Following is Karl Erickson's race report from the first track race of the year at the Colorado Springs Velodrome.
1-mile scratch race:
The one mile started with me riding to the front on the neutral lap and then whipping up the pace on the first half-lap of racing. John Teal let me drop back in mid-pack after the initial pull. Withthree laps to go, the pack ballooned while things slowed down and I moved up near the front and into perfect position to follow a hard attack that went with two to go. On the last lap, coming out of turn two I came around into the lead and held on for the win.
5-mile scratch race:
The 5-mile started with Jayson Middlemiss initiating an early solo move. I started the chase to make sure that he did not get into field-lapping position. We let him dangle for about four laps before he sat up and came back to the pack. From there, the pack was fairly cooperative with everyone taking reasonable pulls until about 5 laps to go. With three to go, I covered an attack, and then initiated my sprint with two to go. The rider whose wheel I had followed in the 1-mile came with me, and the two of us gapped the pack. With a moderate acceleration on the last lap, I held on for another win.
3-lap scratch race:
The first lap of the race saw a CU Boulder rider take off going full out over the top of the pack which was still ballooned from the neutral lap. I started the chase and closed the gap by the end of the first lap. On the second lap, I pulled through with two riders on my wheel and opened a gap to the rest of the pack. Going through turns 3 and 4 on the final lap, one of the riders came around and the other rode even with me, so the lack of a finish line camera left some doubt about whether I finished 3rd or 2nd.
Points race:
I felt tired going into the points race and decided to ride conservatively for the first half of the 30-lap event. Just after the 2nd point lap, another rider and I opened up a gap and were joined by a third breakaway companion. We cooperated well and were making progress on lapping the pack, which had split into two smaller groups. Then with the sprint at 15-to-go, one of the other breakaway riders attacked and all cooperation ended. We were caught by the pack within the next lap and a half. From there, I sat in until the finishing lap and sprinted with one to go to take the 5 points at the end. I did not see any official results, but suspect that I came in 4th place.