The Kissena Twilight Racing Series #12 was fun and fast. It was fun because we had teams. We had to chose four people and I picked Josiah, Mark, and Matt. Whichever team got the most omnium points won. There were three races and for each race the first got 6 points, second 5, third 4, fourth 3, fifth 2 while the rest got one; points were also awarded based on half of the largest age difference of the team members.
The races were also hard for me because I was over-geared to work on strength. I was riding with a rollout of 6.85 meters with 49t in the front and 15t in the back (rather than 6.05 meters with 49t in the front and 17t in the back) so my sprint was super fast. I did a flying 200 meters before the race and I was flying. I knew I was up for some fast racing.
First race, unknow distance
My strategy was to stay near the front of the pack to not be boxed-in and have good positioning for the bell lap. During the race everyone kept it pretty slow and just waited for the bell and then at the bell everyone started sprinting. We were going as fast as we could and I ended up getting fourth giving my team 3 more points. After that race, our team was at a really good start and we had 13 points in total.
Second race, tempo
This race was for five laps. The first person each lap got 2 points and second got 1. In tempo races usually the first and second strongest people get all the points and for the rest it comes to the last lap but I didn’t want that to happen so when I heard the whistle on the first lap, I just gunned it. On that lap I ended up getting a point. After that it was just the two strongest that got the rest of the points. So in that race I got third, earning 4 points for my team. My team was looking great.
Last race, five lap scratch
I had the same strategy as I had for the unknown distance, my first race. I tried to stay in the front and tried to just sprint at the bell lap. In these races it’s a good idea to stay at the front in case anyone makes an attack because in the back it is harder to chase riders down. The pace was pretty slow until they picked it up around 1.5 laps to go. Then I had to get into a good position. We had a super fast finish. I ended up in third position getting 4 more points for my team.
My team finish third for the omnium
Then it was time for podium. Our team got third! There were prizes for the people that got podium. I ended up getting a cool shirt and a pair of carbon Affinity tie levers. The shirt is a little to big on me but I’ll eventually grow into it. The races we had were fast, hard, and of course really fun. All of us had a really great time and everyone was happy.
Ari’s races
Ari just upgraded to Cat 4 and this was his first time racing in this category. New for him too was using a 49/15 gearing. Part of his team were John, Michael, and Zackery. He raced a 6 lap scratch, an unknown distance, and a 6 lap win & out. We forgot how Ari finished in each race but the team got fourth overall.
Below is a super cool picture where Ari in his national jersey sprinted my teammate Matt to the finish – Matt can get really aero. Super close but Ari won!
Photos by Biker Jun
The two pictures here were taken by Jun Aishima, aka Biker Jun, and he sent them to us. We see Mr. Jun at several of our races and you can find many of his awesome shots on his Facebook and Instagram pages.
