This year, I began cycling at the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point. It has been some of the most intense and exciting racing ever. I have been participating in the Monday nights “Advanced Training” and then the weekly training races. All competitors are split into 4 groups: A, B, C, and D, each decreasing in average rider skill and experience. Each rider starts his/her career in the D group and moves up by scoring points in the weekly training races. The points do not hold any real value and are mostly in place to encourage people to participate regularly. A new racer needs to earn 50 points to advance to the C group, an additional 84 points to advance to the B group, and an additional 105 points to advance to the A group.
The D group has its training races on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, while the A, B, and C groups compete weekly on Wednesdays. The remaining 2nd and 4th Tuesdays host a Pursuit night where any rider can participate in individual pursuit, team pursuit, and team sprint events. The points earned during pursuit nights count toward a rider’s total when upgrading to a higher group.
Additionally, each rider is responsible for keeping an accurate resume of his/her points despite a master list compiled by the East Point Velodrome Association. My resume will be updated throughout the summer leading up to the 3rd Festival of Speed, a heavily spectated, tri-summer racing event boasting cash payouts!
My cycling resume at DLV for 2008:
Point Totals: 129 points
B-Group: 5 points
C-Group: 47 points
D-Group: 55 points
Pursuit Nights: 19 points
Friday Night Sprints: 3 points
September 24th, B-Group Mass Start: 5 points
3rd place Scratch Race (3 points)
4th place Snowball (2 points)
September 17th, C-Group Mass Start: 3 points
4th place Point-A-Lap (2 points)
5th place Points Race (1 point)
September 10th, C-Group Mass Start: 14 points
1st place Scratch Race (7 points)
2nd place Point-A-Lap (5 points)
4th place 25 lap Points Race (2 points)
September 3rd, C-Group Mass Start: 6 points
2nd place Scratch Race (5 points)
5th place Unknown Distance (1 point)
August 29th, Friday Night Sprints: 3 points
200 m TT 13.8 s (1 point)
2 up sprint race (1 point)
3 up sprint race (1 point)
August 27th, C-Group Mass Start: 10 points
3rd place Scratch Race (3 points)
1st place Win-N-Out (7 points)
8th place Wheel Race
4th place Points Race (2 points)
August 20th, C-Group Mass Start: 14 points
2nd place Scratch Race (5 points)
1st place Miss-N-Out (7 points)
8th place Wheel Race
4th place Points Race (2 points)
August 19th, D-Group Mass Start: 18 points
6th place Scratch Race (2 points)
5th place Unknown Distance (3 points)
1st place Miss-N-Out (13 points)
August 5th, D-Group Mass Start: 11 points
5th place Scratch Race (1 point)
4th place Tempo Race (2 points)
1st place Miss-N-Out (7 points)
6th place 15lap Unknown Points Race (1 point)
July 15th, D-Group Mass Start: 7 points
7th place Scratch Race (1 point)
7th place Miss-N-Out (1 point)
4th place Points Race (5 points)
July 1st, D-Group Mass Start: 12 points
1st place Scratch Race (7 points)
3rd place Miss-N-Out (3 points)
4th place 25 lap Points Race (2 points)
June 24th, Pursuits: 4 points
513 m individual time trial 41.87 (1 point)
3,000 m team pursuit (2 points)
1,000 m individual time trial 1:26.62 (1 point)
June 17th, D-Group Mass Start: 2 points
6th place Miss-N-Out (2 points)
June 10th, Pursuits: 5 points
5 minute individual time trial 9.75 laps (1 point)
team sprint heat 1 1:17.03 (1 point)
3,000 m individual pursuit CATCH! (2 points)
team sprint heat 2 1:16.75 (1 point)
May 20, D-Group Mass Start: 5 points
6th place Scratch Race (2 points)
5th place Miss-N-Out (3 points)
May 13, Pursuits: 4 points
3,000 m individual pursuit 4:58.06 (1 point)
team sprint heat 1 (2 points)
3,000 m individual pursuit 4:51.16 (1 point)
April 8, Pursuits: 6 points
3,000 m individual pursuit 4:54.69 (1 point)
team sprint heat 1 (2 points)
3,000 m individual pursuit (1 point)
team sprint heat 2 (2 points)