout that seed into a regular track racer.
Filling out the Chicago tri-fecta was Janna. She isn't a working messenger but of the 3 ladies that showed up to race, she tied for first in the omnium and definitely started to open up on the competition as the day went on. After last year's showing and this year, I'd say the Second City has been doing something right.
Big thanks to all the sponsors, per usual, and of course big ups to Squid and the Cyclehawk outfit for masterminding and executing a 5th year of such an amazing series. They come and they go but the real ones stay with it and Squid isn't going anywhere. Photos are available for checking out over here thanks to demoncats.com. My favorite would have to be this, this, and then this.