Sun
28
Jun '09
Steve convinced me to try the Twilight Criterium at the Thompson Speedway. The race has been organized by the Minuteman Road Club from Massachusetts. Everyone drove down to Thompson, CT to ride their bicycles. I know that it seems silly. It is a nice area full of rolling countryside. Some of the roads and the adjacent state park are tranquil. It looks like you could get some nice riding in this area. The big thrill was to ride on a NASCAR speedway, which I never had completed previously. The race was only 15 miles and I warmed up for 5 miles for a total of 20 miles on the track. I saw some of the fast juniors from the South Shore area lining up for the junior race. My race was tough. This was the first race of the year for me.
I almost lost the pack. Some racers were lapped. I finished 12 seconds from the winner for 11th place. The judge must had fun keeping track of whom had been lapped. Some of them were riding besides me. They did not pull many people off the track, if those people could keep moving. I had almost regained the field on two occassions. However, I could not make it. I lost my pace when I rotated to the front of the pack prior to a preen. When the attack charged for the preen, then I fell to the back and off the pack. I took a picture of the CAT 4 race, which featured a strong team from Vermont.
Oh, there was some Field Day thing going occurring at the same time. I must try to attend some time. I was talking to everyone on the PAXTON and the SCITUATE, RI repeaters. I could hear the the Quincy 146.67 machine near the border of CT and Massachusetts as I approached Webster, MA. I gave W1ZZA a quick call on 67. He was surprised to hear me on the Quincy machine. The PAXTON repeater worked almost 95% of the way door to door. The Scituate repeater was 100% door to door. I told a few that I was heading down to the Thompson speedway to race my bike, but only KA1ANW knew immediately that my bike was under pedal-power.
N1EY
I have slowly been building interest about bicycling on the 146.670 Quincy Repeater. Connect through the MMRA network(on Echolink) or call us on 146.67. The PL is 146.2hz. We have several serious riders that will answer any questions regarding frame geometry, bicycle types, ancillary equipment, local rides, etc. I told WA1JIM about the race which was held near the Quincy repeater in the Blue Hills. He went there and took some great pictures of some race action.
Here is an example of one of those cool hubs. I think this was on a Cervelo bicycle. I should note that these bicycles are bucking the trend. They are going for longer head tubes and snappier turning capability then some of the Treks. Even Cannondale is building longer headtubes in their new full carbon race bicycle line. I have also been thinking of switching my speed sensor to rear-drive. I think that it gives a cleaner look.
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