Yesterday was the start of the BBN track season and for the past few months I have been really looking forward to giving it a go. I paid my $10 and tell Doug that I have never raced before, Doug puts me in "C" grade much to my disappointment. (I was hoping that I would start in "E" or "D" grade) Doug says just see how you go, if you don't do any good we and put you in "D" grade next week.

The first race is a scratch race and "C" grade is the last to go, I watch a few of the races and can't believe how nervous I am getting. The "A" graders race was pretty fast, I have absolutely no idea what gear I should be racing in, I have already finished the water in my bottle and decide to head up to the club rooms for a refill and say hello to some of the abocer's.

I say hi to Bev and we both start cheering Carl & Dino who are racing in "B" grade, Carl and Dino are racing well and both look pretty strong then suddenly there is in almighty crash involving Peter, Dino and Alan. I have no idea how it happened, but it all happened so fast and right in front of where Bev and I were sitting. I jump over the fence to see how Dino is and try and make him comfortable, while other people see how both Peter and Alan are going. Peter is in a bad way and an ambulance is called while Sue and me try and patch up Dino.

Thankfully both Dino and Alan are okay apart from some nasty abrasions and no doubt today they will have some pretty bad bruising. Peter is taken away in the ambulance and he seemed okay as he was talking, he was even asking everyone how bad his bike was!

After seeing this crash I was completely spooked and I walked up to Nathan and Sue and said that wanted to pull out, Nathan laughed and tried to talk me out of it, then Sue said that I really should race and just stay at the back.

When the "C" grade was finally called I was completely shaking, I wasn't sure if it was because I was so cold or spooked, maybe it was a mixture of both. We do a rolling start and Doug blows the whistle to say the race has started, we start by doing rolling turns and I remember yelling out "I am coming up the bank", I was so loud I reckon the guys playing cricket must of heard me!  With 8 laps to go and couldn't believe how thirsty I am and I thinking to myself how am I going to finish this. The race finishes and I can't believe how quick it all went, I finish somewhere in the middle of the pack and was more relieved that I had survived.

The next race was a points race and I was looking forward to this as this is very similar to "take a lap" that we sometimes do at DISC. Carl tells me not to go out too hard and when the whistle blows for the first points lap basically the whole field just takes off. By the time I get back on the back the pace was getting a little slow so I decide to take the front for a while, I turn around and noticed that there is quite a big gap between me and the next rider so I try and slow down a bit, but I seem to be getting further in front. Maybe it was because of the wind, I take the points on the next round and with 4 laps to go I tried to keep a consistent pace and ended up winning pretty comfortably in the end. I was pretty happy and was really glad that I Nathan and Sue talked me into giving it a go.

The next race was an elimination race and I felt strong for the whole race, it ended coming down to Jamie and me and I had a beautiful ride in Jamies slipstream with one lap to go. I did not want to go too early so I sat in behind him and left my move way too late and Jamie won by a few meters. I congratulated Jamie and was really happy how I raced. I am sure that the more racing I do I will get better at knowing when and when not to attack.

This morning I ended up doing my normal ride up the 1:20 and stopped off at the Black Kettle for breakfast. I was talking to the owner Con who is a great supporter of BBN and it was his son Peter that was taken away in the ambulance. Fortunately he is fine apart from some bad bruising and scratches which is great news considering it could have been alot worse.

Yesterday reminded me just how dangerous our sport can be and taught me that you must pay attention to what's happening at all times. Dino and Alan, I hope your both okay and only have a few bruises, I just can't believe the amount of bad luck that Dino has had over the past few months.

Rob.

For the past few months I have been counting down the days for the start of the track season at Blackburn and also the Trek SSS that Carl has been busy planning.

On Saturday I rode 100km's with my mate Steve, it was supposed to be an easy ride, but the wind made the conditions really tough. On Sunday morning the legs were a little sore, but not too bad. I arrived at BBN around 10.30am to help Carl and the gang set up for the Trek SSS.  Because Nathan, Dino and myself were competing as well as helping out with timing and registrations etc, we agreed to do our flying 200's before everyone else so we would be organized. I decided to go first and without much of a warm-up and probably did my worst flying 200 ever.

The first match sprint was alot of fun, I had no real plan and didn't really know what I was doing, but remembered some things from Carl's Saturday morning race skills sessions. With about 200m to go I was nicely positioned behind my opponent and then decided to go for it. I probably went way too early, but it was nice to have a win first up.

The second sprint I was a little nervous, as I had seen Dino narrowly beat Leah my next opponent only meters from the line. She was  talking to me earlier and it sounded like she was pretty experienced rider. I thought my only real chance here was to maybe surprise her and attack early. Attack early I did, with about 300m to go I took off and I think I was able to get a 10m gap. With around 50m to go I could hear her at my back wheel and somehow found something and beat her just before the line. I was pretty happy with this result because I tried something different and it worked.

The third sprint was against Dino, we both knew this was sort of a dead rubber as both of us had enough points and would be racing each other again in the final. I still wanted to win and hopefully have a psychological advantage over him when we met again in the final. I was happy that he decided to lead as I was more than happy to just sit behind him. When he attacked he sort of caught me off guard and it took alot of effort to get back on his wheel. I was fortunate that my legs were starting to feel good and I was able to pass him just before the line.

In the final I won the toss and decided to let Dino lead, my thinking was that I didn't want to change anything from the previous race and I wanted to know exactly what was happening in front of me. Basically on the last lap Dino attacked and gapped me nicely, I tried to get back on, but I couldn't get close and I could feel that my legs were gone. Dino won pretty comfortably, in hindsight if I could race this again, I would taken the lead position and tried to race it on my terms. Anyway its all part of learning and each of the 4 races, were different and I am hoping next time it will make me a better rider.

Although the numbers were disappointing, it was a fantastic day, each of the races were raced in good spirits with a few jokes and a few laughs. I think Carl was disappointed with the turnout, but it gave us all a chance to fine tune some things and we will be better and stronger when the numbers get bigger. Every rider was full of praise on how well the event was run and were impressed that all races started on time. The overall winner of "A" grade, Eddie Wilson gave a great speech and told us how much he enjoyed it and more riders will definitely come.

Thanks again to Carl for idea and to BBN for making this happen, I am sure that this is going to get bigger and bigger.

See you on the track!

Rob.