We went north to Lake Tahoe for a week. Getting back in the groove of real life and it sucks!

In the 200 I set my PR - 12.61 and was the 4th fastest out of 8 riders. In the first round of the sprints I made a tactical error and got beat at the line - I just couldn’t get by this guy. I should have took off and attacked him but there was a little breeze on the back side so I hid behind him and it didn’t work out at the line. Next time I guarantee that will not happen.

In the Team Sprint I put together a team of one super fast guy and a pretty fast guy. I led it out from the start and just killed the first lap. They brought it home and we finished with a 1:14:99 in 3rd place. First place ran 1:13.39…second was 1:14:38 or so. We lost the championship by 1.6 seconds!!!! That 1.6 seconds will haunt me until next year. The Team Sprint is 1 kilo at that track so it was a very close race.

In the kilo I did a 1:20, my PR. There were 4 signups and one guy (the guy that beat me Sat. in the sprint) didn’t get to the starting line. I ended up 3rd.

In Pat Hogan’s 2km pursuit race he was up about 1 second on his competitor for the first 4 laps…then he faded and got beat by 8 seconds. He rode a 2:56 for the 2km. He got 3rd. His PR is 2:54 so he was right there.

In the 4km Team Pursuit one of our guys couldn’t make it so we recruited the guy that beat me in the sprint and we rode a 5:22 which isn’t bad for never riding together. Once again there were only 3 teams entered so we got 3rd. The 2nd place team ran a 5:08 which we could get to with some practice.

Now we’re looking forward to the Nationals in San Jose in Sept. That should be sweet!

San Diego Velodrome - Masters Track State Championships - Southern California.

From the pole: Tony Trettenero, Paul Avila (me), Dave Tonello, Tony Zaldua. We ended up 3rd of 3 teams. This was our first attempt at the discipline. Time: 5:22. The plan was for us to ride into the zone and then I would hang as long as possible and then drop out with 3 to go. In this event you only need to finish with 3 riders so I sacrificed myself and went hard until I was cooked.

5.6 Chino Hills, CA.
I felt it here in Palmdale, CA really good.

During my morning ride today I saw 4 roadies and a guy riding a hi-tech looking trike. Usually don’t see that many peeps on a Friday morning. I’m heading down to the Encino Velodrome tomorrow for the last tuneup race before the SoCal State Championships next weekend. All good!

Last night at Thursday Night On The Square in Palmdale my teammate and I demonstrated rollers and a trainer. That’s me rolling!

Pete from Chicago sez,”Thank God I’m already nuts; otherwise I’d go crazy”

Two tomato loving rats are helping themselves to my beefsteak tomatoes. I should say one rat is helping itself to my tomatoes. I spotted two rats in the dark on Friday night and set up sticky traps on the perimeter and a spring loaded death inducer in the tomato plant. This morning I achieved victory condition and got one with the spring trap.

Victory. After 11 years I finally won something cycling related (and not a raffle!). Coming into Saturday night’s Orange 20 Olde Skool Omnium I was only 3 points out of first in the cat5’s. My main challengers, Igor and Todd, were not going to upgrade until we settled the series. I agreed to stick with them for the remainder of the series. We were the only 3 racers to make it to all 4 races of the Bob Hansing Memorial Cup which made it a blast. The first race of the evening was a 40 lap torture festival. Knowing full well this was not my strong point I hung in until about 15 laps to go and pulled out. Next up was one of my favorites, the One Mile Dash. At only 6 laps this event suits my style perfectly. I have no endurance, which is a well known fact, however I can wind it up pretty good for a short burst. At the whistle Todd rolled up to the front and I paced next to him. Not wanting to let the others come around I rode aggressively and cautiously looked over my right shoulder while Todd maintained a steadily increasing pace for the first 4 laps. Surprisingly there were no challengers trying to come over the top. I figured for sure that at least one or two guys would go high and take a run at it. With 2 to go Todd ramped it up and I stayed next to him hoping to force challengers to take the long road. At one point I felt a presence on my right side and flicked a little hook that direction. On the bell lap Todd let it go and started cranking it hard. Into turn 1 I stayed next to him and semi tucked in between 2 and 3. As we came towards 4 I swung out and gave it everything and drag raced Todd to the line for a 6 inch victory. The points from that pushed my total to best overall for the series. Even though this was my 2nd time around as a cat5 it felt good to know I could still get the old legs moving and beat up on the younger guys. Now I’m heading into cat4 and a new challenge. With some perseverance I can get back my cat3 license. Stay tuned.

Fire up the bbq, get the lawnchairs out, it’s time to watch the neighbors try to blow up the neighborhood!