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.
