Women's Little 500

The morning started off cold and wet. The rain was coming down heavy for much of the morning. Around lunchtime, the rain stopped and the clouds slowly began to break. It was a glorious thing! There was now a chance that Kari and the rest of the ladies competing in the Little 500 would be able to race in dry conditions. While there was no added moisture in the air, the track had been thoroughly soaked, causing faster then normal track conditions. It took a little while for the girls to get their exchanges down, but they felt comfortable come race time.

Once the race was underway, Lisa got them into decent position within the main pack. It was a good thing she did, because only a few laps into the race there was a nasty pileup a few riders behind her. The field raced under yellow for a few laps while they got the injured girls and their bikes safely off the track. One had a broken collarbone and another scraped her face on the cinders. Ouch.

After they were given the green to continue racing, Lisa kept moving up in the field, holding a strong position. Then she was pulled to switch to Caitlin and begin the process of exchanges. From then on, they just kept racing until their coach, who most of the team met for the first time that day, decided to pull them. I disagreed with a lot of his decisions, having personally spent more time with the girls, watching how they ride normally and knowing some of their abilities. After about the halfway mark in the race, I started tapping the girl who was scheduled to go in next to get out there because the girl in front of her was starting to fade. It started to work better. By then, the girls were so tired and so far behind that it did not really matter. All in all, they had a great race! They finished 19th. While they were not super happy with it, I thought they all raced hard and gave a good effort. The winning team was on another level tactically and physically. They came close to lapping the entire field solo. Very impressive!

Now, Kari and I are getting some things done before we head to the track to watch the men's race later today. I am interested to see how the teams tactically plan for the race and pull it off. One of the stronger teams in the spring races was Phi Delta Theta. It will be interesting to see if they are able to do some serious work against the field or if they will get caught up and put in difficulty due to poor decisions. Good luck to all of you racing today and tomorrow! Show those other Early Bird folks who's boss!